National Plastics Recycling Event

The Canadian Nursery Landscape Association’s (CNLA) National Plastics Recycling Event collected an estimated 91,229 pounds of plastic in 2012, and it is returning again this year. 

Customers visited their local independent garden centre from June 22 to July 1, where they saw piles of old garden pots stacked high.  Across eight provinces 56 garden centres participated by acting as drop-off points for their community’s used garden pots and trays. There was a 40 per cent increase in participation and plastics collected from the previous year.

A lot of work goes into saving over 90,000 lbs of plastic from the landfill. The word was spread throughout the media, with mentions by CBC News NB, various municipal newspapers, regional websites, association websites and more.  A media listing can be found here.

It was the third year for the program, which was launched in 2010, when just 6 garden centres collected more than 53,000 pounds of plastic. In 2011 over 40 garden centres participated collecting 63,150 pounds. The National Plastics Recycling Event is scheduled to return again in 2013. Recyclers who can offer free pick-ups of unsorted garden and agricultural plastics, and garden retailers who wish to participate, are asked to contact the CNLA.

Multi-sensor nutrient system debuts at Horti Fair

CleanGrow introduced its new multi-ion measurement system capable of analyzing up to six ions simultaneously during this week’s Horti Fair in the Netherlands.

The product combines a carbon nanotube-based sensor with a multi-ion meter for on-site measurements and real-time feedback. Currently optimized for horticultural applications, the easy-to-use instrument is also a natural fit for other applications where existing sensor technology falls short of meeting complex measuring requirements. For growers, it offers a “lab-in-hand” solution – a quick and affordable way to maintain the proper nutrient balance required for better yield, improved flavour and colour, greater disease resistance and longer shelf life. Early users include research institutes and commercial vegetable greenhouses.

The CleanGrow product is one of 10 shortlisted by Horti Fair for this year's prestigious Innovation Award. The solution offers a new class of technology that greatly broadens the range of testing options and is available in two probe configurations. One is capable of measuring up to six essential ions simultaneously while the other can measure up to four.

Herb gardening

Spring is just around the corner but if you are itching to do some growing in the meantime, fear not; you still have options. As long as you have a sunny indoor area such as a window ledge, growing herbs are a great way to cure your spring fever.

Some of the most common herbs to use are basil, oregano and parsley. Basil is an annual culinary herb and takes up to two weeks to germinate. Oregano is extremely fast-growing, so you will want to thin out the plants excessively after they sprout, but the entire plant is edible including the flowers. Parsley takes up to four weeks to germinate, and is high in vitamin C.

The common herbs are wonderful but you might want to try thinking outside of the box and planting something a bit different. French and Russian Tarragon are great chicken additions, and lemon verbena is great for tea, cake icing, or turkey stuffing.

For more information on herb gardening check out Mark Cullen’s article on The Star’s website.