Author Steven Biggs is the gardener who convinced us that we could grow figs in our Canadian climate. Now his new book, Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t gives us the good news that we can grow lemons too, even in Canada. Steven’s serious interest in growing lemons began when friends gifted him with […]
Why you should do the grade-school bean experiment
Did you do this in grade school? You should do it again. Watching beans grow inside a jar is like Jack and the Beanstalk meets x-ray vision. I did it recently to get pictures for a Gardening with Children Master Gardener presentation I was writing. But with the beans growing right beside me on my desk, I could not stop obsessing over roots and shoots […]
Book Review: Gardening with Emma, a kid-to-kid guide
It made me want to be a kid again to read Gardening with Emma: A kid-to-kid guide by Emma Biggs (with help from her dad, Steven Biggs). Who wouldn’t want to reconnect with the authentic, childlike wonder and excitement of discovery in the garden? The book arrived at the right time. As I’m now writing a […]
New how-to books on starting seeds and composting
Any beginning gardener would happy to find either – or both – these books under the giving tree. But you don’t have to be a beginner to appreciate them. In the spirit of “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” this experienced gardener filled many gaps in her knowledge in reading them. For […]
Fighting invasive tree-of-heaven
This summer, I’ve been battling tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) like never before. We’ve written before about this struggle, but I’ve never seen it keep coming back so aggressively from the root – till now. Ailanthus is an alien species (read more about it in our previous post), that has become a regular citizen of Toronto’s unguarded laneways and unclaimed […]
Hortus TV for tranquil garden therapy (and a special discount)
[Editor, Nov. 22, 2018: Unfortunately, HortusTV is off the air due to lack of subscribers. What a pity!] I’ve given up watching the late-night news. No need to be reminded that the world is going through a bit of a bad patch. Not right before bedtime. And I can’t always be in the garden – the gardener’s happy […]
Review: Corona Flex-Dial Pruners
When I first saw the Corona Flex-Dial adjustable pruners I wasn’t sure what to make of the dial on the side. But now having tried it out on some of my first pruning jobs of the year I can say that I love these pruners. I tackled a few shrubs, and old yew, a prickly […]
Book reviews: Veggie Garden Remix and The Chinese Kitchen Garden
It doesn’t always happen, but when my review copy of Veggie Garden Remix arrived – the latest garden book by Niki Jabbour – I sat right down and read it. Cover to cover! Jabbour began with a garden best-seller in her Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, which is in something like its eighth or ninth printing now. Her newest is on its way […]
Want to win the Gardener’s Gratitude Journal?
Yes, we publish our own gardener’s journal, but we think there’s room for all of us. Read on and find out how you can win a copy of the new one from B.C. garden writer Donna Balzer and her daughter Chelsie Anderson, The Three-Year Gardener’s Gratitude Journal. Balzer’s journal announces its attitude right from the cover, with fun […]
Book Review: The Monarch – Saving Our Most Loved Butterfly
Odd events can lead us to new passions. A car detour in Pennsylvania to visit the memorial site for the Flight 93 plane in the countryside, was the start of author and gardener Kylee Baumle’s obsession with Monarch butterflies. She and her mother discovered a dead monarch butterfly lying on the ground. Not only did the butterfly […]
A cunning plan for your cutting garden
I didn’t realize as I hastily took this shot (on my way to our group photo for the Garden Bloggers Fling in Washington D.C.) that I was looking at a clever gardening technique. It simply seemed like a handsome steeple in the sweet spot of a colourful garden. It’s the outer edge of the cutting garden at Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens, […]
How I don’t spring-clean the garden
At last! Sunday gave us a day that was springy enough to let us work outside. An afternoon of liberating my pent-up gardener accomplished a lot. But. No matter how eager I was, here are three things I didn’t do to clean up the garden. I didn’t get carried away April 2 in Toronto is a touch early for any drastic garden task […]