Reading Time: 4 minutes Greenhouses, garden centres and nurseries experienced a year like no other in 2020 as first-time gardeners took up trowels and hoes in unprecedented numbers. “Even if people had never planted before, they wanted to grow a garden,” said Tammy Meinecke, manager of Dunvegan Gardens in Grande Prairie. “Everybody was out planting seeds and trying to […] Read more
COVID-19 pandemic produces a bumper crop of novice gardeners
Whether it was growing their own food or beautifying the yard, gardening was hot in 2020
Garden program helps kids discover their green thumb
Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture for Life has partnered with the Calgary Horticultural Society to offer the Juniors Garden Club. The initiative aims to encourage kids to explore, learn new skills and build confidence by growing their own food. The program, which began May 27 and runs for 14 weeks, has weekly emails with instructions on how to plant, […] Read more
Five tips for eco-friendly gardening
The word eco-friendly can be used in many areas of our lives: at work, at home, at play. Being eco-friendly in all these aspects is quite a simple concept with incredible opportunities for creativity. The bottom line is eco-friendly is all about working with nature, not against it. As gardeners we play an ever-increasing unique[...]
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Growers asked to join the fight against late blight
Whether you grow potatoes and tomatoes in your garden or commercially, don’t give late blight a chance
Reading Time: 2 minutes Potato and tomato growers are being asked to help the effort to restore Alberta’s status of being free of late blight. “Everyone was encouraged to increase early and season-long monitoring of fields, gardens, and greenhouses in order to protect crops from late blight, as well as have a quicker response to any perceived infections,” said[...]
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Ag groups launch bee initiative
Bees Matter is offering free seeds for pollinator-friendly gardens — and information on bees
Reading Time: < 1 minute A new program called Buzzing Gardens is offering Canadians free seeds to plant pollinator-friendly gardens. The program is an initiative of Bees Matter, a group consisting of chemical and agricultural groups including CropLife Canada, Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, the Canola Council of Canada, the Canadian Seed Trade Association, and the Canadian Honey Council. “The agricultural community[...]
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Earthworm Invasion! Help stop the spread of these alien invaders
Earthworms may be considered beneficial bugs in agricultural operations, but in Alberta’s forests, these invasive insects can spell trouble
Reading Time: 2 minutes A silent horde of alien invaders are worming their way through the Alberta countryside. These creepy-crawlies came from a world away, and there’s no stopping them now. The best we can hope to do is slow the spread of these invasive earthworms, says the head of the Alberta Worm Invasion Project. “In North American forests,[...]
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Late blight confirmed in Alberta
Specific steps needed to prevent carryover of disease to future crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes Late blight is one of the most serious diseases of potatoes and tomatoes worldwide, resulting in significant yield and quality losses annually. In general, in Alberta, late blight occurs infrequently, but can have devastating impacts in the years when it reaches epidemic levels. “In the summer of 2013, late blight was confirmed in parts of[...]
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