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Food Gardening is on the Rise

More and more publications are reporting on the changing tide towards growing our own food, most especially in urban areas. This is something I can sense with my own eyes and ears as more and more community gardens crop up in every city I visit, and as

Having Discovered a Thirteenth…

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved Right. So. Yet another reason why I can not grow edibles in the Guerilla / Street Garden. The other night we stepped outside for a walk to discover a giant patch of bright blue paint slapped

First Harvest at the Community Garden

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved We popped over for a quick mini-visit to the community garden yesterday afternoon. I wanted to bring some kitchen scraps to add to the compost bin on our way to have lunch and run errands.

Assorted and Sundry for 08/05/02

Toronto Backyard Chickens Petition - Long-term readers of the site will know I have a fixation with chickens. Keeping chickens is pretty high up on my life to-do list but there are several key issues currently blocking this life goal. 1. I don't have a

A Pleasing Combination

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved I came upon this colour palette yesterday and had an instantaneous response to it. The pink flowers are magnolia and the red and chartreuse bush on the right is 'Goldflame' spirea (Spiraea x bumalda). Of

Touching Tomatoes

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved They say that lightly brushing your hands against tomato leaves stimulates a growth hormone in the plant encouraging radial (aka stockier) growth. I'm still searching for a study that supports this but I chose to believe

BIG Buttons!

biggardenbuttons.jpg For years I've been trying to convince Davin that a big button press would revolutionize our world. Small buttons are fun and have their purpose, but big buttons offer up a whole new world of possibilities. Big buttons remind me of special

It Turns Out That While Not Fatal, This Particular Disease Can Not Be Cured

pansies_darks.jpg I bought another box of pansies yesterday. This new batch falls primarily within a blacks, dark purples and reds colour palette. Some are frilly. In case you are interested they are as follows: 'Panola Fire,' 'Imperial Antique Shades,' 'Frizzle Sizzle Mix'

Early Days at the Community Garden Plot

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved Last fall I decided to participate in a national growing experiment called, The Great Canadian Garlic Collection, wherein hundreds, possibly thousands of gardening nerds are growing garlic, recording their results, and then pooling the data so

The Earth-Loving, Tree-Hugging Hippies Inside Us

This whole Earth Day thing has me a bit puzzled. Come to think of it most [Insert Cause Here] Days are oddly perplexing. Maybe it's just human nature to take things for granted, but I've never been able to wrap my head around the fact that
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SPEAKING TO A NEW-STYLE GARDENER

You Grow Girl was launched by Gayla Trail in February 2000 and has grown into a thriving online community that speaks to a new kind of gardener, seeking to redefine the modern world relationship to plants. This contemporary, laid-back approach to gardening places equal importance on environmentalism, style, affordability, art, and humour. - More

DAILY BOTANICAL

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved

GARDEN SHOW & TELL

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 18, 2008

CBC - Metro Morning
Gayla is on talking about urban gardening.
CBC Radio: 99.1 FM 6:30 am EST

May 19, 2008

She's Crafty - “Take It Outside” Episode
Gayla is in this episode showing how to make stepping stones.
HGTV Canada: 5:00pm & 9:00pm PST and 8:00pm & Midnight EST

You Grow Girl Turns Eight

Contest Winners Are Announced
Check out the winning entries for 2008.

April 10, 2008

Presentation on Garden Literacy
University of San Francisco

FEATURED ARTICLES

Happy Spring Equinox!

How are you celebrating?

Turning Towards Spring

Springtime strategies to overcome the winter blahs.

Seed-Starting and Springing Ahead

A seed-starting primer that will take you through getting the seeds in soil, putting together a d.i.y lighting set-up, fungal diseases and more..

Tomatoes to Grow in Containers (Or Anywhere Else for That Matter)

With catalogue and seed ordering season in full swing let's talk varieties. Find out about some of the best varieties for containers and why.

Make Your Own Seed Starting Mix

Making your own mix is SUPER easy and worth the small effort if you are growing a lot of seedlings.

Toilet Roll Seed-Starter

Forget about seed-starting pellets! Starting your seeds in a toilet roll is free and easy.

Cheap n’ Easy Container Idea - Strawberries and Violas

Completely edible and costs about 2 bucks. See an “after” photo here.

Plant Shall Eat Plant

Did you know you can make liquid fertilizer for your plants using other plants? Sounds like floral cannibalism but it’s not unlike compost when you think about it.

A Tale of Two Lettuces

Try growing greens and other cold-hardy plants underneath a take-away container for faster growth.

The Lazy Gardener's Seed-Starting Chart.

by Guest Contributor Maggie Wang
Calculate seed sowing and planting dates in seconds with this even handier version of the Handy Seed Starting Chart.

Ensure Your Bounty of Peas

by Guest Contributor Arzeena Hamir
Peas are traditionally the first food crop started in the garden. Learn the ins and outs of growing your own.

Lettuce, More Than Just 80% Water

A simply stylish, edible, and thrifty container idea.

Cold Snap Gums Up the Works

A container garden strategy for dealing with a freak cold snap.

Grow This: Grape Hyacinth (Muscari)

Famous for candy-sweet cobalt blue blooms that resemble tidy clusters of pint-sized grapes, muscari is a versatile, carefree spring bloom.

Eat This: Nettle Soup

Cook up a batch of old-time nettle soup from this prolific edible “weed.“

Foraging for Stinging Nettle

While the ”sting“ in stinging can make this herb tricky to harvest it's worth the effort. Stinging nettle is very high in magnesium and iron making it good for both your bod and your plants’ too.

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