What to do this week Now that the leaves are being blown off by the fall winds that have finally arrived, it is a good time for hardwood propagation of some of your perennial bushes. Gooseberries and currants are what I am working on this week, but you can doRead 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 Gardening is a year-round pleasure, or obsession, depending on how hard you have fallen. There is always something to do, whether it be preparing for winter, preparing for spring, preparing for summer…you get the picture. This time of year, most gardeners are busy between theRead 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 It must be green tomato season, unless you have been as lucky as I have been and are enjoying ripe tomatoes too. Local tomatoes had a bit of a slow start this year. It was cool, and then it was dry, so the plants didn’tRead More

What to do this week It is getting to be dry-bean time, especially since we may be getting excess rain (or even frost) very soon, making it a tricky time of year for beans. You may have planted dry beans deliberately. Certain varieties of bean are specific to dry beansRead More

Really, this was my fault. Stephanie hadn’t wanted to do it this way at all. She thought it would be better for one of us to fly to St John’s, rent a car, and visit farmers in the surrounding area. With only six days to work with, it was aRead More

What to do this week If there is one thing that is true about gardeners, it is that we are always thinking ahead. You might think we would all be busy enjoying what we have grown, or perhaps be scattered in multiple directions picking and processing everything that is comingRead More

What to do this week Gardens may have to be watered mid-summer, and maybe even fed, but not quite as much as you might expect. We have been having a rather dry spell, so the current rain is very welcome on my farm. I have drip irrigation in certain delicateRead More

What to do this week I don’t know about you, but this time of year I think a lot about garden pests. I do like to put science in this column once in a while, so maybe it is time for a little biology lesson. This is prime breeding seasonRead More