It's hard to believe it's almost May, what with cold temperatures, snow and hail during April.  I could hear my brother in Ontario, where they've been experiencing warm weather, laughing in glee!  Take that and your Flower Count too, he said.

No matter, it's still green, the trees are leafing out and the spring flowers, while late, are still so gorgeous.  As I look out my window, I see flowering rhodos in all shade of pink and mauve, bright red tulips and the last of the daffodils.  The buds on the roses are swelling and will soon be open.  Ah, spring in Victoria - it may come on it's own time - but it is definitely worth the wait.

Elizabeth Cull, Franchise President

When I moved into my home, the first thing I did in the garden was to create a long border in front of an old rock wall separating my back garden from the neighbours. I visited the nursery regularly bringing home plants that caught my eye. After a while, I realized I had simply created a hodge-podge of pretty plants – not exactly the effect I was looking for. So I began to study what really makes a mixed border work. I was inspired by an article in Fine Gardening by Bonnie Blanchette.

According to Bonnie, repeating colors and plants along the border (as opposed to having many different, individual plants) holds the entire border together.

Repeating colors, whether it’s indoors in a room or outdoors in the garden, is a simple design technique for pulling a design together. With repeated colours along the border, the eye travels down the border, following a trail of similar coloured plants.

It’s a challenge to weave a continuous thread of color from spring to fall with perennials alone, so tucking annuals in amongst the perennials to provide long-term colour is a good idea.

As with colour, repetition of the same plants, regardless of the color scheme, also makes the mixed border feel connected. For instance, in a shady bed you could use varieties of hostas throughout the border, either as a focal point or to provide structure and restful foliage.

Bonnie recommends the silver-foliage plants, like cardoon, silver sage and lamb’s ear, for the sunny border as they add shimmering color to the overall planting scheme.

Best of all, Bonnie recommends planning your border a chunk at a time – she called it developing a little vignette. Instead of feeling you have to design and plant the entire border all at once, focus on one area, select your plants and your colour scheme and create it. Then repeat. Vary and repeat again. After a while, you’ll have completed the whole job, but had the joy of doing it manageably, piece-by-piece.

For more inspiration, see http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/design/articles/strategy-for-long-border.aspx?nterms=74894 

Elizabeth Cull, Franchise President

May 11th is Mother's Day, so if you’re looking for a garden-y gift, drop by Dig This and we’ll help you find the perfect one!

Just arrived are Rice Hull Gardens – a complete container garden in natural, environmentally friendly pots made from renewable grain husks, primarily rice hulls, and organic pigments. Equally suitable indoors or out, these highly durable pots will retain their beautiful shape and texture for about five years. One hundred percent biodegradable, Rice Hull Gardens celebrate gardening with a light footprint on the earth. Each garden contains a culinary herb: mint, parsely, oregano, basil or garlic chives.

For practical Mums, we have the best quality tools in town!

How about a pair of Swiss-made Felco pruners? There’s a model to fit all hand sizes and all pruning jobs. 

We also have a number of ergonomic handled weeders, cultivators and trowels that make gardening easier on the hands and wrists. 

A kneeler/bench provides a cushion for your knees while working on the ground and a seat to rest on after the work is done!

You can't go wrong with the Garden Bandit - a great Canadian-made hand tool for weeding and cultivating. Or the Wilcox Trowel - the cadillac of garden trowels. Made of stainless steel with a sharp cutting edge, this trowel is a staff favourite.

Check out our new lines of hand creams and soaps. Gardener’s hands take a lot of abuse (See Hand Care 101 below.) After gardening, soothing creams and effective cleansers are a must. Right now we have a new line called Tropical Rainforest, an all natural product with an exotic fragrance.

Everyone loves our solar lanterns. There are two styles now: brightly-coloured ones that look like a traditional Chinese paper lantern (but made from nylon so it is good outdoors) and the other more Zen-like in subtle shades of bronze, pearl, slate or moss. All get their energy from the sun and glow after dark.

Don’t forget our beautiful glass hummingbird feeders made from recycled glass and each one a work of art.

Stumped for ideas? Visit one of our stores. Our staff will help you find the perfect gift. Or give Mum a gift certificate and let her have the fun of choosing.

Happy Mother's Day!
 

         ‘One to rot and one to grow
          One for the pigeon, one for the crow’
                       -Old English Planting Rhyme

Funny … it doesn’t say anything about deer!

The problem of deer is something we at Dig This hear regularly from customers. Nothing short of a tall, deer proof fence will guarantee they won’t snack on your plants, but here are a few things we’ve found that work if a fence is just not feasible:

Plantskydd Deer Repellent - a 100% natural, environmentally friendly product that emits an odor that animals associate with predator activity, repelling the animal before it nibbles on plants. As an added benefit, Plantskydd acts as an organic foliar feed fertilizer.

Panther Pee – repels deer because it smells like a predator. You soak small bags in the “pee” and hang them around the plants you want to protect.

Bob’s Deer Stop – a 100% organic product that makes plants undesirable to deer. It also fertilizes your plants.

Bobbex, another granular deer repellent that doesn’t wash away in the rain, is very offensive to deer, but also fertilizes your plants.

Finally, there’s the locally-developed Scarecrow – a motion activated sprayer that you attach to your hose. When a deer walks in front of it, it squirts a strong spray of water at the animal.

Lists of plants deer won't eat have been around for a long time.  The problem with these lists is that the deer don't read them!  However, if you want to give this approach a try, check out http://www.canadiangardening.com/howto/ideas_deer_proof2.shtml

Virginia Parkhurst, Dig This Broadmead

We gardeners are hard on our hands. Plunging your hands into garden soil, pruning shrubs and pulling weeds can lead to dry, chapped hands or worse – cuts that get infected or allergic reactions to various plants and saps.  That's why dermatologists recommend wearing gloves to keep your hands clean and dry, to protect them from irritating plants, and to prevent cuts and scrapes. 

There are different gloves for different tasks.  Do you find you’re always taking your gloves off to handle small plants? Then try a pair of Miracle Worker or Foxgloves. These supple, thin gloves are designed to protect your hands but provide maximum feeling, so you can keep them on while transplanting, thinning and even seeding.

Other gloves are designed for tougher jobs. Rose Warriors and long-gauntlet rose gloves protect hands and forearms from thorns. There are waterproof gloves ideal for pond work, and warm insulated gloves for winter gardening.

Finally, I find rubbing in good quality hand cream before I garden really helps keep the dirt from getting deep into my skin. After gardening, warm water soap and a scrub with one of our special gentle nail brushes puts everything right again!

Christiane, Co-owner, Dig This Nanaimo

You may be wondering “What in the world is a soil blocker?” Well, they are a tool designed to make blocks of soil in which to plant seeds. Growing seeds in soil blocks prevents transplant shock and may save up to three weeks growing time as a result.

You simply plunge the soil blocker into a moist soil mix and then push on the handle to release the individual soil blocks into your seed flat or tray. Seeds are planted in the top of each block.

The best mix is a moist one made from:

• 2.5 parts cocopeat or peat moss (Add a handful of sieved wood ash or lime if you use peat moss)
• 0.5 part river sand
• 2 parts worm castings or well rotted compost

The success of any seedling can be marred by transplantation. The roots of transplants raised in a large seedling tray twine together so when the plants are separated many of the roots are damaged, reducing water intake and halting the head start gained indoors. The same is true of peat pots or other rough sided pots. In contrast, the roots in soil blocks grow to the edge of the block and turn back inwards, avoiding the surface and concentrating the root mass in the centre. Hence there is no 'shock' when the plant is set out and the roots can adapt to their new environment more readily whether from soil block to soil block or soil block to garden.

Not that we want to drop names, but Martha Stewart recently raved about the success she had with soil blocks!

For more information see www.allsun.com.au/Blockers.html or www.ladbrooke.co.uk/frame.htm. 
 

May is the month to plant out those tomato seedlings you’ve carefully grown from seed and have been nurturing in your greenhouse, under lights or on your windowsill. Of course, if you didn’t grow your own from seed, you can purchase some from Dig This later this month (around May 19th) when we’ll have a selection of organic tomato plants from Victoria’s The Garden Path nursery and other local growers for sale.

Don’t be impatient! Wait until the days and nights are warm. Up to now, our weather has been so unpredictable. If you plant out too early, your poor tomatoes will just sit there in the ground “shivering”. They need warmth to grow and won’t produce any less if you keep them inside another day or two waiting for the good weather. Use Red Tomato Mulch to warm up the soil, or surround your newly-transplanted seedlings with a Kozy Coat.

To grow tasty tomatoes, find the right planting site. The more sun the better. You can always grow them in a large pot if the only sun you get is on a deck, balcony or patio. Or try one of the upside-down Topsy Turvey tomato growers described in the side bar.

Add organic matter such as manure or compost to the planting holes. You can plant the tomatoes deep or horizontally. Strip all but the top foliage off and turn the plant on its side, just barely covering the stem with dirt. The buried stem begins to form roots and within a day, the top of the plant has righted itself. This method produces more roots and the underground stems are closer to warmth, rain and nutrients. Proponents of deep planting like the fact that the main root ball is down deep, where it takes longer to dry out.
 

Tomatoes are heavy feeders! When the first flowers appear, give your plants liquid potassium and phosphorous to encourage blossom and fruit set. Wood ashes are a good source, but liquid organic fertilizers, such as Raingrow, are faster acting. Kelp is excellent at this time to ensure a good supply of trace elements.

Calcium is required to avoid a nasty condition called blossom end rot. Ground up egg shells or oyster shells are an excellent soil additive.

Magnesium is important for fruit set and production. Italian and English tomato growers have known this secret for ages, giving Epsom salts to their plants. A good handful around the base of each plant or mixed into a watering can will give your plants all the magnesium they need.

Encourage good air circulation with staking and by giving ample room between your plants.

Never water from above. Use drip irrigation or a watering wand to water only the base of the plants. Deep watering discourages fruit from cracking and allows the ripening fruit to develop their complex flavours. Too much water, just like too much fertilizer, interferes with the flavour development of your tomatoes. The idea is to strike a balance.

Companion planting gives great results when applied to tomato growing. Try growing oregano and basil near your plants. Also a border of marigolds deters whitefly and looks great. An organic garden encourages beneficial insects to balance out any potential bug problems

To pinch or not to pinch, that is the question. Some gardeners pinch out suckers to direct more energy to the fruit. Others leave them to help shade the fruit and protect it from sun scald. If you need to prune, do so on dry days to avoid potential fungus attacks.
 

Direct seed parsnips, carrots, beets and radishes. Keep seeding lettuce, mesclun and other greens for a continuous harvest.

Start cucumbers and squash indoors now for planting out in 3 to 4 weeks. Wait until the soil is warmer, near the end of the month before planting these out, and before planting beans or corn.

Watch out for aphids on tender new shoots. Get rid of them with a strong spray from the hose, or squish them with your fingers.

Remove spent flowers on rhododendrons and azaleas – it’s a chore on but the work pays off in better blooms next year.   Feed after flowering with a rhodo/azalea food.

Let the foliage on tulips and daffodils die back naturally.

Put out stakes or supports for perennials that tend to get floppy as the season goes on.  Better to support them now while they are still small, than to try to tie them up later.

Keep ahead of the weeds by covering your beds with 2 inches of mulch. Christiane swears by sea soil. Besides being a great source of nutrients, Christiane says the dark black colour makes the fresh green leaves sparkle in the sun.

Plant summer flowering tubers and rhizomes such as dahlias, cannas, freesias, and gladioli.

Conservatory Tour.  Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11 from 10 am to 5 pm.  Tour beautiful private gardens on the Mother's Day weekend and support the Victoria Conservatory of Music.  Tickets are $25 for two days and available at Dig This.  Tour is self-guided.  No better way to spend Mother's Day!

Camas Day.  Hosted by the Friends of Beacon Hill Park Society, this event includes  bird walks, wildflower walks, and archeology walks.  Saturday, May 3rd.   For more information, go to www.friendsofbeaconhillpark.ca

Cowichan Valley Garden Tour.  Sunday, June 1st, 10 am to 5 pm.  Tickets $15, available at Dig This.  Support Cowichan Family Life, tour beautiful gardens, talk to Master Gardeners, and enjoy great food too!

Thanks to everyone who came out to make our Grand Re-Opening such a success.  We raised money for Victoria Hospice, showed off our beautiful new store and were so happy to welcome old friends and new customers to Dig This Broadmead.

Virginia Parkhurst and Staff, Dig This Broadmead