by Sandy Garland Yes, it's about dog-strangling vine (DSV) again, our major preoccupation at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We're making a bit of progress in some areas and noting that many native species (like walnut trees, goldenrods, and raspberries) are holding their own or even out-competing DSV. But there are places where DSV is so [...]
by Sandy Garland Although last Tuesday was one of the hottest days of the year, Ted, Kate, Catrina, Melanie, and Mirko all arrived ready to work. We had decided to plant more trees - not the best time of year for this activity, but we needed to get the trees into the ground where they [...]
by Sandy Garland A fern, planted about 5 years ago along with other woodland species, is now overwhelmed by new growth and species responding to the increased light. The Tuesday group wanted to plant trees - a positive, long-term, satisfying job at any time and much more fun than always pulling things out. [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday must be a good gardening day. Actually, it was the weather that dictated planting the new garden beds at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Tuesday morning - cloudy with showers expected in the evening. Lynn Armstrong, who is designing a series of raised beds there, asked if the FWG would [...]
by Sandy Garland Yes, despite the threatened thunderstorms, both the Tuesday group and a crew of people involved in the Learning Garden at Ottawa U came to work in our Old Woodlot the same day. In the afternoon, Derek and Mirko tackled the milkweed field with scythes. Despite the hot, humid weather, they succeeded in [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday again and another chance to work in the Old Woodlot! I was rather disorganized this week as it sort of looked like rain, except when the sun came out, and volunteers arrived one at a time, so it was hard to know how big a job to tackle. So we loaded [...]
by Sandy Garland It may be easy to see this young tree, but can you see the other smaller ones in the background? Stakes help. This Tuesday, we took a break from scything DSV and went on a bit of a treasure hunt. Ted pointed out that as he's been weeding he's coming [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday afternoon and time to work in the woods again. With all the rain, things have changed considerably since the last blog post 2 weeks ago. Jewelweed is still dominating the whole area, but the trees planted this year and last are doing well and lots of wildflowers are popping up. Despite [...]
by Sandy Garland Tuesday-in-the-woods day and my trusty crew of Catrina, Mirko, and Kate arrived right on time. Unfortunately, it looked like rain, so we stayed around the centre for a while watering (the plants that don't get rained on) and potting up more seedlings: Gray Goldenrod and Upland White Goldenrod. As the sky cleared [...]
by Sandy Garland When our ash trees were taken down last spring, not only did they leave enormous "holes" in the Old Woodlot, but they also caused damage to other trees and plants when they fell and were dragged out of the area. Increased light means the ground vegetation is likely to change. All this [...]
