When I last wrote here about dyeing with plants it was June and I had been experimenting with fresh coreopsis flowers. Despite reports that cotton fibres CAN NOT be dyed with coreopsis flowers, I was able to use the gleanings from my garden successfully without using mordants (a fixative that allows the dye to bind …
My friend David Leeman is an adventurous gardener whose experiences span a widely divergent range of growing conditions. During Toronto’s growing season he works non-stop as a professional gardener, tending to and restoring gardens for clients. When not working on other people’s gardens, David experiments in growing trees seedlings and has been growing his own …
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 …
Introducing our newest collaboration, You Grow Girl Makes and our first project in the series, Tomatoes Worth Growing, a 12″ x 12″ embroidered pillow (or wall hanging) dedicated to some of my favourite heirloom tomatoes. In the off-season, when the garden is put to bed and I am resigned to longer hours spent indoors, I …
“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 …
It must be noted for the sake of remembrance that on August 11, 2014, I pulled out what remained of this year’s pea plants. I could have let them go longer. These are the same peas that I sowed in April. 4 months ago! This is by far the latest I have ever kept the …
My guest this week is Renee Garner, an artist who draws inspiration from her garden in North Carolina. She is also a mom to two young children and in this episode we chat about how she engages the kids with the garden – what works and what doesn’t work. We also discuss her own personal …
I’ve been making my own adapted version of the smashed cucumber salad recipe from Silvena Rowe’s, Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean for the last few years, but I’ve never had the chance to pair a few of the key ingredients: cucumber and mulberry. Their seasons just haven’t overlapped well. However, …
When the sweet, black cherries come into season my brain immediately turns to clafoutis, a rustic French dessert of fresh, seasonal fruit suspended in a custard-like batter. Clafoutis is really simple and quick to make. Just whip up a sweet and eggy batter, pour it over the fruit, and bake. Grapes are also commonly used …
In this episode we go across the street — quite literally — to chat with my neighbour and friend Abbey Huggan. Abbey is a schoolteacher by day and a wild fermenter by night. She’s also an avid gardener and is currently tending three in different locations in the city, including her own tiny yard. She …