A noun. A verb. A blog.
Miriam Goldberger and Paul Jenkins (with the lovely Penny) at Wildflower Farm As if three 13-hour days of the Toronto Garden Bloggers Fling weren’t excitement enough, and an optional fourth day in Niagara didn’t do us in, on the fifth day Sarah organized an outing to native seed producer Wildflower Farm. We confess that while […]
Glorious sweet peas – wish our blog had smell-o-vision. Some seeds, like sweet peas, must be nicked or scratched to help them germinate. That’s called scarification. Other seeds need to be subjected to long periods of cold; even frozen. Stratified, in horticultural terms. For others, fire is as necessary to the seed as food and […]
An ad in the Yonkers Herald Statesman [PDF], March 30, 1961 1962-3 was a stressful year for our family, full of upsets and changes. We’d moved again. Ten times in my ten (and Sarah’s seven and a half) years. But somehow, that spring, this pair of rootless sisters became owners of a Punch ‘n Gro. […]
The VegeQuarium, one of the creative ideas at FoodShare’s Canada Blooms booth Imagine a self-sustaining seed starter that turns the fish poo-ey water from your aquarium into both hydration and nutrition. Not only is that just plain clever, it’s one of my favourite gems from this year’s Canada Blooms – but if you blink, you […]
A tomato plant is indeed a beautiful thing. Don’t throw out that coffee cup! Don’t even toss it in the blue bin! They make great seed starting pots. Poke a hole in the bottom, fill with soil, and plant a few tomato seeds, or anything you want to start from seed. At planting time I […]
I always let out a whoop of delight when I see the first seedlings poking their heads up. Spring has sprung! You may be going crazy wondering where to start if you are planning a vegetable garden by growing from seed. Help is at hand. Some vegetable seeds you baby a little by starting indoors, […]
You’re looking at a greenhouse. No, actually, you’re looking at many teeny tiny greenhouses. Or, they will be, once we get through with them. My Number One Dot and I have embarked on an adventure in winter seed starting, inspired and informed by the Garden Faerie blogger Monica Milla and Montreal garden blogger Dirt Gently. Links […]
This little seedling of the Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is one of the small forest that germinates in my garden each spring. The maples are a constant reminder of the old chestnut (as in: saying) in the title. Why would you get seven years of weeds from one year of seeds? One reason is that […]
With the sudden spike in temperature expected over the next three days, I might just have left it a little too late to start sowing these lettuce and salad seeds I’d been saving — samples received through my membership in the Garden Writers Association. I hope not. I’ll be squeezing the seeds into some of […]
This routine from the great English stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard went through my head when I had a rather ironic occurrence this morning. After posting just yesterday about my great idea with the plastic tub greenhouse, I discovered that, due to my own Achilles heel (a massive case of scatterbrained-ness), I forgot to bring my […]
Purple and pink Cupani’s Original are one of the best varieties to grow. I’d say it is the most intensely fragrant sweet pea available. It’s also an heirloom variety, Introduced by Father Cupani, a Franciscan monk in Palermo, Sicily, in 1699. It has deep blue standards and purple wings. You can buy heirloom sweet peas […]
Spring will be springing briefly next week in January, when temps are predicted to rise to the +10-degree range. Apparently, only a couple of Toronto’s winters over the past 157 years have failed to have a January thaw. What an opportunity to get out there and tidy up the straggly tails of the morning glories […]