And Then I Went and Spent $3.99 on a Viola

So here’s what I did. First, I shelled out $3.99 for a viola. We’re not talking your typical 4-pack of cells for a buck here. No, we’re talking one plant. One plant that cost $3.99. One plant whose tag bragged its rareness and specialness and three dollars and ninety nine cents worthiness. There was also

It Turns Out That While Not Fatal, This Particular Disease Can Not Be Cured

I bought another box of pansies yesterday. This new batch falls primarily within a blacks, dark purples and reds colour palette. Some are frilly. In case you are interested they are as follows: ‘Panola Fire,’ ‘Imperial Antique Shades,’ ‘Frizzle Sizzle Mix’ (for shizzle!), and ‘Accord Black Beauty.’ To catch you up, that makes my forth

Early Spring Planting: Pansies and Violas

The weather here in Toronto these past few days has been unreasonably beautiful prompting a flurry of gardening activity on my part. My gardens never seem large enough until I have to clean them up. I have spent the last few days rediscovering all over again that, yes, gardening is a physical activity, working muscle

‘Chocolate Cherry’ Sunflowers

I’ve decided to take the plunge back into the world of sunflowers. Anyone gardening in public space knows that sunflowers have a time-sensitive contract out on their lives beginning the moment they bloom. Their big beautiful blooms inspire grabbing hands that MUST rip and tear and have them all to themselves. I’d like to think

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

Before and After – Strawberry Canister

This is what it looked like today. There was a third ripe strawberry this morning but a certain someone (hint: rhymes with Gavin) got to it before I could take some photos. What it looked like at planting time a few weeks ago. Turns out that plants, they grow!

Cheap ‘n Easy Container Idea – Chive Basin

If you’re looking for a hardy herb that will produce a harvest all season-long, and can withstand just about anything you can throw at it then look no further than chives. I’ve been growing this wash basin of chives for so many years I can’t for the life of me recall where I got the

The Bubblegum Pansy

3 out of 3 taste testers confirm, this variety of “fancy” pansy tastes like bubble gum. We will even go so far as to identify the very specific flavour of Bazooka Joe gum that has been chewed for too long. Seriously! It would seem that this particular ‘Not 99 Cent’ pansy was worth not 99