Public Service Announcement

Photo by Gayla Trail

Gaze upon this lineup of vine-ripened tomatoes I photographed last fall in my pal Amy’s garden. Remember fresh, ripe, sweet, rich, juicy tomatoes? On toast. With fresh, homegrown basil. Don’t forget to get your tomato seedlings started so you can enjoy these babies come August!

And if you’re in Toronto next week I’ll be giving a hands-on workshop on starting seeds at Grassroots Environmental Products Store.

    Get your hands dirty and learn the ins and outs of starting veggies, herbs, and flowers from seed in this hands-on, organic growing workshop. Thrifty hints and tips for beginners, apartment dwellers and small space gardeners. Participants will each take a seedling-to-be home with them.

    When: Monday, April 23, 2007. 7:30 pm
    Where: 372 Danforth Ave, Toronto (at Chester subway)
    $10 ($5 students/seniors/unwaged)
    Pre-registration and payment is necessary to reserve a space.
    Space is limited to 20 people. Register at either Grassroots locations or call (416) 466-2841.

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A Change is Gonna Come… Or It Err… Kinda Already Has

Okay that’s gotta be the most ridiculous and possibly crass musical reference I have ever made. I love that song and Sam Cooke but I have officially maxed out the recommended safe usage of “CH-CH-CH-CHANGES” as a header/title.

You will notice that the homepage and some inner pages of this site have a new look. If the site still looks as it did last week or pages are crazily wonky please refresh your browser or cache. You may also notice a new archiving system to your right. It contains all of the old-school section headers (top and bottom of the page) with additional subheaders listed below. I hope that once implemented this new archiving system will make it a lot easier to navigate the site and locate older but very handy information.

There’s seven year’s worth of content on this site amounting to a WHOLE LOT of pages. Lots of information is good, right? Unfortunately, many of those pages were hand-coded by yours truly back in the day. You know, the olden days. As a result we have lots of work left to make all old pages reflect the new style and/or work within the new archiving system. Please excuse the mess while this integration is cobbled together. A crack team of tiny, kind of snarky, sometimes grumpy, but highly efficient elves are on the job!

And finally you will notice that the You Grow Girl site is no longer functioning as an online magazine with multiple contributors. There are all kinds of reasons for this but the short of it is that seven years is a long time and I’ve been slowly burning out. Moving the site in this new direction has reignited my spark and reserves some energy for me on a personal level. I will continue to write here regularly, and once the madness of the spring season rush and site changes have passed I will be recruiting guest posters to spice things up. I may even get to that newsletter thingy! Many who receive the newsletter have been emailing or stopping me on the street (I was surprised too!) to ask if I am okay and whatever happened to the newsletter. I didn’t know you cared. It is coming, I swear, but despite my efficient set-up those things take a surprising amount of time to write and prepare!

And last but not least I want to assure you that the forums are still running smoothly. In fact with spring in the air (except in my miserably cold and sunless part of the world, HELLO) the forums are in full swing.

-Peace out! (Is that still “cool with the kids?”) Gayla

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You Grow Girl in CNN Article on Gardening Blogs

Take Time to Blog the Roses

Gardening blogs offer advice, reflections, beauty and wit.

By Kate King

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Blast From the Past

Jennifer Perkins of the famous Naughty Secretary Club just reposted this interview we did… a whole bunch of years ago. I have to admit that when I saw her message in my inbox my first thought was, “Oh [insert expletive here], what did I say to embarrass myself?” Thankfully there is no blackmail material in there. I do find it odd however that I said I was not a vegetable gardener and then went on to list all of the vegetables I had grown. I think I must have still been carrying a touch of that thing where I felt like I wasn’t completely valid as a gardener because I was growing in containers on a rooftop. It’s hard for me to believe I felt that way at one time since I almost exclusively talk and do workshops on growing edibles and consider edible urban gardening my passion and specialty. Go figure!

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In other news You Grow Girl was featured in this month’s Sierra Club Magazine (pg 26 of print version). I did a phone interview with the writer a few months back and was disappointed it didn’t make it into the article — it was one of the best interviews I have ever done! She asked me questions about topics I’ve been itching to talk about from my thoughts on city living to urban agriculture, to ecology and beyond. Interviewers always ask me how to garden, they rarely ask me what I think about it or why I do it! It’s about time I started writing more about these issues here. All in due time.

And because I couldn’t resist….

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First look at Gayla’s tomato bump! They live! It really is amazing isn’t it? Go seedlings go!

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Seedy Saturday 2007

Another Seedy Saturday has come and gone and as usual I went in with big ideas but didn’t quite make it to all the booths. However, this year I can proudly say that I made a list and mostly stuck to it! What’s more, most of my items were trades — a staggering four packs were purchases! Making a list and planning really does make a difference. Who knew?

Seedy Saturday 2007

Here’s a list of what I did get. Of course, you should see the number of items that remain on the list. Scary!

  • Calendula ‘Triangle Flashback’ – An acid reference if I ever heard one (not really but I like to pretend).
  • Cucumber ‘Mini White’
  • Romaine Lettuce ‘Forellenschluss’
  • Bush Beans ‘Dragon’s Tongue’
  • Pepper Cress
  • PEI Wild Roses – From Lorraine Johnson
  • Nicotiana ‘Aztec’ – The trader was unsure about this variety. I am partial to height in nicotiana and find the short varieties to be kind of underwhelming. However I was won over by the promise of jasmine-like fragrance. Turns out this plant grows to around 3 feet tall which makes it a keeper!
  • Pole Bean ‘Violet Trionfo’ – Confusing because I have known these as ‘Trionfo Violetto’ but… okay I’ll go with it.
  • West Indian Gherkin
  • Tomato ‘Whipper Snapper’
  • Tomato ‘Sophie’s Choice’
  • Tomato ‘Mirabelle Multiflora’ – These last three were from forum member, “Sorellina.” Her little boy is quite a gardener in the making, impressing me with a very convincing and sophisticated critique of ‘Whipper Snapper.’
  • Radish ‘Cherry Belle’
  • Cilantro – Sure it self-seeds in the garden but since I’m one of those genetically predisposed to liking it I find I can never turn down a free pack of seeds.
  • Bush Bean ‘Trail of Tears’ – I know these as ‘Cherokee Trail of Tears’ but again… lazy naming or confusion?
  • Lettuce ‘Lolla Rossa’ – Have also seen this called "Lollo Rossa" however ‘Lolla" has stuck.

Seedy Saturday 2007

    Here I am at our table wearing our newest t-shirt design, “Aphids Suck.”

See last year’s event here.

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