King Corn, like most monarchs, is demanding of land and resources, requiring high inputs like fertilizer, water and pest control. True, it rewards the effort with impressive yields; so much so that in an age when we thought oil was forever, with the agrichemicals it provided, corn became the dominantRead...

What to do this week If you are doing what I am doing this week, it has to do with tomatoes. By now your beans should be planted, or you are also planting them, but your squash, not yet. Squash will be bothered by the few cool days we areRead...

What to do this week There are tricks to beating the pest cycle in the garden. Knowing the life-cycle of the one you want to beat and figuring out a work-around is critical. Having problems with cucumber beetle? They are expanding their range with climate change and are becoming anRead More

What to do this week This week you should be hardening off your precious seedlings. Take your plants from their sheltered environment, whether it is the house or cold frame or greenhouse, and gradually get them used to the real world where they are going to grow. This is notRead More

B’Spoke Apparel: Addendum In this week’s edition, I reviewed some recently awarded CBRM tenders, including one for clothing for Transit Authority employees that was won by B’Spoke Apparel of Halifax. I noted that B’Spoke is owned by 180 Moda which is owned by Taura Lee (aka Taura Publicover). Here’s theRead More

What to do this week Managing your greenhouse may be on your mind this week. Hopefully people who do have greenhouses have things in there by now. But if you haven’t moved things out, it is time to start doing it. Things like your onion transplants should all be inRead More

What to do this week Soon we will be getting very itchy to plant, but how do you tell for sure that your soil is ready? One of the most common questions I get this time of year is if it is time to plant yet, and I always say,Read More

Confessions of a bad reporter I forgot about Ports Day — Port Days? Ports Days? — whatever it is, I forgot about it. I know, right? How does that happen? How does the most port-obsessed person in Sydney forget Port-a-palooza? I can only plead temporary sanity. This week, I was apparentlyRead More

It’s fair to say that a user-friendly discussion of the dairy industry in Canada would be in order right about now. With the current upheaval in trade talks, the media is over-run with pundits beating the drum for and against our present system of supply management, but the average personRead More

What to do this week This is the time for tending to bushes and shrubs, or perhaps dividing them, so let’s talk about that. If you have lilac, or elderberry, currants of course, rose bushes very often (especially the rugosa roses) or anything that is sending up little clones ofRead More