Green Minds

I need your help finding subjects for a project I’m starting this spring/summer. I’m looking to photograph gardeners in their gardens. What is a garden? My concept of a garden is very open-ended. It can be anything from a sprawling lush paradise to a single plant growing in a coffee can. Gardens include but are

Gallery Exhibition

It’s not at all related to gardening but I will be showing 20 of my photos in a group show alongside 3 other photographers entitled PHOTOGRAMMETRY opening this Friday at Harbourfront Centre here in Toronto. What: An active public space exhibition of urban photography. When: May 13-July 9 (Opening Friday, May 12, 7-9pm) Where: Service

Plant Shall Eat Plant

Make Herb Tea Fertilizer 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. Some plants are high in particular nutrients which can be extracted in the same way that you would make a medicinal tea for

Mache

Grow a Crate o’ Mache

Fruit crates are just tall enough to accomodate leafy greens or herbs with shallow root systems. I decided to fill this one up with a crop of mache. Mache is the de rigour green of the uppercrust and a good choice if growing lettuce feels like a waste of time and space. The succulent leaves

My Trug Tub Love

Guest post by Emira Mears Try saying that three times fast. TrugTubLove. TrugTubLove… Anyway. Gayla’s post about Lee Valley got me to thinking about my last Lee Valley impulse purchase. I had stopped there on my way back from picking up a load of compost, and tried very hard to restrain myself from making too

The Lee Valley Lure

The one-stop crack distribution depo of the Canadian gardening world recently opened a store in downtown Toronto, and… ummm… I have been there twice in two days. I want to state for the record that prior to this I have never purchased a Lee Valley product, somehow managing to walk past the booths at garden

Paper Houseplants

As if gardening with living plants isn’t enough to keep me occupied, I’ve recently become obsessed with plants crafted from paper. Download and construct your own garden of indoor houseplants, from the Epson Hong Kong site. Patterns include ivy, lucky bamboo, saguaro cactus, and a cute barrel cactus.

A Different Kind of Professional Gardener

Guest post by Renee Garner Most people would agree, gardening is an art form. Artist Paula Hayes takes this statement literally, but intensive devotion elevates her gardening into gallery worthy, fine art. Her delicate glass terrariums depict an idealistic quest most gardeners can relate to, but the interaction of plants to their tiny biosphere evokes a

Birds and Blooms

Guest post by Amy Urquhart I disovered a cool magazine when I was visiting my grandmother a couple of weekends ago. It’s called Birds and Blooms (Beauty in Your Own Backyard). It’s an American publication dedicated to showcasing…well, you guessed it: birds and plants (and butterflies too). My interest in gardening extends back a few

How to be greener

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

Pop Bottle Pots

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

Don’t have room for a garden? Knit Your Own!

Guest post by Kelly Gilliam So besides being an avid gardening, I’ve an avid knitter. That means I’m always looking for cool new things to knit up. Today I got the idea in my head “hey, what about knitting plants??” So after a little searching I found these awesome knit plants that you can make.