Spindle Tree

It sounds like something out of a fairytale, and looks just like it too!  European Spindle Tree (Euonymus europaeus) was one of the trees we passed on a garden tour / field-trip in Niagara-on-the-Lake today.  I've never taken much of a liking to Euonymus.  I've had to prune the hollow shrubby bushes time and time again, I'm not a fan of things that are yellow-green variegated and I've never met one without scale.  Until today I never knew they had a tree form, but this pink'n'orange effervescent little specimen certainly caught my attention :)  Its not the sort of thing I'd plant as a focal point on its own, but I do love how it blends in with this whimsical setting -- as though Sleeping Beauty herself might come along at any moment, prick her finger and fall asleep on this bench. I should point out that although I'm told this tree is not problematic here in Ontario it is invasive in other areas.  I do also want to commend my teacher Dena Sebastianelli-Gavin, as she maintains this landscape and was the one who brought us on the tour.  Thanks Dena!  As a bonus, I've included this antique botanical illustration (Flora von Deutschland, 1885) in a high enough resolution to print. If you are bored of your Botanical Print Clipboard, or didn't make one yet -- this print would be perfect! :)

ex-librīs free printables

I found these lovely black and white illustrations in this week's Dover Sampler. They're not a huge image size, but I think they'd make charming labels on mason jars and tupperware .. or maybe I'll print them as book plates!  I also changed my twitter background courtesy of another one of the samples :)  Want weekly samples sent straight to your email?  [click here to join] !

Heartnuts (Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis)

Heartnuts are a cultivar of Japanese Walnuts, they taste just like regular walnuts but they crack out heart shaped nuts from heart shaped shells .. how charming!  I was entertaining friends today and wanted to serve something interesting along with tea.  The nuts I got from last week's field trip to Grimo Nut Nursery were just the perfect idea.  Along with heartnuts I served a pine-nut-cone, native black walnuts, hickory nuts and ultra northern pecans.  They were a huge hit with the guests and of course both seasonal & local :)  Next thing I have to come up with some craft ideas for the lovely shells, I'm thinking Christmas decorations!

Heirloom Tomatoes: Stupice -- Transplanting Day

The Stupice tomatoes we're growing for our research project got their big guy homes today!  The ellepot system has really worked out well for us :)  The seedlings did indeed root faster in the paper wrapped ellepots, they have wonderful white fluffy roots just starting to grow out the bottom so we knew it was time to move!  They were super simple to transplant, with no garbage to throw away.  There's still 6 seedlings waiting to be transplanted too :)  We transplanted into large nursery pots with 3 variations of container mix.

(this is where the research comes in)

Pots 1&2: Berger BM6 with no amendments (control)

Pots 3&4: BM6 amended with 10% Forterra Vermicastings

Pots 5&6: BM6 mixed 50/50 with Forterra Vermicastings

Remembrance Day

Grimo Nut Nursery (Photos)

My nursery production class visited Grimo Nut Nursery in Niagara-on-the-Lake today.  It was a fun and interesting tour, nice to get out of the greenhouse for a bit and learn about something really different -- nut trees!  Here's a list of all the different nut trees that Grimo offers either as landscape trees or shelling nuts: Heartnut, Buartnut, Butternut, Persian Walnut, Black Walnut, Hazelnut, Chinese Chestnut, American Chestnut, Hickory, Ultra Northern Pecan, Ginko, Oaks, Mulberry, Persimmon, Pawpaw, Fig, Quince, Nut Pines.  Since I couldn't possibly photograph every single one and still pay attention to what was going on, the photos are only of the highlights during our visit :)  My absolute favourite was the heartnuts, I'm sure you'll see a second post on those at some point because their heart shaped shells just beg to be crafted with!  For anyone in the St. Catharines / NOTL area I'd highly suggest a visit, and anyone closer to the Lake Erie (Wainfleet) region: Tiffany Mayer just recently posted about her visit to Charles Rhora, our other local nut farmer, on her blog: EatingNiagara!

UPDATE -- a post just about Heartnuts!

watering .. watering .. watering

But just because you're working hard doesn't mean you can't look stylish!  

I've got on a botanical-inspired waffle weave top, and my red suspenders / belt that co-incidentally match the poinsettias rather well LoL  All are thrift store finds that I've had for years :)

A Pre- New Year's Resolution

#gardenchat 11.7 -- SOIL

Tonight's #gardenchat, hosted by Courtney Tompkins was on the topic of soil health, and I'm so glad to see this topic covered, because as I've learned in class again and again and again: Soil is such a key part of growing!  We obviously can't cover every aspect of soil health, structure and importance in one crazy busy chat, but I think the best thing that happened this evening, was #gardenchat got everyone considering their soil and thinking outside the box (or inside the containers LoL)

We started with the basics: soil vs dirt.  As a horticulture and science student myself, I'm particular about calling it soil but not everyone agrees, and I can respect that :)

• "Dirt" is what you scrape off your shoes, "Soil" is what you plant in -- @DSAldridge
• A good gardener can make soil out of dirt -- @GreenSoil
• I'm not above the dirt, I'm level with it. Soil, earth, dirt, it's all good :) -- @StarkBrosCares

After that, the tweets really do get flying!  Its far too much information to take in all at once, that's why I love The Gardenchat Transcript  One suggestion made by Courtney that I really agree with was that constant evaluation/feeding of your soil is [one of the] the best thing[s] you can do!  Then again, other growers that I truly respect, such as Linda Crago never have their soil tested, although she does amend with compost and green manure.  Really, what it comes down to as Annie Haven said: it's all about feeding the Soil!

Another question pertained to a subject I know plenty about: container growing.  "Can we use the soil from the garden in containers indoors?"  I've learned in my various horticulture practices and greenhouse classes that outdoor soil tends to be too heavy, it compacts and get waterlogged in containers.  I've also learned the hard way that moving soil from outdoors to indoors is likely to bring along contaminants such as pests, fungi and diseases.  In the research greenhouse, we use Berger BM6, and in one project: worm castings but at home I mix my own container soil -- primarily peat moss with perlite, vermiculite, sand, compost, or other amendments added as needed specifically by each plant.  Courtney agrees, "It's smart to test & tweak for each plant's needs!"


Then Bren of @bg_garden asked what was being grown indoors this time of year?  Bren and Linda are growing sprouts and pea shoots and me? as I'm sure you know by now I've got an Heirloom Tomato Crop, but I'm also doing a production crop of Mini Winter Cyclamen and my classmates in the research greenhouse have Basil and other herbs growing :)

Some last words of wisdom before I left #gardenchat for the evening:

• Think about where your amendments are sourced from. Try to be low impact. That's why I love @GreenSoil! -- @ecokatLA
• I just realized you could take a several tweets completely out of context and make a short novel out of #gardenchat -- @JanitC

Side note: we start #gardenchat each week, by introducing ourselves and which zone we grow in.
For those Canadians who don't know your zone, there is an interactive Plant Hardiness Zone Map:
 http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/climate/hardiness/intro.html (use the "new" map)
And of particular interest to this evening's topic is the interactive Soils of Canada Map:
 http://atlas.agr.gc.ca/agmaf/index_eng.html#context=soil-sol_en.xml

Riding the Backroads

Aeroponic Cultivation of Medicinal Root Crops

Yesterday we had a really interesting discussion and workshop about Herbs, Useful and Medicinal Plants.  The presentation I found most interesting was about this research paper: Potential for Greenhouse Aeroponic Cultivation of Medicinal Root Crops.  Aeroponics uses air as the growing medium, the plants roots grow bare and the misted environment provides nutrients without the use of soil or soilless media.  This particular research project looked at growing medicinal root crops such as echinacea, ginseng, and burdock on/in really innovative a-frame aeroponics chambers built by the Controlled Environment Agriculture Centre (which in itself is a really interesting endeavour).  There are all sorts of benefits (and challenges) to growing this way, the most noticable was improved quality and much higher crop yields.  I could go on and on in great detail but I'll let you read the paper if you're that interested :)

Botanical / Horticulture Inspired #polyvore sets

-- by inhabitingtrees on polyvore.com --

Koppert Biological Systems

Remember my Beneficial Insect halloween costume?  Well there seems to be a bit of a trend this week LoL Today and tomorrow our class is having guest speakers from various biological pest control companies.  "What is Bio-Control" you ask?  Simply put: instead of using chemicals, establish a biological system that uses predatory or parasitic insects, mites and nematodes to control other pest insects in the greenhouse (or your home garden and lawn) by preying on them.  Today we're learning from the experts at Koppert!  While they may produce state-of-the-art biological systems that are used by professional growers, they recognize that the home gardener faces many of the same challenges and provide many of the same specialized bio-controls directly to homeowners who are looking for safe, chemical-free alternatives to the traditional pest controls.  In fact, many of my classmates can confirm that bios can be successfully used at home, cause we all took petri-dishes full of samples to spread around our houseplants and at-home-projects :)

my classmate Laura to her fiancee: "Honey, there may be a few more insects in the apartment than there were when you left this morning .. but trust me its a good thing!" she nods convincingly

Heirloom Tomatoes: Stupice -- Seedlings

As I mentioned a few weeks ago I'm currently undertaking a research project, growing Heirloom tomatoes as a food crop in my Vegetable Production class.  This project is very close to my heart and has two aims: #1 - to demonstrate that Heirloom tomatoes are a viable alternative greenhouse crop, equal to or even better than commercial hybrid tomatoes for a variety of reasons while busting some of the myths about growing Heirloom vegetables.  #2 - to experience growing a vegetable crop organically in a production setting, using peat moss / worm casting soil mixtures and compost tea fertilizers.

We chose to use TreeandTwig's Stupice seed because this lil round tomato is rumoured to be a real workhorse - a prolific producer with long and high yields of sweet, red and very uniform fruit.  The plant itself is vigorous, tolerant to cool temperatures and naturally resistant to a number of pests/diseases and ripening disorders.  Stupice is also consistently a favourite during taste tests.  All these criteria make it a great choice for our research project :)  If you want, you can read my entire Cultivar Selection proposal here

We sowed two rounds of seeds on October 15th and 25th into Ellepots: paper wrapped peat moss "pots" that are biodegradable, so you just transplant them straight into the final container!  The Ellepots are open on the bottom, which means great air circulation and encourages rooting :)  The earlier ones are just showing their first set of true leaves and the later ones have just germinated and are still emerging under a "mini-propagation dome" (upside down tupperware with a few holes drilled into it)  They look so great and healthy .. I'm super super super excited!  I find it almost magical watching hard work translate into something that's alive and growing :)

Heirloom Tomato Growers Resource Manual
I wanted to share some of the great resources I found while researching this project.  I printed these ones out into plastic sleeves, to make a growers manual we can reference and pass onto the next crops class.  I also have tons of links to more in-depth research papers, if anyone is interested feel free to contact me.

• Growing Heirloom and Heirloom-type Tomato Hybrids in Organic & Conventional Production Systems
• Growing Greenhouse Tomatoes in Soil and in Soilless Media
• Grafting for Disease Resistance in Heirloom Tomatoes
• High Tunnel Tomato Production Manual 
• http://www.hightunnels.org
• The Heirloom Tomato as Cultural Object: Investigating Taste and Space
• Opportunities with Organic and Heirloom Tomatoes
• Cultivar Trials on Field-Grown Tomatoes

Infographic -- Getting Around: Transportation Today

Halloween!

I've been busy with school, learning about Natural Insect Control and ran out of time to think up any new dress up ideas.  So this year was, appropriately .. Round II for the Beneficial Ladybug costume!  Now with ladybug stockings as well :)  Ladybugs are beneficial to gardeners and greenhouse growers because they are a natural predator of all sorts of icky pests we don't want: aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, and mites!

OBSESSIVE: Seeds

featuring Jere Gettle (@rareseeds) of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Mossy Boneyard Terrarium

-----(Inspired by @LarkCrafts post TheGraveyardShift)-----

Mid-Century Modern

Mid-Century Modern by inhabitingtrees

The Heirloom Tomato as Cultural Object