Holiday Gifts for Gardeners to Make

I know that time is getting tight now as the Holiday Season kicks into gear but I wanted to be sure and mention some gifts to make if you’re coming up dry on ideas for the gardener friend in your life. A lot of these ideas use materials harvested from your own garden but I

Seedpods

I took this photo back in October (Is it really very nearly the end of the year already?) on our trip to the Montreal Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, I can not recall which plant this is. I might have known what it was when I took the photo having more of the plant for context. And

Warm Winter Wear Drive Reminder

Just a reminder that the deadline for the 2007 Warm Winter Wear Drive is approaching this week. Be sure to get your stuff in the mail before the deadline. I will wait a few days for any stragglers but please let me know if you have sent something so I can look out for it.

Gayla Trail Garden: August 2018

The Horribly Late Roof Garden Clean Up That Never Was 2007

I desperately need to clean up my rooftop garden. Desperately. Double desperately. It’s horrible how long I’ve let it got this year really. The warmer Fall temperatures were wonderfully evil and I just went with it pretending that Fall would continue forever. I rewarded myself for cleaning up at the community garden so early this

Planting and Growing Garlic (Allium sativum)

Garlic Shown: Stiff-neck which tends to be hardy and stores well over the long term. Sitting down to write this, my first thoughts are to apologize for the slow down in updates recently. I consider writing to assure you that the slow down is merely a glitch in workload and I will not stop writing

Windowsill Plants

The plants were so lovely in the window today on a sunny November afternoon. I could not help but grab a camera to capture the moment. This is ‘Variegata’ hot pepper, a gorgeous and edible heirloom variety that has got a lot of play on the site recently. I grew it from seed for the

Edible Fall Container Planting

During the spring and summer months I grow indeterminant tomatoes (large, vine plants) in large garbage bins like this one purchased for $10 each a number of years ago at the local Ikea. The flat grey colour has faded significantly over the years but the containers are still holding up under the wear and tear

Cactus Ghouls

I have so much to tell you about last week’s trip to the Montreal Botanical Gardens but I can’t seem to wade through the millions of photos and thoughts without first showing you one of the silliest, most ridiculous crimes ever perpetrated on a plant for human amusement and seasonal decor.

Giant Loofah

One of the things I love best about this site is checking out the fantastic gardening projects members of this site share via the forums. Last week, while making my morning rounds, I came across this fantastic, Godzilla-esque loofah (aka luffa) grown and recently harvested by forum user rachelanderson. Isn’t it incredible?! There’s enough sponge

No Basil Left Behind

Proudly cradling the basil harvested from my community garden plot. Varieties include: ‘African Blue’, ‘Purple Ruffles’, ‘Sweet Basil’, ‘Genovese’, ‘Columnar’, ‘Spicy Globe’, ‘Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil’, ‘Dark Opal’, and ‘Pesto Perpetuo’ (a variegated variety). I reluctantly harvested the remaining basil plants from my community garden plot last weekend. With the temperatures dipping low it was

Over-wintering Hot Peppers (Part 2)

Earlier this Fall I wrote about bringing your hot pepper plants indoors for overwintering. I’ve put together a short 2 minute clip showing how I dug up a ‘Variegata’ hot pepper plant from my community garden plot and transplanted it into a pot to spend the next 7 or so months indoors. There are lots

YGG Warm Winter Wear Drive 2007

What: Knit or crochet up beautiful, warm winter gear for The Redwood Shelter for Abused Women. While I know many of you are from all over the globe we’ve decided to continue to support a Toronto-based organization again because 1. They are doing fantastic work and 2. I am in Toronto and a Toronto-based organization