Anyone into gardening here? | Page 57 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Anyone into gardening here?

jc100 said:
So I now get a hummingbird visiting every day at the same time. Here’s my non-scientific evaluation. It prefers the super cheap crappy tire plastic fantastic feeder that is clear plastic with a red base. I make my own nectar with a cup of sugar to 4-5cups water. No red dye. The bird ignores the oriole feeder which is orange (and also ******* useless for orioles too) and the fancy red glass feeder a neighbour gave me as a gift.

Bonus..the cheapo crappy tire feeder is the easiest to clean. I’m cleaning these and refilling every week since I read it’s easy for them to get dirty and pass on diseases.
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That’s awesome JC. Hope it sticks around for you.

A few years back, I had a similar experience. Fancy brass and glass feeder wasn’t getting any action. For giggles, I made a feeder out of a small plastic bottle, plastic base with lid, cut “flowers” out of the bottom of red beer cups and green Starbucks straws. The ghetto feeder won outright…no contest.

I only have the brass/glass feeder now with a round beer cup bottom on top and some red ribbon tied on the hanger post. Worked last two years so fingers crossed for this year too.


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jc100 said:
As I get older I find I’m appreciating the natural things around me more. I love nothing more sometimes than sipping a beer and watching whatever comes to feed at the feeders.
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The variety and numbers of birds have gone up a lot over the last 10 years, it seems to me. When they banned DDT I think it made a really big difference but that was a long time ago.
 
One of my apple trees blew down a year ago so decided to replace it. I never liked the mangey apples it produced anyway so we got a “bubblegum” plum tree. A Toka plum. It will do dual duty since 15 years ago when I bought the other plum tree on sale I was too much of a dumbass to realize that one needed a pollinator. Fast forward 15 years without any notable plum harvest and things will now change since the Toka is a superpollinator for a number of plum varieties!

Digging holes is always a chore but the tool I bought from crappy tire is awesome for this job. This thing is fantastic..

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

I used it to dig 4 holes close to each other then a spade to remove the rest and had a 15” deep 15” wide hole done in less than 20 mins in slightly rocky clay soil.
 
jc100 said:
One of my apple trees blew down a year ago so decided to replace it. I never liked the mangey apples it produced anyway so we got a “bubblegum” plum tree. A Toka plum. It will do dual duty since 15 years ago when I bought the other plum tree on sale I was too much of a dumbass to realize that one needed a pollinator. Fast forward 15 years without any notable plum harvest and things will now change since the Toka is a superpollinator for a number of plum varieties!

Digging holes is always a chore but the tool I bought from crappy tire is awesome for this job. This thing is fantastic..

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

I used it to dig 4 holes close to each other then a spade to remove the rest and had a 15” deep 15” wide hole done in less than 20 mins in slightly rocky clay soil.
Click to expand...
My wife bought a bunch of trees to plant last year I got this made digging so much better our yard is full of rocks 2 to 3 feet around.
1265d8ef87fb94e0386b9a02268ebc54.jpg


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jc100 said:
One of my apple trees blew down a year ago so decided to replace it. I never liked the mangey apples it produced anyway so we got a “bubblegum” plum tree. A Toka plum. It will do dual duty since 15 years ago when I bought the other plum tree on sale I was too much of a dumbass to realize that one needed a pollinator. Fast forward 15 years without any notable plum harvest and things will now change since the Toka is a superpollinator for a number of plum varieties!

Digging holes is always a chore but the tool I bought from crappy tire is awesome for this job. This thing is fantastic..

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

I used it to dig 4 holes close to each other then a spade to remove the rest and had a 15” deep 15” wide hole done in less than 20 mins in slightly rocky clay soil.
Click to expand...

Actually a bit funny to me because I was looking at that exact one. I’m planning to dig a couple small dry wells


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Our Norway maple survived the storm but has developed cracks in the trunk over the last few years. It's a messy pig with keys, blossoms and leaves but at 24" in diameter it provides a lot of shade for the deck.

Norways are problematic but I'll never live to see another tree as large in the yard so would like to keep it as long as possible.

Is there a treatment for the cracks?
 
I guess you can get massive metal straps to try and keep it together @nobbie48…not sure how else to deal with cracks.

As for me…my wife 2 weeks after the c-section was bored today…🤦🏻‍♂️

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nobbie48 said:
Our Norway maple survived the storm but has developed cracks in the trunk over the last few years. It's a messy pig with keys, blossoms and leaves but at 24" in diameter it provides a lot of shade for the deck.

Norways are problematic but I'll never live to see another tree as large in the yard so would like to keep it as long as possible.

Is there a treatment for the cracks?
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Are they growth cracks? Trees are somewhat self-healing as long as some invasive insect doesn’t see an opportunity and cause more damage.


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Robbo said:
Are they growth cracks? Trees are somewhat self-healing as long as some invasive insect doesn’t see an opportunity and cause more damage.


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I'm pretty sure they're growth cracks. Norways don't last forever as they have a tendency to root wrap themselves. However I will not live long enough to see another similar sized shade tree in my yard so I need to baby it.
 
shanekingsley said:
Right now I work in the native plant nursery and the greenhouses in High Park. It's an amazing place to work and I get to play with plants all day every day.



Anyone got any big gardening plans this year?
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I'm doing my place up north, Zone 2b. Pretty much a blank slate, in town on a res street, 90x200 full sun Taking up a bunch of hardy stuff I remember seeing in Winnipeg (hosta, cedum, , looking for easy grow perennials that will add a bit of color.

Surprisingly the peonies I planted last year came back strong, and a patch of morning glory I planted along a fenvlibe seems to have reseeded itself

Also looking for ideas on a few shrubs.
 
Lyndsay said:
No chinese lanterns this year?
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Ouch! Those things are worse than dandelions. I can't pull them as fast as they pop up.
 
Mad Mike said:
I'm doing my place up north, Zone 2b. Pretty much a blank slate, in town on a res street, 90x200 full sun Taking up a bunch of hardy stuff I remember seeing in Winnipeg (hosta, cedum, , looking for easy grow perennials that will add a bit of color.

Surprisingly the peonies I planted last year came back strong, and a patch of morning glory I planted along a fenvlibe seems to have reseeded itself

Also looking for ideas on a few shrubs.
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I'll look through all my old notes from school - I had about 150 plants that I had to learn for Plant ID and had all the Zones listed, so it should be easy to search for the Zone 2 ones.

And that was strange to read that post you quoted - I haven't worked in that native plant nursery for at least 5 years.
 
@Mad Mike
Some good shrubs or larger perennials suitable for Zone 2 include:
Serviceberries, Giant Yellow Hyssop, Bearberry, Common Hackberry, Red Oiser Dogwood, Tatarian Dogwood, Eryngium's (Alpine Sea Holly's or False Thistles), Junipers, American Larch (love this), Honeyberry (Lonicera), Dwarf Spruces, Chokecherry (suckers though), Fragrant Sumac, Alpine Currant, Early Wild Rose (Rosa blanda), Shining Willow, Tamarisk (love this), Viburnums,

Here's a good site with a bunch of interesting Zone 2 trees/shrubs as well:
www.ecofriendlyincome.com

Trees & Shrubs You Can Grow in Hardiness Zone 2

A list of zone 2 trees and shrubs resistant to the most freezing temperatures. Learn what kind of soil and conditions they need to thrive.
www.ecofriendlyincome.com www.ecofriendlyincome.com
 
shanekingsley said:
@Mad Mike
Some good shrubs or larger perennials suitable for Zone 2 include:
Serviceberries, Giant Yellow Hyssop, Bearberry, Common Hackberry, Red Oiser Dogwood, Tatarian Dogwood, Eryngium's (Alpine Sea Holly's or False Thistles), Junipers, American Larch (love this), Honeyberry (Lonicera), Dwarf Spruces, Chokecherry (suckers though), Fragrant Sumac, Alpine Currant, Early Wild Rose (Rosa blanda), Shining Willow, Tamarisk (love this), Viburnums,

Here's a good site with a bunch of interesting Zone 2 trees/shrubs as well:
www.ecofriendlyincome.com

Trees & Shrubs You Can Grow in Hardiness Zone 2

A list of zone 2 trees and shrubs resistant to the most freezing temperatures. Learn what kind of soil and conditions they need to thrive.
www.ecofriendlyincome.com www.ecofriendlyincome.com
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Thanks! I brought a few from my garden, 6 types of hosta, black raspberries, 2 types of cedum and some wild periwinkle. While we are in zone 2, we get 4' of snow-covered so some zone 5 plants make it. My neighbour has morning glories, that covers 80' of fence and a petunia patch. Says the reseed themselves, an bloom Jul to frost.

Berry bushes are nice, but they attract bears. While my place is in the 'city' bears are as common as racoons in Toronto so only the really thorny ones.

I have a bunch of Hydrangea looking shrubs, some big conifers, and an unruly raspberry patch. The soil is black loam, reminds me of the Holland marsh. My grass grows 6-8" a week, and with vool nights it's always moist.

Most city houses are on 30×100' lots, mine is 90x200 so I have tons of space for gardens.

Also dreaming about an arctic greenhouse. There are a few around that provide salad lettuce all winter, some add solar powered light to make cukes and tomatoes.

For 420 fans, the long sunlight days have the girls 1' taller than their sisters in Markham.
 
university of saskatchewan is a really good place to go for fruit tree knowledge in the north. I know a family harvesting apples,cherries and plums on their property - just 50 kms south of temagami.

Welcome to the U of S Fruit Program Home Page​

https://research-groups.usask.ca › fruit





  • This page has a list of companies which currently produce and sell our Haskap, Cherry and Apple plants, as well as companies that distribute our plants.

University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program - Facebook​

https://www.facebook.com › ... › College & university




We are pleased to announce a fall fruit tree sale. We will be doing the online sale again with scheduled pick-ups like the last one. The website will go live ...
Rating: 4.5 · ‎15 votes
 
nobbie48 said:
Our Norway maple survived the storm but has developed cracks in the trunk over the last few years. It's a messy pig with keys, blossoms and leaves but at 24" in diameter it provides a lot of shade for the deck.

Norways are problematic but I'll never live to see another tree as large in the yard so would like to keep it as long as possible.

Is there a treatment for the cracks?
Click to expand...
Not sure how bad your crack is, but this article might help. Hope it's usable.

Can You Repair a Split Tree Trunk? ...Best Way

The best way to repair a split tree trunk is to bolt it with large stainless steel bolts. These are permanent and can never be removed for support.
www.gotreequotes.com www.gotreequotes.com
 
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