The moon
Many of the craters that litter the lunar surface have been named after people who have contributed to science, people that are recognized as some of the most brilliant minds in recorded history
The Supermoon Lunar Eclipse, As Explained By Astronomers
“The moon is spiraling away from Earth at a rate of about two-and-a-half inches per year.”
THESE IMAGES ARE OUTSIDE OF PRINT NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION DEALS Mandatory Credit: Photo by Bertie Gregory “The west coast of Vancouver Island is home to an incredible ecosystem consisting of rainforest covered mountains which drop all the way down to a wave battered shoreline. Enjoy the harvest moon
And a recent picture Of birds passing my moon picture in
November 2020
a closeup
shot of the city
Rain into the landscape
This rain garden nestles into the landscape and demonstrates how storm water management features can be done in a pleasing fashion
Fixing Drainage Issues in Your Yard
what you can do at home to keep our waterways healthy and clean. Part of the water bring lazy and taking the easiest route
Why plant rain gardens?
The news has been saturated (pun intended) with water-related headlines lately: last year, Toledo’s water was contaminated with toxic algae. Locally in central Ohio, we’ve experienced elevated nitrate levels and localized flooding from heavy rainfall and runoff.
Though compacted and paved suburban or urban landscapes are limited in their ability to absorb rainfall, the creative gardeners among us can capture their rainwater in a rain garden. Treating your own home’s runoff is one way residents can protect our drinking water while decreasing harmful effects on waterways from flash flooding, erosion, and pollution.
Storing water temporarily in a rain garden allows it to draw down slowly, preventing the possibility that it will pick up pollutants and carry them to the nearest stream. Water is naturally filtered as well: gardens remove and degrade contaminants through microbial processes, plant uptake, exposure to sunlight, and absorption to soil particles. Properly designed rain gardens capture the first inch of rainfall, and drain within a day. Since most storms produce less than one inch of rainfall, capturing it reduces pollutants significantly.
How To Build A Rain Garden
There’s a new sort of garden in town. It’s easy to install, looks good year-round and has a positive impact on the environment. It’s a rain garden
A rain garden is a special type of garden, designed to collect stormwater runoff from a roof, driveway or other impervious surfaces. Rather than rushing off into a storm sewer or a local waterway, the rainwater collects in a shallow depression in your yard. This area is planted with native grasses and wildflowers that are specially selected for their ability to gradually absorb and filter stormwater.
Rain gardens can have a significant impact on the water quality in our communities. Studies have shown that as much as 70% of the pollution in streams, rivers and lakes has been carried there by stormwater. By taking responsibility for the rainwater that falls on your own roof and driveway, you’ll be helping to protect our rivers, streams and lakes from stormwater pollution. Adding a rain garden to your yard will also provide food and shelter for wildlife, and give you a whole new garden that’s hardy, low maintenance and naturally beautiful!
Siting the Garden
Your rain garden should be located at least 10 feet from the house. A natural site is a low spot in your yard that often collects water after a heavy rain. Ideally this area receives full sun, but at a minimum it should receive a half day of sunlight. There should be a natural slope (at least 1 percent grade) leading from the water collection area (your roof or driveway) down to the rain garden. Choosing a relatively level spot for the garden will keep digging to a minimum. or call …
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Once you’ve identified the new garden’s location, remove the sod and dig a shallow depression approximately 6″ deep. Slope the sides gradually from the outside edge to the deepest area. Use the soil that you remove to build up a slightly raised area on the lowest side of the garden. This berm will help contain the stormwater and allow it to percolate slowly through the rain garden.
If your rain garden is no more than about 6″ deep, stormwater will usually be absorbed within a one- to seven-day period. Because mosquitoes require seven to 10 days to lay and hatch their eggs, this will help you avoid mosquito problems. If you want to create an area with standing water for fish and amphibians, you can make one part of your rain garden deeper, perhaps as much as 18 inches in the deepest spot. Depending on the type of soil you have (sand, clay, loam), you may need to line that area of the garden with plastic to help retain a small pool of water.
A typical residential rain garden is 100 to 300 square feet, but any size rain garden is fine. Most people just size the garden to suit their available space. You can calculate the ideal size for a rain garden, based on the surface area of your roof, soil type and the garden’s distance from your house. (For more detail, see the links at the end of this article.)
The downspout from your roof or sump pump outlet from your basement should be directed toward your rain garden depression. This can be accomplished by a natural slope, by digging a shallow swale, or by piping the runoff directly to the garden through a buried 4″ diameter plastic drain tile.
Time to plant! Native plants are the best choice for rain gardens.
They withstand difficult growing conditions and require little care. When choosing the plants, consider height, bloom time and color. Clumps of three to seven plants of the same variety will look better than a patchwork of singles. Be sure to mix native ornamental grasses and sedges in with your perennial wildflowers to ensure the garden has a strong root mass that will resist erosion and inhibit weed growth.
New plants should be watered every other day for the first two weeks or so. Once they are well established, your garden should thrive without additional watering. Fertilizers will not be necessary, and only minimal weeding will be needed after the first summer of growth.
Most rain gardeners wait until early spring to cut back the prior year’s growth. Leaving seed heads and spent foliage in place through the winter provides visual interest as well as cover and food for many kinds of wildlife. Once spring comes, burning off the dead material is the best way to knock back weeds and stimulate new growth. If burning is not an option, mow the dead plants or cut them back with a scythe or pruning shears.
Applied Ecological Services, Inc., has been installing rain gardens for more than 20 years. Their web site has lots of good information about rain gardens, and their Taylor Creek Restoration Nursery offers a wide variety of garden plants.
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Budding Flowers and Trees
I’m confused why we don’t see the obvious need for this research.
Capture their minds and their hearts and souls will follow.
Get the lawn mower Ready
“We can’t make everything 100% rite, so it’s better to try something different than nothing or anything at all.”
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2018 AplusGardener North Vancouver and Gardening to the West Coast
garden soil
When growing plants, be very careful about where you plant different strains as well as which pollinators can create hybrids without your knowing. This includes bees which can carry pollen for miles as well as the wind itself which can transmit pollen from one field to another.
A hybrid seed is produced by artificially cross pollinating two genetically different plants of the same species, such as two different tomatoes or two varieties of corn. The crosspollination is done by hand, and a seed that is saved will not grow true to either parent. Thus the farmer or gardener has no choice
Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO seed have been altered using DNA from completely different species and organisms to give different traits such as resistance to herbicides and acceptance of chemical fertilizers. Some GMO corn, for instance, manufactures its own herbicide in its root structure. Some DNA donors have come from fish, frogs and bacteria. The major crops that are genetically modified are corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat. Sugar beets and alfalfa have recently been deregulated, and potatoes are being studied. Most common garden vegetables are not yet genetically modified simply because the financial return in the market is not present yet.
Two of the better known benefits of heirloom seed include adaptability and flavor. Some varieties of heirloom tomato have been known to adapt to a specific location within as little as 2 to 3 growing seasons, showing better vigor, better production, better flavor and increase disease resistance. This is a result of saving the seed and replanting it year to year. Many people come to heirlooms in search of flavors that they experienced as a child. One of the leading characteristics of heirloom varieties is defined by the depth of flavor that they produce. This single characteristic has been one of the major reasons for the preservation of specific varieties over great spans of time. This is probably one of the biggest reasons for the resurgence of heirlooms in home gardens in the past 10 years, as once people experience the amazing range and depths of flavors that heirlooms offer, they are hooked. Taste is once again becoming a viable characteristic in variety selection for the home garden instead of only production quantity, uniformity, and disease resistance.
People are celebrating the fact that taste trumps volume. It’s the classic quantity vs. quality conundrum, with quality making a comeback.
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info http://www.underwoodgardens.com/what-are-heirloom-seeds/
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David Tarrant’s favourite winter-blooming flowers brighten up the season’s bleakest days
Gardeners have many reasons to feel fortunate about living in B.C., and the ability to enjoy colourful blooms even in the depth of winter is certainly one of them. In fact, the southern coast and southern Vancouver provide ideal growing conditions for a number of winter-flowering plants. Those of us who live in these regions also know that our winter begins with the monsoons of November and ends in February, no matter what official dates the calendar may dictate. Because winter flowers bloom during the darkest days of the year, they are all the more precious and deserve a place in your garden that is not only sheltered, but that allows you to easily view the blooms from the comfort of your favourite chair indoors. To enhance the beauty of these winter gems, be sure to give them a dark backdrop, such as an evergreen hedge or dark-stained fence. This will allow every bloom to show up to perfection. Here are just a few of my favourite winter-bloomers, all of which have quite individual soil requirements. While some of these plants are hardy in Interior and northern gardens, keep in mind that they may not bloom in these regions until early spring. Viburnum x bodnantense is a cross between V. farreriand V. grandiflorum, both of which are quite lovely in their own natural forms. However the hybrid gets its name from the famous Bodnant Gardens in North Wales where it originated in 1935. It is a shrub that reaches about three metres in height and is hardy to –20°C. On the coast it often starts to bloom before its leaves have dropped in early November and continues on and off right through to late February. The sweetly scented flowers are borne in tight clusters at the tip of every branch and side spur. Plant one near an entry to your home so its fragrance can be enjoyed by everyone who comes and goes. The early winter flowers tend to be white whereas those that open from December onward are quite pink. Heavy frost can damage open blossoms, but there are so many flowers to follow that as soon as the temperature rises above freezing they start opening again. As far as soil goes, this viburnum isn’t too fussy. In fact, ours at the UBC Botanical Garden thrives in poor soil with absolutely no moisture retention. As with many woody plants, the best blossoms are carried on younger wood (in our case, two-year-old wood). With shrubs older than three or four years, don’t be afraid to prune out one or two of the oldest branches right to the ground soon after flowering has finished in the spring.
https://www.bcliving.ca/hardy-flowers-for-the-winter-garden
Always more info in Vancouver BC
For more garden stuff Contact me aplusgardener@gmail.com
A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping
North And West Vancouver BC For 25 Years As
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Maple Leaf Garden Centre
Dykhof Nurseries
GardenWorks
Spring Sunshine In North Vancouver
✬ ¯`•.¸¸ღ ❥ Flowers And Blooming ❥ღ¯`•.¸¸✬
Last Week of Clouds changes When Growth Is Faster with Sun this week
And April is a new change In warm weather as the lawn start to grow
Chafer Beetles Destroyed Your Lawn?
Some of the most extensive lawn damage we’ve seen lately has been courtesy of the invasive chafer beetle. With grubs feeding on grass roots throughout much of the year, lawns can quickly become wilted and brown as they struggle to acquire much-needed nutrients and water. Above ground, birds and small mammals act as mini roto-tillers as they search out a meal of grubs. The end result of chafer beetle infection is often wide sections of lawn, damaged beyond repair.
By amending their existing soil with a quality topsoil to improve the nutritional quality and structure of their soil – the better to support a beautiful lawn!.
Some lawns may also benefit from the addition of garden lime, as heavy concentrations of weeds and moss are one signal that your soil may be too acidic. Learn more about what garden lime is and when you should consider using before applying lime to your lawn.
Keep grass healthy, long to ward off chafer beetles
letting grass grow to combat chafer beetle infestations.
“The adults in the summer have to lay their eggs into the turf grass, and if the turf is thin or if the grass is very short then they have no problem getting their ovipositors [organ used to lay eggs] into the grass,”
More on chafer beetles in B.C.
“If your lawn is mossy or thin, or if you over water, over fertilize that makes the grass really soft, really easy to rip up, so those kinds of things make lawns susceptible to chafer beetle.
“Really if the grass is healthy and the roots are deep and your grass isn’t cut too short, then chafer beetle is not a big problem.”
❀A Garden Beauty ❀ is Like waves At the Ocean
Now is the time to breathe and nourish the soul. We all have our own way of doing that.
I will be Meditating on glorious color, harmony—and beauty in the garden as I Work and play.
2006 05 pond West Vancouver
West Vancouver
Waterfall leading to a second pond in West Vancouver BC
And a pumpkin patch in the yard in the rain makes Color
Rock Garden
Fall color Pond
And for when it rains you need a Hobbit House
❀ And A Place to rest when it snows ❀
Garden Beauty
So nice flower gardens with colorful flowers different height garden decoration ideas bring the beauty into any Garden
Cherry and Apple tree N Vancouver
Just plant your plants flowers and trees in the Right place place
Contact Me
A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping
has been Working on the North Shore 25 years
In North Vancouver And West Vancouver and the GVRD
A-Plus Lawn and Garden does it professionally with all the Good tools and experience that is needed.
From -Lawn care to Tree topping, Pruning trees and Shrubs & Trimming hedges. also paving stones …. pathways and retaining walls.
Drainage and Ponds, Sprinkler systems & Rubbish Removal
♩ ♬ Flowers, gardens, and trees make music in the yard ❄ •*♪ ♫
For more garden stuff Contact me aplusgardener@gmail.com
A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping
North And West Vancouver BC For 25 Years As
❄ A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping… ❄ •*♪ ♫
Vancouver Pictures Yesterday From North Vancouver
Hello From Aplus Gardening
Now it’s a 2018 and its time to up^date from 2007 
its wet in January on the Seymour River 
from the snow and rain 
but the fog is around again
and the birds will be enjoying spring soon once again ….
So it’s story time with Freetime and some cool pictures With Vancouver old Fog
heres a cool site for your garden needs :]
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North And West Vancouver BC For 25 Years
♫ Happy New Year Vancouver ♫
It was great weather For the start of the new year so I had to post it with pictures and Music
Some good shots in the sunshine too, all in a video below with a relaxing music background of David Issac and Joe Cocker
Happy New Year Vancouver
and for more garden stuff Contact me aplusgardener@gmail.com
A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping
North And West Vancouver BC For 25 Years
Merry Christmas song From Big Sugar
In 2011 this song came out, or it was new to me… and it s a good one so here is a Rocking Blues
tune for ya :ç
Merry Christmas :ç
https://www.facebook.com/MyGuitarPicture
When Im not having fun I Enjoy working As A-Plus Gardening and Landscaping
Who has been Working on the North Shore 25 years
In North Vancouver And West Vancouver and the GVRD
From -Lawn care to Tree topping, Pruning trees and Shrubs & Trimming hedges. also paving stones Pathways and retaining walls.
Drainage and Ponds, Sprinkler systems & Rubbish Removal.
aplusgardener.wordpress.com
aplusgardener 