Members of the Durham Master Gardeners are participating in a Food Garden Challenge. The FBSC (Foundation for Building Sustainable Community) has invited local groups, families and corporations to design, plant and maintain a food garden. The goal of the competition is to engage and educate by demonstrating the diversity of space used for growing food. During the month of June we will be designing and planting our 10 X 50 foot plot. Stay in touch to learn about our progress.
Gini Sage and Elaine Davidson at the DMG booth
On May 25th in conjunction with the Pickering Artfest, the Pickering Library held a How To Festival with 25 how to do something booths. Durham Master Gardeners were pleased to participate by having a How to Grow Herbs in Containers booth. We had a slide show presentation on herbs both in and out of containers running in the background and a table full of herbs for people to look at and to smell and taste if they wished.
The event was well attended and everyone enjoyed themselves.
This free workshop will will cover all aspects of growing food in a balcony garden, including soil types, what soils to use, types of containers and how to prepare them, garden design, plant and seed selection, seed starting, vertical gardening, proper watering, fertilizing and harvesting techniques. The workshop will include practical demonstrations and hands on projects. Participants will also be given several tip sheets to help them start their own vegetable balcony gardens. Workshop materials and additional resources will be provided to registered participants at no cost. Registration is required.
The workshop is being presented by the Master Gardeners and the Durham Integrated Growers.
Location: South Oshawa Community Centre
Time: May 11, 9 am to 12 noon
Cost: Free
Register: http://leisure.oshawa.ca/Activities/ActivitiesDetails.asp?ProcessWait=N&aid=3247&From=fas
Many gardeners like to “clean up” their gardens for winter, or “put their gardens to bed.”
But wait…don’t throw all that plant material out! Not only can you cut down on garden waste by using that material for decorative purposes, you can save money! Just think – you won’t have to go out and buy so much to fill your decorative outside urns or planters, and you may even have some lovely plants to use for indoor arrangements.
Both Pee Gee-type hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’), and the Annabelle-type (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) dry well. The blooms of Hydrangea paniculata change colour as they age and so it is possible to have beautiful arrangements in various hues of cream, pink, purple, and red conical-shaped blooms. Hydrangea arborescens do not change colour and so look nice in natural arrangements. However, once dried they can be spray-painted any colour. Dried hydrangeas work well in both indoor and outdoor arrangements.
Other filler for use in outdoor containers include plants with interesting seed heads – astilbe, echinacea, various ornamental grasses, allium (especially Allium christophii with its giant star shape), poppy seed heads, pinecones, and rose hips. Use a bit of hairspray to help keep the seed heads intact. Some seed heads also look attractive spray-painted.
Cut your own boughs. Various evergreens can be used – conifers such as pine, spruce, fir, and cedar, as well as broad-leaf evergreens such as holly (including the berries if you have female plants) and boxwood. Consider using various deciduous branches. In addition to birch, there is red or yellow twig dogwood, corkscrew hazel, curly willow, and lengths of grapevine.
When pruning shrubs and perennials throughout the year think about what you could use in your winter containers. The above suggestions are just a start – your garden plants will have other indoor/outdoor decorative potential. Enjoy your garden year round!
Kim Pileggi
Durham Master Gardener
Emerald Ash Borer
Durham Region, along with a number of other communities in Ontario and Quebec, is currently under an Emerald Ash Borer Infested Places Order issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Under this order the movement of firewood of all species, as well as trees, nursery stock, logs, lumber, wood packaging, wood or bark, wood chips or bark chips of the Ash tree, is prohibited.
While there are management plans in place for ash trees on most municipal properties, ash trees on private property are also at risk and are the responsibility of the property owner. For more information about the threat posed by the emerald ash borer to our forests, and what you can do to slow the spread, please visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.
(Image source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency)
Tracey Smyth and Kim Pileggi at the registration table.
The Durham Master Gardeners hosted a technical update on Sunday, September 23 in Oshawa. Approximately 45 Master Gardeners attended to hear Dugald Cameron of Gardenimport speak on bulbs, their care, feeding, zone requirements, storage and planting tips. It was a very informative session augmented by the great food and door prizes.
Susan Shepherd sampling some of the great food.
Karen Durnin, the grand prize winner.
Kudos to the team efforts in the planning of the update, and thanks to our generous sponsors for the door prizes.
This is the time of year that owners of Eastern red cedars and apple trees will be on the lookout for a fungal disease known as Cedar Apple Rust.
According to OMAFRA’s Publication 310, Integrated Pest Management for Apples,
Symptoms begin to appear at about the same time apple trees are in the pink stage, after a wet period caused by a rain or heavy dew. Galls on the eastern red cedar produce orange telia horns 10-20 mm long that grow from the galls and become orange-yellow and gelatinous.
Symptoms of this rust disease look very different on these two species, but both apple trees and Eastern red cedars (Juniperus virginianae) are affected. This condition can result in complete defoliation and loss of crop.
In apple trees, small, pale yellow spots appear on the upper surface of leaves and on the fruit.
For more information about Cedar Apple Rust, including treatment and management strategies and detailed images of the galls and telia horns on Eastern red cedar, see:
(Photo source: OMAFRA)
A new invasive pest is making its way to Durham Region. This pest is especially of interest to growers of apples. OMAFRA has published a pest alert on the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), indicating that although the pest has not yet been detected in any Canadian crops, it has been found in some shipments coming across the border. Features that set this insect apart from other stink bugs are the white bands on the legs and antennae.
If you think you have identified the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in your home or garden, please:
(Image source: OMAFRA)
Durham Master Gardeners recently attended Sustainable Pickering Day at Pickering Town Centre. Sustainable Pickering Day
The group was thoughtfully mentioned in a post over at the Clean Air Partnership blog:
Gardening expert Ken Brown was accompanied by some of the gardening zen masters from the Durham Master Gardeners, ensuring that residents could ask questions related to growing herbs, fruits and vegetables regardless of whether they have a backyard, a balcony, a patio or just a few pots in their window.
Thank you for mentioning us!
If you have a gardening question, visit with the Durham Master Gardeners at our next public appearance on May 2, 2012 at the Clarington Public Library, Newcastle Branch, where we will be talking about Getting Your Garden Ready for Spring at 6:30 pm.
The Emerald Ash Borer Comes to Oshawa
Educational material will be made available to the public for drop-in on Wednesday, April 4 at:
Civic Recreation Complex
99 Thornton Rd. S.
Room 5
Drop-in 9:00 am until 9:00 pm
According to the City of Oshawa News website,
The EAB infestation in Oshawa is spreading faster then expected. It is important for residents to learn what an ash tree looks like, the signs and symptoms of EAB infestation and what can be done. Property owners play a significant role in preventing the spread of EAB.
The City has prepared a plan to help manage the impacts of EAB on publicly owned lands (along streets, in parks and open spaces). Private tree maintenance is the responsibility of the property owner.
EAB has killed millions of ash trees in southwestern Ontario, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban forest in Canada and the United States.
For additional information about the Emerald Ash Borer in Canada, see the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s fact sheet, Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus plannipennis
(Image source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency)