My Small Garden, Photos2

 

My Small Garden Photos

A great year for corn and sunflowers. 

 

Why I Garden?

Why do I garden? There is no single reason that underscores why I like to grow plants, just as there is no single plant, I like to grow more than the others. There are a number of reasons why I enjoy spending time in a garden.

First, I believe that people need a hobby, interest or activity, call it what you will, that takes their minds off their day to day realities.

All of us are busy and often have a number of different thoughts or things to do that are competing for our attention.

Speaking of things to do, your hobby or personal interest should not result in you developing another list of things to do. That is not helpful and may indeed take the fun out of the doing.

That does not mean that you do not make a plan, without a plan you may never get started or get started and then have no idea what to do next.

It simply means that your plan is not the law; it is not engraved in stone, and can be changed or tossed aside, in favour of another approach.

I find gardening to be the perfect activity and that is primarily why I garden. It can keep me enjoyable occupied all year round, either doing it; reading about it; ordering seeds or planning the garden and even redrawing last year’s plans.

When I sit down with a seed catalogue, the day’s news and events slip from the forefront of my mind and images of what the plants will look like when they grow. 

This leads to giving some thought to where the new plant(s) will look best and where they will most benefit in the existing garden.

Will this be the year I plant that flowering crab-apple that I have been reading about or perhaps a redwood dogwood. These thoughts nudge out the concerns about the economy, the environment and all the bad news that fills the media.

An hour spent with a seed catalogue in the deep of winter refreshes my mind and awakens the hope that Spring brings when the gardening season begins anew and old friends reappear and new ones are waiting to be discovered.

I garden because I love spending time outside; feeling the wind and the sun on my face and hands.

Of course, these days you need to protect yourself from any prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays but a hat works and gardening gloves serve many purposes.

I love to grow things; there is immense satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from watching a flower come alive from a seed that you planted a few weeks prior.

Gardening offers you an opportunity to make decisions and choices. It is your garden. You can decide what you want to grow; how much you want to grow and what you will do with what you choose to grow.

I often refer to the garden as a place that exists between Nature and Civilization and the gardener is responsible for maintaining the balance between the two. When you create a garden, you are opening the door to remembering the connection that exist between humans and Nature; a connection that is very real, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Gardens do not require chemicals poured over them to thrive; that is the gardener’s job to create and maintain the conditions that allow the plants to mature and reproduce.

The garden is a learning ground where you can learn about botany, biology, math, history and become acquainted first hand with the processes that make the garden grow.

You see the relationships between the various beings who work with you to make your garden grow.

Birds and butterflies, for example, bring their beauty and other services to the well-tended garden. Bees carry out the important work of pollination and you observe the connection between what the bee does and your garden’s growth.

I garden because I love to grow things and watching a plant break the surface as the seed spring into life is always a wonder and an encouraging moment. I like to have cut flowers for our house and do not want to buy them but step outside and cut them myself. That way I know that they were grown without artificial pesticides and fertilizers.

Tomatoes are a favourite food but the ones I buy at the supermarket just do not have the flavour that the ones I plucked off the vine in my own garden do.

It is only truly fresh when the farthest distance it travels is the distance from my backyard to my kitchen table.

Simply spending time sitting in a comfortable chair in the backyard after a slow stroll through my garden is one of the best ways that I know to calm my mind and relax at the end of the workday.

As I take my first step into the garden, I can feel the day’s concerns sliding off me. My eyes begin to focus on the plants, their fruits and foliage as I look to see what has changed and how each plant is faring.

Then when the quiet inspection is complete, I sit back and watch the dance of life performed by the bees, butterflies and other small creatures who are busy at work maintaining the garden while I sit back and enjoy the view.

There are many reasons to garden and each one of us may well have our own and that is another reason that gardening is a delightful way to spend our time; our gardens are our own creations; and we are free to pursue our own interest when in the garden.

Gardens, both great and small, are a refuge from the concrete and asphalt world that surrounds so many of us as we travel back and forth to work.

Anyone who wants to, can garden; it is a matter of will and design and is a wonderful opportunity to get away from it all without ever leaving home.

Native Plant Gardening

Ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that take place within them.

If we do not know what will happen if something changes, it makes no sense to rush in and make those changes.

Pollination:

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is a must if the flower is to be fertilized.

Fertilization is necessary if the plant’s flower is to produce seeds and seeds are needed to produce more plants.

The honey bee is not a native to North America and our growing dependence upon the honey bee to provide pollination services as lead to our forgetting the native bees that are able to perform this function and in some cases even better than the honey bee.

Now, one way that the gardener can attract native bees such as the bumblebee or mason bee is to create a garden that appeals to them.

This is a fundamental principle for attracting any type of wildlife whether it is, bee or butterfly the garden will design a garden that meets the needs of the beings and they will move in.

Bees on Sunflowers

Bees on Sunflower | Source

The Native Plant Garden

You do not have to include only native plants in the garden. If your garden is already established, no problem, add a few natives in the border or at the back, wherever they work best in the overall design.

If you include native plants that appeal to native bees and other pollinators in your garden you will be encouraging the native bees to visit and that is all you need them to do, drop by and do their thing and then move on.

If you grow vegetables on any scale adding some bee plants to the edges of your vegetable patch will bring the pollinators your way.

When you garden in this ecological manner, and by that I mean you think about creating an ecosystem rather than a garden, you move closer to being one with Nature and serving a vital role in the food chain that goes beyond personal consumption.

What the gardener is in fact doing is creating an ecosystem that meets the pollinators' needs. The pollinators reward the gardener by fertilizing the plants and thus making sure they grow and produce flowers or fruit.

The best way to attract native pollinators is first finding out what pollinators are native to where you live. Then find out what attracts them or what plants they like. A trip to the public library can help or horticultural society or perhaps even a garden centre.

The third step is to design a garden that incorporates a few of those plants that the bee is attracted to and plant them.

Creating a native plant garden is no different than creating any other garden. If you are new to gardening or looking for a refresher check this post out.

Ground Nesting Bees

When we talk about pollinators, the honey bee is usually the star. However, there are others. Bumblebees, beetles, orchard mason bees, butterflies and one that you rarely hear about ground-nesting bees.

Pollinators move pollen from the stigma to the anther, the female and male parts, respectively of flowers. This transfer is essential for plants to produce seed and fruit.

There are three types of ground-nesting bees. Digger bees (family Anthoporidae), sweat bees (family Halictidae), and mining bees (family Andrenidae).

Females dig their solitary homes in dry soil and mound the loose soil around the nest entrance. Pollen and nectar for her offspring are collected and stored.

While ground bees are solitary, it is to find dozens of ground bee nests in one area if conditions are suitable for nesting. Males may fly over the burrows, patrolling for potential mates.

Ground bee queens are docile. They present little or no threat to humans. The males may seem aggressive as they buzz around looking for a female, but they do not have a stinger.

Ground-nesting bees are active foragers of nectar and pollen from flowers, making them beneficial pollinators.

Their nests are small mounds of soil a few inches across. The nests may cause a visual concern for a while, they actually help to maintain a healthy lawn. The nests aerate the soil, enabling water to enter.

When the nests are abandoned in the spring, a rainfall will wash all traces away. If you can’t wait for nature, grab the hose and do the job yourself. But before you spray remember, these bees help you put dinner on the table.

While they may briefly detract from the aesthetics of a well-tended lawn, they do absolutely no harm to the grass or soil—even improving it as their nests function as aeration holes, improving the penetration of water and nutrients. Eventually, as the nests are abandoned after the spring nesting season, the soil washes back into place with rain, disappearing completely.

These are NOT docile ground-nesting bees, they are yellow-jackets and are bad-tempered and aggressive. Do not confuse them with docile ground-nesting bees or you will have a very bad day.

If you feel you must get rid of ground bees even for the brief time they live in your lawn, there is no need to use pesticides of any kind. Ground bees prefer dry soil to nest in, and simply watering the area that they have chosen will cause them to move to another area. If you find ground-nesting bees return to your lawn in large numbers year after year, run a sprinkler on the area before they show up; ground-nesting bees prefer dry soil to wet soil and will look elsewhere to make their nests. (Make sure that you are evicting ground bees and not yellow-jackets. Yellow-jackets reaction to a water eviction will not be “non-aggressive” by any means. A yellow jacket nest will look like a busy airport with many insects entering and leaving in a constant stream, and entrances can be well over an inch wide. Only one ground bee will be seen leaving and entering a hole only about ¼” wide.)

Even better, leave the ground bees to go about their business-they won’t be around long, and will even benefit your lawn and garden while they’re visiting. Just like robins, they’re another welcome sign of spring.

Bees, Butterflies, Birds

The three Bs, birds, bees and butterflies are a gardener’s good friends. If you make a few wise plants choices, refrain from engaging in chemical warfare and understand that Nature will provide what you need, then you are well on your way to creating a great garden; one that will provide the fruits, herbs, flowers and vegetables you seek to grow.

The plant choices you make need to be those that provide for the needs of the beings you wish to attract to your garden. Herbs are a great place to start and can be incorporated into a garden bed or arranged throughout your design.

Bee and Sunflower

Bob Ewing photo

• Flowers and Herbs That Attract Butterflies
  - Flowers and Herbs That Attract Butterflies - Nicki's Garden - information and resource guide

Plants

Dill and mint, for example, will bring the butterflies to your garden. Be sure to consider the whole butterfly family and choose plants that provide a place for the butterflies to lay their eggs. If you also provide them with a drink of water, they will hang around.

Sunflowers will attract all three, bees and butterflies first and then as the seeds develop the birds will drop by for their snack.

There are two things that butterflies are seeking: one is nectar, the food that adult butterflies need, and the other, host plants, the place where the female will lay her eggs and the food that caterpillars need. Both are necessary to create a successful butterfly garden.

Birds like seeds, nuts and berries so plants shrubs and native grasses to get their attention. Shrubs also provide them with shelter so they have a place to fly to when they feel the need, which can happen quite frequently in an urban backyard.

The plants you choose will do the job best when they are native to your area. The bees, birds and butterflies will recognize them and make a point to visit.

I suggest that if you are just getting started then take a trip to your local public library or talk to a naturalist society and find out what birds and butterflies are native to where you live and the plants they demand. Butterflies, especially, can be very fussy about what they eat and where they lat their eggs so get those facts first and then plant accordingly.

The three Bs, birds, bees and butterflies, provide the gardener with a number of services, pollination, pest control and beauty, for example. The plants required to make them feel at home in your garden are all plants that even the vegetable-only gardener can appreciate.