Oh it burns! The science of watering in full sun

"... hot gardening (sort of like hot yoga but even more strenuous!)" ~ Audrey

With multiple days of 30+ degree weather and unclouded sun, it was dry, dry, dry: I poured water onto my plants every chance I could get!  But I might have been doing more harm than good.

It was my father-in-law who actually brought it up with me, "Isn't it bad to water plants when they're in the sun?"  I knew a lot of it probably did evaporate so it wasn't great for water conservation, but was it bad for the plants?  To the internets! 

What I found: Science has caught up to what old wives have known for years - watering plants in full sun can burn their leaves!  In some cases at least. 

Researchers found smooth plant leaves were unscathed, while the fuzzy leaves' "... hairs can hold the water droplets in focus above the leaf's surface, acting as a magnifying glass."
And that's exactly what I saw in the garden: My poor tomatoes and potatoes have tiny burn-speckled leaves while my sunflowers and beans were fine. 

So from now on it's only watering in the morning* and avoiding the leaves for me.
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* More reasons why watering in the morning is better from Horticulture Magazine can be found here.

PSA:(That Rotten) Apple-Maggot

Almost every one of our speakers in the past 12 months has mentioned a rising pest in the city: The Apple Maggot.  One has gone so far to say he's not interested in growing apples because of the likelihood of infestation.

Adult Apple Maggot Fly from Planet Natural

So, what is a gardener who loves apples to do?

Planet Natural's "Apple Maggot", Rob Sproule's "Apple Maggots 101", and University of Minnesota's "Apple Maggot: IPM for home growers" all have plenty of information about this insect and have devised approaches to manage it by interrupting its life cycle.

Tips include:

1. Set up apple maggot traps right after bloom time - trap the adults before they lay eggs on the apple fruit

2. Clean up apples right when they fall and do not compost them - prevents the pupae from leaving the apples, overwintering, and becoming adults.

Do these and convince your neighbours to the same, and we'll all get fewer of these:

Apple Maggot in Apple from Planet Natural 

Easter Lily Rescue

Potted Easter Lilies have wilted and faded, and may have ended (pot and all) next to the garbage bin. It's a sad sight -- but you can come to its rescue!  


Photo by Wadester16

Easter Lilies are but Lilium longiflorum (a summer blooming lily originating from Japan) forced to flower in spring for Easter festivities.  The plant is sometimes ranked as only USDA zone 7*, but club member Deb confirmed last meeting they've been growing strong in her garden.  No need to dig out the bulbs to overwinter indoors: she mulches them heavily, has them in a sunny spot, and they return year after year!

So, what do you have to lose**?  The next time you have an Easter Lily past its prime or see one waiting for the binman: Rescue it! 

Here are some online resources to help you do just that:

• GardenGuides.com's Step-by-step instructions on transferring Easter Lilies from indoors to outdoors
• TheGardenHelper.com for care in the home and tips on growing outside in the garden

Do you have Easter Lilies in your garden? 

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* But also listed as zone 4 on OnlinePlantGuide.com.
** Caution: Easter Lilies are poisonous to cats. 

Dustin Bajer: Permaculture Connections

As Dustin Bajer addressed the group gathered at Bellevue Hall Wednesday, it was obvious he loved to teach and he was teaching something he loved.  The audience was engaged with his enthusiasm and energy, and it became very apparent his "rock bed" childhood in Barrhead was a very fitting beginning for a permaculture designer (and teacher, and beekeeping hobbyist...), for a rock is not "just a rock"

"What is permaculture? A hundred permaculturists in a room will have a hundred definitions -- and none of them would be wrong..." 

He addressed the fact that permaculture is more widely heard of now, but most people do not know what it means.  He spoke of his definition, (which included mimicking patterns of nature in design, looking at relationships and connections), and related principles (including caring for the land and returning things back to the system).  

Pictures of complex systems filled the screen, and he spoke of their web-like nature (Muir's Web) and how interconnected an organism (or element) can be.  Ultimately illustrating an organism is "better off together in a community than on its own" because even if one connection is broken, there are others supporting it.

The hour quickly ended and bled into the next.  Dustin shared photos of transforming his yard into a sustainable and highly productive garden (along with putting the image of him as a "lettuce fairy" into our minds), while also answering a great number of questions ranging from bee keeping to the garden he's worked on with Jasper High School students in their courtyard.

It was certainly a fun and educational night.

For those who missed out on the talk, below are some notes I made of the night.  For those who attended, what did I miss?  What was your greatest take away?

Thank you again Dustin for coming to speak with us -- we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Dustin Bajer with Highlands Garden Club members.

Resources mentioned and recommendations made:
- Fungi.com for Fungi for Healthy Gardens - Used to treat roots of plants or growth medium (straw / compost)
- Mushrooms of Western Canada - Lone Pine Publishing - Mushroom identification
- Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster - Create water cycle, use water more effectively
- Sustainable Food Edmonton - many resources (previously Community Garden Network)

Permaculture boils down to connections and relationships: 
- Care for the land and return to the system
- Meaningful connections - symbiotic relationships:
   - e.g. "Red Cap" mushrooms and popular tree - mushroom is more efficient at gathering water and helps the popular tree, which in turn feeds the mushroom by providing leaves and sugar sap
   - The link between bees and mushrooms (Paul Stamets)

* Better off together in a community than on its own

1. Connections make things more stable
2. More diversity is more manageable
3. More connections, the more sustainable.

"Great leaders align strengths so their weakness don't matter." ~ Peter Drucker (management guru)

- Ecological systems do the same 

- Muir web: A rock does "nothing" - but actually: provides a place to live on, live under, is a thermal mass that absorbs heat during the day and releases it in the night, buffers temperatures creating a micro-climate around it, will eventually erode and breakdown into the soil --> A side walk, a house is like a giant rock

Cycles are created in these systems 

- A forest during a drought looks better than a regular urban garden because of the cycles that are contained in the system (e.g. water remains in the system)

- If everything is cycled (more reused) we have multiple times more resources

- Parallel in economics: Cities are places that maximize connections

Jasper High School Urban Ag High 

- Vegetables from garden 

- Aquaponics to raise fish - which water is then used as garden fertilizer 

- Fish and vegetables used in culinary / home ec. courses

What about weeds?
- "You get the weeds your soil needs"
- Dandelions - if you wait long ehntough they'll actually imporve the sol so other things can grow there (tap roots goes through compacted soil, leaves organic matter)
Loose soil: chickweed

"YOUR GARDEN WANTS TO BE A FOREST!"
- Graph: Energy x Time
- Stored energy is high in a forest and low in a typical urban garden
- Energy to maintain is high in a typical urban garden and low in forest

Implementing a garden with permaculture principles in mind - (move closer to forest):
- Plant your water, before planting your garden
- Weeds are basically fast growing annuals - combat them by planting the same thing (e.g. lettuce) everywhere
- Weeping tile (with a stocking) to bring water directly from roofs into the garden
- No till gardening: a layer of leaves or straw, a layer of compost, then plant directly into compost
- Rhubarb under fruit trees - leaves and stems funnel water to the base of the tree

"City honey is the best honey...."

- Layers are a cross-section of the seasons (Mayday , lilacs, dandelion, apples...)

Seeds, Stories, and Signs of Spring - March's Meeting

"I saw a bee!"  

With business out of the way, club members were happily chatting about just everything and Erica's first bee sighting of the year was exciting. But we knew the other signs of spring with the warm weather were going to be trouble - sprouting bulbs and budding shrubs would get damaged when the snow came back!  Someone suggested moving whatever snow was left to cover them up and maybe trick them into staying dormant a little longer.

Seeds were also on the mind:

• Margaret told us about Seedy Saturday in Stony Plain on March 14th
• Lori was experimenting with milkweed seeds and mentioned she read they needed cold stratification.  Margaret suggested planting them in a pot outside and letting nature do it.    
• Erica had brought in some organic seed catalogues, including High Mowing which has organic seeds for edibles and flowers.  The consensus, however, was to wait until after Edmonton Seedy Sunday on the March 22nd to order.  

With a small prompt of "funny gardening stories" - a good portion of the night was spent laughing.  Stay tuned!  More will be put down in words and posted!









Lori: I got [compost] worms for Valentine's.
Janice: Nothing says love like worms. 
Margaret: They're red!  That's romantic.   

Highlights and Seed Starting 101

The winter edition of Highlights magazine is out with a Highlands Garden Club article: a whole page on garden planning and seed starting.  Of course, only the bare basics -- there are books and sites and whole sections of science devoted to both topics for a reason!  But sometimes, it can be easy to get modest / passable results. 

Looking for more resources or want better seed starting results?

Here are some of the good online resources I found while researching for the article:

• Seed Starting 101 - A downloadable ebook with photos and tips on basic seed starting including how to "harden" them for the outdoors
• "Seed Starting Chart" at OrganicGardening.com - Count back from our frost date (approximately May 7th) for each type of plant to determine when to start.  
• Seed Shelf Life - A chart from of some common vegetable seeds with their germination rates, average shelf life, and average days to germination

I also found some seeds are notoriously picky - an online search on "how to grow X from seed" will tell you if that plant needs something specific (e.g. light, cold stratification, temperatures over 20C...).

Below is an excerpt of the seed starting portion of the article, updated with more club member ideas and links.

Good luck and happy growing! 
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By starting seeds in this "pre-spring period", you get a jump start on the growing season, the satisfaction of growing them from the very start, and the ability to control what kinds of (if any) pesticides are used.  It also gives you a chance to have plants that might not be widely available or are more expensive in full grown form.

Here are some seed starting basics:

Step 1: Choose the right plants

- With our short growing season (The Old Farmer's Almanac has Edmonton's last and first frost dates pegged at May 7 and September 23 -- only 140 days!) choose plants that can use that extra boost.  
- One club member likes to start in February her parsley (long germination time) and petunias (slow growing).  

- Avoid plants with taproots, such as sunflowers and poppies, which don't like being transplanted and can be stunted by starting in a container. 

Step 2: Choose good seeds

- Seeds have a shelf life. A surprising number of seeds are no longer viable after one year even with special storage.  Use fresh seeds or seeds that have been packed for the current year to avoid disappointment. 

- Follow the packet instructions! 

Step 3: Choose a medium

- Various types of potting and growing soil mixes are available.  Many will work!  

- Another member likes to use coir pellets that are medium and container in one -- bio-degradable and easy!  

Step 4: Choose a container

- Almost any container with a drainage hole and the ability to hold the medium will work.  
- One of our members likes to raid the recycle bin for things such as takeout containers with a clear top.  The top helps keep moisture in while the seeds germinate and can be easily removed once spouting appears.

Step 5: Choose a location

- Most seeds like a moist (but not wet) soil and a warm place to germinate.  Consider putting them on top of the refrigerator during this period. 

- Once seeds have spouted, move them into an area with sunlight, such as a bright window.  Keep in mind this area might get cold so to prevent damage by keeping an eye on them and moving them as necessary.  

Books, Bulbs, and Plans -- February's Meeting

The wind was cold, but it was warm at the Highlands Community Hall!

The second Club meeting of the year had members planning events and sharing seed catalogues, library books on bees, and chocolate covered acai berries.

Business done, we talked gardening.  

Gisele was the lucky recipient of some tulip bulbs over Christmas, but what to do with them with the ground frozen solid?

We brainstormed some ideas including:
1. Force them to bloom inside (Yay, a bit of early spring indoors!)
2. Plant them in planters and store in the garage - prevents the bulbs from drying out and once spring comes, the whole planter can be brought out for display.


Margaret had brought the extras from the Club's fairy garden project and a number of "Growing and Using..." booklets (A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin) from Audrey.

If you're looking for something to do with chives (you probably have no trouble growing them), sage, tarragon or thyme, or how to make paper from scented geraniums - these are just thing for you!

Deb found there are two Seedy Sunday events in the area this year and shared their speaker schedules (click to enlarge schedule photo):

• 22-Mar-2015: Edmonton Seedy Sunday 2015 (Alberta Avenue Community Hall)

• 29-Mar-2015: Seedy Sunday in the Park (Salisbury Greenhouse, Sherwood Park)  

There are bee-friendly speakers at both: We just might have to go out together. 

Sweet or Sour Soil?

Blueberry leaves yellowing?  Hydrangea blooms not returning true to colour?  One possible reason for such woes might be soil pH.

Plants have different ideal conditions for growth and different ranges of comfort.

The Old Farmer's Almanac and West Virginia University lists over a hundred plants each indicating their optimal growth pH and is a probably a good place to start to see if your troubled plant likes sweet (alkaline / basic) or sour (acidic) soil.

Audrey shared as last night's meeting that she performed a simple pH test on her soil with vinegar and baking soda.  About Money "Frugal Living Expert" Erin Huffstetler outlines a similar test here, step-by-step.

While this DIY is nowhere as accurate or precise as a home kit or sending samples away to a lab, it may help eliminate one possible problem and/or point you in the right direction.

Now, how to adjust soil pH?  That's another story!