What is a “Spring Clean Up”?

Spring Clean-Up: Preparing for a Blooming Season Spring is a time of renewal and growth, and our spring clean-up tasks are essential to ensure our gardens and landscapes thrive throughout the season. Here’s why we perform these tasks: Promotes Healthy Growth. Removing dead material from gardens removes the potential for any overwintering pests to infect … Read more

Spring Gardening Tips: Ignore your lawn!

Spring Garden Tips: What to Do and What to Avoid Ignore Your Lawn! It’s far too early to work on your lawn. 1. Why It’s Too Early to work on your lawn. Working on your lawn too early in the spring can indeed be counterproductive for several reasons: Risks of Damaging New Growth • Tender … Read more

Reviving a Tired Lawn

Topdressing and Over-seeding Lawns in Ontario What a great way to make a tired lawn lush again. And a lot less expensive than sodding. Maintaining a lush, healthy lawn in Ontario, requires understanding the region’s climate, soil conditions, and seasonal changes. Two critical practices for lawn care in this area are topdressing and over-seeding. These … Read more

Weed barriers – Hate them or Hate Them

Why Weed Barriers Do Not Work: Why I despise them! Weed barriers, also known as weed mats or landscape fabric, are (unfortunately) commonly used in gardening and landscaping theoretically to prevent weed growth. These barriers are designed to block sunlight and limit the availability of nutrients to weeds (and your garden plants), thereby reducing their … Read more

Fall Lawn and Garden Thoughts

Fall is an important time for lawns and gardens.   In general, fall is a great time to plant perennials, shrubs and trees. The later in the season we get, the greater the chance of “frost heave” with newly planted items. If you fall plant in October onward, please, please, please put a thick layer … Read more

Spring Pruning of Conifers

These are the candles on the Dwarf Scots Pine.

I have to say we are at the end of the time to complete this garden task BUT complete it we must. What I am about to share with you is a pruning technique called candling. This process needs to be completed before the growth starts to harden off. This is a photo of some … Read more

Weed Barriers and Landscape Fabric

Weed Barrier and why it is BAD – and doesn’t work…  AKA – Landscape Fabric, Geotextile.  And what you should do instead….    As a landscaper, I always dread each time a client asks us to install weed barrier. Landscaping brings a lot of challenges and weeds in gardens are among the greatest. Too many … Read more

The Spring Garden – Planted in the Fall!

Spring Garden

Every spring the landscape wakens with the wonderful colours of spring flowering bulbs. We all know them; tulips, daffodils, crocus…. and so many more.