Lately, I have been receiving emails asking me to talk more about the community garden. I will admit that I am so horribly behind in writing about progress there that it's been difficult to know where to begin. So this morning 
I had a TV crew here for about 2 hours one scorching hot and humid afternoon in August shooting a segment on heirloom vegetables for a show called "Living in Toronto." There are other "Living ins" across Canada however the first 
The bottoms of all of the 'Purple Calabash' tomatoes are so bumpy and mishapen that they are morphing into cartoonish grumpy old man faces as they ripen and mature. Today a friend remarked that we are so programmed to accept perfectly smooth-shaped produce 
Aside from several handfuls of 'Whippersnapper' tomatoes that started ripening over a month ago there have been tomatoes here and there but not in the numbers we're starting to see on the roof and over at the community garden plot. Despite a 
A friend pointed me to this opinion piece in the New York Times that looks at the Eat Local concept as a way to mark environmental impact in food production. The article describes a New Zealand study that challenges the assumption that 
Adorably teeny tiny Mexican Sour Gherkins (Melothria scabra) are starting to pop up all over the vines I've got growing at my community garden plot. The fruit in the picture is about half and inch or so and should be approximately 1-2" when 
I made a quick trip to my community garden plot yesterday where several large zucchinis and cucumbers were quickly expanding into over-sized monster vegetables. I had been gone for 6 days and Davin was unable to get into the garden with a poorly 
...Because I had to post something a little more optimistic. Both of these polaroids were taken this morning on my rooftop deck. The 'Miniature White' cucumber variety is a lot less yellow then as seen in this photo as the 
The epic saga of sadness and destruction now dubbed Operation Garden Terrorism continues. Today I went outside to discover a patch of plants had been crushed along with two sections of the bamboo fence that we built in the early spring. 
I really need to make a sign like this for my street garden. Except mine would include an assortment of choice words and threats... all the things I want to say to the various offenders but can't because I never catch them in 
I had big plans, HUGE PLANS, to use this post to write about exciting topics that were guaranteed to delight and amuse, but then we popped over to the community garden this evening to check on the first zucchini -- which you can guess 
I just returned from my community garden plot where I harvested a ton of onions, garlic, and borage. They were all overflowing in the plot and some needed to be sacrificed for the good of the garden and future harvests. The garlic 
The Scene: The sun is about to disappear entirely and my rooftop deck is now mostly illuminated by the painfully bright and orange security light next door. I am still outside moving pots around and pinching back basil flowers. My neighbor steps 
Quite simply, the Next Big Thing is going to be veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. Heirloom tomatoes, offbeat salad greens and stuff like that. All organically grown, of course. By us. - from Toronto Star “Urban Gardeners Are Growing Local” (July 7, 
About a week or two ago all of the baby starlings that live in our eavesdrop fell out of the nest -- the nest that was built on the severed and torn parts of many of my tomato plants including the 'Zapotec Pink Pleated' 
There are roughly five mint varieties in this bouquet including clockwise from top right: Chocolate mint, Pear mint, Ginger mint, Lemon Mint (with the crazy flowers), and Mojito mint (not seen).
Mint has got to be the most abundant herb in the garden and as 
A little red and sort-of white for Canada Day courtesy of my rooftop garden. We were hoping the 'Whippersnapper' would be ripe and ready for eating by today's national holiday -- some celebrate with a two-four of beer, over-sized sparklers, and things 
Over the years, I've made a tradition of both putting together a new succulent windowbox idea every spring, and posting about it here. Since planting up this year's box a few months ago, I've been taking photos as a prelude to a write-up 
This is one of those ideas that is insanely simple yet effective. Grow a couple of lettuce varieties with pretty leaf shapes and bright colours. Put them together in a container that sets off their leaf colours or grow them in individual pots
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