Savvy Gardening

How to divide irises

by Tara Nolan

The front garden in my first home featured huge, gorgeous bearded irises that framed both sides of the front door. The massive blooms were a deep purple hue, and you had to be careful not to brush them with your clothes as you went into the house. Sadly, that house and garden were torn down after we sold, but luckily, I had divided some irises and gifted them to my mom, who in turn gifted some to me once I moved into my current house. These beauties live on in my front garden. Now it’s time to divide again, so here are a few tips that explain how to divide irises.

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When to harvest potatoes in garden beds and containers

by Niki Jabbour

Potatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow producing a bounty of tasty tubers when planted in garden beds and containers. Plus, there’s so many awesome potato varieties to grow – from fingerlings to russets – in a rainbow of colors. But as the crop is produced below ground, it’s hard to tell when the tubers are ready to dig. So, how DO you know when to harvest potatoes?

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How to get rid of slugs in the garden: 8 organic control methods

by Jessica Walliser

Slugs are one of the most common garden pests, though unlike most other leaf-munching critters you find in your garden, they aren’t insects. Instead, slugs are land-dwelling mollusks that are more closely related to clams than beetles or caterpillars. Facing a slug infestation is serious business, filled with slime trails, damaged leaves, and missing seedlings. Figuring out how to get rid of slugs in the garden without turning to harsh synthetic chemical slug baits, is a task ripe with old wives’ tales and useless homemade remedies. But, the truth is that effective organic slug control is both manageable and affordable, when you’re armed with the following tips and information. Continue Reading
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Growing cucamelons in a garden

by Niki Jabbour

What’s the most popular crop in our vegetable garden? Easy! It’s cucamelon. The fruits, which look exactly like tiny watermelons, rarely make it into the kitchen; instead, we gobble them up by the handful, straight from the vines. The plant is a distant relative of cucumbers, and these inch-long fruits do have a cucumber-like flavor with a pleasing citrus tang. Growing cucamelons in garden beds and containers is an easy way to enjoy this unusual vegetable.

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Dwarf flowering shrubs for small gardens and landscapes

by Jessica Walliser

Gardens in suburbia seem to be shrinking. As houses grow bigger, yards grow smaller and there’s less and less room to garden. Combine that limited space with shrinking free time and narrowing gardening budgets, and you have the perfect recipe for an overgrown landscape. Smaller gardens quickly become overrun by full-size shrubs when the homeowner doesn’t have the time to be constantly pruning them to a suitable size. Thankfully, plant breeders are coming to the rescue by selecting and developing many new varieties of dwarf flowering shrubs for small gardens that stay naturally petite without a lot of fuss. Continue Reading
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Tips for pruning lilacs

by Tara Nolan

A few years ago, when I went to grab the hose, I noticed a ton of branches had been torn off my lilac bush. I accused my poor husband of getting overzealous with the pruners. However, I soon discovered that the hack job was the work of a mother squirrel that was meticulously building her nest. She’d rip off a branch or two and then run to my chimney (that’s a whole other story). I was worried about the lilac coming back the following spring, but it has been flourishing. Lilac is among my favourite spring scents—when I work outside on my deck, I take deep breaths when they’re in bloom, as they sway in the breeze. When those fragrant blooms fade, it’s a good time for pruning lilacs. So I thought I’d share a few tips!

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