Archive for March, 2010

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

“Plant Health Care” is a pro-active or best practices approach to developing and maintaining a healthy and productive garden.

The basic concepts of Plant Health Care are: 

1)                 Selecting the right plant for the right location. Choose plant material that is a ‘good fit’ for your garden. All plants have specific light, soil and water requirements.  Getting your plants off to a good start will prevent future headaches.   

2)                 Water deeply once a week. One to two inches of water per week is recommended if there is no rainfall.  Frequent and shallow watering is detrimental to the root system. Roots have ‘memory’ and will remain shallow unless you force them to search for water in the deeper layers of the soil.

3)                 Garden sanitation. Weed and remove spent flower heads regularly. Decaying plant tissue is a perfect medium for fungal spores, and weeds will compete for available water and nutrients.

4)                 Provide good air circulation.  Pests and diseases can spread like wildfire if plants are crowded together – allow your plants the space they deserve.

5)                 Correct Pruning. The removal of diseased, damaged or dead wood does not just improve the architectural form of the plant. Fungal diseases can establish themselves very easily in damaged wood, while wounds in bark and ragged branch cuts are prime real estate for insects to lay eggs.

6)                 Amend your soil. Add organic matter every season to your soil.  This will prevent compaction, regulate soil temperature and retain moisture in the root zone.

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

 Here are a few pictures I took at Canada Blooms 2010

Canada Blooms 2010 Oriole Landscaping Pond

 Oriole Landscaping, a high end Design Build firm in Toronto developed a feature garden with the theme ‘Immerse’.  The pool area replicates a concept used in environmental design called a Biopool – one which uses plants to filter and keep the water clean.  No chemicals required!

Canada Blooms 2010 Humber College Garden Arch

 This stone and wooden archway entices visitors to enter the feature garden for Humber College.  As always, Humber College won the Best Educational Display Garden again this year.  Our students always make us proud!  

Fungus Fantasy

ParkLane Ltd. advertised its feature garden as ‘Down to Earth’ – using mushrooms, edible crops and whimsical baskets of vegetables to create a vista of  ‘edible energy’. 

Canada Blooms 2010 Floral Competition

Every year numerous florists, hobbyist growers and garden clubs enter the floral competition at Canada Blooms in a myriad of categories – hoping to win a ribbon for that unique flower arrangement, flawless cut flower stem or perfectly grown plant. 

Canada Blooms 2010 Entrance to Humber College Garden

The stone and wood arch was built by the 2nd year landscape students at Humber College using Oaks composite stone (Castle Rok 2) and western red cedar strapping. It will grace an entrance to the Humber Arboretum after the show and be planted with climbing roses and clematis. 

Canada Blooms 2010 Edible Gardens

 Closeup of the ‘Down to Earth’ edible garden designed by Parklane Ltd. 

Canada Blooms 2010 Great Furniture

This high quality patio furniture is produced by the German manufacturer Dedon.  The funriture can be found under the Zofa Collection.

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

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Terrie Greco,  B.A.; HLT Dip.

Hello all of you passionate gardeners!  Well – my head is spinning after five days at Canada Blooms – the countries’ premiere garden show.  Where to start?  Along with some creative displays from landscape companies (the trend is toward environmentally sustainable products), the marketplace was a cornucopia of products to use and enjoy in the home and garden.  What caught my eye? Small test tube vases with colourful lids that could be attached to your fridge with a magnet for flowers or cuttings – cool!  I had a hard time deciding which organically produced heirloom seeds I should buy – I picked up seeds for the ‘Gold Nugget’ cherry tomato – one of the most flavorful, Genovese basil for pesto (the best variety)  and some Romano ‘Red Flamed’ beans – great steamed with a little olive oil, garlic and fresh tomato – yummy!  I can’t wait to get growing this spring.

 Another product of note was something called ‘The Aphid Chaser’ – round pheromone lures which disrupt the ecology of an aphid colony – that’s one family we shouldn’t mind breaking up!  They are supposed to be particularly good on roses (one of the favourite foods on the menu for the green peach aphid). 

 Of course, a Biofloris colleague came to check out new products – so watch for some great new additions to the product line the Web site ! 

 Looks like my spring is getting off to a good start…

Next week, I’ll post a few photos taken at Canada Blooms.

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Terrie Greco,  B.A.; HLT Dip.

 Using introduced plants instead of native plants is not wrong, it is a matter of preference. But gardeners should educate themselves and avoid the use of introduced plants with aggressive root systems, or plants that are prolific seeders. Plants such as Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus), Periwinkle (Vinca minor) and English Ivy (Hedera helix) are widely used non-native landscape plants that have escaped into waterways and forests and are crowding out native Canadian species.

Make gradual changes to your garden to increase native plant use. Ask yourself if some of your existing plants have not met your expectations – if you can think of a few right now – analyze why they don’t work.  If they are not thriving, then the choice is clear – select a native plant that is better suited to your garden environment!  If a plant does not meet your design objectives, then research native plants that can provide a more appropriate architectural form.  Avoid plants that are invasive or aggressive under any circumstances, and ensure that the plants are truly native. Accurate lists of native plants should come from a reputable source, such as a government agency, botanical garden or organizations dedicated to environmentally sound garden practices.  Here are a few great links:

http://nativeplants.evergreen.ca/

http://www.rbg.ca/cbcn/en/projects/invasives/i_list.html

http://nature.ca/discover/ntvplnts/ntvplnts_e.cfm

Native plant species will vary widely between ecoregions. The beauty of using native plants in your garden is that you will create a more natural habitat for indigenous wildlife, and have fewer ̏cultural̋ problems.

Attention all passionate gardeners! Canada Blooms, North America’s largest garden show opens its doors to the public from March 17^th to March 21^st in Toronto, Canada.  It’s well worth the trip to enjoy landscapes, floral displays, attend workshops and shop till you drop in the marketplace. The theme?  You guessed it – ‘Passions’. See you there! http://www.canadablooms.com/

Biofloris is pleased to announce its entirely revamped website just in time for spring! Here are a few of its many new features:

• Faster page loading
• Easy to find products organized by category
• History of your orders in the Customers’ section
• Order follow-up by emails including shipment tracking number
• A pest encyclopedia which allows you to readily identify, for example, what aphids look like and what harm they can do to your plants, along with tips as to how to get rid of them
• Customer surveys to give us your feedback

Now that winter is almost behind us and spring is in the air, make sure that you make the most of this time to make a ‘to-do’ list:

• Take stock of your garden tools and vow to replace or sharpen old or damaged tools
• Determine which trees and shrubs will require spring pruning
• Look through garden catalogues for new plant introductions
• Finally – take a deep breath and put a smile on your face – winter will soon be a distant memory!

Did you know that in addition to keeping an organic gardening blog, we are also on Facebook and Twitter?… not only to keep you informed of timely and valuable organic gardening information but also to allow us to hear back from you, our customer.  We also use Facebook and Twitter to tell you about our special promotional offers. 

Speaking of which, the first ten people who join us on Facebook or Twitter starting today will receive a 10% discount on their next biofloris.com purchase. We will notify you by email (Facebook) or direct tweet (Twitter) with your discount code if you are one of the lucky winners.

Check out our new website now by clicking here!  You can meet up with us on Facebook and Twitter by going directly from our home page.

 The Biofloris Team

By Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Great garden soil is more critical to overall plant health than anything else.  Soil is a living complex teeming with micro-organisms just ready to do their jobs.  A healthy soil can contain millions of beneficial bacteria, funguses, protozoa and nematodes – you get the picture. This complex food web is responsible for making nutrients more available to plants – and we all want healthy plants! How do we get and maintain a strong soil food web?  Adding organic amendments such as compost or manure is the key. Soil is composed of sand, silt and clay in various amounts – in other words – mineral components.  The addition of organic amendments pushes mineral soil particles apart to create pore spaces; increases moisture retention, encourages the growth of beneficial micro-organisms and helps transfer critical nutrients to root systems. If your soil is compacted, the roots have a tough time moving through the soil to access water. Adding soil amendments to your garden beds in the spring and fall creates an environment for your plants that encourages strong root systems, increased plant vigor, and reduces the incidence of pests and diseases.  Top dress flower beds with 1” to 2” of organic matter, or aim to have a ratio of 1/3 organic matter to 2/3 soil in shrub beds.

Remember – your plants can’t pick themselves up and walk away if they don’t like where they live – it’s up to you to provide a healthy environment – and it starts with your soil.

We are very excited to introduce Ms. Terrie Greco, who will be a regular guest writer to the Biofloris blog.  Ms. Greco is a horticulture instructor at Humber College in Toronto and an avid environmentally friendly gardener (brief bio below).

We are certain you will appreciate her expert gardening advice. Ms. Greco has asked that we strongly encourage you, our readers, to write and ask her questions.  We want to continue to engage in an ongoing organic gardening conversation with you and we hope you will keep those questions and emails coming.

Terrie Greco,  B.A.; HLT Dip.

Ms. Greco holds an Honours Diploma in Horticulture from Algonquin College and a B.A. in English from Carleton University.

Ms. Greco is a horticulture instructor and administrator with eighteen years of experience at both Humber College in Toronto, Canada and Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. One of her most recent accomplishments consisted of the coordination and organization of two horticulture pre-apprentice programs in the summers of 2008/09.

Her areas of expertise include:

• Plant Science, Botany
• Pest & Disease identification & management
• Plant Identification
• Horticultural Skills (practical and lecture)
• Turf Management
• Manage coop and job fair for students

Ms. Greco also owned and operated a Design/Build Landscape firm in the Ottawa, Canada area from 1988 to 2000.