Enjoy!

Corinne

_______________________

While you don’t have to be a novice to make mistakes in the garden, here are 10 common gardening no-nos.

Blunder #1: Not planning.
Before rushing out to the garden centre, take the time to plan out your garden. This will prevent a flawed “hodgepodge” design, as well as the tendency to buy more plants than you have space for. Note: if you’re new to gardening, it’s usually better to start small.

Blunder #2: Not investing in good quality tools.
Buy the best quality tools you can afford. Cheap tools that bend or break will not only dampen your enthusiasm, but having to continually replace tools can cost you more in the long run.

Blunder #3: Overlooking poor soil conditions.
Before planting, prepare your soil. Plants generally do better in “loamy” soil that is rich in organic material and doesn’t drain too quickly. Compost enriches the soil, improves drainage and helps to fight off pests and diseases.

Other tips:

- Once you’ve planted your garden, try to avoid walking on the soil. Every step compacts the soil, making it difficult for plants to grow roots. Instead create footpaths between rows.

- Avoid working the soil when it’s wet – or you’ll end up with clumps of hard-packed soil once it dries.

- Don’t overwork the soil. The best soil isn’t fine or powdery but consists of particles of varying sizes and shapes.

Blunder #4: Planting in the wrong spot.
Take note of how much sun and shade you have in your garden at different times of the day – and be sure to buy plants that are right for those conditions.

Blunder #5: Overcrowding shrubs and trees.
Remember that new shrubs and trees are immature when you buy them. Make sure to find out how much space they need to grow healthfully.

Blunder #6: Not planting in groups.
Avoid a “spotty” garden design by arranging like plants in groups. Most experts advise planting in odd-numbered groupings of three or more for the most impact.

Blunder #7: Purchasing poor quality plants.
Because many new gardeners don’t have the experience to recognize poor quality in plants, it’s important to buy from a reputable garden centre with knowledgeable staff to help you.

Tip: Native plants tend to be easier to grow, have fewer pest and disease problems and require less watering.

Blunder #8: Planting Too Deep
The rule of thumb for container grown plants: put the plant into the soil at the level it grew in the pot.

Blunder #9: Over or under watering
The amount of water your plants needs is dependent on the weather. Experts say a weekly rainfall of about 2.5 cm (one inch) is ideal. If it is less than that, you’ll need to water. To measure rainfall, place a rain gauge in the garden. Other tips:

- Avoid frequent shallow waterings. This encourages roots to remain near the surface instead of reaching deep into the soil for moisture. Plants with deep roots can survive better in periods of drought.

- The best times to water your plants are early in the morning and early in the evening.

Blunder #10: Not keeping up with the weeding
While weeding is not the most popular of garden activities, it’s important to get rid of the weeds to keep your plants healthy. Spreading some sort of mulch, such as wood chips, will help to reduce weed growth. Mulch also helps to maintain soil moisture and stabilize soil temperature.

thanks Yahoo.ca

Chestermere Lake Realtor
Corinne Watson
403.261.SOLD

Enjoy!

1. Let all your planning ahead be for your plants; 
a year ahead for annuals, two years ahead for the biennials, an indefinite number of years ahead 
for the trees. — Christopher Lloyd

2. Walk through your garden to scout for insects and diseases at least once per week; caught early, problems are easier to treat. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

3. Try to get a plant in the right place the first time around. Given the proper conditions, the plant will be happy and you’ll save yourself a lot of transplanting work.
— Karen York

4. Never plant trees that will become large with age too close to your 
house. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

5. Consider your garden private territory. Critics are not welcome! Be honest about 
what you want, and don’t be concerned with what others may 
see. If you like woody plants, design a four-season shrub border. Besotted with peonies? Make 
a peony walk. Grow plenty of what you love; you don’t need an excuse 
for excess. Are there ever too 
many rose petals? — Judith Adam

6. Set your lawn mower blades at 7.5 centimetres or higher, and allow your 
lawn to go dormant during periods of drought. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

7. Light in a garden is a quarter of the battle. Another quarter is the soil of the garden. A third quarter is the skill and care of the gardener. The fourth quarter is luck. Indeed, one might 
say that these were the four Ls of gardening, in the following order of importance: Loam, Light, Love and Luck. — Beverley Nichols

8. Don’t be afraid of change. Gardens, and gardeners, are always evolving. It’s part of the process 
so step in boldly and revamp that rockery, yank out those overgrown shrubs or transform that border into a veggie garden, a pond, 
a knot garden—wherever your imagination takes you. — Karen York

9. Always spend five minutes doing some warm up stretches and bends before undertaking strenuous garden work, and never do one task for too long at a time. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

10. Climbers are among the most useful plants in any garden. They take up little ground space, and they can be employed for many purposes: to clothe a boring fence, to scramble over a dead tree, to frame an archway, to drape a wall, to disguise a shed, or to climb lightly onto a pergola. They demand comparatively little attention, once they have taken hold of their support, maybe a yearly pruning or a kindly rescue if they have come adrift in a gale. — Vita Sackville-West

11. Always water in the early morning; 
it reduces loss to evaporation 
and foliage dries off more quickly (helping to discourage disease problems). — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

12. Observe and chart where the sunlight falls in your garden throughout the course of one day 
in late spring, mid-summer, and early fall. Most people think they have more sunshine 
than they actually do! — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

13. Clean, sharp tools are 
easier to work with, and they do a better job. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

14. For optimum plant performance, feed the soil with leaves and the soil will feed the plants. Cover all exposed soil with small or shredded large leaves. Stuff leaves under the skirts of shrubs. Dig leaves into vegetable beds. Leaves are the best nutrition for plants. — Judith Adam

15. If you were to ask me for my top kitchen-gardening tip, I’d say that you’d do far better to grow half the amount, but grow it twice as well. — Alan Titchmarsh

16. Select disease-resistant plants for a healthy garden. Many plants have inbred resistance to diseases, including some roses, phlox, bee balm and tomatoes. Plants that remain healthy all season produce more and better flowers and fruits. — Judith Adam

17. Pay attention. Look closely at your garden to understand nature’s complex web of plants, soil, sun, water, insects and wildlife. The greater this awareness the better you’ll know what to do and, more importantly, what not to do. — Karen York

18. Feed your soil (compost, composted manure, shredded leaves, seaweed)—it’s the foundation of every successful garden.
— Stephen Westcott-Gratton

19. Plant trees, shrubs and flowers that encourage wildlife in your garden to keep nature in balance. — Stephen Westcott-Gratton

20. Know the ultimate size of any plant and allow it space so you don’t end up fighting it, moving it or removing it. — Karen York

Thanks To Chateline and Canadian Gardening

I thought I would post some really neat pumpkin designs I found, as well as some great recipies for baking pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Seed Recipies

Maryland Pumpkin Seeds

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 30 Min
READY IN 40 Min

Original recipe yield 1 1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
• vegetable oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Rinse pumpkin seeds in a colander. Spread out on paper towels and pat dry.
2. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray and spread the pumpkin seeds out in a single layer. Spray the tops of the seeds with additional cooking spray. Sprinkle the seafood seasoning evenly over the tops.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Original recipe yield 1 1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

Corinne Watson
Chestermere Lake Realtor
www.corinnewatson.com
403.921.7653

Sources
All Recipies
MSN.com