Calgary Garden Coach

the Adventure Garden - exposed!

Here is the right-hand side of my "Adventure Garden", so called because I purposely put in multiple pathways so my kids could run around and get into the garden.  This side of the garden has had several years to mature and is looking pretty good - irises, tulips, iceland poppies and cherries are blooming right now.  However...

... this is the view I rarely show!  At the top left of this picture is where there used to be 2 spruce trees (taken down this past winter.)  I've really struggled to get anything to grow on the left side of this garden.  As you can see, the *bleeping* iceland poppies (we have a love-hate relationship) have taken advantage of this and seeded themselves everywhere, and the poor perennials I have put in have just never been able to thrive thanks to the shade and dryness from the spruce trees.

That is all about to change!  I have put a new lilac and 3 new roses across the back of this hill, to provide a backdrop of green, and now I have a wonderful view of the back-neighbour's flowering crabapple!  I am hoping over the next few seasons that the left side of this garden will start to look as good as the right.  Stay tuned!

To see this garden at other times of the year, click here and scroll down.

the front Welcome Garden - early stages

Starting last spring, I have been doing a major re-do of the front Welcome Garden.  After Sue's advice ("you need more green"), I have added a bunch of Calgary Carpet junipers to this area, which will eventually fill in and provide a low maintenance groundcover out here (I'm cheap, I buy small plants!)  As they grow, I will gradually phase out some other plants that don't go with the new colour scheme, and move them to the other areas of the yard (the front Entry garden has lots of space!)  I am really excited about this idea because it will make the garden closer to the street more low maintenance, and bring more of the flowering plants up closer to the house where I can enjoy them from inside as well as outside!

To see how this garden has evolved over time, click here and scroll down.

back Shade Garden in May

Above you will see my bergenia patch - actually a little bigger than it needs to be but it's so darn low-maintenance and showy that I can't quite bear to dig any parts of it up!  This garden area gets late afternoon sun.  It also has:

• Leopard's bane's yellow daisy-shaped blooms on the left,
• feather reed grass (calamagrostis) Karl Foerster grass in the bottom corner, 
• tufted hair grass (deschampsia cespitosa) above the bird bath.

Note that the bare spot in the top right is due to (another) spruce tree having been removed this last winter!  The bareness will be rectified soon as I have planted two lilacs up there instead.

To see this garden area at other times of the year, click here.

front Shade Garden in May

This garden area is finally starting to fill in, after struggling along in the shade of a spruce tree for many years (one spruce has been removed, but another is still nearby so this spot gets only very early morning sun.)  Above you will see:

• epimedium rubra finishing blooming, but I still love it for the reddish leaves,
• leopard's bane blooming its sunny little head off,
• bleeding heart just starting to bloom (it may be way ahead in your garden, but remember, mine is in deep shade),
• shrub ninebark 'Coppertina' in the background (new last year so is still quite small),
• and of course, tulips.

To see this garden at other times of the year, click here.

favourite plant for May in Calgary: bergenia cordifolia

I can't let May go by without posting about my favourite plant of the month - bergenia!  This is one tough, beautiful plant.  It was one of the few perennials left growing in the neglected, overgrown garden I inherited when I moved into my current house - and that says a lot!  Also, it

• grows in sun or shade (although it wouldn't appreciate a baking hot spot),
• is a low maintenance ground cover (I've never had to weed my bergenia patch),
• greens up early in spring and turns reddish in fall, 
• has large, fleshy, paddle-shaped leaves that provide textural contrast with almost any other plant (try it with ornamental grasses!),
• and of course, has showy blooms in May.

If you've been thinking that you've needed something to give your garden a little oomph at this time of year, but want a low maintenance plant, try bergenia!

P.S. I have one friend who thinks the flowers are incredibly gaudy (hello Michael, are you reading this?)  Personally, that's what I appreciate at this time of year!  But I told him to keep the plant for the texture, and cut the flowers for bouquets for his wife since the flowers do well in vases, too!

swamped!

If you've sent me an email in the last few days, I promise to reply in the next few days!

tulips, iceland poppies and bergenia in the Adventure Garden

daffodil and grape hyacinths in the front Entry Garden

epimedium rubrum and siberian squill in the dry, front Shade Garden

the front entry garden in progress

It ain't a pretty picture, but I thought I should at least show you what I've been up to these last few weeks as I've been neglecting this blog!  Apologies, by the way!

Taking down two gigantic spruce trees leaves one with a BIG, MESSY area to deal with, not to mention I'm still removing red shale mulch (the bane of my existence) from this area. But things are starting to come together in a few spots.  I really wanted to get the majority of my planting done in May so that everything would have plenty of time to start filling in this summer (I hope to get to actually putting a patio in later this summer, too!)

I know it doesn't look like much yet, but once my neighbour's dogwoods leaf out, once the plants get a little larger, once I put some down some compost for mulch (I already put some in each planting hole) so that the soil doesn't look light brown from all the wood shavings left from taking down the trees, I promise you, it will be better!  Oh, and BTW, the bamboo teepees are to keep the hares away from a few choice plants until the plants are big enough to handle a little munching. 

The colour scheme for this garden will be primarily, red, orange, white and blue.  Plants have to like sun, be hardy and drought-tolerant, and generally not need to be fussed over.  Things planted so far:

• echinops ritro (globe thistle) - new
• helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass) - new
• veronica gentianoides 'Barbara Sherwood' - new
• lychnis chalcedonica (maltese cross) - new
• hemerocallis (daylily) 'Strawberry Candy' - new
• common mullein - existing
• achillea (yarrow) 'Paprika' - existing
• white peony - existing
• bearded iris - existing
• rhubarb - existing
• iceland poppy 'Solar Fire' - from seed
• linum perenne lewisii (blue flax) - from seed
• annual white lavatera 'Mont Blanc' - from seed
• annual echium vulgare 'Blue Bedder' - from seed

 Here are some more notes on how I designed the garden.

add PVC/PEX pipe to turn raised beds into hoop houses - check!

How do you like my hoops?  I hunted around for ideas on how to best design this system, and I think what I ended up doing is rather unique. 

• 1-ft long pieces of 3/4" PVC pipe are used to make sleeves inside the raised beds (it looks cleaner than putting them on the outside, and I made the sleeves extra long to give maximum stability to the hoops);
• there is a screw at the bottom of each sleeve to make sure each hoop sits at the exact same position in order to easily make all hoops the same height (the hole in the sleeve was pre-drilled before installing);
• the hoops are made of 1/2" flexible PEX pipe and slide easily into the sleeves without much wobbling;
• plastic or frost cloth can be put on top and clipped to the hoops - it is so late already that I probably don't even need to do this for spring, but I'll be ready for fall, gosh darn it!

This project was on my April to-do list and I just finished it last week-end.  It was a pain due to having to dig all the dirt out of the way to install each sleeve, but it was worth it.  It is why I haven't got around to seeding most of my veggies yet (which is on my May to-do list which isn't posted yet!  I am behind in my gardening this year... you get the idea...)

For more information on raised bed vegetable gardening, check out these posts:

• When to start planting vegetable seeds in Calgary
• Vegetable gardening in Calgary 101
• Vegetable gardening tips - notes from Square Foot Gardening
• What you need to know about building raised bed vegetable gardens
• resources specific to growing vegetables in Calgary
• preparing and amending vegetable garden soil

 

 

garden update - so much to do, so little time!

I was in Toronto last week (on a conference trip for my "real job"), so am way behind on my April gardening to-do list (which will soon be added to my May gardening to-do list!)

 

Above: tulips are blooming and spireas leafed out in TO.

The perennials here at home seem to be way ahead this year, and yet I am way behind.  I still haven't finished pulling off all the winter mulch, and rain barrels are not set up yet.  If I was on top of things I would have planted plenty of seeds in the veggie beds already, but because I'm still working on putting brackets in for hoops I haven't done that yet either!  Plus, of course, this is a very busy consulting time so I've done more in other people's gardens than I have in my own!

On the bright side, back in my own garden, the honeyberries, striped squill and tulipa tarda are already blooming and several bees have been spotted.  My Dad came over and dug out 2 spruce tree stumps from the Adventure Garden, and we've cleaned up the mess from that. My 4-year-old B and I planted sweet pea seeds last night.  Small progress is being made.

So in case you're worried because you haven't been able to get much done in the garden yet this spring, don't worry, you're not the only one!

April 2012 garden blog round-up

The problem with gardening in Calgary is that a lot of information that's available out there is just not appropriate here.  We're "special"!  ;-)  Here's the last month's online gardening "news" which I think contains useful information pertinant to our Calgary conditions.

(If you follow me on facebook you would have seen these in "real time".)

from Not Another Gardening Blog:

Good Lines mean Good Designs - Comprehensive info on garden design themes using lines! I took a class from Sue last year - she is an expert at this stuff.

from the Garden Professors:

Why oh Why returns! - Itching to get to the garden center in a few weeks? Don't let this happen to you! In my own anecdotal experience, these problems are much more prevalent at big box stores than good garden centers.

from A Way to Garden:

Tomato 101 - Everything you need to know about growing tomatoes!

from Houzz:

Cream-of-the-crop vegetable gardens - Time to start planning my veggie garden for this year! Mine won't be as fancy as these, but it's fun to dream.

Vertical Gardens Raise the Limits for Landscapes - Some beautiful photos and surprisingly practical information here. And wow, love those Terra Trellises!

8 Space-Savvy gardens - Some inspiration for small-space gardeners here, including an Alberta balcony garden!

Great Design Plant: Ornamental Allium - I love ornamental alliums (and so do my kids -they make great magic wands!). Purple sensation does especially well in Calgary.  Make note and plant some in fall!

from homedit:

Top 30 planters - DIY and recycled - There are some neat planter ideas here! I have a lot of tree stumps in my yard leftover from some tree removals and I'm thinking about trying to make the tree stump planters this spring. I might paint some pots, too.

 

honeyberry is the first shrub to leaf out in my garden

Honeyberry is a fruit-bearing shrub which is so frost-tolerant that there is no worry about it leafing out so early.  It will have flowers on it very soon!  Hooray for spring!

Update: one week later, on April 29, the honeyberries are blooming and several big fat bees have been coming to visit!!

crocus in the side garden

Hooray!  It is finally the time of year when I can start posting pictures of what's blooming in my garden.  I planted these crocuses years ago under some snow-in-summer, which seems to protect them from squirrels.  They are in my side garden, another south-facing hotspot where things come up earlier than most other areas of my garden.  Plant these bulbs in fall.

siberian squill in the butterfly potager

What a beautiful week-end!  With this heat wave, I will soon have many more spring bulbs blooming in the garden.  But here's one of the things popping up already - tiny, electric blue siberian squill in a hot spot between the patio and house in my Butterfly Potager garden.  I wish I was able to take pictures to do this little baby justice.  If you wish you had some early spring bulbs blooming right now, consider adding some of this next fall.  It comes back perennially and even multiplies.  And the colour is fantastic!

what I'm doing in the garden this week-end

Hooray for spring weather!  Everybody's talking about what's coming up in their garden and to be honest, I have barely been out in mine yet - it's been too cold at the times when I have had time.  But not to worry, it is still early and there is no rush. Here's what I hope to get done this week-end, in order of priority:

• Prepare the raised beds for spring veggie planting (if I'd been on top of this I could have been planting by now!)  This means digging out the perennials that overwintered there and putting them in pots for temporary homes, adding brackets so that I can put hoops over the garden to make a temporary greenhouse (this also means a trip to a hardware store - ugh.) and topping up the soil with good compost.
• Start cutting down the perennials that were left standing over the winter.  
• Start pulling the mulch of fall leaves back from the base of growing perennials.
• Set up the rain barrels.

For more details, see my April Garden to-do list.

see you at the Garden Show this week-end?

http://www.calhort.org/events/gardenshow.aspx

I'll be browsing on Saturday, doing a workshop on Sunday morning, and volunteering at the Community Gardens booth on Sunday afternoon.  If you're around on Sunday afternoon, drop by and say hello!

an inviting scene in my garden, April 12 2012!!

my April 2012 Garden to-do list

There seems to be a new trend this year where I don't get around to posting my monthly to-do list until closer to the middle of the month!  Ah well, there hasn't been to much to do yet anyway, so I haven't been feeling too motivated.  Some people are already excitedly checking their garden for signs of plants popping up, but in my shady and heavily-mulched yard, there is not much happening yet.  I have however, just finished cleaning the windows so thoroughly that I feel like I'm going to fall out of my house!  (That will be about the extent of my spring cleaning!)

With windows out of the way, it is time to start poking around the garden.  Here are some yardwork tips for April:

Perennial Gardens:

• Finish pruning if you haven't already done so (see my February to-do list for more details)
• Start pulling back winter mulch (dried leaves) from the crowns of growing perennials, but don't remove it entirely until May, as those ladybugs need places to sleep!
• Start cutting back perennials left standing for the winter (this is spring's biggest job for me as I have A LOT of perennials, so I'll still be doing this into May.  But I start in the sunniest, hottest areas of the garden and do the coolest, shadiest spots last.)  Note that there are a few perennials such as bergenia and spring-flowering clematis which shouldn't be cut back!
• Once exisitng plants are growing, you can start moving them around the garden if you like.  I have been known to start moving plants at the end of April, but there's no rush for this.  This year, I have a few perennials overwintering in the veggie garden that I'm going to have to move by the end of the month (see below.)
• I've started plenty of seeds of large, ornamental annuals to fill up the big, new garden area I've got in the front yard.  It's not too late to start your own!  Lavatera and nicotiana sylvestris are two of my favourites to start this month.
• Pansies can be planted out in pots now, for a shot of spring colour.  And yes, you can leave them out to -5^oC!!

Vegetable Garden

• Plan the veggie garden in terms of what is going where, and how much of it.  Practice crop rotation for a large garden, or if you have a small, square-foot-gardening style garden like me, crop rotation practically takes care of itself by making one small change to the design.  Plenty of info can be found here in Vegetable Gardening in Calgary 101.
• I direct-sow all my vegetables (except tomatoes, of course!) so I'll be topping up my raised beds with my own worm castings and store-bought compost to get them ready to plant in early May.  See this post When to Plant Vegetable Seeds in Calgary.

Seedlings

• I have quite a few seeds already started on my shelves in the basement.  Here is a good post if you're wondering how to take care of your seedlings.

Misc.

• Set up rain barrels.
• Clean, level and fill bird baths.