Simon Says Wha?

According to the Simon & Schuster blog, I rank number 9 (for “You Grow Girl“) in Simon & Schuster’s list of top selling Canadian authors so far in 2007. That’s only 3 places behind Canadian artist/writer/designer mega star Douglas Coupland (for his two S&S published books “Shampoo Planet” and “Life After God.”) My mind is

Cheap n’ Easy Container Idea: Succulent Window Box 2007

Over the years, I’ve made a tradition of both putting together a new succulent window box 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 here. But just when I begin to write, something in the

Kitazawa Seeds

Sure we’re already mid-way into the growing season but it’s not too late to plant seeds and it is certainly not too late to buy seeds with pretty packaging. I found these Asian seeds by Kitazawa Seed Co. at Soko Hardware in an Francisco’s Japantown and could not resist their understated but well-designed packages for

Lettuce, More Than Just 80% Water

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 of a contrasting colour. In this case I have two leaf lettuce

Four Types of Sage

Yesterday afternoon I brought home a first harvest from the four different kinds of hardy sage (Salvia officinalis) I’ve got growing at the community garden. It’s not much, just a handful of clippings that I pinched off to make the plants grow bushier but it’s more than enough to make a whole lot of delicious

New Garden Buttons

We just added four new button styles to our store. What’s more, you now have the option of buying any four buttons of your choosing from a selection of nine different styles. Buy four of the same design if it suits your fancy. We don’t judge.

Fancy Pants Pots

I found these gorgeous, decorative pots while getting my daily plant fix the other day at Fiesta Gardens here in Toronto. (200 Christie Ave just north of Bloor). The containers on the left are metal with an embossed design while the others on the right are ceramic glazed with a metal bottom edging. At approximately

Sale Season is Starting

I picked up this gorgeous and awesomely huge sage plant for a buck fifty a few days ago. Okay sure I already have more sage than I can shake a stick at but you know how it is…. It was so big and beautiful and only a buck fifty people! They charge more for candy

Tomatoes Like Milk

Readers of the You Grow Girl book might recall that I love a little milk mixed with water as a tomato disease preventative. Okay, I probably didn’t go so far as to indicate a “love” for the concoction but I will say it here: the tomato plants on my rooftop garden benefit from regular applications

A Public Apology to the Opposum

So…. ummm… how’s it going? [Hides metaphorical tail between legs.] Right. So turns out it most likely, for sure, probably, maybe wasn’t you doing all that horrible damage to the tomato plants, basil, nasturtiums, pansies, tansy, succulents, etc a few weeks back. Turns out I maybe, sort-of, possibly, most likely made a little tiny mistake

Before and After – Strawberry Canister

This is what it looked like today. There was a third ripe strawberry this morning but a certain someone (hint: rhymes with Gavin) got to it before I could take some photos. What it looked like at planting time a few weeks ago. Turns out that plants, they grow!