Gardening Advice
Brampton Seedy Saturday, March 9th, See you there!
Mississauga MGs will have a gardening advice clinic at Brampton’s
Seedy Saturday March 9th. Bring your garden questions!
The event also offers a great deal more to interest garden aficionados:
- Hear from environmental experts
- Access gardening resources
- Connect with vendors
- Share, swap and buy seeds
- Enjoy the Seedy Café
- Explore the Kids’ Zone
- For more info: //www1.brampton.ca/EN/residents/parks/pages/seedy-saturday.aspx
Mississauga Seed Library 10th Anniversary Celebration, Saturday Feb 24th: 10 am to 2 pm. Join Mississauga MGs there!
Mississauga Seed Library 10th Anniversary & Launch
Join us as we celebrate the 10th year of the Mississauga Seed Library with workshops, gardening experts and family friendly activities.
Saturday, February 24 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Small Arms Inspection Building
Visit Mississauga MGs advice table and bring your garden questions!
Seed Library Launch Drop-in Schedule
10 am – 2 pm | Exhibitors
10 am | Opening Remarks
10:30 am | Indigenous Gardening Methods and Techniques
12 pm | Attracting Pollinators to Your Yard with Credit Valley Conservation
1 pm | Get Growing: Vegetables in Pots, Vegetables in Plots with Master Gardeners
Attracting Pollinators to Your Yard
12 pm – 1 pm | Drop-in
Pollinators help plants to bloom and thrive. Want to support butterflies, bees and other pollinators in their natural roles? Discover the top native flowers, shrubs and trees you may plant to help them along. Learn how to create beautiful, healthy habitat even in the smallest spaces. Presented by Credit Valley Conservation.
Get Growing: Vegetables in Pots, Vegetables in Plots
1 pm – 2 pm | Drop-in
Learn about growing edibles and planning your vegetable garden in pots or plots this growing season. Presented by Master Gardeners.
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Seedy Saturday @ The Unitarian Congregation Feb 24th
Visit the Master Gardeners’ Kid’s Garden & Advice Clinic @ the Home & Backyard Show Feb 2-4, 2024
Mississauga Master Gardeners (MMG) & Etobicoke Master Gardeners (EMG) invite you to visit us at the Home and Backyard Show February 2-4, 2024, Mississauga International Center. Explore the Children’s Garden and get your hands dirty while enjoying a hands-on gardening experience, including learning how to care for different plants. Learn about Good Bugs & Bad Bugs, find out who are the Pollinators in the garden, and how to attract them. Make a pine-cone bird feeder, create your own grass head, and participate in other fun and creative activities. Children will have a great time discovering the joys of gardening in this enjoyable and educational gardening experience.
Have a gardening or horticultural question? Ask an Expert. Drop by the Master Gardener Advice Clinic and visit our experts bringing your questions, pictures, and challenges, and they will have you walking away with a number of solutions and ideas.
Going to the CNE this year? Bring your gardening questions to the Master Gardener’s Booth @ Heritage Hall
The Canadian National Exhibition 2023 runs from August 18 to
Sept 4, including Labour Day Monday.
Master Gardeners from all over the GTA will be on hand at Heritage Court at the Master Gardener’s booth throughout the event. Find us near the flower show.
Bring your gardening questions along; our MG volunteers are ready and willing to offer our expert advice.
Hope to see you there!
Plant Sale: It’s Back This Year! May 28th 2022 at The Riverwood Conservancy
Mississauga Master Gardeners are super excited to announce that our PLANT SALE is back this year!
Come and join us on May 28th at The Riverwood Conservancy!
Planting native plants from seed instructions Video#2: Sowing Tiny Seed in Trays
Here’s one method for sowing tiny native wildflower seeds without the risk of overseeding. Catherine Fleming, a Mississauga Master Gardener and volunteer at Blooming Boulevards, demonstrates her very effective technique.
WATCH VIDEO #2 here
Thanks to Jeanne at Blooming Boulevards for providing these videos.
Planting native plants from seed instructions Video #1: How to Prepare Seed Trays
Planning to grow native plants from seed? Here are some tips and techniques for getting off to a good start.
Want more native plants? Did you know: You can sow native plant seeds in winter!
Why Native Plants Matter
Garden Soil: What You Need to Know
What is (garden) Soil?
Soil is so much more than dirt. Soil is a living ecosystem— a large community of living organisms linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Every teaspoon of soil is home to billions of microorganisms — bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, and earthworms that play important roles.
And trying to improve the health of your garden soil is not as complicated as some people suggest. Let’s look at some of the important soil components.
Good soil needs to have organic matter. Organic materials are carbon-based compounds used by gardeners to help their plants grow. This includes compost, green manure, leaf mold, and animal manure. If your soil is sandy or has heavy clay, organic matter improves the structure of the soil and hence helps with water drainage. Organic matter also feeds the soil with microorganisms and insects, creating a good environment for soil microbes which eventually enhances a plant’s health and growth. Soil that is rich in organic matter tends to be darker and crumbles off of the roots of plants you pull up. A healthy, spread-out root system is also a sign of good soil.
Soil pH is another important factor that needs to be taken into consideration. Soil pH is the acidity or alkalinity of your soil. It’s a scale that runs from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral and if the number decreases from 7, the acidity increases and if the number increases from 7, the alkalinity increases. Plant nutrients become available or unavailable according to the soil’s pH level. The essential nutrients are most available to most plants at a pH between 6 to 7.5. Soil pH can be measured and altered as per one’s requirements.
Water and air are also important for good soil health. Roots and microbes need varying amounts of water and air and the microenvironments in the soil help with this. Soil compaction and disturbance disturb this balance and hence it is important to minimize soil compaction.
So, the next time when you are in the garden center trying to figure out which bags of soil to pick for your vegetable or ornamental garden, remember that you already have soil in your garden. All you might need to do is take a closer look at it and try to identify what it is missing. Feel the soil. Smell it. Get your hands dirty. You have to understand your soil before you start growing plants in it. And trust me its not that difficult. I am not an expert and I did it, so can you!
Mohan Iyer
Mississauga Master Gardeners
References
JOE LAMP’L– www.growingagreenerworld.com
Lee Reich- www.finegardening.com