Savvy Gardening

Invest in a beetle bank

by Jessica Walliser

One of the most important – and yet often overlooked – facets of gardening is its ability to increase backyard biodiversity. And not just within the plant kingdom. When a garden is composed of a wide range of plant material, the animal kingdom also benefits. Especially insects. Most gardeners know that having a diversity of good bugs in the garden means better pollination and fewer pests. While there are thousands of species of beneficial insects in North America, one of the best bugs for your garden is the ground beetle. Continue Reading
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Live and learn: Our garden blunders

by The Savvy Experts

Please excuse the long post as we share a few of our gardening mishaps! Let’s start with Niki.

Niki says: What? Me make garden blunders? Never! OK, occasionally. OK, often, but in my defense, it’s how I do my best learning. The truth is that I’ve made some doozies over the years and though I may look back fondly on them now, at the time, they weren’t so funny.
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Growing beans: pole versus runner

by Niki Jabbour

I love growing beans! In my garden, I grow primarily pole beans, while my mother-in-law grows runner beans. My preference is a result of my childhood veggie garden where tender snap beans occupied at least half of the plot. For my mother-in-law, runner beans are a nod to her own youth in the mountains of Lebanon where the meaty pods were slow simmered into flavourful dishes. Continue Reading
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Using flowers as natural pest control in the garden

by Tara Nolan

This spring when I’m placing and planting ornamentals in the garden, I will be strategic about the flowers I place around my veggie gardens. I had such a problem with Colorado potato beetles last year (they attacked both my tomatillos and my potatoes), I’ve been doing a lot of research on natural pest control. One thing I haven’t really paid much attention to in the past is the idea of planting flowers that will attract beneficial insects that can help control the bad insect populations and others that repel them completely. Certain flowers can also be ground up and stewed in water to create a pest-repelling “tea” that can be used to spray infested areas. Continue Reading
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Insects and climate change: The study of phenology

by Jessica Walliser

It turns out that life is more predictable than you might think — well, at least plant and insect life at any rate. Phenology is a jaw-dropping science that examines recurring plant and animal lifecycle events and their connection to the weather. Plants and insects don’t use clocks. Instead they use the conditions of their environment to keep time. The growth and development of both plants and insects is intimately connected to temperature. Phenological events like the blooming of a maple tree, a songbird’s spring arrival, the migration of a monarch, and the egg hatch of Eastern tent caterpillars are all tied to environmental conditions. Nearly all natural phenomena are. Continue Reading
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Spring vegetable gardening tip; get a jump on the garden with cloches!

by Niki Jabbour

Want a vegetable gardening tip that will give you a head start on the planting season AND save you money? Try using simple cloches to shelter your plants from inclement weather, encourage quick germination for just-planted seeds, or even extend the autumn harvest for weeks. Cloches act as miniature greenhouses and can be purchased or made from common household items like milk jugs or water bottles.
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