Garden and Food books by Gayla Trail

Sanctuary in the City

I will be one of four women speaking on the topic of “Sanctuary in the City” this weekend at The Toronto Botanical Gardens. From the website: Ultimate Gardening Workshop: Sanctuary in the City Virginia Burt, Gayla Trail, Ann Hagedorn, Karen Michaud. As city dwellers, we long for an escape from the traffic and respite from

Gardening by the Book: My Crash, Burn, and Regeneration

Guest post by Teresa Youngblood Gardening was making me a little crazy, and this before I had planted a single seed. I always wanted to grow up to be one of those peaceful, well-adjusted, earthy women who live with gusto and who tend wild, luscious gardens. I think this was because, as a child, I

From the Ground Up: Adventures in Making My Own Plot

Guest post by Kelly Gilliam So you’ve just moved into a new place. You look around, and find yourself in a jam. Maybe your new yard doesn’t come with a garden plot, or perhaps the plot there is so overgrown with weeds that it looks like it hasn’t been touched in ten years. Whatever your

Lawn Order

Guest post by Sarah B. Hood When we moved into our narrow city house with its postage-stamp backyard, my partner Jonathan outed himself as a lawnie: a leaning more frequently found among men than women, I’ve found. My dad was never happier than when spraying an arc of water over his little plot of grass;

In the Bag

Guest post by Sampath Jagannathan One man’s cheap and organic alternative to fancy store-bought grow bags. Take a plastic bag. Fill it with soil. Scatter some seeds. Water. Seedlings sprout. Let them grow. They become bigger. Cover the soil with: Fruit peels. Uncooked vegetable waste. Tea and coffee grounds. Water when the plant asks for

Basil: Variety is the Spice of Life

Guest post by Kelly Gilliam What do you think of when you imagine basil? The scent of a summer herb garden filling your nostrils? The taste of a nice pesto on a cool evening? Bees rushing around feverishly from tiny flower to tiny flower? Or maybe it’s just the different textures, sizes, shapes and tastes

Gardening Life Photoshoot

The day after the Launch Party I dragged my weary body out of bed and headed west to an area north of High Park called Baby Point to have my picture taken for Gardening Life magazine. Crazy! I brought Davin along so he could a.) keep me awake and make sure I got home okay

Book Launch Party Update

Wow so much has happened in the last few weeks I can hardly keep up. Of course, in the end I found myself sick in bed for nearly a week with the same crazy end o’ winter virus everyone seemed to be carrying so that’s my official excuse for the delayed posting about recent events.

Bitch Magazine Reviews “You Grow Girl” Book

– From: BITCH Magazine Spring 2005 “How can you not be inspired by a gardening guru who sports a Joy Division t-shirt, a practical (and stylish) homemade gardening apron, and cat-eye glasses? Taking cues from feminist DIY manifestos like Stitch n’ Bitch and Get Crafty, Gayla Trail, creator of YouGrowGirl.com, invites you to take it

AltWeeklies Reviews “You Grow Girl” Book

– From: AltWeeklies.com (Originally published in Columbus Alive) Green Thumbs Are the New Black By Nikki Davis “Just like knitting and Martha-style home-improvement are the season’s new “black,” gardening is also getting props as the latest take on a perennial classic. In You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening (Fireside Books), graphic designer, photographer