Last week we took the opportunity to reintroduce ourselves, for the benefit of first time readers.  As promised in that blog, today we are posting a brief overview of the five most popular beneficial insects for your garden. The text was actually published last July on our blog site and we are reproducing parts of it here today:

“Introducing beneficial insects to the garden to keep insect pests in check is the best way to becoming more environmentally friendly.  Biofloris is committed to providing the highest quality beneficials for the garden as well as educational support for release and establishment in your garden.

Quick reminder:

• A predator in this context is an insect that catches and consumes other insects (prey). Please click here for more information on pest insects.
• A parasitizer in this context is an insect that inserts it’s own eggs into the larva or egg of another host and consumes the host internally

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs (Hippodamia convergens)

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs

Of all the beneficial insects around, the convergent Lady Bug is probably the most familiar to homeowners and children alike as a friend to your garden.  Both the larva and adult have a voracious appetite for many different species of aphids; so encouraging these pretty little beetles in the garden makes good sense. The only drawback is that it is often difficult to find them in local stores or garden centers…

Beneficial Nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae & Heterohabditis bacteriophora)

Beneficial nematodes

…to control various lawn grubs such as Japanese Beetle, June Beetle and European Chafer.  These microscopic worms are a powerful tool to grub control if released under the right conditions. …

Brown Lacewings (Hemerobius spp.)

Brown Lacewings

Unlike the more familiar green lacewings, brown lacewings are active at night.  They control numerous garden pests such as mites, leafhoppers, mealybugs, thrips and whitefly.

Parasitic Wasps (Trichogramma spp.)

Parasitic Wasps

This is one of the smallest parasitic wasps around, and the best thing about this wasp is that it parasitizes over 200 different spp. of moth and butterfly eggs before the larva emerge and damage plant foliage.

Praying Mantis (Mantis spp.)

Praying Mantis

A fascinating appearance and front legs that strike with lightening speed, these highly predacious insects feed on flies, moths, crickets and grasshoppers, to name just a few.  They generally are more easily established in gardens using organic practices…”

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/07/beneficial-insects-for-the-garden/

Next week, we’ll provide a brief reminder as to how to ensure proper application of beneficial insects in your garden.

Then, welcome!  The biofloris blog has been in existence for some two years now.  In case this is the first time you are reading it, today’s post is to tell you what it’s about, to “introduce ourselves”.

Biofloris Blog

In a nutshell

Environmentally friendly gardening is what this blog is mainly about. It is punctuated with a few recipes here and there, with garden pictures sent in by readers and with links to terrific articles. While most of our articles tend to be of the “how-to” variety, we like to think that our posts provide a nice blend of “personal experience” and useful information – in three languages: English, Spanish and French.

The Biofloris Blog seems to be the perfect medium for the kind of messages we are seeking to convey. “How can I get rid of those nasty bugs that are bothering me so much?” “What should I do so that my basil leaves don’t have all those holes?” A blog specializing in organic solutions to gardening problems helps spread the word: how to care for your garden without using chemical pesticides.

Pests Insects

After all, it hasn’t yet been that long since regulations prohibiting or limiting chemical pesticides were imposed (2007 for the province of Quebec in Canada for example). Our blog offers readers details to the advice provided by our web site, http://www.biofloris.com/ and by our pest encyclopedia. What’s more, and this is of undeniable value, the blog allows biofloris to gather and share comments and suggestions from our readers.

The kind of advice we provide

• Beneficial insects are an extremely efficient way of controlling and even getting rid of pest insects
• When used properly, non chemical, natural pesticides, such as neem oil or insecticidal soap, tend to be very effective
• It is important to properly assess the damages to plants in order to correctly identify which pest insect or which disease is causing the problem. This, in turn, allows to choose the most efficient solution more easily, i.e. pesticide product or beneficial insect, to remedy the problem.
• Different gardening problems occur at different times of year. Keeping a vigilant eye is key.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog in which we will provide an overview of beneficial insects to use in your garden.

Photos: http://www.biofloris.com/

Old Christmas Tree

The holidays are over and it’s always a little sad to get rid of our Christmas tree…

We are referring you to our blog of last year on the subject, which offers some ideas on how to recycle your tree.

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/01/how-to-recycle-a-christmas-tree/

If you can keep the tree in your garden, then bear in mind Marjorie Harris’ suggestions (which we already posted in December): “…don’t get rid of it after the season is over. Whack off branches and lean them against broad-leaf evergreens such as rhododendrons that are exposed to the burning March sun. They afford great protection and look good. And if you can saw up the trunk, place the chunks throughout the garden to provide habitats for insects in the spring”

http://marjorieharris.com/newsletter/2010/eletterDec2010.php

Rhododendrons in a Garden

Photo: Wikipedia

As usual, let us know if you have any further ideas or thoughts on the subject!

Photo: fotofrontera.com

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Hope all our Canadian readers had a lovely Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving most definitely means fall and fall means winter is next. Alas, it’s time to clean up the garden and tuck it in for the winter, for those of you living in colder climate zones like me.

Did you know that it’s better to prepare roses for the winter after a bit of frost? Read the list below carefully.

8 Important things to remember when putting the garden to bed for winter:

1. A clean garden is a garden with fewer pests & diseases
2. Compost as much as possible; it’s an environmentally friendly practice
3. Cut down those perennials. Cut back stems of herbaceous plants to about 3 inches. Remove annuals
4. Top dress the garden with some compost or manure; this will protect root systems and provide a boost of energy to newly emerging plants when the spring rains come (Top dressing simply means adding a layer of  2 to 3 inches of fresh compost or composted manure on top of your garden bed)
5. Don’t cut back your ornamental grasses until spring; enjoy them throughout the winter (they provide food for wildlife and visual design interest)
6. It’s too early to put the roses to bed right now-wait until the ground has a little frost! Just trim them a bit and continue to enjoy any blooms
7. Mew the lawn one more time before storing the lawn mower
8. It is better to cover your plants with winter protection a tad later than sooner! Overheating causes humidity and thus mould. Better wait until cold weather is here to stay

Once the work is all done, why not take advantage of this time of year to read books about gardening and perhaps even take a course in horticulture to perfect your skills? It is also a good time to pay more attention to your indoor plants.

Here are some pictures I like to share at this time of year:

Cleaning decorative pots and containers in the fall

Empty any decorative containers, clean thoroughly with soap and warm water (only plastics – do not use soap on clay containers) and store over the winter.

Roses

It’s still a little early to put your roses to bed – they’ll bloom right up until the end of October!  Enjoy…

Ornamental grasses

Ornamental Grasses will provide much needed interest in the winter…don’t cut them back until spring!

October leaves on the ground

Foliage on the ground.  Good for composting.

Leaves of a Japanese Lilac in the fall

Leaves of a Japanese Lilac in the fall. Such a nice scent in the spring! 

Hydrangea in October

Hydrangea (in the wind).  Wait to cut, simply because they are so beautiful. On the other hand, you can cut a few to make for a beautiful indoor bouquet.

Hydrangea in a vase

Hydrangea in a vase

Read the rest of this entry »

Flowering Tree Downtown Montreal

Happy Autumn to all our readers and other organic gardeners out there, from the biofloris.com team!

Already impatient for summer 2011?  Don’t be!  You’ve got plenty to keep you busy with planting those bulbs, cleaning up your garden for winter and planning your next gardening season carefully.

Our blog will keep you busy too, with up-coming posts about a variety of topics, from indoor plants, to Holiday recipes, and including pictures of gardens taken in places such as France and Mexico by some of our readers. 

Meanwhile, enjoy these pics of a typical urban garden, taken by one of our readers in Montreal, in Quebec (Canada).

Impatiens planted in a chair

Impatiens planted in a chair

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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/

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.