July 2000

Few people on earth live as close to the weather as we do.  So naturally, the Canadian way is to complain bitterly about the cold in winter, and then- when it finally turns hot- to be equally scathing about the heat.  Consider the misfortunate inhabitants of the West Coast.  So wet is it there that one does not turn grey with age, but rusts instead (at least they tell it that way in Calgary).  Even less fortunate are the inhabitants of Pago Pago where, according to W.C. Fields, it is so wet that the snakes require stilts and the birds use surfboards to fly.  Meanwhile, Torontonians know that when the rains finally come again Mayor Mel- who is somewhat short of stature- will be the last to learn about it.

This, therefore, is not a good month for strenuous gardening.  As the Dutch proverb has it: “Rest for a while, yes, but there is weeding to be done”.  If there is one essential task to be undertaken regularly, that task is weeding.  Those weeds growing in cracks between pavers can be eliminated by the no fuss, no muss method of pouring boiling water over them.  This will also eliminate assorted creepy-crawlies attempting to establish residence with all the aplomb of Councillor Layton’s friends in Toronto parks.  Ensure that weeds elsewhere are removed before they set seed.  Some, such as dandelions, have done so already.  But some of the most obnoxious of all, the weedy grasses, are just commencing to do so as we enter into July.  In small areas, the time-honoured method is scrabbling with bare hands.  Kipling knew what he was talking about when he wrote: “Adam was a gardener, and God who made he sees/ That half a proper gardener’s life is spent upon his knees.”  Those with bad backs may wince at this advice.  They believe that it is worse still to have to resort to a hoe.  This is not so, at least if the business end of the implement is first sharpened with a flat file.  The difference between this and a blunt instrument of torture is remarkable. 

A pleasant way to pass a few moments prior to work everyday is to stroll through the garden deadheading (removing the spent blooms).  This encourages repeat blooming, creates sturdy plants, and prevents the seedier sorts from crowding more modest specimens out in their eternal search for lebensraum.  It also removes hiding places for earwigs.  Stuffing a small clay flowerpot with straw, hay or similar packing that comes with delicate objects can trap these insects.  Place the treated pots in shelter on their sides overnight, collect in the morning, shake the contents into plastic bags, tie tightly and dispose of in the garbage.  If totally frustrated with the wretched beasts, work it off by war dancing on them, preferably somewhere neither spouse nor neighbours can notice.

Desirous of those “dinner-plate” dahlias?  As the stems with their large bud at the top extend upwards, remove all the smaller side buds that try to grow either side of it along with the sideshoots from the lower leaf axils.  This is best done early in the day when the stems are turgid.  Support the main stem with a sturdy stake.  Dahlia fanatics protect the blooms from torrential downpours by mounting umbrellas on the stakes.  Do you really, really care for the perfect dahlia… or what your neighbours might think?

A single pair of wrens require up to 500 small insects every day to feed their nestlings.  Other birds, including the ubiquitous house sparrow, consume vast quantities of weed seeds.  There is plenty of food right now, though a water source is likely lacking.  Encourage them to visit the garden with a birdbath and not, these summer months, a feeder.  Locate the birdbath well clear of any cover for marauding felines.  Keep constantly filled and assure it stays free of disease by cleaning with a mild bleach solution once a week.  The Toronto Field Naturalist club has frequently pointed out that fouled birdbaths and feeders are a primary source for deaths among garden birds.

Cold-Hardy Cacti

Cacti native to Canada?  Mention this to a class of adult students and they patiently wait for the punch line.  But it’s no joke.  While not so thick on the ground as to worry those that prefer to go au naturale, there are three cacti native to Ontario and more on the Prairies and even some in the mountains of British Columbia.  Better still- at least for the lovers of these succulents- daring and adventuresome gardeners (to say nothing of those with hardy hides) are discovering that many more cacti from other areas of the continent, as well as elsewhere in the Americas, will grow as far north as Thunder Bay.

Not unexpectedly, cacti require a southern exposure, on very well drained soil.  This may be better mounded up after mixing with an equal proportion of fine gravel (not limestone screenings).  Be very cautious applying fertilizer; avoid any containing much nitrogen, as this encourages soft growth.

The ever-useful Gardens North Catalogue 2000 says that there is even a “Cold Cactus Group”, run by David Sierer of Wesby, Wisconsin, with a present membership of over 375 gardeners from over 20 countries.  They’ve even published a handbook, Where The Hardy Cactus Grow.  Their website is http://vvv.com/~amdigest/hardy.htm. 

Although devoted to the more conventional raising of the plants, the Toronto Cactus & Succulent Club may be reached at (905) 877-6013.

You may still remain somewhat uncertain of clasping these plants to your chest, even if one group is named Mammalaria.  Still, there is no truth to the story that cactus cause prickly heat.

What’s Been Bugging Your Lawn?

If your lawn was left spotted and splotched with dead patches last year and again this spring from the grubs of the European chafer, treat it now to eradicate this major pest.  The wee beasties pupated in May (a month earlier than usual), emerged as adults, did what comes naturally, and now their progeny are at it again.  The only time they can be controlled effectively is at this stage, when they are young.  And unfortunately, for the moment, the only controls are chemical.  All chemicals are more effective if the lawn is watered well 24 hours before application.  New and best of the bunch is MERIT, but this must be applied by professional lawn care experts in a granulated form.

MERITs intimidating technical name is imidacloprid, and it is obnoxious to the target grubs, giving over 90% control.  Three other pesticides may be found in retail outlets: carbaryl, diazinon and dursban.  Dursban is also known by the technical name of chlorpyrifos, carbaryl is also known as Sevin.  All three are required to be mixed with water and sprayed on (or, if over very small areas, applied with a watering can with a coarse spray nozzle).  The bad news- and something the manufacturers are not required to tell you on the label- is that diazinon is less than 70% effective and dursban somewhat more than 60% effective.  No figures have been published on carbaryl, but it is likely in the same range.  All should be watered in well following application.

Chlorpyrifos is also commonly available in at least one granulated form, mixed with fertilizer under the So-Green brand name.  The package comes with a large grub in full living colour on the bag.

Carbaryl is also the commonly recommended control for the wretched chinch bug, which becomes active as the temperatures rise this month.  While grubs are unlikely to cause patches in July and August, chinch bugs can and will with incredible speed.  It is not unusual for lawns to become brown hayfields within three days.  Do not water for 24 hours after applying carbaryl.  Claims have been made that the natural insecticidal soap also controls this major pest.  Poor watering practices and an overly heavy hand with fertilizer both encourage chinch bug.

Much on Mulching

“Getting mulch?” is Don Herron’s enquiry through his alter ego, Charlie Farquarson.  There are excellent reasons for doing so.  Recently Blair Sayers, president of Davey Trees Canada, summarized in point form many of the benefits of this ancient horticultural practice.  Using mulch:

  Greatly improves the aesthetic appearance of a property.

       Helps prevent trunk damage from turf and lawn maintenance equipment.

       Conserves soil moisture in the root zone.

       Reduces drought stress on trees.

       Lowers soil temperature in the root zone.

       Eliminates competition from turf for soil moisture and nutrients.

       Increases soil organic matter and microbial activity.

       Decreases soil bulk density.

       Increases the availability of some soil nutrients.

       Increases tree root density.

       Increases mycorrhizal infection of roots (beneficial fungi).

       Increases tree growth (a mulched tree may grow 2 or 3 times faster than one without mulch).

Materials for mulching may be organic or inorganic, natural or man-made.  Under domestic urban conditions, the commonest mulch is bark chips.  On commercial sites and in municipal parks, wood chips are more common.  These are occasionally offered to home gardeners.  Those of a masochistic tendency will enjoy wood chips as they are full of splinters, although, true, this mulch material comes much cheaper.  In order to control weeds, both must be an absolute minimum of three inches (7.5 cm.) thick.

Cocobean shells, straw and compost are three organic alternatives.  Reportedly, cocoabean mulch is distasteful to squirrels.  Compost must usually be purchased for the quantities required for an effective mulch.  When ordering, insist it is “screened” so that lumps and weeds are removed.  Straw is usually only available by the bale at local garden centres in the fall.  Spread six inches thick and water down. 

Stone chips of various origin are a decorative alternative.  Lay over landscape fabric, a felt-like industrial material that is permeable to air and water but not weeds.  Make ‘X’ shaped cuts through it to fit around existing shrubs or perennials.

The Chemical Quandry

Member of Parliament Charles Caccia and his committee have been creating a cacophony over chemicals.  Once again, therefore, we reiterate our basic philosophy with regards to this contentious issue.  City Gardening will continue to recommend natural methods and substances for pathogen control.  Where no such methods are known to exist and chemicals are the only alternative, these chemicals are named and the choice left to the individual.

We do this in the firm belief that readers are intelligent enough to make their own decisions.  They do not require Caccia and his klatch to decide for them.  Gardeners consistently demonstrate that they have considerably more environmental consciousness than politicians pandering to special interest groups and personal publicity.

Indeed, Caccia betrays his own ignorance and self-interest by proclaiming lawns and other ornamental horticulture to be merely “cosmetic”.  Time and time again it has been shown that gardeners enjoy better physical and mental health as well as live longer.  Fortunately politicians, with their psychopathic tendencies, rarely garden.  The benefits of trees, shrubs, flowers and yes, lawns, to the environment are incontrovertible. 

Gardens also add beauty, and gardeners themselves are usually the friendliest of neighbours, who largely believe in the adage “live and let live”.  These concepts are opposite to those politicians and others of a socialistic bent.  According to their philosophy, everything must be regulated into a grey, formless mass epitomized by such places as the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, or the late, unlamented U.S.S.R.  All these states are remarkably lacking in private ornamental gardens.  City Gardening also abhors the irresponsible claims made by either side.  The lies and fudging of facts by self-proclaimed environmental groups are as reprehensible as commercial chemical control companies and their representatives turning a willfully blind eye to careless applications and applicators, however well-trained and licensed. 

When all is said and done (and far too much has been) the best pathogen- and weed-control devices are located at the ends of the wrists.  They are called fingers and are singularly well adapted to plucking, squeezing and squelching obnoxious and unwanted garden guests.  Only when these do not suffice should recourse be made to sprays, natural or chemical.

Horticultural Happenings

Casa Loma Gardens

Free every Tuesday evening through to October from 4pm to dusk.

High Park

4 July: Bats (meet 8:30pm)

9 July: Ornamental Gardens (meet 1:15 pm)

18 July: Moths (meet 8:30 pm)

23 July: Bugs & Butterflies (meet 1:15 pm)

   Meet across the street from the Grenadier Restaurant; confirm program details by phoning 392-1748.  

9^th Annual “All Miniature” Rose Show

15/16 July courtesy of the Canadian Rose Society; free at Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre; more information at 416-622-6422.

Richters Herbs

9 July:  Edible Flowers and Herbs, free lecture at Richters, Highway 7, Goodwood, Ont.  2 pm.

16 July:  Herbal Walk & Medicinal Preparation Workshop at Richters, Highway 7, Goodwood, Ont.  $40.

23 July:  Herb Topiary, Inside & Out, free lecture at Richters, Highway 7, Goodwood, Ont.  2 pm.

30 July:  Growing Great Garlic, free lecture at Richters, Highway 7, Goodwood, Ont.  2 pm.

Toronto Field Naturalist Outings

Free guided walks.  Wear suitable clothes and footwear, bring camera, notebook, binoculars; children are welcome but no pets.  All walks are TTC accessible.

3 July:  Sherwood Park- park walk; meet 6:45 pm, park entrance east end of Sherwood Ave.

4 July:  Forks of Don- nature walk; meet 11 am, SW corner of Don Mills Rd/ Overlea Blvd; bring lunch, water.

8 July:  Charles Sauriol Nature Reserve- nature walk; meet park entrance at Lawrence E. just east of DVP; bring lunch, water.

12 July:  Humber Forks at Thistletown- nature walk, ravine study; meet 10 am SW corner Albion Rd/ Elmhurst Dr.; bring lunch, water.

17 July:  Toronto Islands- history, gardens; meet 6:45 pm at docks, foot of Bay Street.

18 July:  Momiji Garden- wildflowers and gardens; 10 am at NE corner of Kingston /Markham Rds, explore Campbell Woodlot for wildflowers, then Momiji Gardens; bring lunch, water; don’t miss this one!

26 July:  High Park- insects; meet 10 am at park entrance on Bloor St, opposite high Park Ave.; bring lunch.

27 July:  Wilket Creek Ravine- nature walk; meet at park entrance at Leslie St. just north of Eglinton.  Walk ends in Edwards Gardens.

Councillors’ Environment Days

You too can meet one of these exalted reps of the common taxpayer at the following locations:

1 July:  Jack Layton/ Pam McConnell, 10 am- 2 pm, Riverdale Park.

8 July:  George Mammoliti, 10 am- 2 pm, Finch and West Mall, 3449 Weston Rd at Finch

15 July:  Anne Johnston/ Michael Walker, 10 am- 2pm, Eglinton Park, 200 Eglinton Ave W.

New Products

Ever wondered what professional maintenance gardeners use for their contracts?  Davey Tree Experts are perhaps better known for their tree maintenance, but there are also a dozen-and-a-half hand tools that they have developed.  From varying pattern and purpose spades through to rakes, loppers, shears and pole pruners, down to equally high quality hand tools, Davey designed each tool to their own specifications.

Home gardeners can make heavy work lighter and easier as well as trusting the tools- business end as well as handles- to last, now that they can obtain any and all of these Davey products through Rittenhouse at 1-877-488-1914 or hit www.rittenhouse.ca. 

Gardener’s Bookshelf

The venerable gardening team of Lewis and Nancy Hill over there in Vermont are always a pleasure to read.  Their advice is solid, sensible and ever so practical.  Now they are adding to their past works with The Lawn and Garden Owner’s Manual.  The contents list looks like the description of a good garden course outline.  First a calendar, then on through lawns, perennial gardens, ground covers, ornamental grasses, vines, shrubs, hedges, roses, evergreens, trees, fruit, water and more.  It’s all there, care and culture, pruning and pathogens included along with lists, charts and colour pics.  Just the kind of publication we’ve come to expect from Storey Books.  Available locally at $29.95 or hit www.storeybooks.com.  

News from a Gardener’s View Point

City Gardening peers at the past month’s news from Canada and elsewhere

      A new study released by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are unaffected by the pollen from genetically modified corn.

      An invasive longhorn beetle found a half-kilometre away from Halifax infesting Point Pleasant Park has caused the provincial government to demand Ottawa expand the original quarantine area.  The existing coleoptera face extinction by drowning, if proposals to plunge the 10,000 red spruce logs they inhabit into Halifax Harbour after cutting is approved.  Never mind drowning- anything submerged in those waters is likely to die of something other than that.  But the Friends of Point Pleasant Park are protesting the tree-cutting decision, and, when we went to press, had announced they would call Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, who technically owns the park and leases it for the sum of one shilling a year.

      Thanks to several hundred tonnes of chicken droppings applied to less than 20 acres, Naples, New York, has been invaded by millions of flies which have been declared a health hazard.

                       Cultural Advice for Gardeners

      Steve Whysall, a B.C.-based gardening columnist and author, establishes Whysall’s maxim:” The right plant in the right place in the right soil with the right care”.

      If scientists are right and global warming of the atmosphere is to blame for the giant lumps of ice that fell on Spain in January, then we can expect gardening to become more hazardous as giant hailstones pour out of formerly friendly skies.  But are the boffins correct?  Such incidents have been known from at least 1826, long before “global warming” attracted environmentalists.

      30% to 40% of all of Canada’s cattle and sheep are carrying the lethal bacteria E. coli 0157:H7 at any one time, which is excreted in their excrement.  Some of this ends up as bagged composted manure, which begs the question: what- along with natural nutrients- are we spreading on the garden?