What to do this week If you are thinking about reducing the area of lawn you have to mow, or any other sort of larger landscaping project, you might want to do your bit to encourage biodiversity and incorporate native plants in your design. I am doing this myself thisRead...

Note:  Climate change is freaking me out. More to the point: our general refusal to acknowledge the threat of climate change is freaking me out. This province is cutting down trees and digging up coal and threatening the health of rivers like it was 1819, not 2019, so I’ve decidedRead More

What to do this week It may seem sometimes like the gardener’s answer to everything is compost. Got sandy, light soil? Add compost to help absorb water and slow the leaching of nutrients. Your soil is heavy, wet, clay? Compost will help the fine, sticky particles clump together and improveRead More

What to do this week It’s about time to start tomato seedlings inside to have them ready for transplanting at the beginning of June. Each year I agonize over the wide variety of colors, textures and sizes available. I grow more than 50 different varieties for seed on a rotatingRead More

What to do this week There may not be any garden insect pests in view just yet but they are still there. They’re slumbering in the soil or the half-rotten dropped fruit you didn’t get a chance to rake up last fall — all waiting for that first warm dayRead More

What to do this week The snow is melting slowly but surely during these sunny days. Many of my small fruit bushes and beds are almost completely uncovered. Small fruit is a term for any fruit not growing on a tree – strawberries, raspberries and the like. Now is theRead More

What to do this week With the prolonged cold weather, there was some serious pouting going on in my house. I wasn’t sure there even should be a column this week and maybe I’m still not certain. But if, like me, you are greatly cheered by a few days ofRead More

What to do this week Right about now is when I finally get tired of frozen and winter root vegetables and start to crave a bite of some tender, fresh greens. Even diligent sprouting of lentils and cress do not assuage the appetite for leafy greens, though they are wellRead...

What to do this week These days, I mark time, waiting for my leeks and onions to sprout and it’s time to start my early spring greens next month. It is a good time to pay attention to the indoor garden and other small tasks. Houseplants, particularly those that spendRead More

What to do this week Most of the vegetables we grow from seed in our gardens are annuals. These seeds are programmed to grow quickly and set seed themselves in a single season. Generally speaking, this means they are easy to germinate, since their reproductive strategy is to hit theRead More