GIY or, Grow It Yourself!

The latest gardening trend is GIY or, Grow It Yourself! Read about it on our new website at:

http://www.bertsbloomers.com/

Putting The "Green" Back Into Greenhouses

The horticulture industry is going green by leaps and bounds. The greenhouse industry has traditionally been one of the largest users of chemicals. Surprising, isn’t it? Now, after decades of producing bedding plants and nursery stock with the use of growth regulators, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and, disinfectants, the industry is beginning to see the light! Glory be! It took long enough!

In the mid 1990’s when I moved to chemical free growing methods in our retail and wholesale greenhouse operation, the so called experts of the time, told me I was crazy. They insisted that green plants of quality simply could not be grown without the use of chemicals. I didn’t listen to then. Instead I forged ahead with my dream of turning our operation into a chemical free establishment. And, eventually, we succeeded at growing all of our crops without harming the environment (see the article about this challenge under “Chemical Free” in the Petals, Plants, etc on the sidebar). We even switched to an organic based disinfectant to clean the greenhouses and benches.

A decade later, the horticultural industry has jumped on the band wagon and there is great excitement within the trade about green growing. And there should be. Any grower who is attempting to go chemical free will not have any easy time of it. There will be many set backs, many disappointments. But, in the end, they will be thrilled with the results and wonder why they didn’t switch sooner.

When I shop garden centres (I can’t grow everything I want to) I try to find one that advertises their chemical free growing environment. It is not easy finding a “green” retail garden centre. That’s about to change! The way the trades magazines are talking, within a decade, the chemically dependant growers will be a minority. Good news for everyone.

NIGHT LIGHTS

My apologies for the poor quality of this photo. It is my second miserable attempt at night time photography. You'd think with two professional photographers in the family, I'd have learned something from them and be able to do much better. May it's because I'm blonde?

LIGHTING UP THE GARDENS

On a summer’s evening, we enjoy sitting by the firepit in our back garden, talking quietly or listening to the night sounds of the village. The gardens are invisible in the dark, their fragrance the only hint of their existence. What a shame we cannot enjoy them at night. Or can we? Of course we can and it needn’t cost a lot of money! Grab those outdoor mini lights from the basement or attic. You are about to find a new use for them.

Our water garden is surrounded by rocks and plants and pots of plants. Were it not for the faint trickle of water and the vocalizing of the resident frogs, in the dark, we would not even know the garden was there. We illuminated the water garden with a string of mini lights (plugged into a GFI outlet) wound under, over, and between the plants and rocks, being careful to hide or disguise the wire. A few tealight holders hidden in the flower pots and lanterns on hooks complete the lighting project. The effect is a soft glow that bounces amazing shadows around the garden. It becomes almost magical and you half expect to see fairies flittering about.

Another string of mini lights is woven in different directions through the arbour leading to the herb garden. In the centre of the arbour I hung a candelier made from an old light fixture. The herb garden no longer hides in the night.

The other gardens have not been spared from my penchant for tealights. In the perennial garden, the birdbath reflects the orange flame of a candle floating on the water. Throughout the rest of the gardens, lanterns are hanging from varying heights. In amongst rocks are more tealights, some hidden in crevices, some behind the rocks. Container gardens, if there is room in the pot and no danger of damaging the plants, will also be accented at night with a tealight holder.

The patio is not immune from my tealight mania. On every table, in every potted plant tealights abound. Hanging from the roof is another candelier,. These all combine to lend a romantic atmosphere to an otherwise unspectacular area.

While tealights and lanterns do not provide bright light, the ambience they add to the night garden is incredible. The mini lights, while brighter, will when placed with the final effect in mind, offer the same subdued light. For additional lighting effects but more importantly to ward off mosquitoes, we light three citronella torches strategically placed around the perimeter of the seating area. Some claim the torches do not work for mosquito control, but our experience has been if we light them just before dusk, the number of mosquitoes that attempt to dine on us is greatly reduced.

NOTE: Since we are dealing with open flames, safety must always be considered ahead of esthetics. To that end the tealights are always placed in stable, non-flammable holders and away from combustible materials.

Is Gardening Headed For The Compost Pile?

Our water feature. Photo on the left is at the beginning of year two. Photo on the right is in June of year three.

Time + patience = great gardens!

As the Horticulture Industries struggle with declining sales, many articles are being written in the trade magazines to explain the changing face of the hobby of gardening.

The experts are blaming it on advancements in information technology and the speed the world operates at now. What they really mean is, gardening is too slow paced to hold the interest of generations X and Y for very long. They have learned to expect instant results and feel gardening should be no different. The Horticulture industry has responded as best they can by offering instant gardens in the form of larger annuals, perennials, mature container gardens and lower maintenance varieties of plants. The people of X and Y apparently have no interest in learning how to garden, but they do want nicely landscaped properties. And they want them now. They do not want to wait three to five years for the plants to mature.

The baby boomers are not blameless in the downward spiral of hobby gardening. As this generation ages, their physical health is declining and with it their ability to garden as much as they once did. They are more inclined to travel or play golf, than garden. As a result their landscapes have been downsized, houseplants dispensed with and the few vegetables they want to grow have been relegated to containers.

The grounds maintenance sector has really taken off as X and Y have little time or energy to care for their gardens and yards. Unfortunately, there has been an influx of unknowledgeable and inexperienced operators that are giving this sector a bad name. That is not helping the reputation of the horticulture industry as a whole. Add to that the influence of the big box stores (see Greenhouse Rant) and it is surprising that gardening survives at all.

It is not all doom and gloom though. What goes around comes around. There will come a time when once again, people will want to slow the world down a bit and experience the peace, learn the patience, hobby gardening brings. Until then, the horticulture industry professionals will run with the consumers as fast as they can, and as fast as Mother Nature allows.

The Three R's of Garden Decorating

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle has become the mantra of the twenty-first century. We all do our part, Some people take it to extremes, some do not do it enough, while most of us float the middle ground. When it comes to the garden, I have been known to take the three "R’s" to the extreme. Finding new uses for cast off items has become something of a hobby for me. Let me loose in a flea market and nothing is safe from spending the rest of its useful life in the garden. Even dumpsters, on occasion, have yielded treasures that end up as flower pots or outdoor art.

Rustic Victoriana best describes our back garden theme and it is here that my penchant for reusing found objects is most obvious. The wall of our shed is adorned with old, rusty, even broken, garden tools, homage to our professional lives. A couple of weathered advertising signs, pieces of farm implements, an old wash tub with the bottom rusted completely off, and a six pane window frame propped up against the wall complete the vignette. I have even made windchimes from rusty old plow points.

A wander through the gardens reveals more recycled objects. Two iron pulleys, one small, one not, peak through the foliage of plants. An old enamel cooking pot becomes a container garden every spring, likewise three water coolers from the 1950's. In the herb garden, a hose reel from years past is tucked in amongst the herbs. The fencing around this garden was donated by neighbours who were ready to throw it out until it occurred to them the crazy lady next door would probably take it. Water glasses have been reborn as tealight holders. Old light fixtures have been morphed into candeliers. The settee on our patio and the rattan chair on the front porch were both rescued from dumpsters. Why anyone would through out perfectly good furniture is beyond me when a bit of paint and fabric made them new again.
Even Mother Nature’s cast offs are not safe from our need to re-use and recycle. Branches have been transformed into twig furniture, gates, arbours and trellises. An old tree, sawn into logs is now garden edging.

By now, some of you probably have the picture of a junk yard in your minds. If you are into minimalism, our back garden probably is. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We view our garden as quaint, interesting and for the most part, tastefully accented. The real bonus comes from knowing we have done our part in reducing the amount of things that end would have ended up in the landfill site by reusing them as garden art.

Garden Trends

I hate trends. Probably because I am a control freak and dislike being told how I must decorate my home, how I must landscape my yard how, I must dress, how I must wear my hair. Hey, it’s my life, my home, my garden, so I will do what makes me happy and never mind the trends. Sometimes, a trendy concept does appeal to me, but more often, I go about doing my own thing.

Take our home for instance. It is a small, hundred year old red brick Victorian. To me, it would be a carnal sin to modernize it. I am not talking about updating the services, I am talking about ripping all the original woodwork out, knocking down walls, and making it look like a new-build. The same philosophy applies to the gardens here.

The exterior of the house still has its original gingerbread trim. The dentil fascias are intact as are the wood frame windows, concrete sills and wooden doors. For the life of me, I cannot imagine a modern landscaping full of gravel, rocks and grasses complimenting this house. To put trendy gardens around this house would be like dressing up a hundred year old woman in a mini skirt and four inch heels. Think about that – no matter how beautiful she is, it simply would not suit her.

When we moved here five years ago, the yard had two poplar trees, an apple tree and two rose bushes. The foundation plantings consisted of overgrown and unhealthy junipers that hid the porch and the dining room window. The junipers were dispensed with immediately. Since then, we have put in a front hedge plus eleven gardens, each with its own look but all complimenting each other and just as importantly, the house. We have managed to blend Victorian era favourites with modern plant finds and the result is an eclectic look that fits.

So, when the time comes to re-design your landscaping, keep in mind the age and style of your home. Never mind the trends, but rather, balance the old standards with new favourites. That will compliment, rather than detract from your home.