Get inspired by the ingenuity and passion of other likeminded gardeners. Here you will find posts about the small space, urban gardens I have built and maintained through the years, alongside tours of gardens that I have visited including interviews with the gardeners.
I recently added a new category, “Gayla’s Gardens” to the site archive. I’m sorry about the title, I know it’s lame. Just reading that back makes me think it should be displayed in Mistral and accompanied by a photo of me sporting matching floral-patterned knee pads, apron, gloves and a GIANT smile. I’d be wearing …
Right. So. Yet another reason why I can not grow edibles in the Guerilla / Street Garden. The other night we stepped outside for a walk to discover a giant patch of bright blue paint slapped onto the raw brick wall of our building… much of which splattered onto my plants below. There are so …
We popped over for a quick mini-visit to the community garden yesterday afternoon. I wanted to bring some kitchen scraps to add to the compost bin on our way to have lunch and run errands. We left the container at the garden with a mind to return to pick it up on our way back …
Last fall I decided to participate in a national growing experiment called, The Great Canadian Garlic Collection, wherein hundreds, possibly thousands of gardening nerds are growing garlic, recording their results, and then pooling the data so we can all find out which varieties grow best under varying conditions. Believe me when I say that it …
The discussion around inexpensive containers for indeterminate tomato plants in a recent post has brought up a good point regarding how to conceal the clinical blandness of food industry buckets. The conversation in that post reminded me of a brilliant camouflage technique I discovered on a Saturday walk through my own neighbourhood a few years …
Organic gardener Bob Easter shows off his harvest at the Sunshine Community Garden in Austin, Texas last week. They are already harvesting carrots! Meanwhile, back in Toronto, home of the never-ending winter, we are only dreaming about the carrots we will grow and harvest in a few months. Sigh. I took this photo last week …
This is the first package of seeds I have purchased for the 2008 growing season. Of course I have acquired other seeds via trades but this was the first I bought. It has a decidedly Canadian sounding name, no? It makes sense given that the plant heralds from Beverlodge Research Center in Alberta. I bought …
Unfortunately when it comes to Mr. Michael Pollan I can not seem to get past an unfortunate and debilitating case of “teenage fan girl ridiculousness” (squeal!) to write about his work with a modicum of professionalism. If you haven’t heard of his writings and work already I would highly suggest running out and getting a …
I wrote a while back about a body of photographic work I am slowly building called Green Minds Project. A quick recap: Green Minds is a portrait project exploring gardeners and their passion for growing greenery. I am seeking to validate all kinds of gardening practice. This includes anything from a sprawling lush paradise to …
Photo by Davin Risk Sigh. This view of my roof garden from the door feels a million miles away today. Remember summer? Yeah, me neither. If not for photographic evidence I would have to assume these so-called memories are in fact only beautiful delusions. I know many of you in the Southern Hemisphere are in …
So I was gonna hold off on this one until it hit new stands but it looks like Organic Gardening Magazine let the cat out of the bag early and has published an article I wrote for the Feb 2008 issue (“Grow Where You Are Planted”) on their website. I really enjoyed writing this article. …
All photos by Derek Powazek I first came across the work of Derek Powazek online about 10 years ago when I was working as a graphic designer in the interactive department of The Place That Shall Not Be Named. Derek’s retired online public complaints machine Kvetch.com was a touchstone to sanity for me, a place …