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Lakeshore Advance, 2013-10-09, Page 5Wednesday, October 9, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 5 Community Fall planting Column Mark Cullen Special to the Lakeshore Advance "Mark (sullen appears on Can- ada AM every Wednesday morning at 8:40. Ile is spokesperson for Ilome Hardware Lawn and Garden. Sign up for his free monthly lie ter at u'wu. markcullen.eom." Why Fall IS For Planting? Fall is for planting. I like planting now and generally 1 have more suc- cess with September and October planting than 1 do with spring planting. With the cool temperatures of fall the 'top growth' of winter -hardy woody perennials slows and hard- ens off. At the sante time the roots are busy putting down young feed- ing roots which will provide sup- port for substantial growth come spring. #1 Buy a Plant with young Roots. I remind you that no plant will perforin well in your garden with- out strong, healthy roots. Put another way, the ONLY way that a newly planted tree, shrub, ever- green or rose will grow and thrive in your garden is after it has devel- oped it system of roots that tvill sup- port Me 'top growth: How Do You Know Good Roots? You will know that a woody plant has the right kind of roots while shopping at the nursery by pulling it out of the pot. You don't have to yank it all the way out of the pot, but far enough to see the extent to which they fill it. If they completely fill the pot or turn around the inte- rior contour of it, you have a poten- tial problem. Ideally you should buy plants that fill about '/ of the pot with roots; the other 'i of course should be the soil mix. Planted in early October, most fall -planted nursery stock will put down new roots before the hard frost of late Novem- ber or December. The new root growth will benefit you in the long run as you can gain up to one year's growth over the specimens that you plant next spring. #2 Hole Prep. Second only to buying a quality plant, is the preparation of the planting hole. Dig a hole at least twice as wide as the root mass of the plant and 1 '/r times as deep. Back fill with quality triple mix (equal parts top soil/peat/com- post), place the plant in the hole and top the hole up with more tri- ple mix. Stomp on it with the heel of your boot to get the soil in firm contact with the roots. By doing this you are sending a message to the roots that it is indeed time to find a new home and get growing. Set the plant a few centimetres above grade for proper drainage, allowing the water to dram away from the centre of the plant, not into it. What if the plant is Potbound? If you bring home some nursery stock that is pot bound or even par- tially pot bound be sure to pull the roots out from the circular mass that they have grown into while inside the pot. 'Ihis entails using a sturdy knife or even the tip of a small trowel to get a grip on the roots and pull them out. You will do some ripping and tearing in the process and you may suffer some self doubt that you are somehow doing the plant harm. Not so. You can remove up to 1/3 of the roots without causing damage to the plant. Once planted with new soil firmly packed around its' roots the plant will enjoy nothing more than The emotions of the Great Storm Joe Wooden A few closing comments on the Great Storm of November, 1913 "Government forecasters did their best to track storms in 1913 but they simply did not have enough data or knowledge of the atmosphere to understand the complexity of what took place on November 9." (David G. Brown) 'Ibis comment referred to the US weather service. it would be equally true, or perhaps more so in Canada. The reality of the complex combination of weather factors in November 1913 is still not fully understood by weather scientists today. This is apparent from the various interpretations written in recent years by meteorologists and climatologists. The various reports in the newspapers of the time some- times were wrong. For example, the "Cleveland Press" reported on Monday that all lake traffic was abandoned on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, that was blatantly wrong and the many losses of lake boats in the storm occurred on the Saturday and Sunday. Newspapers at the time wrote different reports on the same incident. An example is the story of the "Northern Queen." The Dinner show being presented at'I lessenland' includes the "Northern Queen story. Director Duncan McGregor had to choose from three different reported stories when writing this part of the show. In conversation with Duncan we all expressed emotional reactions to the stories of the loss of lake boats, sailors, Captains and the courage of the crews and captains as they stru: y ed with the storm. We know about the efforts made on lake boats that managed to get safely ashore and can extrapolate from that knowledge the efforts of captains and crews on the vessels that were lost. The recovery of bodies, too, offer tales of sad- ness at how sailors clung to one another, how one captain had given his coat and life jacket to the ship's cook, how sail- ors had life jackets from other boats. Bodies were taken to various locations in Thedford, Zurich, Bayfield, Goderich and other places. Most bodies were identified but some were not. Some of those are buried in Goderich. It is not possible to read about this storm without experi- encing an emotional reaction to the courage and fortitude of those who sailed these lake boats and to the loss of 250 or more sailors. One also feels gratitude for those who helped rescue some crews, including the people of the Port Franks area who helped save the crew of the Northern Queen. There were events, however, that still provoke anger, includ- ing the scavenging of the bodies along the shore. The police checked for this from Sarnia to Goderich and anyone caught stealing from bodies or from wreckage was jailed. Some amusing events occurred in the midst of this disas- ter. We wrote about the young sailor going home to his own a good, deep drink of water. The addition of a 'starter' fertilizer is a popular thing to do and I have no doubt that it helps. The usual for- mula of a liquid 5-15-5 with butyric acid is designed to encourage the development of roots early on. As winter approaches you will have plants in the ground that will thrive next spring. You will have taken advantage of many fall dis- counts at nursery retailers this time of year and you will he planting in some of the most pleasant temper- atures for outdoor activity in the whole year. Mark Cullen appears on Canada AM every Wednesday morning at 8:40. 1 le is spokesperson for !tome 1 lardware Lawn and Garden. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter at www.markcullen.com. funeral. There were three sailors off the "Wexford" who were in the Fort William jail, drunk and disorderly and when the captain came to the jail he refused to take them aboard; he did not want drunks on his boat. This must have been the most fortuitous drunken night these young sailors ever had. So, the White Hurricane, the Great Storm, the meteorolog- ical monster, whatever the November 1913 storm is called, has never been repeated. There have been severe storms and losses on the Lakes. The Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking in November, 1975, is well known. There have been other severe storms as well but none match the 1913 storm. As may well be expected, there were repercussions and debates and inquests about who was responsible for the losses on the lakes. The ship owners and the captains have been blamed but how much did they actually know about the severity of the weather into which they sailed? The weather forecasters knew too little about what was happen- ing and the distribution of what they did know was slow. The blame game went on and the payment of death benefits went on with sailors families getting very little. It is a sad story, this November 1913 event. It seems so long ago now, and since then we have had the Great Wars and other wars. The Lakes, while still vital for transporta- tion, are less busy; the St. Lawrence Seaway is less busy but there are still sailors who go down to the lonely lakes and the sky.