A step-by-step guide to success Topics in Part 1 Before you start(links open in new tab) What is winter sowing?Why winter sow?Basic principlesWhat can I grow? When should I sow? Topics in this articleA step-by-step guide(links jump to topic on this page) Prepare containersAssemble suppliesPrepare seedsPrepare soil mixFill containersPlant seedsLabel & tapePlace outsideWatch & wait READ MORE
Category: My articles
Gardeners should care about sprawl
Ford’s pro-sprawl legislation has it’s own sordid back story involving grift, handshakes, and election promises, but while that drama festers, let’s turn to our own backyards and look at how sprawl affects gardens
Plant markers that do it all…
This year saw many changes to my garden, some small and some drastic. The drastic ones resulted from the discovery of invasive jumping worms back in late June. But more on that later. The common denominator for all these changes was soil disturbance. There was a huge increase in digging—not only my efforts to bare-root READ MORE
Memory Aids for Gardeners
This heap of horticutural hash is a tasty blend of spicy irreverance and nutritious facts. It was originally published in the June 2022 issue of Cross Pollination, the newsletter of the Halton Region Master Gardeners. By Bev Wagar, Halton Master Gardener Horticulture! It sweeps you off your feet, showers you with affection, and sheet-mulches your READ MORE
Give your garden time, not money
This article was originally published in May 2019, in The Point, Crown Point’s community newspaper. Is something terrible happening to your favourite shrub? Did you make a garden bed last year and everything died? Is your rock-hard soil growing a bumper crop of weeds? It’s natural for keen gardeners to tackle problems head-on. We want READ MORE
Carrie does not love Tom
She never did. Crammed with nudges and winks, this educational piece was originally published in the May 2022 issue of Cross Pollination, the newsletter of the Halton Region Master Gardeners. By Bev Wagar, Halton Master Gardener Carrot had been growing beside Tomato for only a few weeks when she realized she didn’t like the guy. READ MORE
Garden Activism—Are You at Risk?
This tongue-in-cheek article was originally published in the April 2022 issue of Cross Pollination, the newsletter of the Halton Region Master Gardeners. Does your love of gardening come with strong opinions, ideas that sometimes bolt from the brain and barge headlong into the world? When thoughts and convictions grow mouths and legs, do be wary—it READ MORE
Using an Instant Pot to sterilize triple mix
Today (Aprl 10, 2022) I did a kitchen experiment to see if I could use our Instant Pot to sterilize triple mix.The reason for the desire to heat-treat the mix is the risk of Jumping Worms (Amynthas ssp.) an invasive species that has recently been reported in my city of Hamilton (Ontario Canada). Although the READ MORE
Team Work
by Bev Wagar Knotweed’s ruthlessness calls for a special kind of response from Hort Court. I wrote “Team Work” in early 2022, after a long break from the Hort Court series. No longer constrained by word counts (The Point is now digital only and I no longer contribute a gardening column), this one is much READ MORE
Campanulastrum americana ID
Photos below are Campanulastrum americana / Tall Bellflower, a Carolinian native listed as “common” in Hamilton (Ontario) area in Michael Oldham’s ‘List of the Vascular Plants of Ontario’s Carolinian Zone (Ecoregion 7E)’ (link opens in new tab) . Formerly known as Campanula americana and recently assigned its own genus Campanulastrum, this is an unusual bellflower, READ MORE