By Mark and Ben Cullen

In England, a Cottage Garden refers to an informal arrangement of plants, arranged densely for a big show of colour.  If you think of fairy tales, you might get the image. Not that of formal palace gardens, but that of working people. More Hansel and Gretel’s grandma’s house, and less of Cinderella’s castle.

In Canada, a cottage often refers to a second home that is tended to only part-time.  Our cottages tend to be north where the climate is harsh, and the soil poor. Forget about fussy flowerbeds and fulsome fruit crops. The Canadian cottage garden needs to be tough and low maintenance, but also beautiful to reflect our rugged landscape and the nature that brings us to cottage country.  We encourage readers who maintain a garden at their cottage to leave their urban sensibilities in the city. And we encourage readers in the city to consider bringing their cottage sensibilities back with them.

Here are our top tips for your Canadian Cottage Garden:

• Bring in soil. Lots. Whether your cottage is perched on the rocky shores of Georgian Bay or by a lake in the Kawarthas, odds are there is not a lot of topsoil. Do yourself a favour and bring in enough that you have at least 30 cm (12”) of the good stuff to dig into, rich with compost to feed your plants. Forget bags. You will likely find a bulk supplier in your nearest town for an adequate amount at a fair price.
  
• Stretch your soil with raised beds. Raised beds are perfect for cottage gardens because they are an efficient way to amend soil and warm up earlier in the spring. They are ultra low maintenance as they are subject to fewer weeds. For the same reasons, container gardening is also well-suited to the cottage. Consider repurposing available rock material to construct your raised beds and finding other salvaged materials to repurpose into containers. The informal feel of the cottage allows for this.
  
• Choose the right plants. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), New England aster (Aster novae-angliae), and Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) are cottage-country classics not just because they are flowering natives which support pollinators. They are rock-solid (pardon the pun) performers which will flower in a sunny garden even as you neglect them between weekend visits. Native grasses such as Fox Sedge and Big Blue Stem also perform well in tough conditions and give a breezy feel to your laid-back atmosphere.
  
• Plant a feature tree. Most Canadians recognize artist Tom Thomson’s Jack Pine painting. Trees are the living, breathing soul of Canadian cottage country that is known around the world. Consider sourcing seed locally to grow a native from a local genotype or talk to an arborist about something ideally suited to your site. Always make sure that you are planting native species that grow naturally in your area.
  
• Shrink the lawn. There are a lot of great reasons not to have a lawn at the cottage – maintenance being an obvious one. There is a much longer list of environmental reasons against the cottage lawn – they do no work to support biodiversity, they require irrigation to look good on thin, dry topsoil. The noise of a power mower contradicts the idea of cottage life and lawn fertilizer runoff is hazardous to delicate cottage-country ecosystems. Consider an Ecological Lawn seed mixture from the Ontario Seed Company which will do away with the hard-to-maintain and non-native Kentucky Bluegrass in place of a low-maintenance or flowering seed mix. These mixtures can require as little as one mowing per season and will surprise and delight you throughout the season with flowering perennials such as yarrow and white clover, without irrigation. The result is what we call the relaxed look, which works well at the cottage, after all.

Most of all, remember that you do not need to own a cottage to enjoy a Canadian cottage garden. We do not have cottages, but when Mark decided to sell the family home in Markham it did not stop the listing agent from advertising the property as “MUSKOKA RIGHT IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD”. We could all use a little Muskoka in our backyards.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

“Look up.  Look waaaayyy up” the Friendly Giant used to say at the opening of his CBC tv show.

Not bad advice for gardeners.  After all, real estate has shot up in value and every square foot of space in your yard suddenly equals (more) money in the bank. 

How to make the best use of your garden space?  The obvious answer is to grow vines, which produce shade, and flower vertically.  But what if your vines also produce food?  That would make you a real estate, investment, foody genius, right?

Here are our top eight picks of food producing vines:

1. Runner beans.  Ok, we hate eating them, but you cannot deny their ability to cover vertical space fast.  They produce an abundance of attractive red flowers, not to mention pollinators including bumblebees.  If you happen to like eating the long green bean, so much the better.  For added interest, look for purple podded stringless beans, which sound a bit more tempting to us.  Minimum 6 hours of sun.
2. Cucumbers.  Not all cucumbers climb, but most do.  Avoid the newer varieties that clump and are hybridized for use in containers or in a patio pot.  Mark grows his English long cucumbers over an A-frame in this veggie garden, but you can train them up a trellis just as easily.  The cucumber fruit hangs as you might imagine it in the hanging gardens of Babylon.  A crop fit for royalty, especially the burpless varieties: more civilized.  Requires full sun.
3. Squash.   Members of the cucumber family (or are cucumbers members of the squash family?).  Sow the seeds for autumn squash now in a sunny, hot position.  Give their roots lots of space, a square metre or so.  Enrich the soil with plenty of compost and give them support using a trellis or series of string attached to a wall or fence.  Be prepared to create a hammock for the heavy fruit when it matures, using thin fabric or a used bra otherwise the squash may fall off the vine prematurely. 
4. Gourds.  Italian gourds are quite edible while ornamental gourds are, well, ornamental.  Both climb up a wall, fence, or trellis nicely and produce a dramatic display of hanging fruit later in the season.  Grow from seed in a sunny position now.
5. Kiwi.  We mentioned these a couple weeks ago, as a novelty plant, but they are so easy and fast to grow that they make a great addition to both the fruit and ornamental garden.  Be sure to plant both male and female specimens as they need cross pollination to produce sweet fruit about the size of your thumb, from the knuckle up. 
6. Hops.  The flowers of hops are used to make a sleep-inducing tea or, of course, beer.  Either way, they grow fast and twine up most anything vertical.  A bit invasive, so keep their growth in check by pruning heavily or planting in a container.  Young leaves of hops can be steamed as a veggie dish.
7. Tomatoes.  Ever notice how we say “tomato vine” but grow them on a bush? There are varieties that grow vertically very nicely.  Look for indeterminate varieties.  Mark’s favourites are Brandy Wine, Sweet One Million (cherry) and Yellow Pear, all growing in his garden.  Tie them up securely as they become top heavy when they start to fruit in early August.  Lots of sun and heat.
8. Peas.  Garden peas need support to perform best so why not train them up a trellis, wall, or fence rather than in the middle of your garden? They benefit from the air that circulates around them while off the ground and they are much easier to pick.  Minimum 6 hours sun each day.

Come to think of it, all fruiting vines benefit from the additional exposure to the sun, the wind moving through their foliage and you benefit from the accessibility of fruit produced off the ground. Not to mention the most efficient use of your garden space. Genius.

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.

by Mark & Ben Cullen

“Garden variety” garden varieties are popular for good reason.  Reliable performers. Carrots with a long, sweet root.  What is not to like?

Then there are days when we just want to try a new dance, some new moves.  In gardening terminology that means growing unusual plants.  Can you relate? 

If you can, try these outside the box plants for a change this season:
Peanuts are legumes, in the pea family, but they grow like potatoes.  You plant the seed, an unroasted red-skin peanut.  Here in Canada, plants will produce mature peanuts in about 100 days.  That is a long season, but it can be done in a hot, sunny location.  And if you sow the seed within the next week or so. 

Mark grows peanuts every year, not to save money but for the novelty.   Once mature peanuts are dug and dried in the sun, they are roasted in the oven (350 Degrees for 20 minutes).   You have not likely tried anything like freshly dug and roasted peanuts.  Truthfully, they have little in common with the canned varieties. 

Peanuts produce glossy deep green foliage that looks good in a container and bright orange pea-like flowers mid summer.  Not many edible plants produce orange flowers.  Another bonus for the peanut club.

Kiwi.  The fruit that you purchase at the retailer has little in common with the winter hardy twining kiwi vine that we grow.  Hardy to zone 2 or north of Edmonton, Kiwi is easy to grow.  All you need is vertical support like a trellis or a tall post.  They grow fast, about two metres each season, are insect and disease resistant and produce the sweetest tasting grape-sized kiwi fruit late in summer.  The key is to plant a male and female plant.  Plant as many females as you like but at least one male to do the heavy lifting in the pollinating department.  The plants are labelled at the retailer.  Prefer sun but tolerate some shade.

Prune heavily each summer, twice, to keep your kiwis under control.

4 in 1 Apple trees.  You are short of space and you enjoy apples.  The answer may be to plant one tree with four different varieties grafted onto it.  You will harvest different varieties of apples at different times of the year.  In theory.  We have less enthusiasm for this idea than we do for our first two, but this can work.  The problem is that, over years, one variety inevitably dominates the tree and takes over.  The answer is to be diligent and prune the aggressor back hard each winter to allow the other grafted branches to mature and bear fruit.  When you find a four in one apple tree you will be given no choice as to the varieties featured on it.

The answer to that is to graft your favourites yourself, which is a bit tricky but can be done with some knowledge and good timing.

Baby Carrots.  There are true baby carrots, that is, carrots that do not grow over 8 or 10 cm long and are generally more sweet than larger carrots.  We recommend you sow the seed directly in your garden any time now.  Two popular varieties include Babette and Little Finger, both bred in France for the gourmet food market.  Sweet.

Do not confuse the real thing with carrot parts that have been shaved down to a standard five cm long orange carrot piece, sold in hermetically sealed bags at the grocers with a bit of water to keep them from dehydrating.  If your baby carrots do not have a green top, they likely are not the real thing.

There are other novelty plants that you can grow. Most are available at full-service garden retailers or as seeds online. Our list includes square tomatoes that will not roll off the table, popcorn, and myriad non-traditional vegetables and herbs. Novelty plants are just one more way to have fun in your garden this summer.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

Mother’s Day is the biggest flower giving occasion on the calendar.  We think it makes sense to ask the mothers in our lives what their favourite flower is and try to accommodate them on their special day.    

Not all, we have discovered, prefer cut flowers.  The good news is that this is the perfect time of year to buy many locally grown garden plants as well as fresh cut flowers. 

Here is our run down:

• Geraniums (pelargonium). Ben’s late grandma and Mark’s Mother-In-law, Jean loved geraniums, as we suspect most mothers do. There are some perennial native varieties, but we are referring to the bright annual type (pelargoniums) available in retailers now. Look for zonal varieties, that are propagated from cuttings rather than seed, for best garden performance. Geraniums require little maintenance other than some deadheading throughout the season. With a bit of work, you can overwinter them indoors. Hanging geraniums are outstanding in a north east or east exposure. The new varieties do not stop blooming all season long. Geraniums look great in a container, too, if Mom lives in a condo.
  
• Lilac. Ben’s Mom Mary (Mark’s wife) loves lilac best of all. This is a son’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card on Mother’s Day as they are in bloom or bud at the retailers now. Lilacs are generally easy to grow. All they need is a minimum 6 hours of daily sunshine and well-drained soil. For bonus points, offer to plant it in her yard so she can enjoy it for years to come. Our favourite species of lilac are the French Hybrids, for their outstanding fragrance. Our least favourite is the invasive Common lilac which will grow to a massive 7 metres high and wide if you let it. Quickly.
  
• Delphiniums. Mark’s late Mom, and Ben’s other grandma, preferred the tall spires of delphiniums. Connie loved them as they were in bloom everywhere on her wedding day, July 12, 1947. The dominant colour of this popular perennial is blue, but you can find red and white ones also. They are best replaced with new stock every three years as they tend to die out over time.

Not to be left out, are daughters and sisters. 

• Tulips.  Ben’s sister Emma, who lives in the U.K. and is surrounded by flowers most every month of the year, loves tulips best. 

There are still many tulips available as cut flowers this time of year and some retailers offer them in pots, pre-grown.  Once they finish blooming, your sister can plant them into her garden to bloom again next year.  A perennial gift. 

• Peonies. Ben and his wife Sam are in waiting to find out if Sam will be becoming a mother this week…or next…or the next. Due any day. 

Sam and Ben’s sister Lynn both love peonies.  Another bell ringer for Mother’s Day as the plant you buy now will bloom in two-to-three weeks.  They are fragrant, showy, and they cut well for use indoors.  What is not to love?  The ants that frequent the flower buds are a necessary part of their annual journey as they remove the natural sticky honeydew to allow the bud to open into full bloom.  They require minimum 6 hours sun and about a metre square of space.  Reliable repeat performers in the garden for many years.

• Anemone.  Ben’s third sister Heather is the only sibling named after a plant and no, her favourite plant is not heather.  She is most fond of anemone.  Pronounced a-nem-on-ee.  They feature brilliant bloom colour in red, blue and white this time of year.  Related to the wild buttercup, we are not entirely surprised by Heather’s pick.  She was the kid who would hold a buttercup flower to our chin to see if we were lying.  Anemones are her flower.  They are available at garden retailers now in full bloom in pots.

Mother’s Day is one of the best-timed of our annual holidays, with abundant blooms that can keep on giving all season for the mothers, sisters, wives and daughters we love.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

It is planting time.  The sun is getting stronger and the days longer.  You feel the urge to get outside and grow something, but what? And where?

If your space is limited or you just want to enhance an intimate outdoor space, chances are a container full of soil will fit the bill.

Here is what you need to know to produce the best container garden:

1. Drainage. Whether you are planting in a pot or an old boot, that water must go somewhere, and it is important that excess can escape. Most pots have drainage holes for excess water to drain through. Use a saucer to avoid staining your outdoor carpet or cedar deck. As water accumulates in the saucer, remove it so that the soil in the pot does not continue to absorb and cause root rot. An old leather boot will dry out, but a rubber boot will need holes drilled in the bottom.

2. Soil. Use good quality potting mix. Never use soil from your garden. It contains weed seeds and generally is too heavy for optimum plant performance in a container. There are many cheap potting mixes on the market – generally you will get what you pay for. Never plant in last year’s potting soil which can harbour fungus and insects. Put that in your garden or give it to someone with a garden where it will do no harm.

3. Volume. The larger the pot, window box, hanging basket or container, the better plants perform. There will be many attractive offers by retailers this month for eight- and ten-inch plastic hanging baskets full of colour. Many are greenhouse fresh, affordable specimens: eye candy that will be hard to resist. These are great for planting out in the garden or repotting into a larger container for an instant splash of colour. They are poor candidates for a summer-long season of performance in the original pot/basket due to a lack of soil volume. The best performing plants in hanging baskets are planted in containers 12 inches and larger. Also, the larger the container, the less frequent watering.

4. Not all pots are equal. Our list, from best to worst choices for plant performance: clay, wood, biodegradable coir or peat fiber, plastic, ceramic. The difference? Breathability. The ability of the container to respire moisture through its walls. Clay, wood, and natural fiber pots exchange the moisture they absorb from soil for oxygen. This constant exchange is good for plant root development. Plastic and ceramic can work fine, but they do not have this feature. If you are pulling last year’s pots or containers out of storage for use this season, be sure to give them a good scrub with a stiff brush and soapy water.

If they are wooden, check them for rot to determine if they will last one more season and stain them if necessary.

5. Do Not Leave Your Plants on the Rocks. There has been much written about the benefits of using broken clay pots or gravel at the bottom of a pot, covering the drainage hole. However, the Royal Horticultural Society in the U.K. recently determined that this additional drainage is not beneficial. More important are the drainage holes: make sure there are enough of them to allow water to move freely.

6. See the light. Remember that plants have light requirements. Whether they are in your garden or a container, consider how much sun a plant requires to perform at its best and keep in mind that the sun is strongest in the afternoon. A west facing balcony can literally cook a plant and dry it out before you get home from work at day’s end, where an east facing one, receiving the cool morning sun, is much more conducive to plant growth for many plants. A tuberous begonia will enjoy eastern exposure, while a zinnia or culinary herb will thrive in the west.

Piece by piece, pot by pot, containers are a great way to bring more gardening into your life.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

The first-time gardener might be apprehensive when it comes to vegetables and fruit. Where does one begin?

And yet, the desire to produce food from your condo balcony or backyard deck is enticing. After all, in the last year we have seen more interest in growing your own food than ever.

We suggest starting with the low hanging fruit (pardon the pun) and plant the easy to grow and sow plants that fit into the space that you have.

The most obvious starter plants are herbs.

Most herbs are easy to grow as they require little water or maintenance as they originate in the Mediterranean region where it is naturally hot and dry. It is no wonder that rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, borage, and sage, survive our neglect quite well. The enemy, if there is one, is too much TLC, namely overwatering and fertilizing.

Note that all herbs thrive in the sun. Mint, oregano and parsley tolerate less than a half day of sunshine, but also grow well in sunshine. The others need a minimum of 6 hours of sun per day to perform well. Generally, herbs do not demand a lot of room. A window box about 30 cm (12 inches) deep and wide and a metre (3 feet) long will provide enough space for up to five herb plants.

How to grow great herbs:

Use a standard potting soil mix with about 20 to 30% sand added to “open” it up and allow water to drain freely. Be sure that the container has drainage holes for the water to move through. A one-metre-long window box should have at least three drainage holes spaced evenly, about 3 cm in diameter.

It is not too late to start many fast-growing herbs from seed this time of year. Sow mint, oregano, basil, dill, and borage now. All others are best purchased as small plants, which you will keep indoors until the threat of frost has past, late in May, before planting out.

Aggressive and fast-growing herbs perform best when planted in single pots. Mint and oregano are two. Dill needs a large container about four litres in size, as it matures to over a metre high. Dill also self-sows with abandon so, when you see it germinating in your containers or garden, pull the small transplants or move them to another container.

Herbs are not hungry like many other plants. While we recommend you fertilize tomatoes with a good organic based plant food, not so with herbs.

Water is required only as the soil dries to about 3 cm deep. We recommend using the finger test by pushing your finger up to your second knuckle. If the soil feels damp or cool, skip the watering for now. Come July and August, the story is rather different when the heat hits home and most plants enter their fastest growth stage. Then, you will find that you are watering much more frequently.

Basil is an herb anomaly. A native of Asia and India, it requires more water than most and benefits from a regular application of mild fertilizer. We grow it in its own container, given its peculiar cultural habits and demands.

Be sure that you position all your herbs as near to your kitchen as possible as you will find your consumption of fresh herbs is in direct proportion to their accessibility.

Other crops for small spaces include leaf lettuce, mesclun mix, arugula, radishes, and peppers. While tomatoes are the most popular food plant Canadians grow, they require no less than two bushels of space at their roots per plant to perform well. A pepper plant will grow and produce an abundance of peppers in a four litre (one gallon) container. They are less demanding of water, fertilizer and do not need staking, as tomatoes do. Like tomatoes and most herbs, peppers do require a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight.

For the experienced gardener and the newbie, herbs and compact vegetables are easy to grow and really pack a punch-per-square foot of growing space.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

Pollinators are the great enablers. 

We need pollinator species to help us produce more than a third of the food we eat.  In the garden, we believe the percentage of plants that require native pollinators to produce a harvest is much higher.

Simply put, if a plant produces fruit of any kind, it requires pollination.  By “fruit” we do not mean just apples, peaches, pears, and plums: fruit as we normally define it.  We mean the fruit of a plant that first produces a flower and then a fruit that we eat.  Peppers, beans, peas, cucumbers, and all members of the squash family produce fruit for the table. Technically, they are vegetables, vs. tomatoes which are fruit.  Confusing, we know.

Fact is, if it produces a flower, it requires pollination. 

So, why not plant more plants that attract pollinators to maximize your harvest this season?   

There are many flowering plants that are excellent attractants to pollinating insects and hummingbirds that are also edible.

Here are our favourites:
1. Sunflowers.  While in bloom, you can count the bees on any given day on the happy face of the pollen rich sunflower.  A honeybee will visit a sunflower looking spotless, like their mother just gave them a scrub, and leave moments later covered in yellow dust: pollen.  While they forage, they pollinate the flower and enable it to produce a spin wheel full of sunflower seeds.  You can harvest these to roast and eat or leave them for the goldfinch and other small songbirds to feast on come late summer.

2. Borage. The nectar of this old European perennial herb produces a light and delicate honey.   It is a honeybee magnet.  Ben’s sister Heather manages seven beehives on Mark’s property, and we have been impressed by the huge number of honeybees that forage his borage (ha!).  It blooms for most of the summer and early fall so almost any fruiting food plant will benefit by the pollinating insects that it attracts to your garden.  The blue, star shaped flowers look great and make a wonderful garnish on a cucumber salad. 

4. Nasturtiums.  If you like the taste of pepper, you will love nasturtium flowers. Every part of the plant is edible, but the flowers take the cake and look good on the surface of the icing.  You might want to add some to a fish cake or a burger.  They are annual plants that grow best sown directly in the garden in May.  Buy your seed now as the demand for garden seeds during the pandemic is unprecedented.

5. Mint.  Arguably the easiest plant to grow in the universe.  A small transplant purchased this time of year will spread and grow aggressively over the summer.  Plant mint where you can hem it in, using a container or an isolated garden bed.  Tolerates some shade but loves the sun.  The purple flowers of nepeta, or cat mint, which are members of the mint family, not only look great, attract pollinators, and make most cats a little crazy, it is edible.  Make some tea with any mint.  Our favourite is spearmint. 

6. Cucumbers, squash, peas, beans, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers.  Notice that all of these are common garden variety vegetables and fruits.  When you plant any food plant that produces a flower, it will attract pollinating insects that will not only help to fertilize the flowers of the host plant but other plants in your garden also.  Sometimes we overlook the most obvious! 

Echinacea, Purple Cone Flower, is another edible flowering plant.  The roots are used to boost the human immune system.

Rudbeckia, Black Eyed Susan, is another edible flowering plant though it is not highly rated.  We rate it highly as a pollinating plant.  The blooms last up to 10 weeks and that is hard to beat.

The benefits of the pollinating plants in your garden are not yours exclusively. Insects, hummingbirds, and other pollinating critters do not regard fences or property lines. Every flower produced on your plants adds value to the pollinating corridor in your neighbourhood.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

What spring season was more anticipated than this one?  Perhaps in 1919, during the last pandemic, when people were sequestered in their homes for the winter.  Sound familiar?
It has likely been over a hundred years since we last approached the season of renewal, spring, with such enthusiasm.

Thus, our opportunity to squeeze much more gardening from the month of April than you likely realize.  By “squeeze” we mean enjoy, well before what has traditionally been the start of the gardening season in May.

Sow and Grow

Start vegetable and flowers seeds indoors now. Just about all the seeds that you bought a month ago, when we urged you to acquire your supply early due to unprecedented demand (you did that, right? If not, make that job #1 now), can be sown now.  Frost tender flowers like marigolds, alyssum, zinnias, cosmos and a host more should be started in the next couple of weeks either under grow lights or in a sunny window.  Same with tubers of dahlias and tuberous begonias. 

There are many opportunities to sow crops directly in your garden.  Onions by seed and bulb, carrots, beets, kale, radishes, Swiss chard and peas can be sown now.  Prepare the soil by turning it with a garden fork or spade once, bang the clumps out of it and add lots of compost.  For root crops, add generous quantities of sharp (sand box) sand at least 30 cm deep to open the soil up and improve drainage.

Wait a few more weeks for flowers that are cold hardy, as we do expect frost for the next 6 weeks in the GTA (zone 6 and north of Highway 7, zone 5).   Sow calendula (pot marigold), dusty miller and alyssum outdoors any time from April 15 onwards.

Plant.  While we wait in great anticipation of the Japanese Cherry blossom show in High Park, with fingers crossed that we will be allowed to access this magnificent display this year, we remind you that all woody, winter hardy plants are good to go for April planting. 

If the plant is dormant and leafless when you buy it you know that it is in its natural state, versus forced in a greenhouse.  It is important to know the difference.  A plant that is in full leaf is soft and susceptible to frost damage.   A dormant tree, shrub or rose plant is naturally protected from temperatures below 0 Celsius. It might not be as attractive, but it will transplant more easily.    

Perennial divisions from your own garden or that of a friend or neighbour, can be planted now.  Again, if you are shopping for perennials and they have soft green foliage or flowers, it is best not to plant them yet as the new growth is frost tender.  But a dormant hosta or rhubarb root is safe.  This is the perfect time of year to move most herbaceous perennials around your yard or divide the mature ones and give away the divisions. 

Prune fruit trees.  Apples, peaches, plums, cherries: most fruit trees respond best to an early spring pruning.  Open up the crown of a maturing fruit tree by removing the tangle of branches in the middle and allow the sun and wind to filter through the crown of the tree.  This will maximize the fruit bearing potential.  The fruit that you harvest will be larger, on average, with pruning.  Most hobby gardeners are too shy about pruning fruit trees. 

As a rule of thumb, we remove up to one third of the growth, concentrating on the upright growing water sprouts and the criss-crossing branches in the interior of the tree.  A great website for more information about fruit trees is https://orchardpeople.com/.  

Perennial food plants.  Asparagus, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and the like, are best planted in April, while they are dormant.  Buy strawberry plants as one year old roots and plant in compost-rich soil about 30 cm apart.

Raspberries are usually sold as rooted cuttings, about 30 cm high.  Plant them out about 50 cm apart.

It is early April. You can grow now.

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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

As a father-son team, we both tend to tear into things.

We are not reckless, just action oriented.  Indeed, spontaneity can be fun.

However, action orientation has costs, particularly where vegetable growing is concerned. We have lost count of the number of times we have had too many transplants for allotted space, or not nearly enough.  Or we have overlooked adding one of our favourite food plants at planting time.   

The best way to avoid disappointment is to create a plan – and there’s still time.  Here is how:

• Start on paper. A computer software program could work, but gardening should be an excuse to step away from the computer.  Start with a pencil and paper. Decide on what scale makes sense – grid paper is useful, using one square to represent one square foot or 1/3 of a metre if your garden is reasonably geometric. If your garden is more organically shaped, then lean into your artistic abilities.
• Draw a timeline. With your map in front of you, you will need a calendar to plan the timeline for garden planting. Time is as important as space, so it is important to consider both as you go.  For instance, in April, plan on sowing directly into the garden carrots, peas, lettuce, mesclun mix, beets and onions. 
• Early in May, when some frost can still be expected, plant out transplants of kale, leeks, cabbage and Swiss chard.   Write in your calendar.
• The Plan.  Space is scarcer than time in most gardens. Let your plan guide you and make notes on the timeline as you go. If you do not already have perennial food crops established, we encourage you to start your rhubarb patch and a trench of asparagus (asparagus is planted in a 30 cm deep trench and back filled with quality soil as the plants mature over six to eight weeks).  Start asparagus as one year old roots rather than by seed, which are finnicky and take longer to establish.  A planting of 20 asparagus roots requires a row about two metres wide and three metres long.
•  A single rhubarb plant will require a square meter. Rhubarb is best divided from an established plant.  Ask friends and family for a slice of theirs. Transplant the root before they leaf out.  Colour these in on the map – red for rhubarb, green for asparagus – and make a legend or simply write them in.
• Look at the whitespace on your map, space where you have an opportunity to plant something different or unexpected.  Take time to imagine what you want to see there. This is a dreaming exercise, so do not think too hard.
• Remember that the rule of the new generation of gardeners is that there are no rules.  Mix up ornamental plants with your edibles as you please. After all, you are only trying to please yourself.
• Almanac or Seed Catalogue. When you have an image of the garden you wish to plant, browse through the Harrowsmith (all Canadian) almanac and seed catalogues. You will find information to populate your plan and timeline – required spacing and days to maturity.
• A vegetable garden plan includes important information:
  • Find the crop you want to grow and how much space it will require.
  • Fill that space on your plan.
  • Look for “days to maturity”, a reference of days to harvest from seeding.  Work back from harvest to mark the planting date on your timeline. Most crops benefit from succession planting – so start with the earliest planting date and add another sowing or planting every two weeks until final harvest.
  • Cycle through the plan, your imagination, seed catalogues, almanac, and your timeline, keep going until your plan is fully populated.  Remember that the plan is meant to change, it is just a guide to help you maximize the use and productivity of your garden space. 

Step back and appreciate the work of art you have already created, without even putting a trowel into the soil. With your plan and timeline at hand, there is no way you can go astray creating a gardening masterpiece in 2021.  

Keep in mind that a little impulsiveness can add to the fun.

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.