Winter Care for Roses

I like to have my garden ‘put to bed’ for the winter by Nov. 1st each year. Roses need protection from
deep cold snaps so a little effort now will keep them safe and warm to thrive again next year. Begin by stripping all the leaves from the stems. If they were healthy leaves then add them to your compost pile. If they showed signs of black spot or mildew then discard them. Pick up all leaves that are underneath the plant as well to prevent potential fungal spores from overwintering in the ground. Next mound a mulch of straw, sawdust or bark mulch high enough to cover the graft. This acts as a blanket insulating the roots for roses planted in the ground. If you grow roses in containers, I recommend if possible moving the pots to a sheltered area in a corner with wind breaks around it. Then follow the same steps with leaf stripping and mulching. You can even wrap the pot in bubble wrap. This is a great way to winter protect many container plants. It’s inexpensive and gives that extra bit of warmth during winter cold snaps.

Bulb Beauties

Autumn blooming crocus (Colchicums) are here at Art Knapp Urban Garden and what stunning  bulbs they are! Planted in September and blooming soon after, colchicums bear gorgeous crocus-like blooms on slender stems. White, soft purple and pink-toned varieties are available with their foliage appearing just after they bloom. They are wonderful naturalizers and are very impressive as mass plantings. We even carry Saffron crocus bulbs for those chefs out there.

1. Pick up your bulbs at our store (I love Snow Crocus because when nothing seems
to want to grow in the winter, those little beauties start popping up in Jan/Feb)

2. Dig the hole. Place the bulbs inside with something to help with the roots. (I have falling head
over heels for Mychorrizae or Myke as we call it for short. This stuff is fantastic!)

3. Cover with soil and water. Let the bulbs do all the work! You'll have great colour
for spring and you barely had to lift a finger.

We just received our first shipment of bulbs this week... so start planning your spring colour  scheme now! 

Time to spring into fall... fall planting that is!

Well it's fall and so you say to yourself, "Self, you really missed the boat on  gardening this year! There were a lot of distractions: bad weather early on, gorgeous weather later on, the beach, the seawall, that camping trip. Oh  that camping trip!" All solid reasons not to spend time in the garden.

But wait! It's not too late! The second planting season is upon us. Most  perennials, as well as trees and shrubs, do better in the long run when  planted in the fall. In fall, you plants will go into warm soil and benefit  from high moisture levels which is ideal for root development. What's more, their roots will continue to develop for the most of the winter season down here on the south coast, and will be thoroughly established by the  following summer.

So you see, fall is by far the best time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials so spring into your fall planting today! Or even tomorrow.

Don't fear the Reaper!

Now is the time to plant your cool season crops and reap the benefits of our wonderfully temperate climate. Cool weather crops include both greens and crucifers (think broccoli & cabbage).

For your greens, think about spinach, arugula, swiss chard and kale. Also, lettuce is a great one to plant now as it is a speedy crop and can be harvested within weeks. You can either plant seedlings or sow seeds directly in the ground. It's just that easy! Radishes are super fast too, maturing in just 25 days! Mmm...

And finally come the crucifers: broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower. All autumn dinner table favourites that thrive in cooler temperatures.

So you see, summer may be over, but the harvest will continue for a long time yet. Whether you are planting fall seeds or seedlings, we have plants that will allow you to get our there and reap what ye have sown!

Save These Beauties!

Soon we will be ‘clearing’ out the garden in preparation for winter. Annuals that served us nicely
through the summer will soon be at the end of their life cycle and will be pulled out to make room
for fall color and spring flowering bulbs. Don’t be too quick to compost all your summer color! Some
of these beauties can be easily overwintered for enjoyment next summer. I’ve included these photos
of a Dragon Wing begonia and a Gartenmeister fuchsia that I kept over from last season. Last fall,
when I was emptying planters at the nursery, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out these two as they
were still blooming and looking great. I dug them out of the planters and shoved them in 2 gallon
pots. I cut the fuchsia back to roughly 5 inches tall and the begonia to 3 inches. Then I brought them
home for their winter accommodations in my attached garage. This is a perfect place to overwinter
tender plant material because it remains cool but is always above freezing. I watered sparingly over
the winter months (meaning once every 6 weeks or so) so they have just enough moisture to survive
during dormancy. In April I moved them out into my unheated greenhouse and began increasing their
waterings. Soon they were leafing out again and as you can see they were gorgeous this past summer.
Give this a try if you have an attached garage or other suitable cool space. The rewards are worth it!

The Colours of Fall

Fall is a season bursting with its own palette of beautiful color. Travel tours are organized around
autumn displays of color in eastern Canada and the United States. The blazing reds, bright yellows
and burnt oranges of shade trees and deciduous shrubs are poster worthy. You can have this too in
your own gardens with a little strategic planting and planning. This is the best time of year to wander
throughout nurseries and take note of different shrubs and trees with fall leaf color that appeals to you. Every garden should have at least one shade tree and a few shrubs that provide autumn interest.

October is the best month for planting nursery stock so I recommend getting out to the garden centre
and choosing from among the following for some of the best fall performers:

Shrubs
Fothergilla, Smokebush, Blueberry, Oakleaf hydrangea, Burning bush, Viburnum varieties

Shade Trees
Oxydendrum (Sourwood), Maples (Large leaf and Japanese), Stewartia, Dogwoods, Redbud, Katsura

Covering your garden bed

Benefits of using a Cover Crop
Cover crops, also known as green manures, are grown to improve and protect your garden beds. They are a natural way to suppress weed development in your soil by providing a little healthy competition for those unwanted intruders. Cover crops also reduce soil erosion and loss of nutrients leaching out of your soil because of the stabilizing effects of it’s root system.

Cover crops can also provide a home for beneficial insects such as ladybugs. Their root systems help loosen and aerate the soil, which improves rooting of future crops and promotes a healthy population of soil microbes. A variety of crops can be used such as field peas, fava beans, crimson clover, buckwheat, corn salad and fall rye. Each cover crop has specific benefits and care requirements.

How to Grow
A cover crop can be seeded anytime there is a bare area in the soil, however they are most commonly used in late summer or early fall when the vegetable crop has been harvested and the soil is bare. Another option is to sow cover crops around existing vegetables that are close to maturity, which allows for the cover crops to establish when the veggies are harvested.

To seed a cover crop simply broadcast the seed thickly over the soil and rake or till the seed to ensure good seed and soil contact. If the cover crop survives throughtout the winter, be sure to chop it up and till in into the ground to make sure it doesn’t grow too big. Wait two to four weeks after tilling-in a cover crop to start new seeds to allow for proper decomposition.

Different types of Cover Crops
Legumes, such as crimson clover, fava beans and winter field peas make an excellent cover crop because of they are nitrogen fixers. Legumes’ symbiotic relationship with soil microbes allow them to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and make it available to the plant, thus building up the nitrogen reserves in the soil.

Cover crops add an amazing amount of nitrogen to the soil. An acre of fava beans grown and worked into the soil is equivalent to using about 10 tons of manure.

Grasses, such as fall rye, can be planted in the fall and tilled the following spring. Grasses are not high in nitrogen but grow rapidly creating a living mulch that prevents weeds and produces lots of organic material.

Another non-traditional cover crop is Corn Salad. It’s winter hardiness and ease of tilling in the following spring make it an excellent candidate. You can also snack on the leaves in the winter.

Sowing a mixture of the leguminous and grassy-type cover crops will increase your coverage and provide nitrogen for the plants to come.