Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Sugarsnaps and Strawberries -- Book Review

  1/2

Sugar Snaps and Strawberries by Andrea Bellamy is the worst named book I can remember.  With that being said, it is an excellent book for small space gardening.  It illustrates that almost any space can be a productive space.

Growing food locally has become a trend that all long term gardeners have always known, done and benefited from.  My family has never not known fresh home grown vegetables.  In our case we have reduced what we grow to our favourites, swiss chard, red onions, carrots and lots and lots of many different kinds of tomatoes.

This book recommends seed bombing.  Please be very careful as the land is private property, the police and neighbours are not that knowledgeable, but most importantly what you are seeding can be considered invasive species or not native to the local environment.

The building of raised planters is excellent.  The section on soil gives you all the good basics but I do not use food waste in my composter because it can attract animals.  The section on garden maintenance has all the basic, the vegetable section with instructions on each vegetable is good.

Buy this book if you are a beginning gardener or any gardener who needs help with difficult or unproductive spaces of any size.
--
Bruce

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medic.,

Bruce & I went to garage sales on Saturday morning.  At one particular garage sale Mrs. Homeowner knew who Bruce was, asked him to identify a plant in her garden.  She was having a debate with her daughter who said it was a weed.  Mrs Homeowner was adamant it was not!!  I took photos of this plant for Bruce to identify.

Here is the photos I took:  The flower, the pod and the leaf

 Bruce identified the plant as Velvet Leaf or Abutilon theophrasti

In Ontario it is classified as a weed on the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) websiteOther names for this weed are abuliton, Butter-print, Elephant ear, Indian-mallow, Pir-marker, abutilon feuille de velours & it is of the Mallow Family (Malvaceae)

Sorry Mrs. Homeowner, your daughter is correct on this one.
--
Juleigh

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Tune Your Head to Ed. 105.1 ED-FM Takes Over Niagara Radio!

The Open-Line Garden Show will return to the airwaves on 105.1 Ed-FM on Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 8:00 am.


Ed Heads Unite!

Haliburton Broadcast Group Inc., owners of CKEY-FM and CFLZ-FM in Niagara today introduced Ed FM, a brand new radio station for St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls and all of Southern Ontario.

Playing from a massive song list, 105.1 Ed FM will be playing all the great hits you’re familiar with PLUS a ton of tunes that you may not have heard for awhile, songs from the 80's, 90's and whatever else. You never know what you'll hear next on Ed FM.

HBG Radio's mandate is to create innovative and compelling radio with a strong focus on local information and community service.

Press Release