I love this job! Sure there were years when we were getting started that weren’t any fun at all. But really there are always new plants to experiment with and learn about. Last season we started selling shrubs. It was the same feeling I had years ago…. I am never going to learn all these plants and their names. But I have learnt so many. I still have to give myself refresher courses each spring. Right now we are vastly expanding our selection from last year to include some more native shrubs, conifers and just more selection in the flowering shrubs. They say constant learning is good to keep the brain from aging too fast. I hope this works.
August 22, 2007
One of the difficulties of maintaining an occasional journal, is that as the years progress many things are similar. We made some changes last year, that is making this August and I hope September different for me. We made the decision to start growing perennials with the intention of wintering them so as to have larger plants next spring. We also started growing shrubs. As a result I have a lovely array of both in my display. More people are discovering the wide selection of good- looking plants we have at this time of year. They are pleasantly surprised by the selection and quality, but sometimes I think what they like best is the atmosphere. It is a quiet, peaceful place at this time of the year, quite different from the busyness of May.
June 12, 2007
It has been a great season so far. It is just starting to get dry now. I can’t help but smile as I look up from my accounting to see the peonies, Baptisia and gas plant all blooming.
Even though I have piles of work to do, my thoughts are already going ahead to next year. We dabbled in shrubs and fruit trees this year. Next year I hope to increase the selection of fruit and add a few unusual small trees to the mix. Brian is investigating a printer that will allow us to print our own colour tags. This would allow me to expand the perennial selection beyond what tags are available for. We had great success over-wintering perennials, so I am really expanding in that department to have a larger number of bigger specimen perennials for next year.
June 1, 2007
I have caught the tree peony bug. My friend Luc from choir has a garden full and they are stunning. It seems the older the plant the bigger the blooms, some as large as ten inches across. I now have 3 planted in my garden and am starting to stock an assortment of colours.
May 9, 2007
We are in the thick of another season. After a dark cold April the spring weather is a delight. Last fall we chose to stop wholesaling to our 2 big customers in Kingston. It was a big decision and we wondered how we would feel about it once the season started. The answer is, great. May is always a stressful time because there is way more work to do than can be done. The difference this year is, that we are able to do a much better job of getting all our outlets up and running, with proper signage and stock. There is a lot to do getting ready for the Mother’s Day super Hanging basket special, which is an annual favourite.
October 27, 2006
I am working away at my perennial plans for next season. I really try to choose varieties that people will have success with in this growing zone. I know enough to accommodate for the difference between the American and the Canadian system. What I am being driven crazy by is how one reference will site a hardiness to zone 4 while another sites the same plant as a zone 7. I would like to try some of these plants because they look interesting. I guess the best plan would be to trial them, and warn you the customer that I can’t guarantee that they will be hardy.
July 25, 2006
I have just spent a wonderful 8 days at the Perennial Plant Symposium in Montreal. I hope to organize my thoughts and share with you much of what I have learned over this wonderful time. My big take home message to local growers. Be happy that we are a zone 5. After talking to many people from the southern states I found out that yes they can grow plants that won't winter here but that doesn't mean that they can grow them well. The heat that they have to contend with is a far bigger handicap than our little problem of winter. My best example were the delphiniums. In eastern Quebec they grow 6' tall with huge stocks and blooms. In Texas they treat them like annuals.
May 29, 2005
We are in the midst of our best retail season ever. Thank you very
much. A big help has been the new perennial display area which easily
handles all our selection of perennials. In the past we would have to
put out part flats of varieties and even then we
couldn't get all the colours and types of each variety to fit in.
As usual for the end of May Brian and I are a little worn out. I can
still get simple pleasures from my perennial garden. My absolute
favourite perennial is Dictamnus or gas plant. It is no longer
available through the usual sources, so I check my garden for sprouts
from last years seeds. I wasn't seeing any until the other night when
I pulled a few weeds while waiting for some customers. I came across a
cluster of 60 which I potted up and they should be available in 3
weeks.
April 3, 2005
Each year we get some requests from individuals to seed a particular vegatable or flower that they have special seed for. We are usually able to accomadate and it is nice to see people anticipating the gardening season.
This year we had a request that toped the list of unusual ones. A friend of ours wanted to have 1000 milkweed plants seeded! He was hoping to fill the space in front of his house to provide a source of food for monarch butterflies. The process is a bit difficult to get the seeds to germinate …..warm…cool….warm but we are attempting to do our part to flap the butterfly's wing!
April 16, 2004
A delightful day today. The sky was clear and the temperatures were warm.
While watering the outside beds I notices a lot of "activity" at the Gazanias which are very colourful (in bloom) while obviously not much else outside is at this time of the year. When I went to investigate more closely I discovered 100s of honey bees working the flowers. It was quite a site and surely must mean warm weather is here to stay!
March 23, 2004
I am in my usual humour for this time of year. The greenhouses are filling up, there are lots of big jobs I want to get at, and the weather is terrible. As soon as we get a stretch of warm days and not too cold nights we start moving the perennials outside onto heated beds. We cover them at night and during inclement weather. We have been doing this for a number of years and it has worked well for us. After that it is the pansies and petunias. We have a pansy plant kicking around that had been dropped outside that survived 3 nights of really cold temperatures.
As usual we are having trouble hiring a person to water. We actually had someone who had worked in the industry for years say that anyone can water. To me it showed a colossal lack of perspective. Sure anyone can stand at the end of a hose and point it. The difficulty comes from knowing when each type of plant needs it and how much. Anyone who has killed a houseplant from overwatering knows that you just can’t, when in doubt pour it on. Maybe that is why people don’t apply for that position. They think it isn’t challenging. We have a lot of ground to cover and a number of different irrigation systems to learn. One of the people who thrived in the job was a person who loved spending time alone and the opportunity to get fit.
February 26, 2004
We have set-up a display at the Kingston Gardening Festival located at Portsmouth Harbour from Thur. to Sun. We are sharing this display with our partners who do the fund-raising portion of our business TripleBee Fundraising.
It was a lot of fun today since I ran into many people I had not seen in many years. Everyone we spoke to was positive and very happy to have us on-board. It was a nice feeling.
We are hoping to get feed-back via a survey on our e-commerce site.
Our Daughter will be attending the site for a portion of the time. It is very nice to have her keen and able and to feel absolute confidence in her ability to do the job. She will do her parents proud.
April 21, 2003
The weather is being very cooperative, finally. We may even get thunder showers tonight. We are almost on schedule, which is a miracle given the spring we have had.
I chuckled thinking that I regularly seed cucumbers at the end of April. This is done not because it is smart but because there is demand for them. Take it from me cucumbers don’t need frost to curl up and die, it just takes a good chill. Seed them yourselves or buy them at the end of May beginning of June, you will be pleasantly surprised.
I just have odds and ends of seeding to do now. It went well this year. Our seedlings on the whole are much better than before. I give the credit to our reverse osmosis water, which drastically reduces the salts that the seedlings are exposed to in our regular water. Salts refer to many things other than the salt we normally think of. In our case one of them is calcium due to the hardness of our water.
Brian and I are now booting around here on bicycles. It makes it so much easier to make sure things are happening at the far end of the place. My feet are very grateful.
April 6, 2003
We are really getting backed up here. A few more days of normal temperatures would be helpful. Normally at the end of March we move out the cold loving plants onto beds that have bottom heat. We cover them and that protects them down to –10 degrees C.
We like to have warm days to move them out in so they can do some adjusting before a cold spell hits. Anybody who lives around here knows the weather is not cooperating in the least. When we get to move plants out we will need many people doing it to get it done. We need the space to put down the next crops.
On a positive note: We are back in the rose business. I finished potting them up this morning. What changed out minds? We could buy collections of a few of many kinds of roses enabling us to have a wide selection without growing huge number of roses. These roses are supposed to be hardier then what we are used to, even the hybrid teas. My favourite, Bonica was one of the choices (I got more of them).
By the way the plants that become my favourites are the type that thrive on neglect. By the time the busy season is over and I start to feel like really gardening it is usually late August, so plants that need pampering fall by the wayside. I planted 2 Bonica roses 10 years ago. Since then they have been almost swallowed up by a forsythia bush but they keep on going.
March 13, 2003
Usually when you get a cold spell it is evened out with some warmer weather. This year has certainly been the exception. Only the lengthening days lets us know that spring is almost here. I usually don’t mind winter too much because I am surrounded by growing things. This winter is getting to me though, because of the relentless cold and worries about temperatures in the greenhouses. Last night was above zero, I slept soundly.
On a happier note we finished transplanting the first batch of pansies today. Yield and quality was good. We are working on planting the last of the first seeding of perennials.
Today we attached bags of amblysius cucumeris to hanging baskets and got the baskets hung. This frees up space in that greenhouse to start a second crop in that space.
Much of our space gets turned over many times. The deep snow on our outside beds is a concern because we start to move our cool loving crops out onto them by April 1 on most years. Warmer temperatures at the end of the week will be a start of getting rid of the snow.
February 8, 2003
The greenhouse business provides a lot of variety to your day, especially if you grow as many different crops as we do.
I spent some time this morning testing the soil of different seedling crops to know which ones to fertilize. I have to generalize quite a bit because I have lots of varieties of perennials with only one or two trays of each.
I am quite happy with my seedling water. The guys installed a reverse osmosis system to provide water for the seedlings. I like the results but there is no room for error. I have to be much more careful with my nutrient management.
I am monitoring for mouse damage but so far so good. A weasel has been seen; hopefully it is keeping them away. Mice can do thousands of dollars worth of damage if you don’t pay attention.
One and a half greenhouses are full. We are a bit frustrated. One of the companies we buy cuttings from lost our order (we had a confirmation) so Brian had to spend half a day phoning around to other growers to get it replaced. It is hard to have all your proper containers filled and ready to go when delivery of cuttings isn’t reliable.
I have a few things we could plant and start the next half greenhouse but we will hold off until after the weekend to save on heat. The price of oil is quite scary.
January 18, 2003
Another season is upon us. I started seeding on the 8th and there is a lot up and looking green. I don’t know what I will do as my eyes age. As it is I have to really focus to see the tiny pinpricks of green, which are a germinated begonia seedling. The non-stop begonias came out today. It generally takes until mid May for them to be nice big 4” pots. We order started plants in March for the first batch we sell and hanging baskets.
Last year I was really frustrated with my seeding machine. It seemed to have a mind of its own. It refused to work on some days when I had a lot to get done. We bought a new Niagara Seeder. I love it. I seed a lot of short runs of seeds because of all the perennials we grow. It has been able to handle a huge variety of shapes and sizes of seeds. For any of you smaller growers out there, this seeder is adequate for your needs.
My staff will be delighted; we are now set up to print our seedling tray labels from the computer. There won’t be the same struggle to figure out what I wrote.
Alex is preparing a watering tunnel for my seed trays for when they leave the seeder. This is another time saving step, which will make my life a lot easier.
September 17, 2002
The fall is upon us and we are in planning and building mode. A site is being prepared for a new greenhouse. We will be making attempts to increase the venting in it in order to better harden off plants and reduce disease pressures. A second site is being prepared for an experimental greenhouse with a roof that will retract completely. This second greenhouse will offer ideal conditions for our hardiest plants. We have found that if we can give those plants a lower humidity cooler environment they are much more robust for both the garden centre and the consumer.
These plans have naturally lead to brain-storming around optimizing the environment for plant hardiness. The latest plan is to “brush” plants periodically to mimic the effects they would get outside from the wind. Research has shown that this results in shorter sturdier plants. For us since many of the plants that will tolerate it get moved into outside beds (heated or not) we will be using this as both a means of height control as well as hardening plants before they get moved into those harsher outside conditions.
May 1, 2002
May 1, 2002
Each season is unique. After the mild winter, human nature expects an easy spring. April was not pleasant. Ponds and ground water should be well replenished after all the rain we have had. Last year April was cloudy but exceptionally dry.
We are setting up our satellite greenhouses now, but really feel no rush because the weather certainly isn’t putting people in the mood.
People please don’t work your soil until it has dried down a little especially if it has a lot of clay in it. Working soil when it is wet makes it form clumps. If you are in a dry, sandy spot, this is a fine time to put in perennials and pansies.
We are still transplanting like mad. We do many things in batches so that we have fresh product coming on throughout the main part of the season. Already we are thinking of our June crop and being ready for it.
February 8, 2002
Scouting is one of the hardest and most interesting jobs in an IPM program. The role of the scout is to systematically exam periodic blocks of plant material, assess the population of pests and beneficial and note the general health of the plants.
The most important skill that I have found is the value of remaining still. If you keep moving your eyes around it is often difficult to see something small that is moving. If you keep looking at one spot then often something will appear and can move into your field of vision. If something appears on the periphery then you can shift your eyes to that position and then re-focus. Patience is an absolute necessity.
Naturally with time you will learn the spots that are most likely to harbour the pests or benenificials. For instance thrip like spots that are cryptic. You will find them inside the depths of a flower or inside an unfolding young leaf at the growing tip.
So after scouting a greenhouse yesterday my count was, 3 Amblyseius cucumeris (thrip predator), 1 Hypoaspis aculeifer (soil dwelling thrip predator), countless Aphidius colemani (aphid parasite) and many springtails (small, harmless soil dwelling insects).
One thing that I scouted was a small fly, orange in colour with brilliant red eyes, striped abdomen with a dark tip and hardly any antennae. I had thought this creature was something called Eretmocerus eremicus. All last season I had identified him as such but this year he showed up before I had introduced any (Eretmocerus). When I looked more carefully at him it was clear that he was not Eretmocerus. They were congregating on the aphid banks so may be an aphid predator but after a couple of phone calls I still could not identify him. He has very active predator like behavior. So if someone out there is missing a pretty red-eyed fly please let me know!
January 23, 2002
Today our first order of Biologicals arrived. We received and aphid bank. The aphid bank is a pot of winter barley about 3 inches high. It has cereal aphids established on it. The cereal aphids will only attack monocots or grasses and so the other plants in the greenhouse are safe. After about a week we will establish a parasite called Aphidius Colemani on the aphids. The aphid banks will then become a source of Aphidius for an extended period of time.
We also received Hypoaspis Aculeifer. This is a soil dwelling mite that will prey upon thrip larva and fungus gnat larva.
January 18, 2002
Geranium cuttings for 6” pots arrived and were planted today. We have other cuttings sitting there to be planted into hanging baskets with more on the way, so there is a lot to do.
I am making progress seeding but had a setback when the seeder quit working. We were faced with the dilemma of whether to buy a whole new machine which is very expensive, a new controller box for our old one which is a very expensive solution but less so or try to come up with a new way of controlling it on our own. We recruited Colin Beckingham who does our computer programming to help out Brian and Alex. Using a PLC (programmable logic controller) they succeeded. It took a lot of persistence but it is wonderful that it paid off. They got me up and running in less time than if we had ordered either of the other 2 solutions.
January 10, 2002
The seed chambers are sterilized and ready, the trays into which I seed are being filled and my misting system for watering my trays after they are seeded is almost set up. I have been gathering up the seeds I want to start with and trying to remember all the little things I need to do the job properly. I will seed some cheap seed that I have too much of to start with, to make sure the seeding machine is working properly and then we are launched on a new growing season.
I received an e-mail this morning asking what a tobacco tier was. I have never been to a tobacco farm but I do know that the leaves are tied into bundles so that they can be hung to dry. When we got them they had sewing machines attached to the sides of them. We take advantage of the steady motorized conveyor that moves flats along from person to person, each one being responsible to plant one row.
January 8, 2002
I worked this morning on grinding loose paint off one of our transplanting conveyors to ready it for painting. It got me thinking about it and how we traded some garden mums for it. It is an old tobacco tier from southwestern Ontario. Brian adapted its speeds and stations to suit a crew of transplanters. Switching to a transplanting line sped up the job way more than we imagined because every movement counted and there was no chance to daydream.
January 7, 2002
In 3 days we start seeding. The men are busy making sure the heating system is up and running. It used to be that I would get quite agitated and anxious to get going. I have mellowed with age and am quite able to wait now. Part of it is knowing that once it starts it gets progressively busier as the season progresses. I relish this respite before I get caught up in a new season.
January 6, 2002
We are getting the boiler up and running and today Alex turned a valve on the boiler we are working on and out fell a load of barley. The barley was stored about 50 feet away from the boiler in another room (I used it for Aphid Banks) and there were only two spots that the critter could get into the boiler. One was to go down the flue and the other was to go through an essentially blocked hole that had a fan blowing into it. On 160 acres it couldn't find another place for its stash?!!
Anyway boiler one is up and running and the line to the west is circulating so the season is nearly upon us!
