Exploring the world of gardening. Observations, gardens to visit, thoughts on ecology, gardener interviews, and commentary.
[Just a heads up that I write a bit about death in this one and if that is too morose for you right now then I’d suggest skipping this one.] The other day I looked down on the 6 or 7 trays of transplants that are scattered around the holding area near the back door …
This week I started reading, The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner. My approach to this book has been non-linear, picking and choosing the parts that catch my eye. I often read in this way — even novels, which are generally meant to be read from front to back. Eventually, I do often …
The Guardian in the UK have recently started up a new topical gardening podcast series with hosts Alys Fowler and Jane Perrone called, “Sow, Grow, Repeat.” Last week I was a guest on their second episode on the topic of Gardening Without a Garden. Until recently, I did not have a “proper” space in which …
Welcome back. I hope you had a great holiday and were able to get in a solid break. Mine was very good, exceptional really. I tackled items on my to-do list, saw friends, cooked a few nice meals, read books, visited museums (The Textile Museum of Canada is amazing), laid about on the couch with …
Warning: given that this is a website about gardening, I feel it is my responsibility to provide a trigger warning. This story started out simply but took a hard turn once I started to let go of the blocks around honestly expressing some of the brutal things I witnessed on this trip: mainly sex tourism. …
I’m noticing more oddities mutations [please see discussion in comments about mutations versus deformations] in the garden this year. I’m not yet certain if I am noticing more because there ARE more, or because I’ve developed a deeper interest in them and am more observant. I documented a few oddities last summer over here. Most …
Summer is almost over. Or maybe it’s just begun. Temperatures are expected to go back down again. Or was that back up? Who can tell anymore. Every year in the garden is new and different, even if just because of the weather. This is why I can never wrap my head around the old timers …
“Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.” – Henry David Thoreau I’ve been having some trouble settling down to write about gardening these days. Bad things happen all over the world daily. Each day we must wake up and get on with it, regardless. …
Like many of you I’ve been watching the reports coming out of Ferguson, Missouri anxiously. I was up hours past my bedtime last night rhythmically refreshing social media over and over. What is happening now? What is happening now? What is happening now? This morning I was up early and spent the first few hours …
A recent Grow Write Guild writing prompt asked you to write about loss, attachment, and letting go. The idea for the prompt came to me as a result of the volume of beloved plants that I lost this spring due to a particularly harsh winter. However, I suspect that there were other losses in the …
The time has come for me to accept the losses suffered as a result of a peculiarly difficult winter and move on. I’ve known for months that some of these plants were not going to pull through. It is May now, and well past the time when many of them begin to wake up from …