April!

This month will go down as the wackiest April in recent memory. We had some unseasonably warm days followed by a handful of cold, grey, wet days. Yesterday was sunny one minute, and literally hailing ice pellets the next! Thankfully I did manage to set aside a few hours on one of the warmer days

Library Journal Review

From: Library Journal Review “Reaching a new audience, this gardening book is as fresh and funky as the web site that inspired it. A professional print designer before turning to web design, Trail couldn’t find gardening information geared toward young, hip, frugal, urban gardeners like herself, so she used her skills to create YouGrowGirl.com in

Sanctuary in the City

I will be one of four women speaking on the topic of “Sanctuary in the City” this weekend at The Toronto Botanical Gardens. From the website: Ultimate Gardening Workshop: Sanctuary in the City Virginia Burt, Gayla Trail, Ann Hagedorn, Karen Michaud. As city dwellers, we long for an escape from the traffic and respite from

Gardening by the Book: My Crash, Burn, and Regeneration

Guest post by Teresa Youngblood Gardening was making me a little crazy, and this before I had planted a single seed. I always wanted to grow up to be one of those peaceful, well-adjusted, earthy women who live with gusto and who tend wild, luscious gardens. I think this was because, as a child, I

From the Ground Up: Adventures in Making My Own Plot

Guest post by Kelly Gilliam So you’ve just moved into a new place. You look around, and find yourself in a jam. Maybe your new yard doesn’t come with a garden plot, or perhaps the plot there is so overgrown with weeds that it looks like it hasn’t been touched in ten years. Whatever your

Lawn Order

Guest post by Sarah B. Hood When we moved into our narrow city house with its postage-stamp backyard, my partner Jonathan outed himself as a lawnie: a leaning more frequently found among men than women, I’ve found. My dad was never happier than when spraying an arc of water over his little plot of grass;

In the Bag

Guest post by Sampath Jagannathan One man’s cheap and organic alternative to fancy store-bought grow bags. Take a plastic bag. Fill it with soil. Scatter some seeds. Water. Seedlings sprout. Let them grow. They become bigger. Cover the soil with: Fruit peels. Uncooked vegetable waste. Tea and coffee grounds. Water when the plant asks for

Basil: Variety is the Spice of Life

Guest post by Kelly Gilliam What do you think of when you imagine basil? The scent of a summer herb garden filling your nostrils? The taste of a nice pesto on a cool evening? Bees rushing around feverishly from tiny flower to tiny flower? Or maybe it’s just the different textures, sizes, shapes and tastes

Gardening Life Photoshoot

The day after the Launch Party I dragged my weary body out of bed and headed west to an area north of High Park called Baby Point to have my picture taken for Gardening Life magazine. Crazy! I brought Davin along so he could a.) keep me awake and make sure I got home okay

Book Launch Party Update

Wow so much has happened in the last few weeks I can hardly keep up. Of course, in the end I found myself sick in bed for nearly a week with the same crazy end o’ winter virus everyone seemed to be carrying so that’s my official excuse for the delayed posting about recent events.