Sprout Landscaping

04/16/2022

Tomatoes are coming on great in the new grow bench set up.

They aren't leggy or pale and smell like summer.

04/16/2022

Beautiful Amaryllis

05/03/2020

We all need to become gardening artists.

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA -- in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to...

11/23/2019

Dont blame the glyphosate
Blame the user
It's odd that a Green/NDP provincial government should be legislating that natural fire breaks should be poisoned.
Especially in this day and age.

We need to be smarter

Last year, 12,812 hectares of B.C. forest was sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate. It's an annual event — a mass extermination of broadleaf trees mandated by the province.

08/20/2019

Here's an interesting paper on glyphosate.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29226121/
It seems that a lot of the negativity comes from a few researchers and now their research has been shown to have some issues. Glyphosate is safe if used as directed and when absolutely necessary. Hand weeding still needs to be done as well as hoeing. (My fave hoe is the winged weeder btw.)
This paper in no way excuses the ridiculous use of glyphosate to preserve a monoculture in Canada's logging industry, but it does show that used sparingly and as directed it can be a useful tool.

Front Public Health. 2017 Nov 24;5:316. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00316. eCollection 2017.

07/16/2019

Interesting findings in the world of plants. Things are more complex than people think.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden-internet

Hidden under your feet is an information superhighway that allows plants to communicate and help each other out. It’s made of fungus

05/08/2019

Lily beetle is here.
Check your lilies and fritilaries.
These are voracious beasts.

05/04/2019

This is not only the sad result of stupid, short sighted political machinations by people who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing; but it's the death of a million living things because of that stupidity.
https://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/kemptville-nursery-to-destroy-millions-of-trees-due-to-cancelled-provincial-program/amp
This populist annihilation of living things by conservative politicians is abhorrent, and it will result in a worse world.

The Ferguson Tree Centre outside of Kemptville will have to destroy more than three million trees because of the provincial government’s cancellation of the 50 Million Tree Program, the compa…

05/03/2019

Something is killing our bats.
Look out for dead bats and report their location to Alberta Env and Parks if you find them

The Alberta Community Bat Program promotes stewardship and enhancement of bat habitat, helps local residents manage bats in buildings, and collects data needed to monitor and better understand bats in Alberta.

05/03/2019

Why do we have lawns?
Well, by we, I mean other people?
Lawns are a pain in the behind.
They take so much work, you can't eat them and they are hard to make attractive.
AND they are a waste of a lot of water, I mean a lot. Climate Change us happening. Water will become a diminishing resource. Lawns are an unnecessary luxury.
My advice get rid of your lawn and replace it with vegetable beds, trees, shrubs, tubs and mulch to preserve water.

It’s time to culturally stigmatize the classic over-watered, over-fertilized, over-mowed American lawn.

04/23/2019

Serious problems involving our pollinator friends.
Climate change, neonicotinoids, monoculture, poor farming practices and pollution all contribute to this, but we can all help by using our land to mitigate the effects of industrial misuse of the rest of the country.

A team of researchers at York University has warned that the American bumblebee is facing imminent extinction from Canada, and this could lead to “cascading impacts” throughout the country.

04/06/2019

If you're doing stuff in your garden and you ready have trees, consider incorporating them into any new design you're considering.
Manitoba Maples, Poplars, misplaced Spruce, the odd winter burned cedar are all fair game as they arent really garden plants. But fruit trees, hawthorn, oak, elm etc. Are all worth holding onto and add privacy, shade and structure to your garden.
Willows can be cut every year to form shrubs with interesting winter interest.
If any one wants to chat trees or veggies drop me a line