August, 2009
In This Issue:
Mark's Choice Product of the Month
How to Over-Seed Your Lawn
Tip for Growing Tomatoes
Responsibly Managed Lawns Reduce Carbon Footprint
Feast of Fields 2009
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“The best week of the year to view a garden is the first week of August.”
~ Len Cullen
My Dad Len was a passionate gardener…. My passion for Canada’s most popular pastime activity is a shadow of his. He would kiss evergreens. And literally hug trees. Routinely.
In his spare time, when many of his friends were heading for retirement he built a garden in Whitby Ontario that grew to become the largest tourist attraction between Toronto and Montreal. It was called Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village.
So when he said that the best time of the year to view a garden is the first week of August, I tended to listen. My experience tells me that he was right.
Personal reflection: England and the Hampton Court Flower Show.
I mentioned last month that I was planning on visiting the UK to see my daughter Heather who is working at 2 gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society. Our plan was to take in the Hampton Court Flower Show for the first two days and rent a car to tour great British gardens for a week.
We did and the trip surpassed all expectations.
(Heather at Kew Gardens.)
The Hampton Court Flower show impressed us both to the extent that we have been invited to make a special presentation of our experience this coming spring at Canada Blooms, in Toronto. Stay tuned for that!
(Tomatoes at Hampton Court Flower Show.)
Our visit to the famous White Garden of Sissinghurst was a highlight, as was the estate of Winston Churchill at Chartwell, where the extensive gardens were a very pleasant surprise.
On to the Cotswold’s where we toured Hidcote, home of the famous Hidcoate Lavendar that I have thriving in my garden in full bloom and the Garden Organic, Ryton gardens where we learned more about organic and micro biotic gardening than you can imagine.
We also managed to see the public gardens of Stratford Upon Avon (a must see for anyone interested in our own Communities in Bloom), the OxfordBotanical Gardens and some handsome private gardens. Details can be viewed and read about at www.ca.yahoo.lifestyle.com. Go to my archived July blogs for pics and stories.
I am always impressed beyond belief at the depth of the commitment that the British make to gardening. It is engrained in their culture to an extent that we can only strive for while dreaming of the many benefits.
I believe that the Brits are much more environmentally attuned and in touch with their natural surroundings generally than the rest of us. Their intense interest in gardening and their pedigree for it that extends generations: it is a passion that is hard to match anywhere else on earth.
Here are a couple of photos just to whet your appetite for a visit over the pond some day.
(Sweet peas.)
(A proud display of British flower expertise.)
A seasonal highlight.
Regular readers of my newsletter know that I consider hummingbirds to be the highlight of the garden. When they arrive I get all excited and guess what, they have been feeding in our garden for a few weeks now and there is no sign of them leaving any time soon. In fact there were two buzzing around yesterday, vying for the nectar of the same blossom at the same time. They are territorial creatures: fighting it out is in their genes.
Our front and back yards feature what I call ‘hummingbird and butterfly gardens’. No lawn here, as my goal in designing these gardens was to bring the action as close to the porch out front and the kitchen window out back as possible.
Right now the hummers favour our Monarda (Bee Balm) above all else. The perennial salvia, veronica (Speedwell), and even some of our roses are getting regular visits.
All of that changes quickly though. Next week they will be sucking nectar from the hosta flowers, which is reason enough to plant hostas in my opinion. The foliage is nice, the flowers the highlight.
So, while you are enjoying your garden in all of its glory this August, some things that you might consider doing, when you feel motivated to get off your behind and invest some labour in a great looking autumn garden. Because a great looking autumn garden is what you will get when cut back on aggressive growth and mulch your melons etc.:
 Cut back perennials that have finished flowering. Speedwell, delphiniums, day lilies, roses and even lupines and the like will often re-bloom in September when they are cut back aggressively early in August.
One last fertilizer application. I use a lot of Green Earth granular fertilizer in my garden, especially around the heavy feeders like roses and peonies. Early August is your last chance to feed your perennials, shrubs and trees before late autumn. The reason is that you do not want to force new growth late into the season that is soft and therefore susceptible to winter kill.
Prune your cedar hedge. Truth is, there is no bad time to prune a cedar hedge – but if you do it in August you will gain the benefit of the last flush of growth come late August and September.
Plant. Many of us forget, come mid summer, that this is a great time of year to plant trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials and even late season annuals. The #1 reason for doing it now may be this: the savings at your local retailer! A lot of stuff is on sale at a lot of places. Choose wisely – don’t buy junk.
Lawns.
Cut your lawn high. I have mentioned this before, but it is important to repeat: during the summer months cut your lawn at 2 ½ to 3 inches high. No shorter! Keep in mind that the ‘taller the grass blades the deeper the roots’ the deeper the roots the more drought tolerant they are. You will water less. You will also have a lot fewer lawn weeds to deal with as the young ones will be shaded out by the long grass blades.
If you have had lots of rain (as we have in Central Canada this summer) now is a great time to fertilize with Golfgreen: the best lawn fertilizer on the market. It is slow release, contains no harmful phosphates and it is made in Canada.
Sow grass seed. To thicken an established lawn or start a new one, this is your best bet. I recommend Golfgreen grass seed 99.9% weed free. Produced in Canada too. Sow grass seed in the 3 rd or 4 th week of the month to take advantage of heavy morning dew, shorter days and cool evening temperatures. This is when 90% of all sod growers sow their next crop of sod – makes sense that we do the same.
In the veggie garden:
Apply Green Earth Bordo mixture to all of your tomatoes. I cannot over emphasize this one for anyone that lives in parts of the country where you have experienced lots of rainfall this summer and cooler than normal temperatures. The copper that is in the Bordo will act to prevent ‘early blight’: the #1 scourge of tomatoes everywhere.
Pick your ripe veggies and fruit. It is a rule to live by: pick your beans/peas/raspberries/tomatoes etc. as they ripen and this will encourage new fruit to develop. Period end of story.
Fertilize your tomatoes. I use Green Earth granular 4-6-8 Tomato food. Tomatoes are heavy feeders.
Stake your tomatoes off of the ground – this will double your tomato crop. I use metal spiral stakes from Home Hardware (Mark’s Choice). They are expensive (about $7 each) but last a life time – and no tying!! Remove the tomato suckers early – before they rob the plant of fruit production potential.
Mulch your melons. Use a 10 inch/25 cm. layer of loose straw to insulate the soil from drying out too quickly and to minimize weeds. Squash, pumpkins and all other members of the cucurbit family benefit from the mulch treatment.
This month you will find an interesting story in the Toronto Star written by none other than Sonia Day. It is about my garden and the journey that we took 5 years ago in developing it. Plus a word or two about my new book The Canadian Garden Primer.
I don’t know the exact date for it’s publication but I know that it will appear the Saturday Homes section. Soon.
My blog keeps chugging along at www.ca.lifestyle.yahoo.com. I invite you to keep in touch on a weekly basis with me as I walk you through the gardening season with timely tips and reflections of a personal nature on my gardening experience. I promise not to go on too much about the hummingbirds. I am driving wife Mary crazy with sightings. I try to post some interesting pictures of our garden and other gardens that I have seen.
I am doing a ‘special edition’ of The Garden Show on radio CFRB 1010 in Toronto this holiday Monday, August 3 rd from 9 to 11 am. Join me! You can listen on the web at www.cfrb.com.
This fall is shaping up to be a busy one… I am slated to appear at Home Hardware Brockville and others – I will bring you up to date in my next newsletter.
Have a great August in the garden.
Keep your knees dirty,
Mark
Merchant of Beauty
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