Ajax Pickering Real Estate Blog

How to keep your garden healthy and vigorous

Tending a garden can be one of the simple joys of home ownership. If you’re planning on planting your first backyard crops this summer, taking the time to learn a little more about your soil could help you reap a more fruitful harvest.

To help you get the most out of your garden this season, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers the following tips for keeping your soil in top shape:

• Many of the most common soil problems are related to texture. The texture of a soil is determined by its relative proportion of sand, silt and clay. In general, clay soils tend to be fertile but are often wet and poorly drained. Sandy soils drain easily but can be drought-prone and infertile. Loam, probably the most desirable soil texture, retains moisture and is fertile, crumbly and easy to work with.

• To determine your soil’s texture, dry and crush a small amount by rubbing it in the palm of your hand. Then rub a pinch of the soil between your thumb and fingers. The grainier the soil feels, the higher its sand content is likely to be.

• To test for clay, squeeze some moist soil in your hand and then pass it from hand to hand. The more it holds together, the higher the percentage of clay.

• Other important qualities of good soil include its structure and porosity, moisture, fertility, pH level and the presence of earthworms, ants and other life forms that can contribute to the health of your plants. To find out more about these and other characteristics of your soil, contact your local garden centre, soil testing laboratory, or provincial agriculture ministry or department.

• Once you are armed with a basic understanding of your soil’s properties, you can select plants that will be better suited to thrive in your garden and site conditions such as sun, shade and anticipated rainfall. Local nurseries, conservation agencies, plant catalogues, books and websites can all help you identify which plants can tolerate a variety of soil textures and which are likely to have more specific soil requirements.

• Although picking the right plants for your soil will minimize the need to add fertilizers or other amendments, there may still be some situations in which these additions will be unavoidable. If your garden has a high clay content, for example, you will probably need to aerate the soil and work in some organic matter such as well-rotted manure, compost, grass clippings or leaves.

• When your soil is in a healthy state, consider installing a rain garden to help maintain your plants. A rain garden is an attractive, easy and inexpensive way to reduce runoff and allow stormwater to soak more slowly into the ground.

For more information or a free copy of the “About Your House” fact sheet entitled Get to Know Your Soil or other fact sheets on owning, maintaining or renovating your home, call CMHC at 1-800-668-2642 or visit our website at www.cmhc.ca. For more than 60 years, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been Canada’s national housing agency, and a source of objective, reliable housing expertise.

New Homes & Condos Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new homes in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new communities across the Greater Toronto Area.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960

What better way to celebrate spring than by creating a beautiful, eco-friendly garden. With a few simple practices and some help from the latest innovative gardening products, you can enjoy your own private oasis and do what is right for the environment too.

Consider the following “green” gardening suggestions from The Home Depot Canada:

1. Cut Out the Chemicals

Wean your garden off all synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and
herbicides. These substances promote rapid but weak plant growth, destroy soil fertility and are toxic to humans, wildlife and beneficial insects. Even organic chemicals are toxic, so use them as a last resort.

2. Use Water Wisely

To reduce water use, amend container soil with SoilSponge, an all natural soil conditioner that adds up to seven days between waterings. Disconnect your downspouts from the sewer system and direct water into garden beds or a rain barrel. “It is good practice to use soaker hoses instead of sprinklers, and water early in the morning,” says John Mansz, The Home Depot Canada’s gardening expert.

3. Feed Your Soil Naturally

Plants thrive in healthy soil. Add compost or composted manures to your soil early in the spring, whenever you plant or transplant, and again in mid-summer. “Compost adds organic matter to the soil, aids in water retention and promotes biological activity,” says Mansz.

4. Choose an Alternative to Peat Moss

A peat bog is a highly specialized ecosystem that removes carbon dioxide from the air, is home to many rare and important plant and animal species and acts as a cleansing watershed filter. Damage from the removal of peat from bogs takes hundreds f years to heal. New PeatEliminator, made from cocofibre, a coconut by-product, improves drainage, soil aeration and friability and is the ideal pH for nutrient uptake. (Available at leading garden centres including The Home Depot.)

5. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch and Mulch Some More

A thick layer (8 to 10 cm) of shredded bark, bark chips, grass clippings or shredded leaves spread on top of your garden soil will retain moisture, deter weeds and add needed organic matter to the soil. “Spread mulch in the spring after the soil thaws and again in late fall after the soil begins to freeze,” says Mansz “Keep mulch 8 cm away from plant stems.”

For more eco-friendly gardening tips, visit The Home Depot’s Garden Centre in your local community.

New Homes & Condos Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new homes in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new communities across the Greater Toronto Area.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960