Nikki Yanofsky performed at the Waterfall Stage on April 20, 2010.

Photo credit: ©Johnny Lam.

Lindsay Ell performed at the Waterfall Stage.

Photo credit by Johnny Lam.

BIOGRAPHY - MARK CULLEN
visit markcullen.com - 10,000 gardening questions. Answered.

President, Mark’s Choice Ltd. – Horticultural Communications and Marketing. www.markcullen.com
Mark is Spokesperson and Horticultural consultant to Home Hardware Canada Spokesperson for Golf Green organic based fertilizers and lawn seed and Green Earth Garden Products. Mark is the volunteer spokesperson for SHARE Agricultural Foundation www.shareagfoundation.org Canada Blooms Flower and Garden Festival www.canadablooms.com and the Composting Council of Canada www.compost.org
 

1. The Best Tomatoes on the Block.
You can grow the best tomatoes on the block by keeping the following in mind:
1. Buy short, stocky plants with dark green foliage.
2. Dig a hole about the size of a half bushel, or 3 shovels full. Dispose of the soil that is in your garden if it is heavy by digging it in where it isn’t so important to have good quality soil.
3. Fill the hole with triple mix (one third top soil, one third peat moss and one third compost or composted cattle/steer manure).
4. Plant the tomato up to the second set of real leaves – deeply. And push the soil firmly around the main stem of the tomato to give the soil and plant contact.
5. Water using a compost tea solution (take an old pillow case half filled with compost, drop it in your rail barrel and leave it there for 24 hours or a week – but no longer or it will begin to stink).
6. Stake in mid-June using a spiral aluminum stake. No tying, no fuss. And getting your tomatoes up off the ground will double your crop.
Fertilize with your favourite tomato food – organic or otherwise as you choose. Keep in mind that tomatoes are heavy feeders. Follow directions on the fertilizer package or continue to water with compost tea.

2. How can you produce a great looking lawn while being environmentally responsible?

Here is how:
1. Rake off the winter debris. Use a leaf or ‘fan’ rake to do this and do not put yourself or your back out. All you are trying to do is remove the loose stuff that remains from winter and get the grass blades to stand on end, allowing air to circulate through the crowns of the grass plants. The circulating air will discourage disease and breathe new life into the winter-tired plants.
2. Aerate if necessary, but it is not always necessary to aerate. It is only helpful to aerate your lawn if there are patches that receive heavy foot traffic. Or if you grow your lawn on heavy clay with a shallow layer of top soil for grass plants to root in.
3. Fertilize. Apply a good quality lawn fertilizer this time of year that is high in nitrogen (your lawn craves nitrogen more than any other element right now). Choose a fertilizer that contains a reliable slow release nitrogen ingredient. I use Golfgreen but other quality fertilizers also work well: look for brands that you trust. And forget about using ‘weed and feed’ or crabgrass control products in Ontario as all of them have been legislated off of the market. (I provide alternatives later… read on.)
4. White powdery mildew? This is snow mold and there never was a need to spray for it - just rake your lawn as per step #1 and Mother Nature will take care of it as temperatures rise and breezes blow.

The two big ‘environmentally evil’ culprits of lawn care are watering and grass cutting. More precisely ‘over watering’ and cutting your lawn with dirty, 2 cycle lawn mowers or an old 4 cycle.

Antidotes:

1. Watering. In my opinion it is o.k. to water your lawn from time to time in an effort to keep it healthy – a healthy lawn after all will produce more oxygen and other ‘environmental’ benefits than a weak one.
• Only water once a week.
• Only water when the soil at the root zone is dry (which will not likely happen until late May or early June).
• Apply about 3 cm of water at a time (average 2 to 3 hours) to drive the water deep into the soil and to encourage grass roots to go deep in search of that moisture. Remember: the deeper the roots the stronger your lawn and the more drought resistant.
• When in a drought situation (which will not occur until summer, if at all), do not water your lawn at all. (Yes, it will grow brown and dormant but it will come back later in the season when rains arrive and evening temperatures cool down.)

2. Grass cutting. The obvious answer to this one is to get yourself a manual, walk behind reel-type mower and enjoy the quiet and exercise of the thing. My retail sources tell me that sales of these mowers have skyrocketed over recent years. This is a practical answer for the urban gardener with sincere environmental ambitions and a desire to get a workout will grass cutting.
If the idea of a reel-type mower does not suit you consider:
• Getting rid of your old gas mower (if more than 10years old) and replace with a cleaner burning 4 cycle (pure gas/no oil mixing) Honda or MTD, the two machines rated highest for clean burning fuel.
• Replacing your current mower with an electric OR better still buy a new mower with a rechargeable battery. These machines just keep getting better and with the introduction of rechargeable NiCad batteries, they are better than ever.
• Use a mulching mower: it will return the grass clippings to the soil, where they belong. Mulching mowers DO NOT contribute to lawn thatch, which is made up solely of dead grass stolons and dead grass plants.
• Cut high. Raise your mower up to 6 or 8 cm (2 ½ to 3 inches). The City of Toronto has spent a lot of money over recent years telling us this for good reason: longer grass blades produce deeper roots, healthier grass plants and they shade out many lawn weeds.
 

CD Album WAKE is available at HMV in FCP.

Tara Maclean performed at the FCP Waterfall Stage.

Photo credit by Johnny Lam

 Photo credit: Johnny Lam

For list of all Valentine's Day products shown in this session, click the attached word document to view.