February, 2010

In This Issue:

Mark's Choice Product of the Month

Where is Mark this Spring

Landscape Ontario.com - Green for Life

Get the Jump on Spring

Canada Blooms

Alaskan® Ice Melter

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The Beginning of the Beginning.

You know the feeling of planning for a big day so far in advance that you kick back and just kind of dream about it and then all of a sudden you realize that the big day is not that far off and you had better get your butt in gear and get serious about it? Well, that day is today.

I know that there is likely a lot of snow on the ground where you live right now and some of you are still in the deep Canadian freeze. We often forget that the piles of snow at the margins of our driveway will melt away in just a few short days. This may not happen tomorrow or the next day, but it WILL happen and when it does it behooves all of us gardeners to be prepared for it.

The usual cycle is: snow to water, water to ice, ice with snow on it, snow to ice and ice to water and then a big wind and then the sun and then you just want to be outside because hosing down the driveway feels like a trip to Florida.

On that first day of plus 15 °C with the sun shining down you open the door and shove the kids out of it and get yourself a cup of something hot and sit on the steps and watch them play. Maybe my kids are a little too old for this scenario as they have all moved out, but I will still do this only the kids are now the wild birds that I will sit on the step and watch play. And if it is late in the day it will not be something hot that I will be drinking….

All of this is to say that February is a wonderful month to be a gardener as we have SO much to look forward to and ‘the big day’ – which is really a ‘season’ - is really not that far away. For all Canadian gardeners, the truth is that we are over the hump and more than half way through our ‘time out’.

It is time to get serious about sowing seeds, starting the begonia tubers, sharpening our garden tools and getting serious about our winter reading and research.

February – last chance to kick back and research your best garden ever!

 Consider this:

• What worked in your garden last season that you were really pleased with?
• What are you going to repeat this year – annuals that you planted, vegetables that you want to re-sow, themes of plantings that you would repeat?
• What do you want to try that is new?
• Is there shade where you want sun?
• Is there sun where you want protection from it?
• Are some plants ‘taking over’ – remember that you are the plant manager –you are in control for as long as you wish to be. But you have to keep on top of pruning and dividing (perennials).
• Was there a garden that you saw last year that inspired you? If so, how? What are you going to do about it?

Some of my answers to the above questions, just to help you out:

• I am going to reapply cedar bark mulch to my entire path system first thing this spring.
• I am going to take out all of the evergreens (boxwood) that I planted 5 years ago that do not have a specific design purpose in my garden and I am going to donate them to a worthy cause.
• I am going to dig up and divide all of my hostas –which are also 5 years ‘in the ground’.
• My daughter Heather and I visited a remarkable garden last summer in England called ‘Garden Organic’ in Coventry (www.gardenorganic.org.uk/gardens/ryton.php) where I saw a wonderful stone bench with a wooden seat. I am going to build one of these in my veggie garden.

• I am going to build an arbour at the back of the garden where the sun beats down so much that no one goes there on a sunny summer day. This will draw visitors further afield.
• I will dig in a 6” X 6” post at just the right place so that I can sling a hammock. And I am determined to lie in it from time to time.

You get the idea?

This is what February is for.

Great News!!

I will be writing for the Toronto Star, Saturday edition!

Beginning Saturday, March 13 th I will have a regular column in the New Homes and Condos section of the Toronto Star.

Look for ‘Green Living’ by Mark Cullen and enjoy timely garden information that you can use (my mantra), tips, a question and answer (based on the Q & A’s that I receive at www.markcullen.com) plus garden events, current news and introductions to some great gardening characters.

If you do not live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) no worries – you will be able to access my new column on line at www.thestar.com and www.yourhome.ca.

Furthermore, my column will be syndicated, though we do not know where quite yet – details to follow.

More Great News!

Canada Blooms – the largest flower and garden festival in the country and second largest in North America is only a month away. Put March 17 to 21 on your calendar and plan on coming to our new, easier to access location at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place.

Parking is ample, costs less and will get you closer to the door than our previous location at the MTCC.

There are over 200 hours of educational speakers from 3 different stages, $9 million worth of plants/labour/materials in 17 feature gardens, the largest ‘juried’ flower competition in the Floral Hall, an expanded ‘Garden Marketplace’ and much much more.

Go to www.canadablooms.com for all of the details and look over the new ‘Gala party ticket’ – only $75 each this year – down from $200, mind you there is not a big dinner being served but that is hardly the point. You will have exclusive access to the feature gardens in a relaxed, fragrant setting. Ontario wine and finger food served. Entertainment. A great way to spend a late winter evening by any standards.

I am speaking with my buddy Denis Flanagan every day of the Show at 11:30 am from the Grey Power stage. Plus Heather and I are featured speakers on Friday at 1 p.m. as we take you on a one hour journey of some of the great gardens of Britain.

More details in the next newsletter.

Other Great News!

Podcasts on www.markcullen.com beginning March 3 rd.

Look for them – 15 to 20 minutes of intense, fast moving audio gardening tips, stories, interviews and Q & A’s…… I am excited about this!

So you see, there is a lot going on.

Enjoy your February – be sure to read the details of some other great events below and of course the product profile of the new Mark’s Choice 2-wheeled wheelbarrow.

Great to be in touch.

Thank you so much – keep your knees dirty.

Mark

Ps. Some people have complained that my Yahoo! blog is harder to find. They are right.

Here is what you do: go to www.Yahoo.ca and look for ‘lifestyle’ on the left column. Click on that. Scroll through the home page and look for a current Mark Cullen blog, called ‘The Garden Shed’ or go to the ‘blogs’ tab. You will find me.

Or

Follow the link on the homepage of www.markcullen.com which will take you directly to my blog each week.

I can promise you that I am there every week with a new gardening topic.

Talk soon,

Mark

Is Alaskan® Ice Melter Environmentally Friendly?

Alaskan Ice Melter is one of the most environmentally friendly ice melters on the market. As with many products the key to improving safety is to reduce the amount of product that is used.

The product most commonly used to melt snow and ice is rock salt. The main benefit of rock salt is its price; at pennies per kilogram it is by far the least expensive product available. However rock salt is a very inefficient ice melter; its poor melting characteristics and inconsistent particle size mean that a very large volume of material is required to melt snow and ice, and much of that material goes to waste without doing its job.

Alaskan Ice Melter was created to be a high performance ice melter that would out-perform not only rock salt, but also other products on the market, while reducing the amount of material needed. The key to this environmental benefit is its unique formulation:

Unique Formula

The synergistic blend used in Alaskan Ice Melter provides the optimum combination of speed, staying power and low melt temperature; this means that Alaskan will melt more ice than competitive products.

Alaskan is effective down to -32° C (-24°F). No other ice melter works to a colder temperature. Many ice melters will only work down to -12°C.

Alaskan is long lasting – some ice melter would have to be applied twice as often to melt as long as Alaskan.

Particle size

Every particle in the bag is effective at melting ice

Alaskan contains uniform, medium sized granules which bore through the ice and maximize brine formation without waste.

Rock salt and many potassium chloride products contain particles (as much as half the bag is some cases) that are too big or too small to melt ice effectively. This increases the volume of rock salt required and thus increases the amount of material being washed into sewers, rivers and lakes.

Colour

Alaskan’s TrueBlue ® environmentally safe inert marker is water soluble and will disappear quickly

TrueBlue makes applications easier and more accurate by clearly shows where the ice melter has been applied and in what quantity.

It also makes Alaskan safer for the environment by helping to avoid over-application

For more information on Alaskan Ice Melter, visit www.icemelter.ca

For more information, refer to Mark's best selling gardening books — or tune into CanadaAM every Friday morning at 8:45am on CTV. If you have a specific question, simply search Mark's Library at www.markcullen.com.

Read Mark's weekly blog on Yahoo! Canada.