April 5, 2008
Snappy Answers: Everything Spring
Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com.
Spring is here, and I want to get started on building a garden on my third-storey deck. It's only 8-by-8 feet and faces south, so it has direct sunlight for, like, 20 hours a day. Last summer, everything I tried growing either burnt in the hot summer sun or was dug up by squirrels. Do you have any tips for building an urban garden?
—Karen
Karen, Karen, quite contrar-en, how does your garden grow?
With a little TLC and DIY. Summer plants, especially outdoor ones, need to be treated like you'd treat a hangover: with lots of water and rest.
For the former, you could buy a fancy water reservoir container, or you could knock off the effect with an old pop bottle: cut off the bottom, turn it upside down, stick the neck into the soil, and voila, water funnel. Speaking of soil, the best kind (both for the environment and for water and nutrient absorption) is a compost-based mix, with peat moss if, you know, you've got peat moss lying around. Coffee grounds also make great fertilizer.
For plant shades as cool as Ray-Bans, pick up cheap, whimsical parasols in Chinatown and place them over pots. (We saw it on TV once, so it definitely works.) If those don't keep the rodents out with the sun, try placing loose plastic mesh over the containers. We also hear that little Thai chili peppers placed in the soil make container gardens too hot to touch for the bushy-tailed pests.
Happy growing.
I can't find much in the way of CSA in Toronto. Am I crazy?
—Rob
Probably, but who isn't?
The closest Community-Supported (or Shared) Agriculture centre we've heard of is Thurston Organic Farm, which isn't really all that close. Worth the trek? Decide by June, when the CSA season begins and membership registration closes.
Can I wear black/dark nail polish in the spring?
—Leora
Black? No, but not because it's seasonally inappropriate (is there even such a thing anymore?); rather because it's, oh, three seasons old. The newest black is navy, but we're already bored. Try a deep poison green instead—the perfect antidote to this spring's floral profusion. Test the perfect shade on the cheap by mixing a few drops of the old Black Satin with Rimmel's emerald green lacquer.
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hmm I never thought about mixing nail polish before!
I dig that parasol idea! TV is so smart.
Thanks!
When it comes to squirrels, I've tried all the "hot" remedies -- sprinkling cayenne pepper, etc. at the base of the plants. Results were generally quite poor. What works best is bloodmeal. It generally comes in a box -- buy the plain, "un-improved" stuff that hasn't been mixed with fertilizers and other chemicals (because the additional fertilizers are unnecessary and can burn the plants). Bloodmeal isn't always available at the so-called "garden centres" that sprout up in the spring next to Loblaws, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, etc. so you might have to go to a real garden store to get it. It works 90% of the time (some squirrels are immune to everything!). Buy a few boxes because it does need to be reapplied from time to time, as the rain will eventually wash it away.
As for the heat and sun, the water reservoir is a good suggestion, and the parasols are a neat idea. I'd also give some thought (and you may already have done this) to what it is you are planting. A lot of the pretty flowers and plants on sale in the spring are not native species, aren't particularly hardy, and require unreasonable amounts of effort and water to maintain. Go to a real garden centre (not Home Depot) and ask them for advice as to what plants will do better in the sun. One more idea - the Brickworks Farmers' Market on Bayview has a nursery section in the spring, where they sell native species that are better adapted to our climate and soil conditions. I got some great plants there last year that did very well in parts of our yard that had always been a bit problematic in the past. If you don't live near the Brickworks, or Saturday mornings present a problem for you, then I am sure that there are other farmers markets in the city that also sell nursery stock.
i don't know of any CSAs, per se, but here are some suggestions for food co-ops.
karmacoop.org - near bathurst and palmerston.
www.foodshare.net - the food share network delivers reusable green boxes of food to your door. prices range from $8 - $32 a box depending on your choice of contents. food is at cost and delivery is absorbed/subsidized. go to the site and check out "good food box".