A bleak prospect

Here is how the beehives looked against the stark landscape of PTG in December.  When spring arrives the fields will green up and we will be ready for another season.

This is an image from Google Earth showing our Nursery Garden in the back corner of the Brampton Fall Fairgrounds.

High Temperature:
Actual: -13°C feels -18 cloudy flurries .80cm Wind NNW28km/h P.O.P.50%
Average: -1°C
Record: 16°C in 2008

Low Temperature:
Actual: -17°C feels -21 cloudy Wind NNW27km/h P.O.P.32%
Average: -10°C
Record: -26°C in 1968

Had three peony root donations and took them up to be planted in the peony beds. 2 are unknown and one is anemoniflora rosea. It should make quite an addition to the seedlings.


Alan was up weeding with the grass whipper and picking potato beetles.
If you see any wooden frost fence out there grab it we could use it for the tomatoes.

High Temperature:
Actual: 15°C mostly cloudy rain Wind SW20km/h P.O.P.50%
Average: 26°C
Record: 34°C in 1955

Low Temperature:
Actual: 10°C partly cloudy rain 8.9mm Wind W14km/h P.O.P.40%
Average: 15°C
Record: 9°C in 1975

We have had only a few people up to do anything and out of those who have come only a few things have gotten done. We have nothing planted yet. I believe more due to the weather than the volunteers but we do need our volunteers up to get things started.

Day +6 sun and cloud possible showers Winds WSW19km/h P.O.P.70%
Night -2 cloudy possible showers 5.1mm Winds WNW28km/h P.O.P.30%

More blooms in the fall beds

Day +13 possible showers UV3 Winds E5km/h P.O.P.30%
Night +7 clearing Winds N10km/h P.O.P.0%

The sand was delivered (finally) and volunteers started the task of spreading it around to create two shrub borders.
Ian Armstrong of Ian Armstrong Landscaping, Caledon http://www.ialandscaping.com was by the nursery garden at last year's Fall Fair and offered to grow and donate a flat of onions. The seedlings arrived this morning and in the afternoon, Catherine and Tony planted out 500 seedlings in B block, filling two beds. They took a couple of clumps home to plant in their own gardens. One bed has also been planted to various beans, and another bed, half to bell peppers and half to Swiss chard.

Day +20 cloudy with sunny periods UV7 Winds5km/h P.O.P.30%
Night +11 overcast showers trace Winds5km/h P.O.P.60%

The sand pile was finally delivered and work on the new shrub beds can get underway this weekend.
Potatoes are showing through the ground and Alan started 'earthing -up’ the ‘Russian Blue’s. The second crop of radish has germinated and most of the carrots have also come through in the raised box beds.

Day +29 sun and cloud chance of showers trace UV7 Winds20km/h P.O.P.40%
Night +10 clearing Winds20km/h P.O.P.0%

The long weekend has finally arrived and people are rushing to the nurseries, garden centres etc to get their fix.
All the tomatoe beds are ready for planting, the "three Sisters" plot is laid out, and most of the vegetable beds in B Block are ready for planting. For the next couple of weeks planting will be priority.

Day +21 sunny UV8 Winds 30km/h P.O.P.0%
Night +7 chance of showers .6mm Winds30km/h P.O.P.30%

Since the last update all the potatoes have been planted and four beds have been prepared for tomatoes. The Chinguacousy Garden Club donated several perennials and shrubs, which have been planted to fatten up, and a second raised box bed has been seeded to radish and carrots.

Day +16 variable clouds UV8 Winds20km/h P.O.P.20%
Night +5 clear risk of frost Winds 15km/h P.O.P.0%

We received the second shed donated in December. Most of our plastic pots were sorted inside and removed from the elements. This should help protect them and make them last alot longer.














Answer Dec 31 ??? a stands for Pondus Hydrogenium

??? Gravitropism
a causes tree branches to droop
b causes plant stems to grow upwards
c creates a high water table
d results in Longbottom syndrome


+8 dropping to +5 in afternoon mainly sunny

-2 cloudy with possible showers

This is one of our storage sheds. We have several raised beds for annual herbs and special crops we watch over the summer to see if they are worth growing. We have managed to obtain a second storage shed which will come in handy to store our umbrellas and things when we are at the gardens.

Joe and I prepared a 4x100ft bed for planting out. I placed 745 bulbs on the bed and covered with 6" of soil and then did what I call the chaplan shuffle to pack the soil. (You walk with your heals pointed towards each other in tiny steps) This form of packing the soil is also taught in the class by Alan.
Joe placed a good 4 inches of compost on top of the soil and when weather permits we will come back and cover the bed with a layer of straw for winter. We also had Phyllis and Moeen up and they cleared some of the display beds from the last of the annuals. Almost done with everything that can be done before everything is put to bed for the winter. Classes will start January 2007.



Answer Oct 22 ??? a fertilizer use should be halved

???A newly purchased spade should:
a be half the height of the user
b be painted with linseed oil before use
c be sharpened before use
d have its protective coating scraped off

Teaching Garden started out as an idea and with the help of a few people and an empty field flourished into the present day 3 blocks of planting beds. The blocks have been planted out with bulbs, perennials and shrubs/trees and several beds have crops of vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, onions, corn and pumpkin. As the learning continues we will add more.

This sign was posted outside the gated nursery garden for the 2006 planting season. The Brampton Fall Fair is hosted on the grounds and we wanted people walking or driving by to know what this was and why it is here.

In late winter, early spring our nursery garden looks barren. It is amazing to watch the life return in just a few weeks. Bulbs start to burst from the ground and perennials prepare themselves for another growing season.