The cool, crisp mornings, darkening evenings and leaves carpeting the ground let us know that autumn has well and truly arrived. October can be a beautiful time in the garden. Sunny days are a “gift” and lure us outside for a few more hours in the garden. The autumn colours on so many trees and shrubs give the garden a rich pallette of colours not seen at any other time of year. The heavy autumn dews lay thickly on lawns and leaves and the sun’s rays reflect off these, illuminating the scene, and highlighting features in the garden which go unnoticed during the other seasons.

It's a season to reflect - what went well this year, what do I want to change next year?  On a sunny afternoon in October, you can find me in my greenhouse, puttering with the plants I am trying to overwinter, or just sitting in my little garden chair making notes on my garden and dreaming of all the things I'm going to do next year!

Elizabeth, Dig This Franchise President

Would you like to have fragrant flowers in your home over the holidays? Have you ever wondered how to grow exotic amaryllis?  Do you want to have a continuous showing of flowering spring bulbs in containers? Then come to one of our fall workshops.

Next month we will be hosting workshops on the many ways you can force flowering bulbs for a spectacular indoor display during the winter months. Come learn how easy it is to grow Paperwhite bulbs and spectacular Amaryllis. These beautiful bulbs bloom in 4-6 weeks creating a fragrant display in the dark winter months. We’ll also show you how you can plant spring-flowering bulbs in layers in containers to create a good-looking display that lasts from October to June!

Thursday, November 1st    6:30 pm – 8:00 pm            Nanaimo

Sunday, November 4th 10:00 am – 11:30 am             Johnson Street
                                                                                               Oak Bay
                                                                                               Broadmead Village

Wednesday, November 14th 10:00 am - 11:30 am    Broadmead Village

Please call to reserve your place. Registration is limited. Cost $25, and each regristrant will receive a $25 gift certificate that can be used for bulbs and forcing materials, or any other item in our stores.

Did you know you can plant spring bulbs in containers? Did you know you can plant several varieties of bulbs in one container to create a display that will bloom from February to June?

The technique is called layering and it's the most satisfying fall planting that I do every year. Daffodils, tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, snowdrops and other spring-flowering bulbs can be planted together in containers. We have a wonderful selection of spring-flowering bulbs at Dig This - and everything else you need to create a fabulous display. Here's how you do it.

For the best results, select a pot that is 12-18 inches in diameter and about 12-18 inches deep. Place some gravel or stones in the bottom of the container for drainage. I like to cover the hole in the bottom of the pot with a scrap of landscape fabric or a coffee filter to stop the soil from coming out when you water. Top with 2 inches of good quality potting soil - do not use garden soil! It turns to concrete in pots. Mix in a little bulb food or bonemeal to make sure your bulbs get off to a good start.

Now add your first layer of bulbs. Remember, they go pointy end up! Choose larger bulbs like daffodils, narcissus, alliums or late-blooming tulips for this first layer. Sometimes I like to place a really showy bulb, like a Fritillaria in the centre.

Cover the first layer with a couple of inches of soil and plant your second layer with earlier blooming bulbs like early season tulips or hyacinths. Basically you try to fit them in around the bulbs below but don't worry too much as they will find their way to the surface around other bulbs planted above them. Then cover this layer with more soil.

For the third layer, choose smaller, early blooming varieties like crocus, Iris reticulata, snowdrops, and grape hyacinths. Cover the third layer with soil.
Finally, to cover the bare soil until the bulbs emerge in spring, you can plant winter pansies on top. Other evergreen perennials can also be used.

To determine quantities to buy there are a few points to consider. The more intensely you plant, the more blooms you will have next spring. In a pot about 18" wide, about 5-7 daffodils or 2-3 alliums (or a combination of the two), 5-7 tulips, and 20 or so small bulbs would be adequate. Again, size of the bulbs comes into play here as daffodils that are top size can be very large indeed and can have so many offsets that you would have a tough time fitting 5 in a hole this size.

There are two points about colour selection worth mentioning. First of all working with an organized colour scheme for bulbs blooming at the same time helps bring continuity to a container garden where lots of different colours can be chaotic. On the other hand, bear in mind that different bulbs will be in bloom at different times so that the bright cheery yellow tulips in April will never see the the deep pink Oriental lilies in June. If you’re stumped for colour scheme ideas, we have packages of mixed bulbs put together to create a pleasing colour scheme.

Finally, if you like you can plant up a container to bring indoors in January. Just leave the finished container outside for 12 weeks to chill the bulbs and then bring it indoors – they’ll think it’s spring already and start to grow!

Virginia Parkhurst, Owner Dig This Broadmead

While looking for advice on spring bulbs, I came across this very helpful video on YouTube that shows you exactly how to layer bulbs.  And yes, Dig This carried Black Gold!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2AVXNIrec2w

Elizabeth

As far as we at Dig This are concerned, mulch is a gardener’s wonder drug! There are so many good reasons to use mulch in your garden: to suppress weeds, conserve water, regulate the soil temperature and improve the soil. So why do so many of us rake up the leaves that fall on our property and take them to the curb to be picked up by the municipality each year? Why are we giving all that great organic material away?

Probably because we have no easy way to turn it into mulch. Putting it into our compost piles is a great idea – provided you have a compost bin. But too many leaves take too long to break down. And some leaves – like Oak and Arbutus – are so tough, they take months (even years!) to decompose enough to become compost for the garden.

That’s why we were so excited when we discovered the Flowtron LE 900 Leaf Mulcher a couple of years ago. This electric mulcher turns 11 green garbage bags of leaves into one bag of fine leaf mulch in seconds. Really! You can then spread this mulch on your garden beds, where it will keep the soil warmer during the winter and gradually break down, releasing nutrients into the soil. Spread the mulch 2 to 4 inches deep and don’t pile it up against the trunks of trees or shrubs where it will cause rot and other problems. By next spring, the mulch will have decomposed enough to be part of the soil.

So stop throwing your leaves away. Stop pushing them onto the streets. Get a leaf mulcher and start using all that free material Mother Nature provides you to benefit your garden.

Peter Kamerman, Co-owner Dig This Nanaimo

Garlic is one of the easiest and satisfying plants to grow. And now is the time to plant it!

We have Organic Russian Porcelian garlic bulbs from Gabriola Island. Simply separate the cloves and plant them pointy-end up approximately 4 inches apart. A little bonemeal or bulb food in the planting holes gets them off to a great start. You will see the emerging shoots in February. Keep fertilizing and watering these plants to produce fat bulbs. In June, you’ll see the flower heads – a curly top to the plant, also called “scapes”. Cut these off to force the plants to put all their energy into the bulb. But don’t throw them out – the scapes make delicious garlic-tasting additions to stir fries!

Harvest when 2/3 to ¾ of the leaves are turning yellow. Keep the fattest cloves for planting next October, and you’ll never have to buy garlic again!

We’ve just brought in one of the most interesting plants I’ve ever seen. The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is one of the oldest and rarest plants on earth, dating from the age of the dinosaurs, 200 million years ago.

In one of the major botanical finds of the century, the Wollemi Pine was discovered in a remote canyon in Australia in 1994 by an avid bush walker. Prior to that, it had only been known by fossil records, and was thought to be extinct. Today, only 100 mature trees survive in the wild.

The Wollemi Pine is an attractive conifer with unusual dark green foliage and “bubbly bark”. It forms multiple trunks and is fast growing. Hardy to Zone 7 (Victoria is Zone 8), it does well indoors or out. Outdoors it likes acid soils and indoors it does well in bright light and cool rooms.

Conservation of this prehistoric survivor is backed by the National Geographic Society. Royalties from each tree sold fund conservation of endangered and threatened plant species.

This is a great gift, and for plant addicts, a “must-have”.

For more information go to: http://www.ancientpine.com/index.htm

We still have a few pieces of garden furniture at great prices.  If you have been looking for a dining set for your garden, or some comfy chairs to relax in, these are the best prices we've ever had! All our remaining garden furniture is up to 40% off the regular price! You won’t see these prices again.

It's fall and we're all spending more time indoors with friends and family.  We've brought in a lovely selection of table linens, candles, glassware and other decorative things to help you set the mood for entertaining.  This fall's pallete is warm with lots of gold, rust, bronze and copper.  Stop by any of the Dig This stores and let us help you find the perfect accent for your home.

Rake up fallen leaves. Mulch them, compost them or put them in a pile to rot over the winter.

Give ponds a clear out, cut back excess growth of aquatic plants and remove pumps for the winter.

Lift and store tender bulbs such as gladioli, dahlias and cannas. Tender perennials such as pelargoniums can be brought into a greenhouse if you want to keep them going for next year.

Try to resist the temptation to cut all your perennials back before the winter. This will leave lots of seeds available for birds. Remember that ladybugs, spiders, frogs and other beneficial creatures need somewhere safe to spend the winter - so leave mulches in place, herbaceous stems uncut and odd corners uncleared as much as possible.

Water camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas in dry spells. A shortage of water at this time of year can cause flower buds to drop next spring before they open. Although it seems to rain all the time during our winters, the soil can still be very dry.

Thoroughly clean the greenhouse, inside and out. Don't worry about sterilising all the surfaces - a good wash and scrub with a stiff brush will suffice.

Give all overwintering plants a good check over for pests and diseases before bringing them indoors.

Plant bulbs for flowering next spring.

Plant up containers for winter display.

Divide perennials, particularly those that to seem to have out grown their space. It is also an ideal opportunity to move any plants to a new position, may be something grew a bit taller than you expected and would be better used in a different place. Maybe some colours didn't work out how you quite wanted and a little shuffle about of a few plants will make a lot of difference. This is the month to do all these jobs.

Rake up leaves under roses to prevent blackspot spores over-wintering in the soil. Affected leaves have dark brown or black, often coalescing, blotches on both leaf surfaces. Prune out infected shoots and remove any remaining leaves before they fall.