It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
June has officially arrived, and as we head toward the Summer Solstice it means gardeners have some extra daylight for frivolities in the garden. More importantly, we celebrate Pollinator Month (with National Pollinator Week June 17th-23rd as a highlight), a campaign created by the Pollinator Partnership to create harmony between us humans and nature. We all need to pause and give thanks to…
A huge trend in gardening over the last decade or so has been cultivating your very own homegrown fruit. The pandemic intensified this practice, and it seemingly continues to become more and more popular for our patrons at Sunnyside, season after season. While most all endeavors in the garden are gratifying to me, there is something extra special about growing your own edibles, including fruit. Whether you are adding to an existing garden or starting anew, some planning and a few points to ponder will help you to grow fruit successfully…
Have you heard of “regenerative agriculture”? I hadn’t until recently, but after a bit of research, I realized that this “new” movement is at its base just an expansion of organic gardening and farming principles that can be adapted from commercial agriculture to our very own backyards. Here are some components of this style of gardening that we should all take to heart…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
I often refer to myself as a “plant enabler”, a sort of legal dealer that tries his best to hook his customers up with the best plants for their landscapes. Plants are easy to get addicted to, believe me, and running a garden center means you are surrounded on a daily basis by treasures that beckon you to take them home, plant them, and watch them flourish - even if you are out of room, just ask my poor wife. If I jump in a time machine to some 30 years ago, I can see…