You can grow your own salad fixings. Lettuces and greens tend to be very adaptable to a wide range of growing spaces, and many don’t mind a short life in tight quarters. If a lack of light is your issue, try leaf lettuce varieties that you can harvest small. mâche is a diminutive, tender green …
My friend and fellow plant/collecting enthusiast Uli Havermann (you may remember her from this incredible succulent pot, this stunning blue sea holly, and these beautiful urns) is a member of a large community greenhouse here in Toronto. Last week she treated me to a glimpse inside. Like community gardens and allotments, community greenhouses are not …
Spring is happening here in Toronto. Flowering bulbs and hardy perennials are popping up in my garden quickly now and the local corner shops have begun hauling out carts full of plants to tempt us. Right on schedule, emails about basil have come flooding in. “Hi there, I bought a basil plant a few weeks …
Meaty, dense, huge, and prolific: I didn’t intend to grow ‘Mennonite Orange’ last summer, but boy am I ever glad I did. The details: 80 days Indeterminate Open-pollinated heirloom Beefsteak, Slicer Orange Ripens: Mid-season Story: Originally from Pennsylvania but grown in Southern Ontario. Container Growing: You’ll need a really big pot, 16″+ deep.
As I walked around the garden on the morning that I took this photo, deciding which plants would make the cut, I was struck by the shift in foliage colour. Suddenly all of the perennials had taken on their fall colour, which is why I dedicated 1/3 of the boxes this week to foliage. I …
I’m on a staycation of sorts. The last month and a half was overbooked and I’m exhausted. Burned out. Frazzled. Fried. I am trying to relearn that there is nothing noble or brag-worthy about working yourself to the bone at the expense of your health and wellbeing. There is much gardening and preserving to do. …
It’s canning season! To get in the spirit, Margaret of A Way to Garden and I are hosting a canning extravaganza and giveaway thanks to our newest sponsor, Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply. Giveaway details can be found at the bottom of this post. Canning is joyful, fun, and creative activity, but make no …
Again you are looking at last week’s photo, shot just before I took off for a road trip to teach a workshop at Margaret Roach’s garden in the Berkshires. The garden was fairly unruly and overgrown before I left, but nothing like it is right now. Total mayhem! I’m not exaggerating. Even the dog doesn’t …
When I began this project, I set a parameter that allowed me to repeat a specific plant as long as a different stage in its development through the changing seasons was depicted. For example, I have included Columbine meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegiifolium) twice: early in the season when it was in bloom and in August …
Since moving in, Davin has been taking morning cellphone photos of the yard. We’ve compiled shots taken between January and June into a quick timelapse movie that mark the changes thus far. The last shot is dated for two days ago. We have since done even more work and you will notice when I update …
I’ve been down for the count these past few days with some sort of epic plague. My brain is slow and foggy so now is the perfect time to republish a few of my Globe and Mail Kitchen Gardening articles. This one on good soil for your vegetable garden is the perfect companion to my …
It’s that time of year where so much is going on in the garden, I can’t keep up. I LOVE it! Clockwise from Top Left: 1. Two types of mint, pink snapdragons, and a geranium in pots. I set these pots on a metal table at the back of the garden, in front of the …
