22 - Sunday, March 1, 1998 — North Shore News Tobiasson’s back with garden tips I’M back! After far too long a period of estrangement between me and my writing, the kind peo- ple at the North Shore News ave offered me this wonder- ful opportunity to revive a val- ued relationship. With their — and your — help, I hope to again engage in some light-hearted and hopefully informative ram- blings about g; gardening on the North Shore. Their assistance is obviously manitested in this space in the paper. Yours, kind reader, will hopefilly come in the form of your questions, Call, write, e-mail (g geofi@haida.com ), send smoke signals, do whatever it takes to get your questions on gardening and/or related top- ics in tor me to work with. If you do this for me, I promise to answer them to the best of ny ability, with as little bab- bling and general philosophical commentary as possible. above ground. What can I do to protect them against frost damage?” Thank you Sandy! Great starting question; especially during this vear of the Mother-of-All El Nios. | quote Environment Canada’s weather bulletin on this year’s record El Nino, “El Nifio does not mean that the winter of 1997-98 will be without cold, storms and blizzards. However, Enviromnent Canada experts foresee the likelihvod of a warmer-than- usual winter, at least from north shore news (GARDENING NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge Native beach-side gardening AS part of West Vancouver Heritage Week Dave Hutch, above, and Karen Kristensen presented a slide show and discussed Native Beach Side Gardening. Here, Hutch — who is a parks and environment design technician with North Vancouver City — talks about the park at the foot of 18th St. in West Vancouver. tomorrow? Only the weather I this should happen, anv ate quite Significant Crops in least the duration of their show will be shortened. temperature for skort, ove night periods, bur Sewers that dus warm weathe: has ¢ into opening may hae . lower tolerance. They may be bar: spoiled ‘by even the jgghtest touch of frost or at the very unprotected early risers m your garden will be damaged, if not destroved. So how do we go about protecting our invest- ment of time and dollars? Well, as usual, that depends. Most newly emery- ing foliage and buds can toler- ag Sandy K. asks; “I am get- ting rather worried about my bulbs and tender, flow- ering perennials. With all this unusually warm weath- er, everything is way ahead gods at Environment Canada and the ‘TV stations scem to want to hazard a guess, And a guess it is, because although the effeets of EE Nifo are still with us, this does not mean that we couldn’ slide into a British Columbia through Ontario and southern and cen- tral Quebec.” Ve have already witnessed the implications of the above with the mild temperatures over the first half of the win- Ifyou are protecting green- ery from the rigors of a hard, long-term frost, then adding a Javer of some sort of mulching material will work fine. Drv leaves, straw, coarse, unfinished compost or any of schedule and already well CEE eo balan tenis | Join us for TWO ter; but what will happen FREE Pruning Demonstrations Saturday, March 10am - 12 noon oneness Sunday March 8 Starting at Ipm RAUL BAe MOR ERIE NEOs RAIN OR SHINE 7 Seminar will be on general pruning, fruit trees and ornamental plants Courtesy of Greenleaf Products All about roses - Elaine Senft, rose expert, will give seminar on rose pruning & maintenance. Please pre-register at 985-1914 severe cold period. PRUNING CLINICS Dykhof Nurseries & Florist ; serving the North Shore since 1957 460 Mountain Highway, North Vancouver 985-1914 Give your lawn a good start! As Spring approaches we iook forward to enjoying our lawns and gardens once again. Now is the time to address winter's ef- @ ‘ : fects on your lawn. by Doug Charles Moss has likely developed due to wet, cloudy weather. Thinning Grass could be damage from water saturation, or insects suck as leather jackets. Brown or Discoloured Patches could be diseases such us snow mould or red thread or damage from ice. salt or pets. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? « Moss Control is normatly applied in spring-either separately or in a fertilizer formulation, For heavy moss a separate formulation is best. Raking out dead moss afterward helps. * Lime is applied to reduce soil acidity. Lime does not kill moss, bul promotes healthy grass growth to compete with moss. Cheek the label to ensure it is dolomite lime with micronutrients the liwn needs. © Core Aeration is an important step to improve drainage, reduce thatch and relieve soil compaction. * Leather Jackets and Diseases may need treatment prevent spreading. Newer lawns are most susceptible as they need time to develop their own defenses. ¢ Areas damaged hy salt or pets shauld be well perforated with a garden fork and thoroughly flushed wo carry away the salts. Dead grass can then be raked out, the suit exposed and over-seeded. ¢ Proper fertilizing is essential to all lawas to) promote recovery growth and build strengih before summer stress, Remember, whatever type of fawn problem you have. consult a reputable lawn care professional to get the solutions. Doug Charles is the owner af Nutri-Lawn, FIND OUT WHAT YOUR LAWN NEEDS N IP LAWN CALL THE EXPERTS URE lawnCare QQ 7.5377 material provide an insulating layer of organic material, Ir should be as dry as possible and contain lots of air spaces. This not only increases its abil- ity to retain warmth, but also helps to prevent the decompo- sition or rorting of those plant parts that vou are trying to protect, You should also try to leave this cover on for as short 4 period as possible. These new buds and foliage require good air circulation and light to remain healthy. [f they are left covered tor an extended peri- od of time, they Will become weakened and the entire plant could sutter long-term eflects. For this reason, pay atten- tion to the weather forecasts for warming trends in addition to approaching freeze-ups. As soon as vou are able, remove the mulch. Protecting open flowers from light, overnight frosts should be an easier task. The idea here is to provide alight blanket that will simply keep Jack Frost's breath off the surface of the flowers, His treezing touch can dessicate or pull the moisture from the petals, causing them to look burnt or dried out. A cover as sophisticated as Reemay cloth or as simple asa staked down page of the North Shore News will keep al but the heaviest over night frost of those delicate blooms, Well, that’s it for this week. Please vour questions to Geol ‘Tobiasson at the North Shore News, 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, V7M-2FI4, of to my email adudress geofti@haidacom, Until nest week... Sow it Grows,