What to do this week You might need a garden shovel or something similar in the next month or so, who knows, but generally, this is the time of year you should be cleaning, organizing and storing your garden tools for winter. It is a good idea to put yourRead More

What to do this week From the chill in the air it seems that this week is a good week to talk about fall activities in the garden. Between now and the end of October is official root pruning season. If you have any plants you want to divide orRead...

What to do this week This week can be all about tidying up in the garden, especially around your fruit trees and berry bushes. Of course you will be busy with harvest, that goes without saying, but these perennials also need some attention now. Let’s talk about apples first. YouRead More

What to do this week This week, we have a success report from Madeline about her globe artichoke overwintering experiment, and some encouragement to think about the early spring pruning of your trees and bushes. Let’s start with pruning. The little bit of snow we are getting this week mayRead More

Sorry for the radio silence here. I have been ill — in the hospital actually. Nothing serious or life-threatening, my nice Doctor says stress and overwork. Working 16-hour days, seven days a week for four months straight was not a good idea. Turns out I am not superwoman. Crap. IRead More

What to do this week This week is a good time to care for your fruit trees and shrubs before winter. The first thing to do is to clip the grass short around them. If you leave the grass long, the snow cover will leave little tunnels for mice. TheyRead More

What to do this week Eat! You’ve put 38 weeks’ worth of hard and noble labor into your fall harvest, now it’s time to enjoy it. Michelle Smith and Madeline Yakimchuk are taking a well-deserved week off, so the Spectator decided to ask some of the people involved with theRead More

What to do this week This time of year there is a lot going on for gardeners. You may be very busy figuring out how to store your harvest. This week is a good time to review a few basic storage tips for the most common Cape Breton garden products.Read More

This year my farm has seen a succession of middle to top predators with catastrophic consequences for the chicken population and, by extension, my livelihood. A raucous crowd of ravens was first, flying boldly into the barn and coming out with whole eggs in their beaks. I was sure they wereRead More

What to do this week Let’s talk a little about summer pruning. Most things get pruned in the spring or the fall, but then again, there is the tomato. You can’t get serious about tomatoes without getting involved with the tomato pruning controversy. People always ask me where I standRead More