It's getting to the point where I hesitate to turn on the news or pick up a newspaper.  There is just so much doom and gloom out there.  I'd rather be in my garden, or in a Dig This store, where people are upbeat and positive and eager to get into their gardens. 

Seed sales are brisk, and we went through over 1000 pounds of seed potatoes at Victoria's and Qualicum's Seedy Saturday!  People are looking at garden furniture, checking out arbours and trellises, and sizing up pots for their decks.  That's the beautiful thing about gardens and those of us who tend them... no matter what the news, no matter what the weather, we look forward.  We plan, we plant, we build and we dream. 

We tried to capture what we and our customers believe about our gardens and gardening in the Dig This "credo" on our website:

• We believe the garden is an extension of the joy we feel for life.
•  We know that each escape into our gardens relaxes and restores us.
•  We believe in taking the time to breathe deeply after the rain, feel the breeze on our skin and the warmth of the sun.
•  We believe in making a special place to share with people we care about.
•  We believe creating beauty in the spaces around us creates beauty in our lives and souls.
•  We are artists and our gardens are our canvasses.

Let's go out and create a little peace and beauty!

Elizabeth Cull, Franchise President

Our 2009 garden furniture has just arrived in the stores. It’s new, it’s gorgeous and best of all, it’s 20% off the regular price until March 31st.

Our all-weather “wicker” is the perfect low-maintenance garden furniture. After all, wouldn’t you rather relax and admire your garden, than paint and scrape and stain? When our all-weather “wicker” gets dirty, just bring out the hose and wash it down. Even the cushions are easy care, being made from outdoor-grade fabric and foam which dry quickly after the rain.

There are many styles to choose from – from traditional to modern. There are great dining tables with chairs to match, or for pure relaxation, choose a cushy club chair and ottoman to put your feet up. Most styles come in loveseats and sofas too, and there are lots of occasional tables to choose from.

Drop by one of our stores before the end of March. Sit in a comfortable chair and peruse the catalogue. Check out the many different fabrics for the cushions. Imagine how nice it will be to sit in your garden! Then, feel smug, because by purchasing now, you’ll save 20% off the cost of all furniture – special orders too – and enjoy it the minute the good weather arrives.

Have you purchased garden furniture from us in the past?  If so, we may have a great deal for you. 

We have a number of "orphan" ottomans available now at 50% off.  If you think your garden club chair could be even more comfortable with your feet up, why not phone the Dig This nearest you to see if we have "your" ottoman"?

Did you buy Yellow Balau furniture from us in the past?  If so, Dig This Oak Bay still has several side chairs available at 50% off the regular price.

Dig This Nanaimo has thee 40" resin & teak table and chair sets.  This contemporary set sold for $995 last year and is on sale at 50%.  An economical way to furniture your deck or patio.

Finally, the style of our all-weather "wicker" dining tables has changed this year.  We have some of last year's style in both 42" and 48" diameter at 35% off last year's prices!

Call one of the stores and we'll be glad to help you!

There is an organic gardening revolution happening right now.  Most of us have concerns about our food security, the use of pesticides on commercially-grown food, and the effects that fruits and vegetables imported from afar is having on global warming.

That is why I decided to join the local food movement last spring by building my very own vegetable garden. As a full-time student with more experience in bookkeeping than vegetable growing, I was keen to find a way of building a garden with a minimum amount of back-breaking digging, and as cheaply as possible. I decided to try the "Lasagna Gardening" method when my Gran gave me a copy of the book, Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. The book recommends starting a lasagne garden right over an existing lawn or garden, and February to March is the perfect time to start your own.

The first step is to lay down overlapping layers of wet cardboard or wet newspapers to kill the weeds below, and to attract earthworms. I found that the garden I started with newspaper as a base didn’t kill the aggressive bindweed (wild morning glory) below, while the garden with cardboard as a base was relatively weed free all summer.

The second step is to alternate three to four inch layers of green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) organic materials, much like building a compost heap. The only thing that shouldn’t go in is meat, fat, or bones. You should continue layering until the garden is about 1.5 to 2 feet high (don’t worry; it will reduce down to a few inches really quickly). I had great success by alternating grass clippings, shredded leaves, and well composted horse manure from my neighbour’s farm. It is also important to put a thin layer of coir or cocoa peat between the different layers of materials, and spraying each layer with water as you go, so that your lasagne garden maintains enough moisture for the microbes and earth worms in the soil to flourish. Coir can be found at Dig This, and is a cheaper, more renewable alternative to peat moss.

The third and final step is to “cook” the lasagna garden. This involves covering your garden with black plastic which will cook the materials into black earth in six to eight weeks. The book does say that you can plant seedlings right in the lasagna garden the day you build it if you really want to. To maintain the garden you just keep adding layers throughout the year to suppress the weeds, and to feed your luscious, loamy, living soil.

I had fantastic results with my lasagna gardens! I had more tomatoes and zucchini than I could give away, and my little artichoke sets have already expanded into a thriving patch. I also realized that the lasagna garden holds moisture much longer than dirt based gardens, and I really only needed to water it one to two times per week (as opposed to my non-lasagna garden which needed water daily). I found that any weeds that did grow pulled free like butter (roots and all!), and by the end of the summer, the earthworms had tilled my soil far below the cardboard base. Best of all- I didn’t pick up a shovel once!

For more information, visit http://savorynotebook.blogspot.com/2008/04/lasagna-gardening.html   For advice on how to grow specific vegetables, check out http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

Jared Witt, Dig This Victoria
 

One of our customers grew Dig This potatoes using the lasagna method last year, and chronicled his progress at http://www.cvnet.net/cosmic/UH/lasagna.html

You really have to see these pictures to believe the fabulous results!

This year, we have 6 varieties of potatoes to grow:  Russian Banana, Yukon Gold, Sieglinde, Desiree, White Rose, and Red Chieftan.  Plus, the last time I checked, there were still three 1-kg bags of now "sold out for this season" Russian Blue potatoes at the Oak Bay store!

Learn how to start seeds successfully at our Seed Starting Workshop at  Dig This Broadmead.   Sunday, March 8th.  10 am - 12 noon.  Cost $20.00.  Each participant will receive a $20 Gift Certificate and a tomato plant seedling. Space is limited so please register by calling 250 727 9922.

No garden?  Learn how to grow veggies in containers.  Container Vegetable Gardening at Dig This Market Square.  Sunday, March 15th.  10 am - 11:30 am.  Cost $20.00.  Each participant will receive a $20 Gift Certificate and a package of vegetable seeds.  Space is limited so please register by calling 250 385 3212.
 

• Sow sweet peas and hardy annuals such as Alyssum, Calendula, Eschscholzia, Limnanthes doulasii and Nigella
   
• Plant summer flowering bulbs such as gladioli and lilies towards the end of the month, depending on your soil conditions. They don't like sitting in waterlogged soils.
   
• As the temperature increases so will weed growth. Keep a check on young weeds and remove them before they take hold.
   
• Spread mulches of compost or well rotted manure over herbaceous borders and around shrubs and trees.
   
• Prune summer-flowering shrubs like Buddleja davidii, Spiraea japonica, and hardy Fuchsia. They benefit from cutting down hard in early spring. DON'T PRUNE spring flowering shrubs (Forsythia, Clematis montana, Spiraea x arguta and Buddleja globosa, Viburnum tinus and Ceanothus burkwoodii) until flowering has ended.
   
• Prune roses. For great tips, check out these links – they even have videos showing you what to do!
  http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/pruning-climbing-roses.aspx
  http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/videos/how-to-prune-shrub-roses.aspx
  http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/videos/how-to-prune-hybrid-tea-roses.aspx
  http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/videos/how-to-prune-floribunda-roses.aspx
   
• Finish tidying up last years dead growth in the garden.
   
• Clean birdbaths, provide fresh water and food. Birds are much more active this month, mating and nest building.
   
• The grass will be growing steadily now, make sure your mower is serviced and ready to go for the first cut of the season. Before mowing, remove thatch and moss by scarifying with a lawn rake. Set the blades to a higher setting (3cm) for the first few cuts. Stay off or try to minimise activity on your lawn if it is wet, it will turn to mud very quickly in the wet. Re-seed any bare areas, scratch the surface with a lawn rake and sow.
   
• Remove fallen leaves and other decaying plant debris from ponds. Frogs and other aquatic life will be emerging from winter hibernation so a good tidy up now prevents stagnation and build up of algae.
   
• Divide overgrown clumps of herbaceous perennials. Cut the tops back to 25mm-50mm and lift the whole plant out with a fork. Look for a natural line across the plant and cut it with a sharp knife right through, continue dividing like this until you have enough plants to suit your needs. Replant the pieces in groups of three to five to make an impact in ornamental borders from repeating colour schemes or pot up spares immediately, water well.
   
• Watch for 'damping off' disease in seedlings in the greenhouse or indoors. This fungus causes the stems to collapse and the seedlings to fall over. Ensure that seedlings get enough light to prevent them becoming 'leggy' and turn seed trays daily to ensure even growth. Overcrowding and damp also contribute to 'damping off', so don't sow seeds too thickly and keep watering to a minimum. It is better to have a tray of fewer, healthy plants than to lose many to this disease.

Source:  www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo 

While furniture is the big sale item in March at Dig This, all of our stores have other good deals.  Dig This Sidney has good deals on table linens, candles and garden plaques with inspiring sayings - great for those of you who stock up on small gifts "just in case".  Now that we've moved to a different brand of clogs for everyday gardening, Oak Bay and Broadmead have Birkenstock Garden Clogs on at 50% off.  Dig This Nanaimo a great sale section with selected t-shirts at 50% off. 

Seedy Sunday Nanimo.  Sunday, March 1, 2009. 10 am -3 pm The Bowen Park Auditorium. Nanaimo. For more information on this and other Seedy events, go to http://www.seeds.ca/ev/events.php

14th Annual Spring Festival Celebration of Island Gardening Show.  March 13 - 15, 2009. Beban Park Social Centre, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo.   Hours:  Friday: 1 pm to 8:30 pm; Saturday: 9:30 am to 5 pm; and Sunday: 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.  Admission $6.00 per day or $12.00 for all three days. For more information, go to http://www.islandgardenshow.com/ Don't miss Christiane Kammerman's (Dig This Nanaimo) presentation on growing sprouts for salads and sandwiches at 2:00 pm, Friday .

The Peninsula Gardening Club meets every second Monday of every month except August, at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney.  For more information, contact Margo Rose at margorose@hotmail.com

"What’s in our regional food basket?"  Are you interested in finding out more about how we can ensure more of what we eat is locally grown?  Come to the Food Matters! Annual Regional Food Security Forum on   Friday March 13, 2009, 2:00 – 7:00 pm.  For location and other details, contact info@communitycouncil.ca or call 250 383 6166.

We have terrific warm, waterproof gardening boots - called Bogs - that our gardening customers just love.  But we have another category of customes who also love these boots:  dog owners.  Dog owners and our canine companions are out rain or shine, every day, on wet mucky trails.  Every time I'm out in my boots, I get asked where I got them.

This is Brandy and her dog, Sam. Her husband purchased the boots for her as a Christmas present, when she arrived at a training this week, the first thing she said was "I LOVE my boots". Believe me, we needed them as it poured for 2 hours straight and when we were leaving it started to hail. The last thing Brandy's husband said to me was that he was heading down to Dig This for a pair of Bogs for himself. I think he had wet feet !

Rachelle Westman, Dig This Victoria