John Innes Potting Compost

Often, these are timeless items that have truly stood the test of time, but there’s also room for innovations that have transformed the way we garden – battery-powered tools that have done away with electric cables and noisy, smelly two-stroke fuel, for example. We asked the country’s top head gardeners which tools they couldn’t contemplate gardening without.

When it comes to sculptural form in the garden, it’s hard to compete with a well-grown agave (Agave spp. and cvs., Zones 7b–11). With sizes ranging from 6-inch rosettes to hulking 12-foot giants, there really is a perfect plant for every garden or container. Most are striking enough in their natural tones of green to blue, but some have raised the bar a bit higher, adding highlights of white and gold to the palette.

My first reaction to compost tea was a fairly common response, “So you just put compost in a bucket then dump it on your plants?”  Little did I realize all the science and work that goes into making high quality compost tea or AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea). 

When I moved to my current apartment I had windows along the south wall perfect for a winter garden, but no patio or yard in which to put my compost. The solution? A compost column built from two recycled two-liter plastic bottles, an idea from the University of Wisconsin’s Bottle Biology Resources Network.

This is an important stage in the cultivation of plants which have been raised from seed. As soon as the young seedlings can be handled easily, they must be moved on into deeper boxes which will provide their roots with more room to develop. If the seedlings are left in their original boxes or seed-pans too long, they will become badly drawn or straggly and they will not grow into sturdy specimens.

JI #1 Base

Do you have small space to plant or little time to garden? Then look no further than a shrub rose. A potted Star® Landscape Shrub Rose blooms from spring well into fall frost with little care for year-round color and non-stop blooming

Standard Potting Mix

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Yes I know it’s unusual for me to blog mid week, but there is a lot to do in the greenhouses and out in the garden.

From Hobby Greenhouses in Alberta

George Schenk’s recipe for the ideal soil for growing plants in shade.