Rain parade

Mark and Ben Cullen
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Rain parade

Rain is a gift.  Nature rains down moisture this time of year to produce May flowers, and much more.  Without it, our gardens would dry up and plants would shrivel come mid-June.  Moisture captured by the soil in your garden now will persist until it stops raining and the sun dries up the soil.  True, we can always irrigate.  But we are on the bandwagon that is attempting to minimize the use of clean, potable water in our gardens and on lawns.

With proper planning and careful plant selection, there can be almost no need to add water all season long.  The type of garden that works best in areas of your yard that are wet in spring and dry most of the summer are called “rain gardens”.   Chances are, if you live in a house, you have an opportunity to create one on your boulevard or where the water from your downspouts drain onto your lawn.

If all of us embrace the pollinator/rain garden concept municipalities would have no choice but to put up and enjoy the results. 

Our recommendations for a successful rain garden experience includes:

  1. Plant selection.  Look for plants that tolerate early season moisture and mid-season drought.  The goal, after all, is to minimize the time you spend maintaining your rain garden and the amount of water you apply in summer.  In hot, sunny spots we like ornamental grasses (non invasive), daylilies, echinacea, cimicifuga (Bugbane), Bellflower (Campanula), hosta, Russian sage, and the herb sage. Most Mediterranean herbs perform well in rain gardens. 
  2. Pollinator heaven.  A rain garden is rhythmic, like the coming and going of migratory songbirds and pollinating insects.  There is an ebb and flow to their growth and blooming pattern.  For this reason, it is always a good idea to favour plants that are known to attract pollinators in season.  Our favourites include Cardinal flower (Lobelia), Stonecrop (sedum), Yarrow, Speedwell (veronica), single flowering peonies (great foliage when not in bloom), lavender, catmint (nepeta) and Butterfly weed (asclepias).  
  3. Soil preparation.  A rain garden performs best when the soil allows water to flow through it and retains nutrients that are essential for healthy plants to thrive.  Remove clay soil about 20 cm deep and replace with 70% finished compost for nutrients and/or topsoil and 30% sharp sand for drainage.
  4. Mulch.  When the heat hits home this summer the last place you will want to be is standing at the end of a hose on the boulevard or swale/rain garden.  A 6 to 8 cm layer of finely ground up cedar bark mulch will do wonders for your new garden as it retains moisture in the soil and insulates it from the drying effects of the summer sun. 

Have patience.  Your new plants will need some watering the first summer while they put down roots.  As they become established, they will become more tolerant of water in spring and drought come summer. 

All that is left for you to do is to perform a rain dance this time of year.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

The Golden Days of Planting

Mark and Ben Cullen
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The Golden Days of Planting

SUBMITTED PHOTO
Dormant Perennials

t is early April and if you are like most Canadians, you are waiting for the long weekend of May to do your planting. And that would be a shame. Fact is, one of the best times of the year to plant is right now.
Yes, there will be frost. The ground is still cold and damp from winter. You say, “The Leafs are still playing hockey, so how can this be a good time of year to plant?” The truth is all these reasons for putting off planting are good reasons why you should be planting this weekend.
Most trees, flowering shrubs, roses, and perennials will thrive when planted in early spring (just not frost tender annuals). A dormant plant that normally survives our winter is not only capable of growing while the soil is cool, but they also prefer this to the heat and relative dryness of late May and June.
The caveat is that the plants you locate in your garden or containers now are dormant, i.e., sleeping. If they have been forced in a greenhouse, as many nursery plants are this time of year, the new growth is soft and susceptible to frost damage. Make sure that your new plants are not showing leafy green or blooms.
As the soil warms and days lengthen, a newly planted tree, for example, will put down new roots and produce growth in its own time. Nature will take its course and you can put your feet up come late May when the garden retailers are frantic with customer traffic and your neighbours come over to borrow your rototiller and a shovel.
Which is another reason why this is an ideal time of year to plant: supply and demand. We have heard plenty about supply chain problems. Well, the demand for plants in the last couple of years has skyrocketed also. The result is a general shortage of quality plant material. The early bird not only gets the worm, but also gets the fattest, juiciest worm. The best quality plants are the first out the door.
The hardy plants that you purchase now have either been grown domestically in a field, plastic covered hoop house or a greenhouse, or they have been imported from the warmer climes.
We always look for the domestically grown nursery stock first. If a plant has been “locally sourced” it is more likely to thrive in your “local” garden and climate. If the seed source of the tree, shrub, or evergreen that you acquire is local, so much the better. Locally seed sourced plants have plant hardiness built-in genetically. Usually, the tag on the plant will indicate that it is grown in Ontario. If not, it likely is grown elsewhere. You can always ask a service professional where you shop for plants. Chances are they helped to unload the truck that delivered the plants in the first place. If it had license plates from Tennessee, or Washington State there is your answer (by the way, most of the magnolias sold in Ontario grew in Tennessee).
Sometimes we do not have a choice of our desired plants origins. Many of the Japanese maples and Emerald cedars sold here originate in British Columbia or Washington State. The same may be true for many fruit trees. Again, there is value in simply asking the question.
Or go online and buy directly from the grower. Last year, Mark bought 18 fruit trees from Silver Creek Nursery in Wellesley Ontario ( HYPERLINK “https://silvercreeknursery.ca/” https://silvercreeknursery.ca/). All their plants are grown on their farm: problem solved. They sell raspberries and other fruit bearing shrubs also.
Wherever you decide to do business, consider the many benefits of getting out there soon to plant. Come May 24, plan on some relaxation time.

Seed Money

Mark and Ben Cullen
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Seed Money

The threshold of the gardening season features the season opener, likely in your kitchen: seed starting. Now is the perfect time to get going with this project.
Young transplants that you start from seed will save you a small fortune. A $2 packet of, say, tomato seeds will contain at least 20 seeds: that is 20 plants that you don’t have to buy in May. At $1 each plant or $20 for the batch (sometimes more sometimes less) you will spend later, will cost you about $4 today in seeds and supplies. That is a $16 saving or, put another way, a 500% return on your investment, in just 8 weeks!
Seed starting is immensely satisfying. Kids love to watch seeds sprout and mature. They tend to see it for the miracle that it is.
Where to start. Here is our step-by-step guide to successful seed starting.

Submitted photo.
Once germinated, all seeds need light to grow. Artificial light can help augment the natural light you have.


Begin by identifying where you will grow your seeds. Some seeds need light to germinate, most don’t, and others like gentle heat, like on the top of your fridge where the heat radiates up from the back of it. Once germinated, all seeds need light. The more the better. A south or west facing window will suffice. If you don’t have one add artificial light to augment what you have naturally.
Seeds. Buy fresh seeds. By law, the seed packets that you purchase from racks or buy online this time of year were harvested last year from the 2021 crop. They are fresh. Seeds that linger in your junk drawer may still be viable. To determine if they are, perform a germination test by placing a few seeds on a pre-dampened paper towel, roll it up and do not let it dry out for a week to 10 days. Unroll it from time to time to see if the seeds have produced a white shoot. If they have, your seeds are good to grow this year. If they have not, after 10 days, throw the works into your compost.
Supplies. You will need seed starting trays and soil. Though, the soil is soil-less, and will contain peat, perlite, sterile compost and maybe a little sand. Look for “seed and cutting” mix at your retailer. And if you wish to avoid using peat, consider an alternative like coir, harvested from the sustainably grown coconut, or add more compost.
A transparent “greenhouse” top placed over your newly sown seeds will hold moisture and encourage early germination. If you see any sign of powdery mildew, which appears like a soft, faint cotton ball, prop it open with a popsicle stick to allow air to circulate through.
When to sow. A seed packet will usually tell you when to sow the seed. We sow our tomatoes 6 to 7 weeks before we plant them out in late May and early June. The second week of April is perfect. The goal is to grow a short, stocky healthy green transplant that is not leggy or overgrown. Pay close attention to the timing as the start time differs by species.
Rotate. The seedlings growing in a sunny window will turn towards the sun. Just as we migrate towards the fridge when we are hungry, plants get most of their nourishment from sunshine. Turn them every day or two to keep them growing evenly.
Harden them off. About three weeks before planting out, place your young, tender seedlings out of doors for a few hours, first in indirect light, and each day for a longer period and more direct light until they are completely acclimated to the out of doors. A cold frame is very useful for this purpose.
And finally, be prepared for some failures. Growing from seed requires consistent and daily attention to detail. A little work, a little risk, for a big reward.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook

Small garden gardening

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Small garden gardening
Raised flower beds like this one can help your plants absorb the heat of the sun earlier in the season.

The condos that sprout like mushrooms, and all the talk about intensifying the population in our urban spaces, suggest that a lot of readers are gardening in smaller spaces.
Creating a garden of your dreams in limited space can be a blessing and a curse. The blessing is the result: more colour, bounty, and beneficial insect activity. The curse is the limitation that small space presents.
Here are our tips for creating a blessing:
Replace your lawn. When you are looking round your yard for space to plant a new garden, consider eliminating your lawn. A walk round your neighbourhood offers lessons on space conservation to the keen observer. We note that many front yards on a 20- or 30-foot lot in Toronto are often filled to brimming with colour and food plants, sans lawn area. Lawns are useful for walking on, or as a filler where space can be afforded, though they offer very little in the way of ecological services to wildlife and retain relatively little stormwater. And think of the shed space you can free up by getting rid of that lawnmower!
Go up. Look up at the balconies in your building from the ground, note how many are using fences, walls, and trellises to support vertical gardens. While there are many vines that are self-clinging, like euonymus and Boston Ivy, others twine, like Trumpet Vine (celestrus scandens), clematis, and even grapes. However, many plants lend themselves to being trained vertically. Tomatoes, for example, can grow up to three metres high when they are secured to a fence or other support with twine. Just make sure there is lots of sun for them to set fruit and produce a harvest. A dwarf apple tree can be pruned in two dimensions against a sunny wall.
Containers. Raise your garden up and do less stooping, eliminate weeds, and take full control of the soil by using a quality container mix. You will find that you naturally plant more densely, and your containers are more productive per square metre than grade-level gardens. Note that raised beds and containers absorb the heat of sun earlier in the season and your garden gets off to an earlier start as a result. A container also allows you to easily move tropical plants for overwintering indoors, such as banana or citrus trees.
Look for compact plants. Many plant species are available in smaller growing varieties: a good dwarf lilac is Korean Spice lilac, plus dwarf burning bush, most of the new hybrid spiraeas are compact and even cucumbers are available in smaller growing formats, like Spacemaster or Sweet One Million tomatoes. Trees that are not space-hogs include crabapples, Japanese Tree Lilac, flowering cherries, and pears and even most honey locust trees, which produce a lovely, filtered shade and lend themselves to pruning.
Look over the selection of plants at your garden retailer and ask for “compact growing varieties”. A knowledgeable salesperson will steer you right.
Remember that you live here. Small yards can be filled with colour and greenery but consider how you want to live out there. Carve out a place for sitting, eating, and entertaining in your garden plan and paths to access the corners. Encourage visitors to stroll through your creation even if you put them through only a handful of paces. A short walk through a friend’s garden stimulates all the senses and encourages deeper conversation.
Water. No garden is complete without a small water feature, even a container filled with water plants and a handful of goldfish. The effect is calming and has the ability to attract beneficial insect life and birds.
Small space? Don’t let anyone kid you: your yard holds an abundance of potential.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Getting Started

Mark and Ben Cullen
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Getting Started

No matter what the weather, the calendar tells us it is spring. We know that warmer temperatures are ahead of us and there will be countless opportunities to get your knees dirty.
If you are new to gardening or just need some important reminders of how to succeed out there, here is our primer to get you started:

  1. Where is the sun. Where does it come up in the morning and down at night? Which direction does your house and future garden face? These are important questions to ask yourself before you plant. A hot, sunny garden calls for distinctly different plant selection than a cool, shady one.
  2. Make your garden smaller than you plan. The image that you have in your head of a great looking garden will not likely consider the work of creating the garden in the first place and the time and effort of maintaining it. Until you experience this for yourself, you have no way of measuring it. Small successes will provide encouragement to go bigger in future.
  3. Creating a bed in an existing lawn area? Cut the lawn short and lay down 10 pages or more of newspaper, being careful not to use this column for that purpose. Pile 10 to 20 cm of triple mix (equal parts soil, compost and peat) over the newspaper, and 5 to 10 cm of cedar bark mulch over that. Water thoroughly, until the entire pile is wet.
    Note: if existing soil is clay based, increase the amount of soil/mulch accordingly.
    Do this as soon as you can. The longer your bed settles, the better your new garden will perform.
  4. Plant your new garden as soon as you can acquire winter hardy plants like trees, shrubs, perennials and even perennial food plants like asparagus, raspberries, and the like. Frost sensitive plants like tomatoes and petunias are planted after threat of frost, usually around May 24.
  5. Shop for plants early. We anticipate another record year at garden retailers, and we know that there are shortages of many plants that will be in high demand. Shop early to avoid disappointment.
    For Containers:
  6. Choose a container that is larger than you planned (opposite of our advice for the garden). The larger the pot or container, the greater the soil volume and the better plants will perform in it. Small pots dry out quickly and demand more frequent watering. Use only quality potting soil or container mix from a brand that you trust.
  7. Ensure there is good drainage. Water must flow from the surface of the soil to the drainage holes freely. When water pours out the drainage holes of a window box or hanging basket, that is a good sign.
  8. Plant according to conditions. Much like your garden, plant sun loving plants in a sunny location. If you are in a high-rise condo or apartment, be aware that persistent wind has a drying effect. West and south exposure especially dry out containers quickly. Meaning, you will be watering more frequently.
    Check your newly planted garden daily. Look for unwanted bugs or disease, pick off dead leaves and flowers and of course, check the soil for dryness.
    Push your finger into the soil up to the second knuckle and if the soil is dry, apply enough water to reach the root zone.
    Manage your expectations. Everyone has seen the pictures of the perfect garden and new gardeners often start out believing that they will achieve this in their first year.
    Start out slow, be prepared to make mistakes, celebrate, and learn from them.
    Know that even though Mark has been gardening for over 40 years, he continues to make mistakes and learn. This is part of the process and with time, you will accept it and enjoy it.
    We say, “Failure? Bring it on.”
    Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

A Year of Garden Celebration

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A Year of Garden Celebration

Gardens have never been a bigger part of Canadian life.

In the spring of 2020, we saw the largest growth in home vegetable gardening since World War II.

In the two years since, gardens have been a place of comfort in our quieted lives and, during the better moments, a safe space for gathering with friends and family.

According to the Canadian Garden Council, “over four in five Canadians expected to spend the same time (66%) or more time (21%) gardening in 2021 than 2020.”

It seems fitting that 2022 should officially be deemed Year of the Garden, as it was declared in the House of Commons last year and officially launching on March 20th. Led by the Canadian Garden Council, Year of the Garden is an opportunity to “Learn and Get Inspired”, “Do and Get Results”, and to “Experience and Enjoy” gardening.

Here are our suggestions for celebrating Canada’s Year of the Garden in 2022:

  • Plant red to show your Canadian pride. A sweep of ruby-red geraniums or petunias is one way to accomplish this effect or plant a native redbud tree to enjoy for years to come.
  • Join a horticulture society to strengthen bonds in your local gardening community. Ontario Horticultural Association is the non-profit established in 1906 that oversees chapters of passionate gardeners in this province. In our experience, Horticulture Societies play an outsized role in their communities for promoting the passion for gardening while in turn benefiting their members in spades with social connection and gardening fun. Find a chapter near you at https://gardenontario.org/about/
  • Plan a summer holiday on Canada’s Garden Route. Throughout the uncertainty of COVID, outdoor spaces have remained a relatively safe space and there is no better way to celebrate them than by visiting one of Canada’s great gardens. Canada’s Garden Route (https://gardenscanada.ca/canadas-garden-route/) can help you organize a road trip rich in horticultural experiences.  Plan to visit exceptional public gardens and Parks Canada heritage gardens.   It is all on the website.
  • Encourage your municipality to declare 2022 Year of the Garden and go one step further by joining up with Communities in Bloom (“CiB”) if they have not already. CiB is a friendly competition between communities where public green spaces and programming are assessed by judges in the spirit of improving green communities across Canada. www.communitiesinbloom.ca
  • Follow along by subscribing to the Year of the Garden newsletter https://livethegardenlife.gardenscanada.ca/ and share your gardening experiences on social media using the hashtags #yearofthegarden and #livethegardenlife.
  • Donate to a horticultural cause in your city. In Toronto, the Toronto Botanical Garden (TBG) is one of few botanical gardens in the world with free admission, making it accessible to all Torontonians. What better way to promote the joy of gardening than to donate to support it? Exciting times are afoot at the TBG, where newly appointed Executive Director Stephanie Jutila is overseeing an ambitious expansion plan for the garden which generates 99% of its own revenues from donors, foundations, memberships and earned revenues. There has never been a better time to support the TBG (disclosure: Ben is on the Board there). https://torontobotanicalgarden.ca/
  • Garden. We use this column every Saturday to encourage you to garden. However, this year we have added thrust to our message. So, if you have been holding off on building that raised bed or splurging on that specimen tree, tell yourself: it is the year the of the garden! If not now, then when? Before your garden blossoms into the fullness of its glory, sign-up your garden as a 2022 Celebration Garden https://livethegardenlife.gardenscanada.ca/

We have always felt that gardening in Canada is one of the great joys of this great country, and now we have been given a full year to celebrate.  We invite you to join us and make sure you make the most of the Year of the Garden.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

This Won’t Hurt a Bit

Mark and Ben Cullen
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This Won’t Hurt a Bit

Moving house is an adventure.

In 2003, Mark and his wife Mary built their dream home in the country, an adventure indeed.  At the time they vowed never to build a house again, until they were ready to move back to the ‘burbs two years ago and did it once more.

They were inspired by a vision for a new home in the suburbs of Markham, where building a smaller home on a large, 1960’s one acre lot seemed like a splendid idea.

Building a home during a pandemic was its own adventure. Pleading with trades to come to work and the escalating materials costs is a story for another time. 

Then there was the garden.  Moving to a large lot made perfect sense to Mark, who saw the mostly treeless property as a blank canvas.  He could plant trees of his own choice, create a pollinator garden, and attract beneficial wildlife like butterflies, native bees, and hummingbirds.  And a food garden with an apple orchard of 16 trees, raspberries, grapes, asparagus, rhubarb and all of the annual vegetables the space would hold. 

And he would save the one giant, 70-year-old maple that dominated the back yard.   It is a magnificent Norway maple that stands 15 metres high.  It provides dense shade over the house and deck providing a cooling effect equal to a large air conditioner. 

Indeed, even as many readers might poo poo saving an “invasive tree”. Indeed, Norway maples are designated as such by Ontario Department of Agriculture, when over 40% of the Toronto tree canopy consists of Norway maples.  They grow well in the polluted air of the city, sequester carbon, and produce oxygen along with the best of them.  But they also send their seeds into the woods to compete with the native trees and flora.  So, if he had a choice, Mark would prefer a Sugar maple or better still a native oak.  But when you inherit a senior tree, it is what it is. 

To save the monster tree they had to build the garage a few metres south of the existing root zone, which required a trip to the committee of adjustment for a variance.  The Committee of Adjustment is a good place to go if you enjoy a nap.  In this case, a three-month delay in the building permit process, to announce to neighbours that the garage would be located a bit south of theirs, changing the site lines a bit. 

The local councillor Karen Rea sent an e mail to Mark, praising their decision, “At last, someone who wants to save a tree and not cut it down!”

With no objections, they were able to move forward with their plan. 

The roots of the old tree were squeezed between the concrete wall of an existing swimming pool and a concrete foundation of a metre high knee wall.  “This won’t hurt a bit” Mark whispered to the tree as a backhoe removed all of the restricting stone and concrete from around its root structure.  Protected by a wall of plywood, as per the Markham tree protection by law, construction took place with a minimum of disturbance to the tree’s roots.

Then, once the house was built and the foundation backfilled, Mark consulted with a soil and tree expert, Derek at Authentic Tree Care in Keswick who recommended “activated mulch” be spread over the root zone of the tree.

Then, Mark added generous quantities of compost tea, from Crooked Farmz in Toronto, as per instructions from proprietor Sean Smith. 

And next?  We wait.  What will Mark’s tree think of the enhancements made to its root zone?  Now that it has more room to grow, will it thrive? 

True, nothing will change the fact that it is a Norway maple, but hey.  Better a pig in a poke than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.  Even from a more desirable native species.     

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Everything We Need to Know We Learned from Tomatoes

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Everything We Need to Know We Learned from Tomatoes

Home and Garden

Mark and Ben Cullen

Is it any wonder that tomatoes are by far the #1 most home-grown vegetable?  And yes, we know they are fruit. 

Most Canadians do not realize what can be learned from the experience of growing tomatoes.  We believe that many of the great lessons of life are woven into the tomato growing experience, either in containers or the garden. 

Here goes:
1. In the beginning there was a seed.  Before you plunge your tomato seed into soil, hold it in your hand.  Look at it.  Roll it gently between your thumb and finger.  You will find that it is oval, flat, and hairy.  Nondescript.  And a miracle.  When your tomato seed contacts water and soil it will push a root downwards and a green cotyledon upwards.  Life is full of miracles.

2. Do not miss the action.  The root and cotyledon move quickly, the green part curling out in search of sun while it pushes through the soil in search of dirt-bound nutrients.  The miracle begins as the young plant draws on the nutritional resources of the seed embryo.  Life is like this, including human life.  Pause a while.

3.  Watch the seedling carefully as the cotyledon grows and the first set of leaves develop.  You will add water, but not too much or the youngster will rot.  You will provide sunshine or artificial light as tomatoes are sun worshippers.  At this point, your tomato plant is a long way from independence.  You are learning to let your plant find its own way, while providing the necessities of life.  You are the parent.

4. Hardening off.  About 8 weeks after you sowed the seed the young plant is ready for adventure.  Fresh air. More intense light.  A day trip out of doors, for only a few hours.  And each day more time out there.  Until, after a couple of weeks of this, it is used to the sunshine and breeze.  You are learning, one day at a time, to let go.  To set your tomato free.  Some days this may be hard.  But you can do it.  

5. Planting out.  It is an exciting day in May when you can finally plant your tomato out of doors in a large container (one plant needs about a bushel of soil) or in the ground.  You add to your existing soil, manure, or compost, and use fresh, quality container mix in a container.  And you wonder to yourself if you have moved the youngster out of doors too soon.  Every parent harbours the same doubt.  It looks so small and vulnerable out there.  You learn to have faith.  To trust your instincts. 

6. Nurture.  You water but don’t over water (again) and you wait (some more) as the fruits of your labour are weeks away.  You learn patience and check in with your tomato every day to see how she is doing.  You might even talk to your tomato (some people say this helps.  We can neither confirm nor deny).   Everyone who grows a tomato learns to listen as every plant sends messages.   Chances are your preschool kids will pick up on tomato messages before you do, as they still believe in the magic of the seed.

7.  You indulge.  By late July or early August, you harvest your first tomato.  You reflect on the words of Garrison Keillor, the Minnesotan storyteller who claimed that eating a fresh tomato is better than sex.  Not everything Keillor had to say was appropriate, but he was right about tomatoes.

What did your tomato growing experience really teach you? 

Well, remember the flat, hairy seed?  Remember the journey of uncertainty, when you never knew for sure what the outcome of your tomato growing adventure would bring?  This is life.  This is your life, reflected in a tomato.  Welcome home. 

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Five Ways to Multiply Your Garden Riches

Mark and Ben Cullen
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Five Ways to Multiply Your Garden Riches

RRSP season. Time to think of how you are going to invest for the new year. Looked at from an investment point of view, the wealth you possess in plant material is indeed capable of miraculous returns that are sure to beat inflation.
Here are 5 ways you can multiply your plant wealth:

Seeds: this is Mother Nature’s preferred method for multiplying her bounty and favoured by conservationists because sowing open pollinated seeds helps promote the greatest genetic biodiversity in your garden. Now is a good time to start thinking about and ordering seeds for annuals and tender perennials. Biennial and perennial seeds can be sown May or June and collected now from any seed heads you might have left standing for the winter. Shrub and tree seeds can be germinated in April.

Layering: create a new plant from the mother plant. Layer shrubs, berries, vines, and many tropical plants by partially burying a young branch of the plant beneath the soil. Score the bark where the branch contacts damp soil. There, it will develop new roots. When the young branch is rooted, cut if free from the mother plant, remove it from soil, roots and all and replant. Early spring is a good time to layer shrubs like viburnum, forsythia or dig up suckers from raspberries and common lilac. Mid-summer, layer strawberry runners and vines such as climbing hydrangea and Virginia creeper.

Division: Mathematicians go crazy when we ‘multiply’ by ‘dividing’. It is our garden, so we make up our own rules. Divide desirable plants by digging up your perennials, slice them into two or four pieces, and replant the roots. Ornamental grasses prefer early spring division, as do perennial aster, rudbeckia, echinacea and other native favourites. Wait until the soil is warm, in late May, to split your rhubarb and bulbous perennials such as daylilies and peonies.

Stem cuttings: Now is a good time to take hardwood cuttings. Cut a 20 to 40 cm branch below a leaf node (where the leave connects to the stem of the plant) using clean pruners straight across, making sure to take at least four leaf nodes. Strip all but two leaf nodes. Dip the cut end into rooting hormone, and then plant 2/3 deep into a container of 50:50 coarse sand and damp compost. Maintain a damp soil mix for 3 to 4 weeks until roots form and the cutting is ready for transplant. Note, tree cuttings can be more difficult to propagate than shrubs so be patient and persistent. Growing in a cold frame or greenhouse will improve your odds of success.

Root cuttings are best taken in early spring before your lilies, phlox, peonies, and iris break dormancy. Choose young roots about as thick as a pencil and cut them close to the crown or top of the root zone. Remove any fibrous roots and cut the end of the root section on an angle in 5 to 10 cm lengths. Insert the cuttings into a 50:50 mix of coarse sand and compost so the flat end is just below the surface, water lightly and place into a cold frame. Later in the spring you can repot to grow throughout the summer for planting next spring.

We recommend that you take more cuttings and start more seeds than you think you can use as some (many?) may not meet expectations. If you have a bumper crop, more for your friends and neighbours. Starting early yields the best results, which is why this is the best time of year to multiply your garden riches. Chances are the percentage returns will be better than any RRSP.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Simple Tips to Make Your Garden a Climate Change Solution

Mark and Ben Cullen
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Simple Tips to Make Your Garden a Climate Change Solution

Gardeners are very much aware of climate change.

The act of gardening draws our attention to it every day.

As Canadians march uneasily towards our 2030 deadline for carbon neutrality, land stewardship is becoming more central to the discussion. Gardening is land stewardship on an intimate scale. Farmers are like gardeners in this way. You are likely to see the term “regenerative agriculture” more frequently at the grocery store. We think this is a good idea as it reflects an approach to farming which encourages healthier soils where carbon is efficiently stored underground.

Here are some regenerative practices we recommend for your garden:

  • Minimum tillage, or “no-till”. Disturb the soil as little as possible. Some gardeners refer to this as “no-dig gardening”. The main benefit is that, when left in the hands of microscopic bacteria and mycorrhizae, soils develop complex structures that store and transport nutrients and water and that helps all plants, as well as microbial life in the soil. When tilled by plow, rototiller or hoe, these structures are torn apart leaving nutrients such as carbon to escape into the atmosphere. We recommend that you control weeds by mulching rather than cultivating and try to dig only enough to get your plants into the ground.
  • Cover cropping and inter-cropping are climate-friendly tactics that improve the fertility of your soil. They increase the time that your soils are “productive” photosynthesizing carbon out of the atmosphere, converting it to organic matter and sequestering the carbon into the soil for future crops. Cover crops also help minimize soil erosion, retain water, and minimize weeds and pests.
  • Mark sowed white clover and alyssum in his new orchard with great results including 100% elimination of weeds and dramatic soil quality improvement.
  • Avoid synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizer, including the kind gardeners use, are a massive contributor to climate change. The production of them demands a tremendous amount of natural gas and the application of nitrogen fertilizer is also known to produce N2O which is a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. N2O emissions have grown 30% in the last four decades, 87% of which was driven by agriculture (anthropocenemagazine.org/2020/10/the-fertilizer-solution-has-become-a-major-climate-problem/). Organic farmers have proven that you can maintain healthy soils without the use of synthetic fertilizers by cover cropping, composting, and crop rotation.
  • Plant perennial flowers such as native rudbeckias and echinacea in your flower garden to attract pollinators and consider perennial food crops such as berries and tree fruits. Perennial food crops are the backbone of “permaculture”, which is an aspect of regenerative agriculture that focuses on nurturing productive ecosystems with minimum disturbance. The ecological benefits are huge, as perennial plants develop deeper root systems which enhance soil health. Most often they are effective attractants to pollinators (another subject).
  • Compost makes a great alternative to synthetic fertilizers which can be produced using waste products in your own backyard. This avoids another stop for the diesel-spewing yard waste truck rolling down your street. A compost pile or bin will also decompose otherwise landfill-bound materials aerobically, which produces less methane – another dangerous greenhouse gas. One study found that food waste bound for compost produced only 14% of the greenhouse gas emissions as those bound for landfill (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200224-how-cutting-your-food-waste-can-help-the-climate). Soils rich in compost are capable of storing more carbon out of the atmosphere, as they contain more active soil life and healthier soil structure.

Climate change can feel overwhelming but taking direct action in your own garden is one way to make a positive contribution to the issue of our time while enjoying the vast personal benefits of gardening.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

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