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%» l|/ t 11 Wednesday; May 13, 1998 COMMUNITY CALENDAR • LIFESTYLES • SPORTS • COMMUNITY CORRESPONDENCE • TV LISTINGS IN LIVING COLOR -- Dorothy and Jake Jacus have turned their Enniskillen church friends and neighbors was three weeks early this spring. She prefers peren- acrc into a small-scale paradise. When the couple bought the property five years niais and looks forward each season to seeing her crocuses, daffodils, tulips, ago, the yard was little more than a weed patch. Now, they have a gazebo, a but- peonies and lilies come up. All are programmed by nature to give her a steady pro- tcrfly garden, vegetable patch, goldfish pond and young fruit trees. Like most gar- cession of color. When one variety finishes, another is nearing its peak. "It's timed deners, Dorothy says she's never satisfied and this year plans to add even more so there is never an absence of color. It's a procession and there's never a bare tulips to her inventory of over 4,000 bulbs. Her annual backyard tulip festival for spot." -Photo by Lorraine Manfrcdo by Laura J. Richards Staff Writer / Amateur Gardener You've just bought a house and the property doesn't have anything growing on it but grass. Naturally, you have a vision of what it could look like. But, where do you start? Beginning with a blank lot is really not as hard as it sounds, because you will be creating your own landscaping landscaping dream. Just remember, it can't all be done in one year, unless you want to spend oodles of cash, and pay someone else to do all the work. Most of us would rather do it the hard way.. .a garden plot and flower bed at a time, with enough space in between to think about the next move. You will probably want to go out to buy some tools, like a good spade, a garden rake' (not a leaf rake, that comes later in the fall), a hoc and some small hand tools like a cultivator (we always called them claws down cast). Don't forget a good pair of leather gloves (Hint : Gloves to fit women's hands are harder to find, so if you find a couple of sets, buy them and hide a pair for future use). Those who arc really into gardening cither already know about these sites, or have found a lot more sites. For new surfers,, the best thing to do is go to your search engine (ie. Yahoo) and key in what you arc looking looking for. If you come across a site you like and think you will refer to time and time again, add it to your 'favourites' file. Like books, web sites come in handy, However, unlike books, web sites can offer garden chat rooms, and e-mail addresses for almost immediate help. i: I> Canadian Organic Growers http://www.gks.com/cog/ O Organic Gardener's Web http://www.gcocitics.com/RainForest/ 8810/ogweb.html • !> I Can Garden http://www.ICanGarden.com/ i:, r > Weekend Gardener http://www.chcstnut-sw.com/ O Organic Farming http://www.doitnow.com/~smd/agorg.ht in To plant anything, you will need to make yourself a bed. This is where the hard work comes in. Using your spade, peel , off the sod. Remember to shake the soil and earth worms from the sod back into the bed. Then, put the sod on your garden compost pile, which is different from your kitchen compost pile. If you are going to simply loosen up the soil, you may get a big surprise at harvest as root vegetables tend to do better in double-dug beds, (see note below.) Take a look at your soil and talk to neighbours to find out more about it. To make it rich and productive, it may need a mixture of peat moss, aged manure and compost. Or, try bone or blood meal. Do not put fresh manure on a garden patch. It will burn your plants. If you like, instead of putting manure straight into the soil, you could make what has been referred to as manure tea. (Yup, you put some manure into a bucket, add lots of water, stir it up and let it sit for about a day. Before you water the plot, be sure to stir up the brew.) Okay, ready to plant? Hopefully you have already been to the local nursery or you have been ambitious and have grown your own plants from seed, You have also taken the time to harden-off your plants to ensure that they will weather nicely. Remember that each type of plant, tree, shrub or seed, has its own recipe for soil. So, make sure you have the right stuff for each kind. There's nothing worse than getting getting the soil ready and having to change what you're going to put in a certain spot or have to run out for something. something. Also, keep in mind the light requirements of plants. You won't grow trophy-sized tomatoes or prize-winning roses in a shady yard. On the other hand, shade may not JUST ADD WATER -- The trench has been double-dug double-dug and manure added, with a touch of peat moss, 'flic bone meal has been sprinkled in the dibbled dibbled holes and now it's time to pop in the seed potatoes. potatoes. be a bad thing if you pick plants which like low-light conditions. Future light conditions are also important considerations when planting trees. The saplings that you plant today may be no bigger than toothpicks. But, when they turn into mighty maples or oaks, they'll transform your yard from a meadow to a forest. Okay, the seeds and plants are in. Now what? Well, for most of us, it is time to relax until the weeds begin to grow. Make sure you know the difference between what you planted and what you're about to pull...)therwise you will have a lovely garden of hardy plants that you did not plant. There arc plenty of books on the market and at the library to help you figure out what you're doing. There's also a lot of wonderful web sites to check out if you are hooked up to the internet. So, your cycle for the summer will be weeding, watering, watering, weeding, harvesting, watering, weeding, seeding, watering, and so on. Don't forget to do successive plantings of things like lettuce, radishes for fresh salads, and spinach. And, of course, take time to enjoy your gardens. Get out of the house, sit in your garden. Talk to the plants and play in the dirt. After all, what could be more relaxing after a stress- filled day at the office or with the kids? ABOUT DOUBLE-DIGGING-- First, pull the sod off the area where you will plant. Then, you take soil from a section of the bed -- about the depth of your spade -- and plunk it in your wheel barrow. Your next step is to loosen up the revealed soil, take out the rocks, tree roots, and so on, and go to the next section where you will dig up the first layer of soil, loosen and shovel it onto the section you just dug out and loosened up. At the end of the bed, you'll take the soil from the wheelbarrow and set in on top the final area you have loosened up. Double-digging takes more time, but your root vegetables vegetables will love it. And it's good for flowers and other vegetables vegetables too. Many books and magazines can be found locally at the Clarington Library branches in Bowmanvillc, Courticc, Newcastle and Orono and for sale at The Book Studio. Here arc a few titles that may pique your interest: Canadian Magazines: Plant & Garden Canadian Gardening From USA: Country Home: Country Garden Mother Earth News, The Original Country Magazine Inspiring books: The Art of Perennial Gardening: Creative Ways with Hardy Flowers by Patrick Lima. Lima gardens in Ontario's Bruce Peninsula, and this is an inspiring book for those who dream of a piece of paradise in their backyard. Gardening for Dummies by Michael MacCaskcy, of the National Gardening Magazine. Interest is in Perennials, Experts Say by Lorraine Manfredo Staff Writer With spring arriving so early, Clarington gardeners gardeners have ignored their calendars calendars and added colorful annuals to their flowerbeds weeks ahead of schedule. The result has been a premature run on pansies, petunias, marigolds and impatiens at a number of local garden centres. "We don't usually recommend recommend people plant before the May 24 weekend," weekend," says Pat Rckker of Rekkcr's Garden Gallery on Hwy. 2. Conventional wisdom says there's still a risk of frost. However, if you trust your Farmers' Almanac, it's considered safe to plant after the first full moon in May, and we've already had that, Pat notes. Perhaps the most obvious obvious trend this season is the quest for "the weird and wonderful" perennial, she says. "Gardeners aren't content to stick to the standards, standards, the Shasta daisies and hollyhocks," Pat notes. "They want something something different; they don't want to have what everybody everybody on their street has." Another technique catching on is "potscap- ing." Potted blooms can provide accent throughout a garden or along your patio or fence. This type of instant garden is especially ideal for hard-to-grow sections, Pat points out. For instance, potscaping may neip gardeners planting in shady corners or under a big tree. Folks like to create their own potted mixes of perennials and annuals, even herbs and ferns. Pots arc great for apartment-dwellers apartment-dwellers too, adds Phyllis Price of Price's Country Market. Try tomatoes or vibrant annuals annuals to jazz up your view from the balcony. Hanging baskets were in big demand over the Mother's Day weekend, says Phyllis. The preference preference seems to be for a combination of older varieties varieties and trailing plants. Diane Howarlh, of the B o w. m a n v i 1 I e Horticultural Society, says the English Garden style is still the most popular and many members arc moving moving toward a more wild look, cultivating native species. "They want varieties that are more tolerant of our climate -- flowers that arc going to last." Hardy species she likes arc the echinacea or purple cone flower and an all- but-forgotten oldie, blue veronicas. Most experts agree that general interest in perennials perennials is still high. That's a switch from the craze for annuals a lew years back. "In the 60's, almost everything was perennial," perennial," says Phyllis Price. "Now we're going back, mainly because people don't want to plant every year." However, don't be fooled into thinking a well-established perennial plot is completely carefree -- there's still weeding and thinning out the varieties varieties that lend to multiply, Price says. She figures the booming booming popularity of gardening gardening may be a healthy offshoot offshoot of 90's-cra stress levels. "Working the soil can help you forget your problems. problems. Gardening is good therapy."