General growing and maintenance guidelines. Your plants and how to care for them…
Guest post by Christina Radisauskas I work at a university that has finally decided to develop a “sustainability initiative.” Because I am a librarian, I was asked to create a bibliography of resources to enhance our faculty’s understanding of the concept and how they might incorporate it into their departments’ curricula. While I worked on …
So they’re not very stylin’, but these self-watering planters made from junked pop bottles are pretty handy for the well-intentioned but forgetful gardener. The bottom watering system keeps cuttings and seedlings on the right side of moist without the discipline (and hassle) of routine dampness patrol. There’s more talk and experimentation with this concept in …
This year will go down in history as the year I not only started seeds on time, organized all seeds by category (direct sow, indoor starts, and never-going-to-grow-it-so-trade-it-already), AND managed to draw up some kind of “plan” beyond casual (and quickly forgetten) mental lists. I rule. For now. We’ll see what happens when transplant buying …
My 12 year old cat Voltron is a determined plant nibbler – in fact most cats have a natural curiosity about their surroundings and tend to enjoy a little taste of fresh greenery now and again. Unfortunately many common houseplants are toxic so it is worth familiarizing yourself with both your plants and your cat’s …
We’ve been experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures here in Toronto which have pushed me to get out and do some early-season garden work. I can’t recall being this eager to get gardening but I suspect that I am always this excited, it’s just the lapse of time between fall and spring that has me convinced my …
Calculate seed sowing and planting dates in seconds with Maggie Wang’s easy-to-calculate version of my original Printable Seed Starting Chart. You’ll never wonder when to start your seeds again! Download the seed starting chart file. If you don’t have excel, you can download a free open-source office suite with a spreadsheet application at openoffice.org or …
I spent the day selling t-shirts and books at the Toronto Seedy Saturday event this weekend. It really is growing bigger and better every year (see a pic here). The aisles were packed with excited gardeners from 10 am on and I got to meet a lot of great people, talk gardening (my voice is …
I gave a workshop/demonstration today at Canada Blooms on growing herbs and other edibles in a strawberry pot but I ran out of handouts. I wasn’t expecting such a great turnout! Thanks to everyone who came. As promised I have posted a printable version of the handout here for those who missed out. Thanks to …
by Gayla Trail Remembering when to sow and when to plant out can be tricky when you’ve got a wild variety of seedlings on the go. Download and print out this seed starting plan to chart out the sow dates, and planting out dates of this year’s crop. Download chart here
I’ve been busy over the last few months with a number of workshops and projects but thought I would take a moment to document some of that here before the experiences escape me. I did a workshop called “Grocery Store Gardening” at Ladyfest Guelph back in Sept. Here’s the promo: “Turn the waste from tonight’s …
Guest post by Ariane Khachatourians Melon season has brought to me a new hobby: seed saving. I know it may surprising, but this has never been a priority for me… This year, however, was different, because over the course of the past month, I have eaten some of the best melons of my life–all organic …
Guest post by Niki Jabbour The real secret to growing healthy plants is to feed the earth. If you wish to garden organically, you must begin by considering your soil and what you can do to improve its health, fertility and boost its organic matter. The ideal garden soil is dark in colour, smells a …