Coral Sunset Peonies and William Shakespeare Roses

Sara has been doing quite a bit of landscaping and gardening at another property here on the Gulf Islands. She prepared the soil with fertilizer and mulch and built stone walls to contain her flower beds. She planted all her favorite plants and worked very hard conceptualizing, as well as carrying out her plans. Many a wheelbarrow full of new soil, compost, and broken rocks was pushed up the inclines in order to replenish some already existing beds and some new ones.

Her peonies were magnificent and many other blooms graced the sizable property throughout the spring and summer. The different kinds of peonies she favors are Coral Sunset, Bowl of Beauty, and Do Tell, as well as one called Madame Emile Debatene. There is a Gertrude Jekyll rose, and a brilliant red camellia, that looks somewhat like a rose. She also took some William Shakespeare roses from her Gabriola garden to her landscaping project.

Her future projects include the installation of a waterfalls and fully utilizing an irrigation pond to save on water usage. There is a fully automated underground irrigation system and many a flagstone pathway was created by Sara in order to save the wear and tear on the lawn.

Please enjoy the pictures of her "other" garden, and know that many hours of hard work have gone into creating this little paradise away from the urban rush. As is the case with our home garden, Sara used Advanced Nutrients Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom, as well as Bud Factor X and Rhino Skin to ensure vigorous, healthy plants, resistant to pests and diseases.

Daffodils and Hyacinths Grown Organically

Our Spring garden is late this year! The bright yellow daffodils are here now (last year they were here a month ago), but the tulips have not opened yet. Down south in Washington State they are already having tulip festivals, but up here in British Columbia, Winter's grip is slower to loosen.

Canada is in the middle of a federal election campaign and given the hyperbole of the opposing party leaders, there is enough fertilizer in the air to feed everybody's garden. Then the spin doctors take over and the b.s. reaches unbearable proportions!

Yesterday, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I used our wheelbarrow to transport several large containers of 100% Organic Iguna Juice mixture to fertilize different parts of Sara's garden. In the next few days I will also administer Humic and Fulvic Acid, as well as Bud Factor X and Rhino Skin, in order to immunize our plants against the onslaught of insects and pathogens, that are sure to arrive, along with the warmer weather.

Many people forget that when the buds start bursting in the Spring plants require feeding, not just water. Just think of how much energy is required to produce a beautiful bloom! Without a good meal, plants will still flower, but the yield will be poor and disappointing.

We use Advanced Nutrients products in our garden to ensure bigger yields and happy plants! :-)

Crocuses Herald Arrival of Spring!

These magnificent flowers emerge from the soil, even if the temperatures hadn't warmed up as much as the arrival of Spring would indicate. Sara and I were out in the garden on Sunday, administering nourishment to the soil (and the perennials that are just coming to life). The crocuses will be followed shortly by the much taller daffodils and then in April it's time for the tulips to bloom! Spring is my favorite time of year, because even the rose leaves have started budding and some of the blossom trees have exploded with white and pink petals!

How does one replenish the soil at this time of year? We mix the correct amount of Iguana Juice Grow or Iguana Juice Bloom into large containers of water and manually pour the mixture into the different sections of the garden. The plants already in bloom will require Iguana Bloom, and the plants that still have to go through their vegetative cycle will be given Iguana Grow. Iguana Juice is the 100% organic fertilizer from Advanced Nutrients that Sara and I have been using in both our flower garden and our vegetable garden for years!

We also give Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid to our plants. These supplements replenish the soil and provide extra nutrients to the plants in a synergistic fashion. Each product helps the other to perform better. Both of these are derived from Leonardite, a rich dark brown or black organic layer found on top of coal beds. Humic acid takes its name from humus, the rich, black soil that our grandparents grew their food in many years ago. Modern agricultural technology is helping to recreate the fertile soils of yesteryear, before the overuse of chemical fertilizers have depleted the natural nutrition content of good growing soil.

We also use Bud Factor X to immunize our plants against pests and pathogens. The roses really need this treatment, because black spot has attacked them in the past. Hopefully, by using Bud Factor X and Rhino Skin, both from Advanced Nutrients, we'll be able to prevent such infestations from happening.

It's just the beginning of another exciting gardening season and Sara is already down on her knees pulling weeds and fixing up the flagstone paths that protect the lawn areas of our garden. She needed to put flagstone down in order to allow the wheelbarrow to deliver bark mulch and manure, without damaging the lawn.

We get a good workout just taking care of our garden and save a lot of money in fitness club membership fees! :-)

Organic Gardening
Results in Bigger Blooms

Our Delphiniums have reached eight-feet in height, and they’re still growing! They’ve never been so tall, or so full where the blooms are concerned. Several years of organic gardening have helped to establish an extremely fertile soil base in Sara’s flower beds, and using Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom every Spring also adds to the nutritious mix.

Our Pink Roses developed a touch of Black Spot on account of the rainy weather we’ve been having, but they still produced the biggest cluster of flowers ever! I must confess, we ran out of Scorpion Juice, thus we didn’t augment the plant’s resistance to pests and pathogens, like we normally do. I just ordered some Bud Factor X, as well as Rhino Skin, from Advanced Nutrients, in order to avoid the chance of infestations in the future.

Another pair of AN products that we’ll try is Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid. These two organic super additives will help ensure that our growing soil will stay fertile and productive for many more years to come. Derived from an organic layer, called Leonardite, mined from the top of coal fields, Humic and Fulvic Acids have magical powers associated with them. Just check out the YouTube videos praising their attributes!

Hedgehog and Jim are both upset about the British Petroleum oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. They’re writing letters to politicians and the media, asking Canadians to rush to the aid of the victims, both human and animal. Hedgehog was especially happy to hear on the news that the Canadian government is sending scientists to the Gulf to help the BP salvage team with the clean up operation.

We hope the Poppy thieves will stay away from Sara’s garden this year (trying to get high on the pods of backyard variety poppies is like smoking hemp for kicks—it just doesn’t work!). The Blue Girl rose offered us a perfect bloom again this year, and my Mother is looking down from the great beyond with a smile of her face, seeing her favourite Yellow Rose producing such lovely blooms with a subtle fragrance. A more powerful fragrance can be had by bringing your nose close to the Peony flower, from a late blooming variety that Sara especially loves.

Sara takes the art of organic gardening to the next level. She composts all her kitchen parings in the Fall and Winter, so by the Spring she can put a layer of rich composted soil on top of her flower beds to rejuvenate their ability to produce bigger yields. She also covered her garden with a layer of fallen leaves at the end of last Summer, and that organic mulch has served her organic garden well. Augmented by the addition of her base nutrients, Iguana Grow and Bloom, she is instrumental in creating the best organic growing environment for her plants, resulting in the outstanding blooms you see in these photographs.