Thrifting the Garden

I grew up in a household that frequented thrift shops out of necessity, and like many kids in that economic bracket I was deeply embarrassed by our sorely out-of-date second hand outfits and household goods. Somehow between ages 14 and 16 and I did a mental 180° and found myself embracing thrifting as a lifestyle

Repurposed for the Garden: Giant Nail

To the average person it’s just a gigantic, oversized nail, or a weapon of intimidation (who needs to carry a can of mace when you’ve got this up your sleeve, am I right?), but to me this is the perfect tool for making drainage holes in things that were not manufactured to function as plant

Build a D.I.Y Lighting System

When we moved, I abandoned the cobbled together grow light setup I had been struggling with for years in favour of beginning again with a much improved, bigger and badder system. In the old place I had to stuff the grow light shelving system into a corner nook of my office. Consequently, it couldn’t be

Seedy Giveaway

UPDATE: The winner is commenter #116: Kaitlin. Seed starting season is in the air and I must say that even though it is early days yet, having a handful of pots on the go gives me something new to look forward to everyday and brings the gardening season that much closer as we slog through

Winter Reading

I haven’t done much book buying or reading recently, but it’s been ages since I’ve done a book round-up and there have certainly been books in the months since I last wrote about what I’m reading. Crazy Water Pickled Lemons: Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa, by Diana Henry – I’ve

Ten Handmade Gifts For Gardeners

This started out as a general gardener’s gift guide; however, I found lots of great handmade items on Etsy and decided to keep going. Walnut Garden Dibble $18.00: I think I like this dibble more than my well-worn favorite. It’s made of a beautiful, salvaged dark wood and the price is very fair for handmade.

Cheap and Cheerful Water Feature

Today, as I was going through folders of photos I took through the spring and summer months, I came upon this cheap and cheerful water feature my friend Barry devised for his garden. It looked so classy, yet was unbearably simple and didn’t cost a thing. All he did was take three terracotta saucers of

Making More Herbs

About a month ago, I wrote a guest post for Apartment Therapy/Re-Nest on propagating herbs by cuttings. This is how I quickly double my basil harvest every summer at no extra cost. Basil grows easily from seed too, but stem cuttings are fast and easy — they’ll produce roots in water in about a week

A Bit of Light Summer Reading

As usual I’m acquiring books faster than I can read them, although I have placed a light moratorium on cookbooks. Last year I mentioned a sudden and insatiable craving for cookbooks. A year later and I have no where to put them! The cookbook monster has been placed on a leash for the time being.

Timelapse Video: A Day in the Life of a Pot of Herbs

Yesterday, I made a timelapse video of the day in the life of one of the herb pots I am growing on the roof (1 pm – 10:30 pm). I choose to focus on the ‘Rose Petal’ thyme because it’s blooms were attracting a lot of tiny little bees and pollinators. My favorite portion is

Hanging Colander Lettuce Pot

You are looking at one of this year’s serendipitous brainstorms. I feel perhaps a little bit too genius for coming up with it, when really, it’s just an enamel colander filled with ‘Sea of Red’ cutting lettuce and hanging in a wire basket. I quite like it. So much so that I haven’t had the

Grow a Mixed Strawberry and Herb Container

When I was in the West Indies, I was surprised to see how much people coveted strawberries. While I was salivating over golden apple and fresh bananas, West Indians were paying through the nose for a basket of pathetic, well-traveled berry-like objects. I don’t think strawberries grow very well in extreme tropical heat. That didn’t