Providing Expert Advice
For the Home Gardener
Notes from my Garden:
Divine June
“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust.” ”
I love this quote by Gertrude Jekyll, a famous horticulturalist and garden designer. It especially speaks to me after the cold, windy and wet April and May we've had, where it has been challenging to work in the garden. I “trust” that June will make up for such a slow start.
I have also had to practice patience recently. Now that the weather should be more consistently warm, I'm finally able to start setting out my greenhouse plants in the garden. The tomatoes are over a foot tall and some have started flowering so they really need to go into the garden. I have been hardening off them off along with other veggies, herbs and flowers so they don't burn or become too shocked with the sun and wind. My asparagus has been growing and providing meals already as has the rhubarb. I have planted cool weather veggies such as peas, kale, cabbage, radish, spinach onions and leeks. While all of these are coming along, they are very slow this year - patience! I will be planting beets, beans, etc in a few days once the soil warms up a bit more.
June is a time when various pests start to make themselves known. Careful watchfulness is now needed to avoid major problems. Unfortunately, the asparagus beetle has made a return so I'm busy scouting and picking the bugs off the plants and putting them into soapy water. This beetle looks similar to a ladybug but is darker and smaller. If your asparagus tips are bent over, then start looking! The beetle lays it eggs on the ferny fronds of asparagus which when hatch, munch heavily. I also watch for the small black masses of larvae on the fronds and remove them by hand.
Depending on what you have in your garden, keeping an eye on what is eating your plants is important. Some pests will do no major harm, only cosmetic such as leaf cutter bees. However, other pests will severely damage your plants. For more information, check out the Royal City Nursery article. If you can attract birds and other pollinators to your yard, they will also help keep the pests down!
I am looking forward to seeing my June plants bloom: roses, poppies and peonies. Speaking of peonies, the Grey County Master Gardeners are providing an Advice Clinic at the Among the Peonies event in Annan on June 14th. This fabulous event features over 350 varieties of peonies and is always uplifting. Hope you can join us and bring your gardening questions.
Happy Gardening!
Susan Cox, Group Coordinator
Grey County Master Gardeners
Part of an international non-profit community service network, Grey County Master Gardeners is a group of approximately 20 trained horticulturists who volunteer their time to provide advice to home gardeners in the Grey and Bruce area. This is accomplished by providing info to the public in various forms, including in person or virtual, through presentations, clinics and workshops, or through written work such as articles, posts, blogs or social media.
All Master Gardeners have successfully completed university horticultural studies and must meet ongoing continuing education requirements to make sure that our advice to gardeners is based on current horticultural knowledge.
There are over 25 local Master Gardener groups in Ontario, focusing on sustainable gardening information for the public. There are also Master Gardener groups in many provinces, most states and in some international locations. More information about the Provincial organization can be found at (MGOI – Motivating and Inspiring Gardeners in Ontario).
Not in Grey County? Don’t despair. You can find your local MG groups, including Toronto, Guelph, Collingwood and others, at www.mgoi.ca.
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Established in 1996, Grey County Master Gardeners are part of the province-wide Master Gardeners of Ontario (MGOI). Grey County Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who offer non-biased, science-based horticultural information and advice to home gardeners and community groups in both Grey and Bruce Counties.
Our Vision
An Eco-Responsible focus in the garden
Our Values
We believe in the importance of having an eco-responsible focus when gardening. This means we encourage gardening practices that enhance biodiversity, mitigate against climate change, are healthy for the environment and support human health. As a group, we prefer consensus whenever possible, however there are times when a majority rules. We value inclusiveness, collaboration, engagement of community and cooperation.
