Pollinators Wanted…

A New Canadian Initiative

There are few who have not heard of the crisis facing honeybees. In my garden this last season visits by non-domesticated bees and other pollinators have by far outnumbered visits by honeybees – something which would not have occurred 10 or 15 years ago. But it is not just domesticated bees that are in decline. Wild pollinator populations  are also being impacted by disease, pesticides, malnutrition, habitat loss, pollution and climate change.  Pollinators are vital for natural ecosystems and domesticated crops and a Canadian network has finally been established to look at the issue of pollinator decline. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has funded a five year project called the Canadian Pollination Initiative (CANPOLIN) to find solutions to the problem.

From the NSERC-CANPOLIN website:

The time is ripe for the NSERC-CANPOLIN Network for numerous reasons:

1. A decline in pollinators and deficit in pollination is already documented.
2. The problems being faced by the honeybee industry are becoming ever more complex.
3. Future declines in both pollinators and pollination are inevitable with or without climate change.
4. The international community is well aware of the importance of the topic.
5. Agricultural, forestry and natural ecosystems will have to adapt to changes in pollinator distributions and abundances and it will be crucial to be able to predict these in order to design mitigation procedures.
6. Canadian research has been at the forefront in determining the crucial importance of bees as environmental indicators.
7. Expertise in all aspects of pollination biology is available among the Canadian professoriate and scientific community outside academe.
8. There is a widespread understanding of the importance of the topic in Canada and of the need to train highly qualified personnel in all aspects of the subject.
9. A “critical mass” of skilled personnel is ready to provide this training, along with a critical mass of people willing to learn.

Visit the website for more information and to sign up for the newsletter (see pdf’s of first issues here).

And visit The Home Bug Garden for his blog post, “CanBugs, Canpolin, Can Bulbs Survive“, where he shares his experiences at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada.

 

Frosty Morning

Anethum graveolens, Dill Weed

Physocarpus, ‘Diablo’ Ninebark

Helianthus ‘Summer Sun’

Frosty morning today. We leave a selection of perennials standing  for winter interest, and they were touched.

 

Autumn in Alberta

or ‘The Fall of Winter‘

First Snow 2009

Tsukubai on Ice

Yoitle Keeps Spouting

Hoping for a thaw, so I can rescue the goldfish…

 

Harvest Home

The first day of Autumn today. Besides harvesting the usual tomatoes, cucumbers, and cabbages, my wife Yuet has been making cherry jam with the Evan’s cherries donated by Dave and Heather. This done, she set about coring  and slicing our Norland apples, and drying the rings in the sun – which is hot these days and seems to want to continue  with unusual summer gusto for the week to come.

A basket of red goodness

Cherry Jam

Drying in the sun

Garlands of Apple Rings

 

Sunday Cheer

Have a look at what some Alberta gardening blogs have been up to lately:

• The Home Bug Gardener takes-on spittlebugs and froghoppers, and reminds us why it is important to clean-up the perennial beds early in spring.
• Nora Bryan at Garden Buzz gives us the drill for planting crocus.
• Gardening with Latitude has a heart warming tale of hosta survival
• Donna Balzer at Blogs and Blooms praises a late blooming… Pavlova?
• Northern Shade Gardening has a tale of David’s flowering phlox.
• And the The Far North Garden has been digging , and coming up pink…

I have been negligent in my own posting, there are a lot of key garden happenings that should be covered, like composting, bulb planting, harvesting and storage, but instead I’ve been photographing big lawn mowers.

Go figure…

 

From Under the Apple Tree

From under our tree

Apples are the only fruit tree in our climate that provide a bountiful autumn harvest, yet year after year I see people sending this fresh food to the landfill. I know that many of us are strapped for time, but surely there should be a better way to deal with this unneccessary waste?

In Edmonton, there are many alternatives, and the newest comes in the form of Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton. (See the Edmonton Journal article) OFRE will send volunteers to your house at your convenience to pick your fruit or berries for you. 1/3 goes to you, 1/3 goes to Edmonton’s Food Bank (or a similar food re-distribution centre) and 1/3 goes to the volunteers.

If you have the time to harvest, but don’t need all the fruit you can donate your excess to the Food Bank. Due to the fragile nature of fruits and vegetables, donations are asked to be dropped off directly to Edmonton’s Food Bank (11508–120 Street, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.).

Besides sharing with neighbours and friends, how else can we deal with this time of bounty? The time-honored method to deal with all excess fruit is to convert their sweet goodness into an alcoholic beverage – for apples that means cider or wine. And how do you set about doing this? It can be done by steeping or by pressing. The traditional way is with a cider press which can be rented at some wine-making or brewing supply stores, purchased or made at home. The apples need to be prepared by cleaning them and cutting out the moldy or bruised parts, and then either chopping them up or grinding then before placing them into the press. There is some work involved, but the pleasure of home made cider or apple wine makes it all worth while. Go online to see examples of the process of making cider or apple wine.

Goodland Apples

And if you would like something tamer or for the children, just pop them into a juicer – washed, cored but unpeeled.

More ideas? Freezing and canning are a great way to store up the summer sunshine. And the old fashioned method of drying is still possible in Edmonton in September, if you are willing to use the roof as a drying platform!

And what about the damaged and fallen fruit? They should be disposed of. – in Edmonton at least our excellent garbage handling system will convert them into compost. If you compost them yourself, be sure to layer them deeply with soil to keep off fruit flies and to prevent any potential apple maggot flies from emerging.

Eat, distribute, preserve or compost – let’s make the most of the season’s bounty!

 

A New New Look?

New look with new header. Crisp, no?

Purple Coneflower

 

Apple Days – Goin’ Down to the Cider Mill

A bit of inspiration for the season.

Music for this video is credited to: The Skillet Lickers from Georgia. Recorded in the 1920’s, Roots of American Fiddle V.1

 

Take a New Look

More Summer Sun

Just a cosmetic change. I have dark-themed photography blogs which allows the photographs to stand out more, but they are not always easy to read for some people. I decided to switch this blog over to a lighter theme that, perhaps, suits the spirit of gardening better.

 

Summer Sun

Early Autumn's Summer Sun