by Mark and Ben Cullen

We are in the business of cultivation.

It’s a business with many branches, and one of them involves us gathering information that we hone into advice and perspective to help you cultivate your horticultural ideas.

And right now, during winter down time, ideas are what gardeners are growing. Many of us find inspiration by reading about our favourite hobby and, in doing so, we run into words that are used in horticulture but are otherwise meaningless.

Here’s our short list of important horticultural terms that we hope will help as you germinate gardening ideas and plans.

Humus. Every gardener needs a sense of humus — see what we did there? Humus is, simply, finished compost. When your banana peel breaks down in your composter or in the garden, it becomes humus.

Humus is the organic foundation of great garden soil and a great garden is built on great soil.

Microbes/micro-organisms. A microbe is life that is too small to see with the naked eye. It is a microscopic organism, a tiny creature that could be bacteria or fungus. They exist among all animals and plant life.

Soil is alive with microbes: over four billion of them in a handful of healthy soil. A lack of microbes and microbial activity (think of them as frolicking around in the soil together) is a sign of poor soil health.

Granted, there are microbes that can do harm to humans, promoting disease and the like, but for the most part they are beneficial. Microbes and micro-organisms are the same thing.

Biodiversity. A combination of the words biologic and diverse, as in biologically diverse. It refers to “the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem” (Oxford Languages).

This is important in the garden; anything you do to promote biodiversity will be helpful to plant life and all the animal activity that supports it. This is a two-way arrangement. For instance, a mason bee visits a flower for nectar and pollen, the bee gains sustenance and the flower is fertilized and reproduces. The more you can promote this kind of activity in your garden, the greater the biodiversity you have.

We recommend that a pond or still water feature in your garden will have the greatest impact on biodiversity in your yard.

Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and the roots of plants, and it’s a relationship that creates better access to nutrients for each. Simple, right?

Well, in reality, the science of soil and plant life is just as complicated as the many factors and relationships that affect human health. But, straight up, high-functioning mycorrhiza is the pathway for nutrients to plant roots.

Think of the electricity in your home. You flick a switch and the lights come on. The electricity travels through a coated wire or a conduit from the source in your home, and from many points well beyond. The electricity is to your lights what mycorrhiza is to your plants.

NPK. These are the elemental symbols for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium — the three most common elements used by plants. There is a law in Canada that every package of fertilizer must list the NPK (not so in the U.S.). The reason is that these elements are so widely consumed by plant life that you, the consumer, are entitled to know which of them are in your plant or lawn food.

Nitrogen promotes green growth, phosphorous feeds roots, and potassium is an enabler that helps the other two do their work best. Or, as Ben was taught in agricultural school, “up, down, all around”. N = upwards growth, P = downwards growth and K = better overall plant performance.

Rhizosphere. If we imagine the world as a basketball, the layer that supports life would be shallower than the dimples on the ball. It is the rhizosphere, or life-giving layer around plants’ roots that sustains all growth — where the beneficial bacteria, mycorrhiza and all the good stuff that keeps plant roots happy exist.

With some useful words for your gardening vocabulary — like soil rich with humus — may you be ever more productive this new 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.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

A successful gardener is someone who has learned how to think like a plant.

Just like fishing: the person who always seems to catch their limit knows where the fish are and most importantly, knows what motivates them to take the bait. They think like a fish.

Your indoor plants are no different than your outdoor garden plants, except that we expect them to perform during winter: the shortest and driest days of the year.

With the sun at the lowest angle in the sky and the humidity in your home not likely higher than 20%, it is no wonder some plants protest by dropping leaves, flowers or appearing generally bedraggled.

Here is our primer for thinking like a plant during the toughest time of year to grow them:
Water. Resist the temptation to water indoor tropical plants until they need it. How do you know when that is? They will tell you. A spathiphyllum (peace lily) will droop its leaves when it is thirsty and ready for a drink. A poinsettia will also, as will most leafy foliage plants and flowering cyclamen.

Slightly droopy leaves are not a sign of neglect, they are a stomach growl: your plant is sending you a message that it is time for a good drink. Do not allow plants to stand in water that drains into the saucer below the pot for more than a couple of hours or you may risk over watering. Do not fertilize indoor plants at this time of year unless they are actively growing.

Some plants do not provide visible signs of thirst. Cactus, leathery leafed sansevieria (snake plant) and African violets require something else: the finger test. Push your finger into the soil about two or three centimetres deep. If the soil is not cool, then it is dry enough to water.

Light. Not only does the sun shine for only a brief time each day this time of year, the intensity is very low. The result is that many sun loving plants, like your tropical hibiscus and bougainvillea are in a state of mild shock. More accurately, they are semi-dormant. The result may be falling leaves, lack of flowering and no new growth. This is a time to let tropical plants dry more deeply than in summer when they are in full-on growth mode. It is helpful if you can add supplementary light, especially if you have high expectations for esthetic performance in a Canadian winter. Only grow lights really have an impact in this regard. Be sure to follow directions on the label that will suggest how close a light needs to be to your plants to have a positive impact.

It helps also to shift your expectations of your tropical plants this time of year. Nature did not design them to perform in a Canadian winter as well as they do during our growing season. Think of winter as a vacation period for plants, a time when they can rest and relax in preparation for an active growth cycle come late spring and summer.

Bugs. The dry air in our homes is an invitation to mealy bugs, aphids and the toughest of them all, red spider mites. Mealy bugs have the appearance of thin cotton batten, aphids are shaped like reverse light bulbs, the bulged end is their rear. Aphids are about the size of the head of a pin. Red spider mite is hard to spot but are mostly found on the underside of leaves. Hold a sheet of white paper under a plant and give it a light shake: if small red dots appear on the paper you have red spider mites.

The solutions to bug problems this time of year are many.

Mealy bugs can be wiped out using a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol.

Aphids and spider mites will be discouraged by a daily blast with a stream of tepid water from an atomizer.

We encourage you to experiment with different plants in different windows of your home. Soon enough you will know what works best for you and before you know it, you will be thinking like a plant.

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 has probably been a long time since you sat under a palm tree or took a whiff of jasmine flowering by the pool.

While you may miss dancing on the beach in the moonlight or the swim-up bar, the thing we miss about the tropics are the exotic plants. Besides, neither of us have been to a resort with a swim-up bar but do we miss the tropical plants we have come to know on annual family trips to Florida. A highlight of recent years has been the discovery of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota (https://selby.org/). Exotic plants delight while grandchildren or nieces/nephews play in the expansive children’s garden and outdoor tree “fort”, which is, in our opinion, the best of its kind in North America.

Leafy foliage plants like fig trees and pothos seem to be most popular for indoor growing this time of year but there are some terrific tropical flowers that flourish indoors. Here are a few of our recommendations:

Hibiscus

Tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) goes by a lot of names – Chinese hibiscus, China Rose, Hawaiian hibiscus and rose mallow. A variety that we like is ‘Ice Dancer’ which sounds like a racehorse and features purple-blue flowers that have bloomed reliably in Ben’s office window for four years. So far it has not raced anywhere.

Like most tropical plants, the dry air of our homes during winter is one of the biggest challenges for indoor tropicals. A soft mist daily of water benefits most houseplants including hibiscus.

A hibiscus will grow well in indirect sunlight, but it will never bloom. In a south-facing window, it will really impress. No amount of sunlight is too much.

When new growth appears fertilize using a plant food that has a high middle and third number, like 12-28-12. The first number represents nitrogen, which promotes green growth, phosphorous and potassium, the second and third numbers, help to promote roots and flowers.

In March, prune your hibiscus back by about one third.  In May, move it outside for some summer love.

Jasmine

Ever wondered what scent hangs over your dreams of tropical vacations? It is likely jasmine flower.

The small-white flowers of a jasmine plant can fill a room with fragrance and can be kept going through the winter with the right conditions. Jasmine prefer a sunny window with good air circulation. They prefer porous growing mediums such as bark or coir and should remain moist but not soggy. Like hibiscus, a high phosphorus fertilizer will encourage more blooms rather than green growth and an early spring pruning will help before you move it to an outdoor balcony for the summer.

Christmas Cactus

The perfect gift at this time of year, a Christmas cactus will happily flower in indirect light where most other tropicals prefer direct sunlight. If properly taken care of, a Christmas cactus will produce pink, red or white blooms at Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter (depending on variety) for decades. It is often considered an heirloom plant.

Easy to care for. Water only when dry. Pinch back or prune immediately after flowering by up to one-third.

With the floral tropics in your living room, you might find yourself wondering in 2021 why you ever bothered with airport security.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

Nature is waiting for your children.

After a year of entertaining and educating kids from home, adults are wondering how to engage youngsters in activities that have nothing to do with screens and computers.

We believe that there is a world of opportunity to engage kids in an experience with nature. Here are our top nature projects for kids:

• Bug hotel. 99 per cent of the bugs in your garden are beneficial. We need more of them. No matter what size garden or balcony you have, bug hotels are a great way to open young eyes to the natural world and introduce them to the “kingdom of rot” (our expression). A bug hotel is anything that will rot and attract bugs. Healthy soil, after all, is just organic matter that has rotted down. We recommend that you use straw, corn cobs, pinecones, tree branches, bark, duff material that you will find under any evergreen tree (rotting needles, seeds and cones) and hollow canes from raspberries, bamboo or any plant with hollow stems.

Create a “cage” using wire mesh to hold the materials in place and add solid blocks of wood with 3/8” holes drilled into them about 12 to 15 cm deep, for mason bees to lay their eggs and hatch next year.

Once completed, mount your insect hotel at least two metres off the ground, protected from prevailing north/west wind. And wait. Maybe for a year or two, for earwigs, hoverflies, ladybugs, and sow bugs to find your hotel and make a home there.

• Worm farm. Kids loves worms. Help them create a home for worms that allows them to view worms doing their work. As they move through the soil consuming organic matter, they leave nitrogen and microbe-rich worm castings (poop) behind. Worms are the foot soldiers of the garden. They never stop working, though they bury deep for winter and do not do much during the depth of cold mid season. They need to be cold so enjoy your worm farm indoors only for a week or so. Then release your worms back onto the soil.

Using a large, transparent pop bottle, cut the top off and drop 3 to 4-centimetre layers of soil and sand into the bottle. Place two or three worms from your garden onto each stratum of soil or sand and tape the top back on. Do not use the screw top as air is needed to keep the worms alive. Add moderate amounts of water, just enough to moisten the soil and sand but not enough to drown the worms.

Enjoy the view using a magnifying glass in the transparent bottle, as your pet worms travel through the various levels of soil and sand.

• Outdoor Art. All of us are looking for ways to say “Thanks” to front line health workers and first responders during the pandemic. Having the opportunity to paint a flowerpot or wooden sign allows kids to express their creativity and gratitude to frontline workers. In some places, we have seen messages painted on rocks, such as those in the photo, flanking a walkway in the conservation area near Stouffville. Rather than plucking them out of rivers, you can find river rocks at a landscape supplier. Use a paint that is waterproof.
  
• Forage a “floral” arrangement. Many perennials in our gardens and weeds in our public meadows produce seed heads that are interesting, especially when combined with red twig dogwood and evergreen boughs. Look around your neighbourhood and if you see something interesting that you can use to create a palette of wildness in a pot of soil, be sure to ask permission from the owner. Use your imagination and consider a display at your front door or your condo balcony.

Mother Nature has created a world of wonder for us. Indulge your child’s imagination and your own as we celebrate it.

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 herbs in your herb rack may be fraudulent.

“Food Fraud” happens when the food in the package is not what it says on the label. The UK Food Standards Agency estimates that roughly 10% of the food on supermarket shelves is adulterated and estimated costs to the global food system range from $10-50 billion per year. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency laid 52 charges for food fraud last year in Ontario alone.

A CBS report in the US found that half of the dried spices they had sent for analysis were proven to be adulterated in some way: corn added to turmeric, pepper added to nutmeg, and “unknown plant material” added to oregano.

Here in Canada, researchers the University of Guelph are working on a DNA-based approach to improve regulatory processes and make it easier to combat food fraud and help our country maintain our reputation for food integrity. With obvious risks to public health, the environment, and consumer confidence there is a lot of motivation to get to the root of the issue.

Many commonly used herbs are very simple to grow, and even tastier than the best product available at the stores. We recommend that you try growing some for yourself. Here are some of the best to start indoors now:

Oregano is easy to grow and easy to fake. Many different dried leaves can be crushed to look like oregano. Growing oregano is about as easy as putting the seed in well-drained soil and adding water. As a perennial crop, you can expect it to come back year after year, and it will spread. It is so aggressive that some gardeners prefer to grow it in a container, where it can be more easily controlled. Container grown oregano demands at least a 30 cm pot (12-inches) diameter as the plants like space. Oregano can be frozen or dried for year-round use.

• Preserving. The best way to freeze oregano is to wash and chop it into pieces about the size of a dime. Spread out on a few paper towels and allow to dry then put it into ice cube trays and add enough water to cover the contents, then freeze. The cubes can be transferred to a bag and kept for up to six months. Parsley can also be frozen this way.
  
• To dry oregano, arrange the cuttings on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the sheet in the oven for 1 to 4 hours around 150 degrees F, with the oven door cracked open. Drying times vary, so watch closely. Store in an airtight container, and crush when you’re ready to use. Parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, dill, and mint all lend themselves to this method of drying as well.

Garlic: if you don’t have it in the ground already, put it on your list to plant next fall. Plant your garlic cloves “pointy side up” in a well composted soil, and cover with mulch, such as straw. You can harvest the scapes (the pig-tale shaped flower buds) in July, and by mid-August you will have fully developed garlic bulbs for harvest. The bulbs store well on their own, but if you like garlic-powder, peel the garlic, cut them into thin slices and dry them in a pan in the oven at 150 degrees F, turning often. Once dried, grind in a mortar and pestle or blender and sift to separate the powder from the chunks. Both the powder and the chunks are flavourful and can be stored in airtight containers.

Paprika powder is made from bell or mild chili peppers that are dried and ground. You might have to search to find a Hungarian or Spanish pepper with an amount of heat that is agreeable to you but look for a thin-walled variety that can be easily ground. Seed catalogues provide this kind of information. Start the seeds indoors 8 weeks before planting time, so they are ready for transplant two weeks after last frost. Space the plants 12 inches apart in 3 foot rows, and choose an area with maximum sun and heat. They should be ready to harvest 85 days from transplant.

The easiest way to dry peppers is in a dehydrator, as they contain a lot of moisture. They can take up to a year to dry by hanging in a dry, well ventilated room. A coffee grinder or mortar and pestle will allow you to crush the dried peppers into paprika which will last for up to a year.

When you grow your own you can cook with a pinch of confidence, and a dash of your favourite flavours.