Natural Slug Repellant

Garlic! 

Garlic repels slugs from your garden :)

I had extra reusable produce bags that I used to create garlic rings.

You can plop out the old garlic and reinfuse them with new ones

by cutting a small slot in between the plastic.

These are perfect for hanging from trees

or... putting at the base of a tree

Garlic at the edge of potted plants.

And Voila, for around the garden plot too :)

This plot also has hot chili powder and egg shells to deter slugs and ants.

Also planting mint around your garden deters slugs.

Bonus: Ants hate the garlic as well. 

I hung the garlic rings on the apple trees 

and watched as the ants squirmed away :)

A win for everyone!

Container Gardening: Gooseberries

Have you ever had a Gooseberry?

I find they taste like a cross between a grape and cranberry.

Wait until they are tender before picking. 

If  you don't wait until they are soft to the squish 

they can be quite sour...

Not going to lie, I did eat a bunch before they were ripe.

Trial and Error was how I figured out when they were ripe ;)

hee hee hee

Look how cute they are!

This was what the Gooseberry plant looks 

like when it is coming back from the winter. 

Caution:

The branches are extremely sharp! There are thorns everywhere...

Pots Reorganized

I spent last weekend re-potting and potting plants. I find it takes a bit of curating to get my pots to look good together.

My tip is to get round, square, and other shapes of pots. This will help you fill in the gaps better. If you want a less eclectic look, square and rectangular pots will make your container garden look more orderly.

Before:

Feed Me Grapes Like a Goddess Please...

Ummmm Grapes. Home grown grapes are so sweet. I do find that they have thicker skins though...

I didn't think you could container garden grapes. I planted these last year, and as spring came upon us I didn't think they were going to come back. But alas, they have in full force. 

If grapes weren't poisonous for dogs I'd could see Ror wanting me to feed her bushels as she lay on a hammock on our patio :) She does do her due diligence every day and sniffs these to see if they are ready.

What I learned in my second year is that you shouldn't trim back the branches too much in the first year. Let them grow wild. Then in the second year you can trim it back as they grow. This way you limit the risk that you will be trimming too much and nothing will grow back. 

I'll definitely report back more findings as the season progresses :) 

Green Grapes Growing

Dark Purple Grapes Growing

(I have not spotted any bushels yet)

I have 3 green grape bushels 

 growing... growing...

growing bigger... 

P.S. If you have any tips for me, let me know. I'd love to see these beauty grow and produce more grapes next year.

Purple Magnolias

Update:

The Purple Magnolia Tress have Bloomed.

Fun Fact:
Container Magnolias bloom 1-2 months after trees planted in the ground. Don't be alarmed when the Magnolia trees in your neighbourhood have bloomed before yours do. It just means that you get to enjoy Magnolia trees longer :)

Container Gardening: Raspberries

(Raspberry plants at the end of April)

I have found that I don't do well when I get bare root raspberry plants. They are the ones that come in the small bag wrapped around a twig.

Hardier ones come in the pots with soil. Because they already have a good root system they do better in containers. They also start sprouting leaves sooner and yield raspberries faster.

I currently have 3 varieties: 2 normal red raspberries, 1 raspberry shortcake, and 1 black raspberry.

I was very skeptical at first of the raspberry shortcake because it was very expensive and there weren't any fruit on it the first year. It was a big investment for a plant that may or may not have lasted through the winter. However, I'm a believer now. The bushier raspberry plant in the picture above is the raspberry shortcake! It is bigger than even the raspberry plant that in it's 3rd year.

(Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry Shortcake, Gooseberry)

Growing Tips:

For container gardening, it's important to prune back the branches after they have fruited. Raspberries only fruit on 2 year old branches. This means that when  you are pruning, make sure to leave the hardier branches alone. 

My pruning trick is to prune back the thinner frailer branches, but to leave the longer stronger branches. 

Raspberries will look like they are dead over the winter. Don't, I repeat Don't prune them in the Spring. Give them time to figure themselves out. They will surprise you at how hardy they are :)

You can definitely can see the difference between the March and April pictures.

P.S. The red stuff on the soil is hot chilli powder to deter the racoons and cats ;)

(Raspberry Shortcake in the beginning of March)

(The 2 regular red raspberries)

(The 2 regular red raspberries)

(Black Raspberry)

mmmmMMMMmmm... Black Raspberries. One of the best things about growing your own fruit the new varieties you can find at the garden stores....

Blueberries: New Ones

The hoarding continues...

Every year I find that new varieties of everything come to the market. Last year it was the Raspberry Shortcake plant. This is a thornless raspberry plant that is almost like a shrub. (Yes, I convinced myself I needed to have this one to...)

This year the Jelly Bean Blueberry and Peach Sorbet Blueberry caught my eye. 

I finally got a harvest of the Pink Lemonade Blueberry last year and loved them. So this helped me convince myself that I needed these too. 

Look how cute! And they're Rory size because they are so short. 

Both of these trees have year around leaves that change  colour. The Peach Sorbet's leaves will turn purple in the winter... I'm so excited!

These plants are from Brazel Berries. Further description and care are on their website :)

 (Peach Sorbet Blueberries)

Container Gardening: Blueberries

I, BeesintheGardens, am a hoarder of blueberry plants. I currently have 13 blueberry plants on my patio, ranging in sizes. When I see a new variety, I force the people around me to help me justify bringing them home. Reason have ranged from "But... It's so cute" to "I don't have this one yet, my other blueberries told me they want this new variety as their new friend" to "I must, I must, I must save this blueberry plant from the awful conditions it's currently in and give it a better home."

The first step in getting better is admitting your addiction.

Ror loves blueberries too. Whenever she's on our patio she goes up to them and sniffs around to see if there are any for her yet. This is why I think it's okay to keep adding new ones? This might just be another excuse to add more, and more, and more, and more.... blueberries...

I'm an avid believer that what you grow, you should share. I love sharing my harvests with my co-workers, neighbours, and friends. However, if you are one of these groups of people you may have noticed you have never receive any blueberries.

This is my second problem. I hoard the plants and the berries... Ror only gets some because she looks up at me with those cute big eyes and it's hard to say no.

Here are some tips I've learned along the way:

I have found that Blueberries love love love coffee grounds. They thrive on it.

You also need blueberry friend plants because blueberries don't like being alone. The friend plants cannot be of the same variety because blueberries will have a greater yield when you give it 3 or more varieties to cross pollinate with.

Don't forget to plant bee friendly plants to lure the bees to your garden.

Container Gardening: Fig Trees

(These are pictures from right after I planted the trees)

Figggggg Trees

My mom has multiple fig trees in her garden. Every year when the fig are ready to pick she dehydrates them and shares. This is one of the best times of the year.

This tree came already in soil. I added a banana (for potassium), egg shells (for calcium and irrigation), and coffee grounds (for nitrogen) to the garden soil. Other than that I put it in it's new pot home and watered it constantly.

Later in the season, an important step is to add netting to the tree. This will save you from fighting birds for the fruit ;)
Can wait to munch on some figs later in the summer...

Fun Fact: Fig Trees fruit on 2 year old branches.

Fun Fact 2: Fig Trees planted in the ground will create runner trees. Then you'll have a forrest of fig trees.

(This is after a couple of weeks, look at those beautiful leaves and tiny baby figs)

Container Gardening : Chrimson Gala Apples

(This is after I followed the below steps)

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Gala apples I love you

Gardening can be very precise. I can get overly excited at times, so this precision doesn't always get executed. In my research for container gardening for fruit trees there were a lot of steps where you had to do exactly what they said. I took this as suggestions, rather than hard facts. Hopefully this delinquency works in my favour...

This is what I did, only time will tell if these were the right steps. I'm optimistic because I've always done things a little differently when it comes to gardening.

One: soak the bare root tree in water for 4-6 hours

Two: add soil to the container and place the tree into the pot. If you have a grafted tree, make sure the grafted part is above the soil line.

Three: Trim back the branches by a third. Make sure there is one leader branch and a couple of smaller branches below the leader branch.

Four: Water, water, water. Make sure the tree is continually moist. As September approaches reduce the water to once a week so the tree can start winterizing.

Five: I use the seaweed fertiliser and coffee grounds. In the summer I do this once a week. As the summer ends, I cut this back so plants can winterize.

I guess my imprecision is working because the branches are growing :)

Six: Add something to the top layer of the soil to keep it moist. You could add mulch, burlap, I chose this succulent ground cover plants that I found at Home Depot. 

Fun Fact: Fruit trees need friend trees so that bees can cross pollinate. I only have one this year, but hopefully when plants go on sale at the end of the season I'll get another. 

Container Gardening: Magnolias

The best way to have a garden in a small space is to have all your plants in pots. This is also known as container gardening. I always thought that certain plants (like trees) needed to be in the ground. This is my experiment with the success and failures. 

First up is Magnolia Trees. I'm currently on season 3 of Magnolia trees and these guys have not died. Success! 

I have two different kinds and the thing I've learned is that the white ones bloom weeks before purple ones. This is also why I only have pictures of the white one. Patience got the best of me in previous years and I trimmed the buds off the purples ones before they even got a chance to bloom. Last year I was too busy and just left the trees to their own and was pleasantly surprised when ba-bing, blooms!

 I'm pretty sure this one is a star magnolia tree. The one beside it is Magnolia Liliiflora (not bloomed).