A sneak peek into this year's Home & Garden Show

If you could grow healthy lettuce with the same protein value as steak, would you? After all, according to Steve Solomon, author of The Intelligent Gardener, it's possible to grow lettuce with 20 per cent protein simply by mineralizing your soil.

Solomon mocks garden writers, myself included. He says, in a long and thorough way, most of us do not replace the minerals in the soil at the same ratio we take them out when we harvest plants.

So I decided to test my soil recently, and I got some bad news.

My problem is I am afraid to pollute the soil with excess fertilizers, so I add only natural ingredients like compost and worm castings. Solomon, who used to be an organic farmer, says compost is not enough. The soil system is broken and compost alone will not put our humpty dumpty soil together again.

Sneak peak at this year's Home + Garden Show

Nobody arguably knows more about how to succeed as a gardener in Calgary than Donna Balzer. The noted horticulturist and speaker is author of No Guff Vegetable Gardening, a regular CREB®Now columnist and trusted messiah for countless Calgarians trying to discover their green thumbs.

On Feb. 26 and 28, Balzer will take the stage at this year's Home + Garden Show to talk about how we can change our world, one cabbage at a time. CREB®Now recent sat down with Balzer to get a sneak peek.

CREB®Now: Why should I start thinking about my garden now when there's still snow on the ground?

Balzer: Gardening is two parts dreaming and three parts doing. The best ideas might be waiting for you right now at a talk, on Pinterest or in a gardening book. If you are serious about starting a garden, you will want to start looking and reading now because by the time the weather is perfect for doing it is too late.

Important to read the fine print when purchasing seeds



Last spring, my grandkids, so excited to hear about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), decided to make their own genetically modified food. Cohen, 7, worked with his brother Kale, 9, to develop a plant that would grow potatoes in the ground and pumpkins above ground. They cut a hole in each potato, stuffed a pumpkin seed into the hole and planted their modified potato as a unit.

"The leaves looked a bit like pumpkins," said Kale, "And we did get potatoes, but we never got any pumpkins."

While the experiment seemed to be a failure, Cohen later wondered aloud about a seedless kiwi he was eating. His mom explained that some foods don't have seeds because they have been genetically modified. She also told him some types of modified seed sprout and make grain that won't grow again because they have a suicide gene designed by big companies to die instead of grow.

CREB®Now presents 'No Guff Gardener' Donna Balzer

Calgary's 35th annual Calgary Home + Garden Show has announced its full list of personalities that will be on hand for this year's show at the BMO Centre.

HGTV star and landscaping expert Carson Arthur, master craftsman André Chevigny of HGTV's Timber Kings, along with Calgary's top gardeners and design experts, will be on hand for this year's edition, as well as more than 650 exhibitors and local vendors.

Also on hand will be Calgary's "No Guff Gardener" Donna Balzer, presented by CREB®Now. A self-described farmer's daughter, army brat and university graduate in horticulture, Balzer co-hosted the award-winning "Bugs & Blooms" segment on HGTV, and answers Alberta-wide garden questions on CBC radio. She is currently a regular communist in CREB®Now.

Change your world one carrot at a time



Back in 1912, it was illegal to buy locally grown carrots in Calgary. Instead, vegetables had to be imported from British Columbia, and they often arrived mouldy.

Annie Gale, a then 35-year-old immigrant took it upon herself to rebel against mouldy carrots. Eventually she became Calgary's first female alderman, later helping to change the law so we could all buy local food.

By 1914, she also helped start the Vacant Lots Garden Club so every new immigrant had access to land to grow his or her own food. One could say Gale helped change her world one carrot at a time.

Roots run deep when talking about timing

Dear Donna,
"I appreciate all of your gardening work, and thought you might be able to help me with a general question I have (or perhaps guide me to someone who can; so far a web search has not been successful)? When, roughly speaking, is the best time to plant trees in Calgary? Spring or fall? If spring, are we talking early spring – i.e. beginning of April, or more like the end of May?
- Joe K

Dear Joe,
With exceptions, I would plant trees in Calgary when the soil is thawed fully in spring from May into June. This gives the tree a chance to root more efficiently and benefit from our normal spring rains.

Proper planning will yield long-term results

Readers often ask me about the best time to plant flowering bulbs. Some, in fact, wait months to act – or react.

The answer is no. Seeds will still grow if held for years and fall bulbs might leaf out if left on the counter, but bulbs won't bloom if left sitting on the laundry-room shelf all winter.

Plant your fall bulbs as soon as you buy them. Don't wait until it rains. the next blue moon or when you finish your thesis. Planting bulbs sooner rather than later is the best bet for best spring blooms.

Unlike seeds, flowering bulbs are special sugar packets with fully formed flower buds. Once rooted, they are ready to pop instantly into bloom next spring.

Don't forget to breathe ... and water

It's summer and fields of waving wheat make you smile as you bike down the Cowboy Trail south of Cochrane. You love this image so much you seriously consider selling your condo in the city and buying a farm.

As you arrive home later in the day reality hits. Your plants have wilted in their hot, black pots on the patio. Superbells lay limp and are probably dead. Petunias wilt. Snapdragons droop. Maybe you can't buy the farm until someone starts watering for you in town.

You don't have to get all your gardening done in one go

Are you doing all your own gardening this summer?

Are you ready to rock 'n roll in the radish patch and primp your patio?

While your internal kettle is boiling and your energy is high, you probably think you can do it all in one big push.

And then reality sets in.

You just don't have enough time. Instead of a marathon garden workout, you need the small-bite approach to gardening. Don't look at your garden as a huge mess needing to be tamed over a weekend. Lighten your load and start looking at tasks in tiny nibbles or tasty snacks wedged between your other daily tasks.

Get your hands dirty and grow your own fruits and veggies

Will you jump up today and start growing your own food?

Even though it's early spring and you might not have an acreage or farm-scale garden, today is the perfect day to get started.

With water shortages in California – where most of our lettuce comes from – and climate change everywhere, it's time to try your hand at gardening.