by Donna Balzer | Aug 19, 2019 | Bugs & Buggers, GARDENING
I am watching ladybugs eat my aphids and I am patting myself on the back. And then I see it’s a bad version of a good bug. How can that be possible in my all-organic beautiful garden? Yikes. We all know and love lady beetles and children’s rhymes have even been written for them…”Fly away, fly away, fly away home…” But who knew a positive role model, known to eat aphids in our garden, could go bad? Like bunnies in Australia this beetle is snapping up habitat and pushing our own native beetles aside! Luckily, says Ken Fry, this bug is not everywhere. “This species is well established in the coastal areas of B.C., favouring humid environments. It is only rarely found in Alberta (too arid).” Find out more about how you can encourage native predators and why you should stop buying lady beetles for your garden.
by Donna Balzer | Aug 1, 2019 | Food, GARDENING, Greenhouse
So it is late July and I am returning from a week away and when I come home I am in for a big surprise! The tomatoes in my big 16 x 20 foot greenhouse are literally falling off the plants! And this means one thing….
by Donna Balzer | Jul 23, 2019 | Food, GARDENING, Greenhouse, Soil
Biochar is a friend of the garden and a positive addition to soil. It’s there when you aren’t even thinking about it and it helps you get the best veggie garden ever. Permanently. Among various types of Biochar the professionally produced Airterra Soilmatrix Biochar has been approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency because of it’s consistent and reliable characteristics. If you want to try Biochar, why not try the approved brand? Now available on Vancouver Island.
by Donna Balzer | Jul 21, 2019 | Food, GARDENING, Soil
Potatoes are cheap to buy so why make room to grow them at all? Because they are so heavily sprayed in commercial production and the difference in flavour and texture between home grown and store bought is just incredible. So even if the only space you have is under a tree or on a patio, consider growing your own potatoes next year. I am surprised by the results of my potato experiments in 2019. This is not what I expected at all. I have been growing potatoes in bags, pots and the ground for years. Over time I discovered I grow better potatoes in grow bags than I do in the soil so this year I wanted to compare various additions to the grow bags so I can save money and grow better food faster. Ordinary crops grown in extraordinary ways!
by Donna Balzer | Jul 15, 2019 | Food, GARDENING
So just to be clear I am not in jail and I do not have that much free time on a daily basis but I do have a lot of those piddly little garlic cloves because my garlic self seeds all over my garden and sometimes I don’t see it right away until the plants are grown and are ready to pull. So I do that – I pull it. And then in fall and winter I peel as I go – using it up in my kitchen. I love garlic. But when the cloves are small you have to peel two or three to get enough for a recipe.
by Donna Balzer | Jul 11, 2019 | Food, Garden Decoration, GARDENING, Landscaping Tips
So what is your motivation for making changes in the garden? In my yard it all started with Helpful husband. He had better things to do so he stopped mowing the lawn. And when our irrigation system imploded he stopped watering the lawn. Only the weeds were growing.
So with pencil and paper and I did for us what I usually do for others: A front yard redesign starting with removing the lawn and adding more parking for all our toys and vehicles. We … started by widening the right side of the yard, building a small wall to contain the plants, and creating extra parking. Then came the edible and ornamental plants.
