Garden and Food books by Gayla Trail

The Scented Garden

Guest post by Emira Mears With summer in full swing most of my garden work these days is about maintaining: watering, weeding and reseeding the odd head of lettuce. For the past week or so these chores have been particularly lovely as a few of my scented flowers are in full bloom. Now many of

California Giants

I’m currently in Northern California for the Blogher Conference. I’ve been to these parts once before but the massiveness of the plants, most especially the invasives really stand out this time. I assumed this patch of renegade nasturtiums was a random fluke. Until I turned the corner. And the next one. And the next. And

Deconstructing the Shed

Guest post by Renee Garner Several years ago, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum hosted The Other Flower Show. Ten renowned artists were invited to transform a museum-provided garden shed into a work of art. The result was an exhibit conceptually based around the method of gardening rather than the garden itself. The following artists each

Easy Peasy Birdbath

Guest post by Renee Garner Now that the veggies are producing quite happily, I have a few weeks of down time before I start the cooler weather veggies. So my attention has turned to the birds. Birds are great to have around, they eat some grubby little insects I would rather just not deal with.

A Bag Made of Bags

This crocheted bag looks like a great project to make for toting your garden harvest or trips to the Farmer’s Market. It’s made using plastic grocery bags cut into workable “yarn” strips. I like that the designer used different coloured bags to create a classier looking bag.

Growing More-erer Food

Because I am afflicted with the disease commonly known as “Can’t-Walk-Past-Plants, Most-Especially-Plants-on-Sale”-itis and because an entire kitchen garden that was non-existent a few days ago doesn’t seem to be enough today; I done went and bought me some pathetic-looking transplants. But wait, they were only fifty cents! Except the tuberous begonia — that was two

Project “Grow More Food”

It’s time for me to face the cold, hard truth; my plot at The Parkdale Community Beer Garden is officially crap for growing veggies. With every new year I have found that while my soil continues to improve, the light on my tiny plot has been slowly declining. A couple of overhead trees have been

Versus the Squirrels (Part 2)

Well it turns out that the squirrels just up and left of their own accord. I have no idea why they would want to leave considering the cornucopia of delights waiting just outside their front door, but I’m not about to complain. And with their leave the peas have flourished. The ‘Carouby de Maussane’ plant

Center Stage Chicago

– From: Centre Stage Chicago (July 2, 2006) “To boost my odds, I enlisted some expert tips from garden guru Gayla Trail, whom I met at a planting demo she gave at Old Town’s luscious A New Leaf boutique. Founder of YouGrowGirl.com (a must-bookmark for any urban gardener) and author of a book by the

Vegetarian Times – Interview

– From: Vegetarian Times (July/August 06) Interviewed for an article on composting, “Composting 101” -pages 48-51

Off the Cuff Edging

Guest post by Renee Garner Never one to adhere to tradition, I have started swallowing my grassy yard up with perennials and edibles. Several factors have prevented total success with the work so far, though, and a major one has been communication between my spouse and myself. This was especially apparent one evening at dusk