As gardeners prepare their gardens for the winter, they are also thinking and planning for next year. If you are planting tomatoes or similar veggies such as peppers, eggplant, summer squashes, and melons, you must remember that they need Calcium!

Some people who have planted tomatoes might have seen some of their harvest with blackened and rotted bottoms. The distinctive appearance of affected fruits and veggies is that of a circular blackened, slightly sunken rotten spot on the bottom (blossom end) of the fruits. The top of the tomato looks completely normal, but when you pluck it from the vine and turn it over, the black lesion is visible. This is referred to as “Blossom End Rot.” It means certain vegetables, including tomatoes have been both slightly stressed and have a lack of calcium. You can help its stress by properly watering and weeding. And you can avoid it not having enough calcium, by supplementing the soil naturally. Try these steps which I do in my garden every year.

• During the winter months, I have a container under the kitchen sink and collect eggshells. Now and again, I crush them a bit.
• In the spring, I take those eggshells that I put into the container and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. I then cook that at low heat in the oven for a few minutes, or in a microwave on high power for at least 10 seconds. This will sterilize the eggshells; thus, killing any salmonella that may be there.  I do not rinse the eggshells as this will wash away some of the organic matter from the shell which you want to keep.
• In the spring before I use the eggshells, it is best to crush them thoroughly. This increases their surface area. Or for even better results, it is best to grind the eggshells into a fine powder using a pestle and mortar, a high-speed blender or a coffee grinder. Get one just for this purpose from a thrift store or garage sale.  Calcium within an eggshell is locked up as calcium carbonate, making it unavailable to plants as it is. Grinding it up into a powder turns it into a form that plants can more readily use.  So now your eggshell powder is a slow-release source of calcium - released over several months.
• When I’m planting my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, I toss some eggshell powder into the hole that I’ve dug for the new plant.
• I then plant the vegetables in the hole, deep up to the first leaves, pressing firmly on the soil.
• Finally, I sprinkle more eggshell powder over the surface of the beds and then I water the new plants or seedlings.

If you are planting tomatoes and don’t have many eggshells saved, make a quiche or breakfast strata this weekend!

An afterthought – other good uses for calcium ladened powdered eggshells:
- Calcium helps promote the production of healthy cell walls, so this eggshell powder will help your next season’s crops. Its high calcium content will also be great for leafy greens like kale and cabbage.
- If you have a wormery, worms can easily ingest powdered eggshells, and it serves as a grit to aid their digestion and general health. And what do healthy worms mean? Better compost and better soil. 
- If you don’t have a worm composter, add them to your general compost pile to help the worms that have moved into it.  They’ll enjoy the eggshells and produce better compost for you.

Submitted by Rahe Richards, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society
Photo credit: SavvyGardening.com

Leek is a great vegetable to grow. Although it can be expensive in the store; it is easy to grow. It has a milder taste than onions and can be used in soups and stews.

Early March is a good time to start your leek seeds as they benefit from a long growing season.  Seed them indoors in plugs or even a  salad container. You can use the kind you get some veggies or salad in from the grocery store – clear plastic with a closable lid.  Keep the lid on until sprouting as it keeps the moisture in.

Once the leek is growing, add diluted fertilizer every week or 2 with the watering. Leeks are heavy feeders.

When the soil is thawed out in April and your leek have grown pencil thick, it is time to transplant outdoors.  Dig a trench about 6 inches deep and plant in a row 6 inches apart. As your leek grows, hill up the leek so it will have a nice white stalk growing (add soil from both sides about 1 inch at a time to give leek sunlight.) If you plant leek closer together, harvest them initially by thinning your rows.

Instead of seeding indoors you can also use the mini greenhouse method. Use a big plastic jug. Make enough draining holes in the bottom. Cut the jug horizontally in half, keeping the side with the handle attached. Fill with potting soil and seed your leek. Then tape the top half to the bottom with duct tape and remove the cap. This jug be placed outside in a sunny location. The leek will start growing when the weather is thawing. Then transplant in April or May as with the indoor grown leek.

Submitted by Greta Van den Bossche, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

With the deep snow fall we have had recently - and there may still more come - I found it difficult to take my kitchen scraps to my composter in the backyard. Instead of throwing the scraps in the green bin, I started composting in my garage!  Here’s how I did it:

• I lined a large rubber bin with plastic. Try using a large black garbage bag as black helps composting go faster.
• Then I hand shredded some newspapers and stored them in a box beside my lined rubber bin.
• When the small recycling container under my sink fills up, I take it to the garage and put the food scraps in the bin. Then cover them with some shredded newspaper. The recycling container goes back under the sink where it can gather more scraps.
• In the spring, I’ll take everything in the “interim” composter (i.e. the lined rubber bin) and add its composting scraps and shredded newspapers to my normal backyard composter.

So far, it is working like a charm! And I’ll be able to put the scraps to good use as compost for my gardens this spring and summer.

Submmitted by Rahe RIchards,  a member of the RIchmond hill Garden & Horticultural Society

Last year we started to place our seeds into the little pellets. We got ours when our Society was selling them but you can get them at nurseries, Walmart, and even local Dollar stores. Indeed, the one I got, was a mini greenhouse in that you put the seeds in the pellet and put that into the tray that came with the package. Then you water all the pellets and place the lid on them.  This created a self-watering unit that we placed near the window. Easy to use and no need to water for several weeks. It’s an inexpensive “seeding greenhouse”. This year, we’ll just need to buy the pellets. Or simply put soil in the sections in the tray and put the seeds in those.

It worked. The seeds sprouted and grew. However, by the end of April they were already a good size; however, we still had another month before we could grow them outdoors. I wasn’t into replanting each of the seedlings into bigger containers; so, the seedlings got leggy which means they grew long stems to push the branches up higher in order up to get more sun. That kind of plant is weaker and typically can not withstand the outdoors too well as the longer main stem weakens the plant. So how do I avoid that this year? 

After thinking about ways to avoid this issue, I had some ideas and suggestions from fellow members. 

• One thought is to put them under grow lights. Remember that the stems grow longer to get the leaves nearer the light. So, if you move your plants closer to the proper light, or indeed put them under a grow light, then instead of getting leggy, the entire plant will grow proportionately and be larger seedlings by your planting date. My friend did this but because the seeds were planted so early ended up with fully grown plants in their living room by early May! Actually, that was really just a short term space problem as the plants looked excellent once moved outdoors!
• The other idea is to plant the seeds closer to the date that the seedlings need to be planted outdoors. This idea is more appealing to those without space for another shelving unit with grow lights.  Let’s take a look at how to do this.

Calculating the date to put seeds into the pellets.

If I look at each package of seeds, they’ll tell me how long they take to grow.  Using that as the time to plant outdoors, then I can count backwards on the calendar to see when those seeds should be planted indoors.  Of course, each seed type and variety has a different growing time, so I’ll need to make a list of which seeds to plant in the pellets each day.

I grew up in Leamington, ON and we always planted our seeds outdoors on the May 24th weekend.  But I find that Richmond Hill isn’t quite as warm as Leamington was then, so I think it is a good idea to start about a week later for your calculations in case the May 24th weekend is still a bit too chilly to plant the seedlings outdoors.  It is easier to start them a week later than to wish you had!  Of course, by May 24th, I actually mean the Victoria Day long weekend which is not often actually on May 24th.  In 2022, Victoria Day is a Tuesday so I’d hope to plant on May 21, 22 but more likely will be planting on May 28 and 29.

As an example, if my tomatoes seeds take 50 days to germinate, then looking at my calendar I should put the seeds in their pellets by April 8th to ensure that they will be ready for the ground on May 28th. 

Doing these things should make my seedlings stronger and ready to be planted and turned into wonderful flowers and vegetables!

Submitted by Doreen Coyne, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

My newer Christmas Cactus has purple leaves!  They’ve turned from a green to a purplish red. Weird but attractive.  I wondered why as overwatering didn’t seem to be an issue.  But I also wondered if they could ever turn green again!  If yours are turning purple – even a bit – consider that they just finished blooming for Christmas and most will bloom again for Easter.  So now is the time to fix the issue.    

Why do they turn purple?  I started looking for advice and as many of you might do as well, I asked Mr. Google.  Oftentimes, a purplish tint to your Christmas cactus leaves is normal. That said, if it’s noticeable throughout the leaves, it may signal an issue with your plant. Seems there are 4 main reasons why Christmas Cactus turn purple. Who would have guessed? They are stress, nutritional issues, crowded roots, and temperature issues.

Stress – Just like us, Christmas Cactus can get very stressed out!  Turning purple is the plant's way of responding to environmental stress. Succulents, agave, and aloe varieties also turn reddish, burgundy, or purple when exposed to stress.  And if you catch this early, you can likely stop further colouring. What causes these plants to be stressed?  Several things –

Nutritional issues – If you don’t fertilize your Christmas cactus regularly, the plant may be lacking the necessary nutrients. Feed the plant monthly from spring until mid-autumn with a general-purpose fertilizer for indoor plants. Additionally, because Christmas cacti require more magnesium than most plants, it normally helps to provide a supplemental feeding of 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of Epsom salts dissolved in one gallon of water. Apply the mixture once every month throughout spring and summer, but do NOT use the Epsom salt mixture the same week that you apply regular plant fertilizer.

Crowded roots – If your Christmas cactus is rootbound, it may not be absorbing nutrients effectively. But they do like crowded roots so don’t repot them unless it has been in that pot for at least 2 to 3 years. If it needs repotting, it is best to repot in the spring so your time to do this is coming!

Temperature Issues – They sometimes turn reddish-purple when their roots overheat or guess what? They also can turn red or purple when they get too cold! Move them to avoid placing your plant in extreme temperature conditions. So don’t put it near a fireplace, heater, fan, cooling or heating vent, nor a drafty window or a door that is frequently opened.  And a good thought – don’t plant it in a black plastic planter which will overheat as it absorbs the sun’s rays in the summer.  Perhaps try a light-coloured clay pot. My mom made special African violet clay pots - she did ceramics, and taught, pottery and ceramic classes. The pots are 2 pots really – one rounder one to hold the water and one like a deep pie dish with ruffled edges to hold the plant with its soil. You put water in the bottom one and then put the pie dish one back into the one with water.  If you see one of these, do get it for your African violets. These plants do require bright light during fall and winter, but too much direct light during the summer months may also be the reason for Christmas cactus leaves turning purple on the edges.

Will they ever return to green leaves?  This was my second question and I couldn’t find anyone who had a positive answer.  If the leaves are just starting to turn purple, then it seems they could return themselves to normal green leaves by following the notes above. If they are more than a little purple, at least following the notes will stop further colouring. But if they are totally purple, no promises are made.  Experts hold out a small glint of hope that the plants could at least improve in health and not die if you reduce their stress. 

Bottom line. Purple Christmas Cactus are attractive and unique, and a healthy plant is better than no plant; so, I’ve started to repot and relocate my purple Christmas Cactus! It's now 3 years old!

Article and photos by Doreen Coyne, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

I saved seeds from flowers last fall and I saved seeds that I bought over the last few years if I didn’t use them all. And now the colourful seed catalogues are arriving in the mail enticing me to buy more seeds.

Before I head to the store or order online, I need to get out my box of seed packets that I’ve harvested or bought in previous years.  First, do I have all the seeds I want? Last year, I didn’t look in my box of seeds and ended up buying 2 sets of duplicate seeds!  Then my thoughts focus on which of them and how many I’ll grow this year.  Before I am done, I consider which of them will I start early and then plant as seedlings and which seeds will be planted directly into the ground in late May.

Of course, the most important question remains unanswered. 
Are the seeds I already have still viable? Will they sprout or are they too old or dried out?  Now is the time that it matters if the seeds I’ve been keeping are still usable.

A general rule of thumb from my father who was raised on a farm was that most seeds last a couple of years if stored in a dry, cool place. Also, different plant seeds may last longer than others! For example, seeds from “tougher” vegetables like kale, swiss chard, cabbage, pumpkin, and radishes may last up to 4 years while delicate veggies like lettuce, onions, parsnips may only last 1 year. But how long have I been storing my seeds?  It would have been a good idea to date each of the packets.  Note to self to do that this year.

I’ve decided it is best to test my seeds to see if they can still sprout. Several other members do this as well if they are concerned and don’t want a garden missing some of their favourite flowers or vegetables.  You can test your seeds now as a part of your garden planning!  

Just take a few seeds – and borrowing an idea from some journals, make it ten seeds for easy calculations. I used to just add a handful but then figuring out the percent that sprouted was more difficult. Put your seeds into a damp paper towel.  Fold it up and place it in a plastic bag.  Put the bag in a warm spot and after a week or so, count how many of the seeds germinated. i.e. sprouted. If none sprouted, they are no good. If less than 30% (3 of those 10) sprouted, then you'll have to consider replacing that packet with a new one from the store.  If say 70% plus sprouted – you’ve got good seeds.  Anything from 30% to 60% success would suggest that you should overplant that flower or veggie when you set out to use those seeds just to be sure you get enough of the crop growing.

This sounds easy but you need to test each seed type and if you have 2 groups of one type of seed from different years, then you’ll be testing 2 sets of those seeds – one test per year.  So be sure to have a marker with you to write the type of seed you are testing and which packet they came from.

Bottom line – with this knowledge you’ll know what you have already that will grow this summer and what you need to buy online or at the store.  This for me is the first step in planning your garden and daydreaming of what your harvest will give you. 

Submitted by Doreen Coyne, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

Disclainer: The article is based on my own experience combined with details on what my friends do to feed birds in their gardens, and the results from multiple google searches for additional ways to feed our feathered friends.

We love to see birds in our gardens.  Many of us are taken by the number of varieties that drop by each day. One friend saw an Oriole in her yard at her new house so rushed out and got all the correct foods for it and was rewarded with visits that season and every season since. Birds are also useful to us. They help with pest control as they eye, then eat insects such as aphids, caterpillars, and grubs. But in the winter, food can be scarce so if you feed the birds on a regular basis it will encourage them to keep coming back to your garden.

How to attract birds to your winter gardens and yards?

First - Offer Them Fresh Water

Water is essential for both drinking and washing for birds. You can purchase a birdbath or use a dog bowl or anything else with the correct shape. You may need to put a brick or rock in the middle so the water bowl stays in place.  Every morning fill the bowl with fresh, warm water so that birds can bathe and preen their feathers (clean feathers provide better insulation from the cold). Keep the water topped up and clean out your birdbath once a week to avoid pests and summer mosquitoes.

Second – Feed Them Natural Foods

Many types of birds will appreciate the fruit from your trees such as apples, crab apples, and pears. Which is a also great way to use up blemished fruits. For the winter, you can dry them and chop them into pieces. In the summer and fall, you could simply hang them from a tree or chop them up and scatter them on the ground for ground-feeding birds.

Next fall, don’t clean up your ornamental garden borders or smaller plants. Leave them until early spring so they can provide shelter for insects, which allows the birds to hunt for those insects during the winter. Grow plants that birds love. They enjoy the winter berries from many shrubs such as holly, winterberry, and yew.  Birds also enjoy the seed heads of Purple Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susan, and Sunflowers.  Turning over your soil in winter, or just before the frost sets in, can help to expose slug eggs and overwintering grubs to make it easier for birds to find them.

Third – Make Them Birdseed Cakes or Suet

Bird cakes are very easy to make. Mix dried ingredients such as crushed, unsalted peanuts, sunflower seeds, grains, mealworms and dried fruit (ex. Raisins) in a bowl. Mix in some melted animal fat or coconut oil (1 part fat to 2 parts seeds and the other food you’ve mixed in with them) then pour the mixture into a greased 8”x8” pan. Once set, you can cut this into 6 pieces so each can be easily put into a purchased wire bird feed holder.

Indeed, birds enjoy lots of food including unsalted peanuts, peanut butter, raisins, dried mealworms, and stale or hard mild cheeses, just as much as they like purchased birdseed mixtures.  Pinecones also make good bird feeders. Tie a string to the base of the pinecone then coat it with your birdseed mixture after letting it all but set.  Then tie that to a tree limb.

Or pour the bird food mixture into a flexible container to make a shaped birdseed cake. A small take-out coffee cup makes a nice shape for a birdseed cake. Be sure to put a string tied just inside the bottom of the cup, then through the cup’s bottom, tie it again, and then leave a foot or so of string to attach it to a tree branch or other hanger. After you fill it up and let it set, simply tear off the coffee cup and hang it.  Your used coffee cups are cheap to use and easily replaced if you happen to enjoy take-out from Tim Horton’s as much as I do.

Fourth - Place the Food Where They Can Feel Safe

Hang feeders in a spot where birds will have a good view of their surroundings and thus avoid predators while eating. Only put out small amounts of food at a time and replenish often to ensure a continuous supply.

Suggested reading:

1. Homemade Birdseed Cakes. Bev provides an easy-to-follow recipe for birdseed cakes that can be put into purchased wire suet holders.  Click here to read.
2. Suet Vs Seed Feeders.  This is a good article discussing the pros and cons of suet versus all seed bird cakes on Wild About Birds.  Click here to read. 

Article by Doreen Coyne, Photos by Marj Andre, members of the Richmond Hill Garaden & Horticultural Society.

Thinking about getting a garden started in your yard?  Maybe a vegetable patch, or just growing some annuals or perennials to add to your flower gardens.  Last year we had several Gardening Tips on these topics so while its cold and the winter’s snow is on the ground, why not take a read through those articles and consider what you might grow this winter for spring planting in your 2022 garden. Here’s some of the articles you may find interesting.

Crop Rotation  is the practice of planting specific crops in a given area each year and then rotating those crops to another area the next and the next.  This can help improve your soil as different crops give off some nutrients and others absorb specific nutrients from the soil. So the goal of rotating crops it to optimize nutrients in the soil. It is a good practice to do crop rotation in the vegetable garden every year to avoid crop diseases and/or pests from previous years coming back the next year.  Many crops produce a by-product that can help other plants. Yet they can deplete a nutrient they need to grow the next year.  Read the full story.

Growing Vegetables in Your Garden. This article starts with growing your vegetable seeds indoors in containers you already have. It discusses watering requirements and transplanting crowded seedlings.  Then it moves on with step-by-step instructions on planting your garden.  Read the full story 

Growing plants from Seeds. This article focuses on adding Milkweed to your native garden to attract monarch butterflies. It also discusses growing annuals and getting them to self-seed.  Then it moves on to Marigolds. Their seeds are easy to harvest and store and then plant the next year for a new batch of flowers! I plant a lot of marigolds using seeds as I find they are not only pretty but have a scent that deters most garden pests.  And l can’t smell that scent so even better! The information in this article applies to other flowers as well. Read the full story.

Hints and Tips when Growing Seedlings
This article focuses on 3 things: 1) Containers for seedlings, 2) Growing flowers in jugs, and 3) Blossom End Rot.  Read the full story.

Growing Potatoes In this article, the author gives the full story on how to grow potatoes to get a great harvest.  Read the full story.

Create some joy for yourself and others!  Start planning your garden. So sit back, have a coffee or tea, and start to think about, and plan, your garden.

Submitted by Doreen Coyne, a member of Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

Cooking for one or two people isn’t much fun so I tend to make food for the “family” and then freeze the remaining portions for future meals! Sometimes I plan a small dinner party and use those leftovers for freezing. You can make several small containers of soup, stew, or chili and then you’ll be eating something different each night of the week! That last idea is the focus of this article.
Here are some ideas for cooking once and getting lots of meals from it.

Cooking a Pot Meal:  When I make a pot of something, it is always a lot more than I can eat and I do not enjoy eating the same meal every night nor even every other night until it is gone.  Most of my pot meals can yield a meal for 10 people or more and it typically takes 2 to 3 hours to cook. But given a “pot meal” is generally more “liquidy” than say a pound of cooked hamburger or a chicken breast, I can’t vacuum seal it for freezing.  But I can put a serving or 2 into a clean but used margarine or yogurt container and freeze that.  Don’t quite fill the containers – leave a good half-inch of space at the top.  Then put them into the freezer. The next morning when the little containers are all frozen, I pop out the frozen contents and put them all into a big freezer bag that is dated and marked with its contents. Then clean the containers for the next usage.  Looking in my freezer, you’d see marked bags marked with “meals for one” of chili, beef stew, Osso Buco, and spaghetti with meatballs!  The result: A different meal every night without cooking every night! Yes, I have to thaw and cook my meal, but there is no measuring, lengthy cook times, nor adding of spices, etc.  Those parts are all done!

SOUPS:  When I make soup, I tend to make 3 to 4 litres at a time. My favourite is beef barley. I keep enough in the fridge for 3 to 5 lunches then freeze the rest in taller yogurt containers that can each hold another 3 to 5 bowls of soup. I freeze them in the same way as I do for “Cooking a Pot Meal”. If each week you make a pot of another soup – choose between minestrone, carrot soup, lentil soup, broccoli soup, and/or perhaps chicken noodle soup, then you’ll be able to get a 2 or 3 different soups each week and enjoy a variety of soups for lunch each day that week!

Note: This article is part of a series on Freezing Foods.  Below are links to other articles in this series.
- Too Many Vegetables from your Garden? Read this article. 
- More Veggies to Freeze.  Read the article. 
- What else can you freeze? Baked Goods! Read the article. 

Submitted by Doreen Coyne, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society

Every now and again, we are given a life lesson. We either learn from it or ignore it.  And many times, if we ignore the lesson, we are then given that same lesson again but in a different way.  Sort of a “groundhog day” thing i.e.) you repeat the lesson until you understand what you were meant to learn and implement it. This idea seems appropriate one to think about when we consider many choose many of the same goals each year as our New Year’s Resolutions.

Below are two of my life lessons: the Poinsettia and Christmas.  Last year I wrote articles on these but I wanted to emphasize the importance of the lessons that I am asked to learn from these two things.

The Poinsettia lesson is the one I keep repeating.  I love my flowers, but it seems that life throws me a curve and I can’t, or don’t, water them. Then they do not flourish. So, I try to water them more regularly or ask someone to water them if I’m not able. But inevitably the other waterer or I fail to give them the water they need or indeed, overwaters the plants.  It isn’t fair that the plants are tortured with no water or too much water just because I can’t get my act together. This recurring lesson varies with each repetition and has included my poinsettia, orchids, African violets, and Christmas cactus (which is really my mom’s and has been growing for almost 50 years.)  The plants provide such beauty and yet I let them go without water more often than I care to admit. It’s trying to teach me a lesson as it drops its flowers earlier than it should.  You’d think I’d get it by now. Perhaps the real lesson is not about watering flowers but about watering our relationships with family members and friends. Or even a wider lesson that we can’t judge people too harshly who mistreat others if we can’t find it within ourselves to take care of our plants, family or home. 

The Christmas story referenced below is a lesson I learned well and so far, it hasn’t come back to haunt me. I feel I understand the message and am doing what I need to with that message.

Read the stories and see if things going on in your life are providing life lessons for you.  And perhaps your New Year’s resolution could simply be to watch for these lessons and try to learn from them.

• Keep your Poinsettia for Years!  Your Christmas or Holiday Poinsettia from December should still be blooming as long as you keep watering it.  And if you follow a few simple guidelines, it can be kept for many years to come.  The plant relies on three things – correct levels or amounts of light, temperature, and water.  Read the full story. 
• What I learned this Christmas This "Tip" is not about growing flowers, seedlings, nor veggies. It is a personal growth story that I learned during the Christmas season and wanted to share.  Maybe there is a seed within it that you might harvest for yourself or a friend. One of the nuggets I discovered was this: We should simplify our lives and try to avoid those things that frustrate us. When we are happier, we can be more open and caring. And others will see and feel that and also be happier.  Read the full story. 

Submitted by Doreen Coyne, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society