October: Chopping Leaves

If you don’t have a lawn mower that can be used to chop your leaves, consider putting them in a large garbage pail and using a weed eater to chop them (small amounts at a time).…

October: Leaves on the Garden

Rake the soggy masses of leaves off your garden – chop them up and return them to your garden as a cozy blanket for your soil during the winter.  The chopped leaves will decompose and add valuable nutrients to your…

October: Harvesting Winter Squash

Harvesting winter squash after a light frost will give you a sweeter squash but it will also give you a squash that won’t store as well.  When cutting the squash off the plant, leave a 2-4 cm stem on the…

October: Lifting Dahlias

After the first heavy frost, carefully lift your dahlia tubers with a fork.  Remove the tops to within 6 inches of the crown.  Gently brush the soil off the tubers and lay them out to dry in the sun for…

September: Lessons Learned: Beans

Bush beans sown while the soil was still cool and wet showed a poor germination rate and those plants that grew were diseased and attacked by pests.  The beans sown a few weeks later when the soil had warmed up…

September: Get Soil Tested

Problems in some flower or vegetable beds? Wondering if your soil could be at fault? Now’s the time to test it so that you know how to plan for next year. We recommend the City of Toronto’s Guide for Soil…

September: Plant Bulbs for Early Spring Colour

Order spring-flowering bulbs now and plant them as soon as they arrive. Work bone meal into bottom of planting holes for better growth. By using “lasagna” layers (or bunk bed layers as one nursery man calls them), with the late…