A solution of cayenne pepper and water may stop squirrels from eating your prized tulips.iStockphoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto
You buy a car, you change its oil regularly. You buy a pool, you keep it clean. So why, after you spend a long weekend (and a lot of cash) getting your hands dirty in the garden, do you leave those saplings, tomato plants and snapdragons to fend for themselves? Coveted perennials and trees don't run cheap. A weeping birch in a 10-gallon pot costs $189.99 at Atlantic Gardens in Sackville, N.S. The same rules of protecting any household investment should apply to your perennial bed or vegetable garden.
Pest protection
Sarah Battersby, a gardening blogger ( torontogardens.blogspot.com), had been waiting through a late-onset spring for the payoff from planting tulip bulbs in her Toronto garden last fall. But just when the buds were a few days away from blossoming, they were decapitated.
Squirrels had snapped off the heads, leaving her with a garden littered with the flower carcasses. "Squirrels and raccoons are the bane of our existence," she says.
Next season, she's considering spraying her tulips (just underneath the buds) with a solution of cayenne pepper and water to deter the squirrels, or putting peanuts in peanut feeders in her yard to give them something else to munch on.
As soon as she's put her bulbs in the ground she's on high alert for urban rodents - in early spring, in particular, they dig up her yard and leave it looking as if "it's had the Battle of Hastings re-enacted on it."
To keep her precious bulbs in the soil, she places heavy stones in sections of her flower bed to hide the fresh soil. She also surrounds bulbs with chicken wire.
If it's the neighbourhood cat you're trying to deter, you might consider CatStop, a gadget sold at Lee Valley. The sensor-activated device emits ultrasonic sound if a tabby sets foot near your cucumbers. Lee Valley also sells copper wire mesh that can be used to repel snails and slugs, which apparently hate the metal.
As for aphids, beetles and other insect critters, Ancaster, Ont. gardening consultant Yvonne Cunnington ( countrygardenerblog.com) has a simple strategy: "If there's a plant that has a problem, I take it out."
Pesticide laws leave few treatments available, so instead of pouring energy and cash into treating roses ravaged by Japanese beetles, she doesn't grow them. "It's much easier to cut your losses and go with something that will work," she says.
Tree care
Janet McKay, the executive director of Toronto organization Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests, is always amused by how people forget that trees, um, grow. They'll find the right species for their yards and plant the saplings in the proper soil type, but then they'll crowd them with shrubs or other trees, or place them too close to the house, forgetting that they need space for their roots to extend.
Plan before you dig, she suggests. You don't want the small fortune you spent on a Japanese Maple ($149.99 for a 20-gallon tree at Greenland Garden Centre in Sherwood Park, Alta.) to go to waste.
Once your sapling's in the ground, put two stakes into the ground beside the tree, parallel to the usual wind direction, to give it some support against thunderstorms. "Make sure that you're using a flexible soft material as a tie," Ms. McKay says (her go-to material is pantyhose). "The key is not to make it tight."
You should only leave your stakes on for about a year, she says. By then, the root-to-canopy ratio should be high enough for the tree to support itself.
If you're a lawn fertilizer addict, you'll have to go into detox for three to five years after you've planted a tree, Ms. McKay advises. "People don't understand that nitrogen-rich fertilizer can cause really rapid leaf growth on a new tree. It can happen before trunk has enough girth to support it."
Watering
The eager gardener can sometimes do more harm than the lazy one: Over-watering plants is a surefire way to kill them. Watering once a week should be enough for your perennial bed. Instead of setting a sprinkler going on the whole bed, do spot watering by section.
"If you do have plants that require more water, plant those together. Drought-resistant things - those can be in their own clump," Ms. Battersby says. With maintenance, "If it's easy, it'll get done."
You'll also conserve water if you plant more native plants. Saskatoon berry shrubs do well in British Columbia and the Prairies, while the low-maintenance bluestar (a popular perennial) thrives in Atlantic Canada. Because these plants grow in the wild, they're more resistant to drought and can survive hardy conditions.
Ms. Battersby's sister Helen, also an avid gardener, uses a drip irrigation system to water her garden. "It does work because instead of sending lots of water in the air, it's close to the ground," she says.
If you prefer the direct watering route, consider putting down a layer of mulch in your garden. It can soften the force of the water hitting the ground, making your plants drink it up rather than see it run off, Ms. Battersby explains.
As for trees, newly planted saplings often don't have the root development necessary to absorb much water, Ms. McKay says. Once or twice a week, place a hose (without a nozzle attachment) down near the roots and turn it on to a slow trickle for about 15 minutes.
Growing from seed
If you planted seeds in containers this spring before the ground thawed, now's the time to get them into the ground, but take baby steps - you want your plants to "harden off."
"You have to let the plant acclimatize to the conditions out in the garden," Ms. Cunnington says. Put them out for an hour in the sun on the first day and move them to a shadier place for the rest of the day.
If it's going to be nippy at night, make sure you cover them with netting or bring them inside.
To protect her young, vulnerable plants, Ms. Battersby uses a mini-greenhouse she purchased for about $30 at a hardware store - a simple shelf unit with plastic covering. Bonus: They provide shelter from the squirrels.