Happy Pollinator Week!
June 21-27 is Pollinator Week in Canada. You can support pollinators just by helping them live better: plant native flowers to give them food, leave a rough patch of ground undisturbed to give them a safe home, and always garden organically.
Another way to show your support is to check out these beautiful greeting cards from one of our good friends, Pollinator Partnership Canada. They're perfect for spreading cheer to family and friends, especially in a time when we're all a little more isolated than usual.
Let's Talk About Our Pollinator Pals
Seeds of Diversity’s School Food Gardens (SFG) project uses its Youth Portal to help spread the word about the importance of pollinators and encourage students to promote healthy habitats to preserve the many pollinator species of Canada.
Oftentimes the public overlooks the incredibly important ways that pollinators play a role in our food systems. Without pollinators, one-third of the food we eat would disappear. You would be saying a swift bye to beloved foods such as almonds and most types of berries. Other food plants would survive, but with decreasing yields and quality. This page provides an insightful overview of some of the important ways that pollinators benefit our food system.
What Can You Grow in a Shady Garden?
Most plants love to grow in full sun. They're solar powered, so the more light they get, the faster and better they grow. That's a problem for gardeners in the city though, because houses and trees block the sun and usually leave only a tiny spot of precious direct sunlight. So let's explore what we can grow in the shade (or part shade).
First of all, let's think about what it means for plants to be powered by the sun. Their leaves collect light and use it to create food through photosynthesis. More light means more energy for the plant, but it isn't as simple as that because different stages of growth need different amounts of energy.
Time to Inspect Your Garlic for Leek Moths
For most of the years that I've been growing garlic, it's been completely safe from pests. Rabbits eat my beans and lettuce, but turn up their noses to garlic. Insects have also objected to the taste of garlic, making it among the easiest plants to grow. Until recently.
The Leek Moth, also known as Acrolepiopsis assectella is a relatively new pest in eastern Canada. In the 1990s it was only found in a few places in Ontario, then it gradually spread, and now it has become a major problem for leek, onion, and garlic growers throughout Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.
New Resources for Seed Growers
Tha Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security has just introduced a new webinar series, and a library of resources for seed growers! We also have the results of the 2020 Farmer Survey. Find all these great resources at www.seedsecurity.ca
In this issue
Let's Talk About Our Pollinator Pals
What Can You Grow in a Shady Garden?
Time to Inspect Your Garlic for Leek Moths
New Resources for Seed Growers
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