What to do this week My plum and pear trees are blooming now and I am getting impatient to plant out the tomatoes. It is still too early yet, though, so I am sublimating the urge by getting a jump on planting the beans and potatoes. We are still likelyRead...

What to do this week The weather is still far from warm and settled and like the rest of Nova Scotia I am waiting on the apple blossoms to start planting my warm weather crops like beans, potatoes and tomatoes. Ideally, the blossoms will give us our marching orders whenRead More

Sino-Nova Scotian relations I honestly don’t know what to make of Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil’s apparently chummy relations with China at a time when Canada and the People’s Republic are barely speaking (and Port of Sydney promoter Albert Barbusci has been cruelly abandoned by his Chinese backers, a factRead More

What to do this week Having got the early spring planting well underway, it is time for me to turn my attention to orchard chores. The trees are budding out and many are already at the green tip stage. It only takes a few days of warm weather for thingsRead More

What to do this week I finally got my tractor going after having it sit all winter and as soon as the soil dries a bit after the recent rains, I will get going on the mid-spring planting. I generally wait until the lilacs are putting out their first leavesRead More

What to do this week The unseasonably cold weather lately doesn’t encourage planting, but soon the days will warm enough that gardeners will engage in their annual game of frost roulette. We all want to get a jump on the season but as we found last June, it can beRead More

Dear Spectator Readers, Mayday! Mayday! I send up this distress call from the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey (a Celtic-knot of history, myth, magic and legend; a place of long-lost glory) in a ‘United’ Kingdom rapidly losing structural and social integrity. In much of the world, today — May Day —Read More

What to do this week Although last week I cautioned against working the soil too soon, one task that should be accomplished just as soon as the soil is dry enough is the planting of young trees and shrubs. I have been busy with that myself the last few days.Read More

The hook for this edition of “A Word from Your Planet” is not just weak, it’s downright imaginary — I’m hanging it on Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP)’s grand plans for our port, which I referenced this week in the Cossitt Heights article. In fact, I’m hanging it on aRead More

What to do this week Michelle Smith is away this week, but don’t worry, she’s got your back as far as early-May gardening is concerned. Back on 3 May 2017, she was urging you to get off your couch and plant some trees: The old saying about it being betterRead More