Savvy Gardening

Succession planting: 3 crops to plant in early August

Oh mid-summer, how I love you! With the recent stretch of hot weather, we’re now knee deep in beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini, and every meal revolves around what’s ready to pick. Yet, as I pull the early crops from the garden – bolted lettuce, spent peas, and mature garlic – it’s time to think about succession planting to ensure that we have homegrown veggies and herbs for the coming months. Here are three of my favourite crops that should be seeded now (early August).

Pinching annuals to promote dense growth

Written by Niki Jabbour

A few weeks ago, I posted about deadheading annuals, a simple, but essential task to encourage container plants, like petunias, to bloom heavily and for the longest possible time. As I was deadheading last week, I noticed that some of my petunias are looking a little leggy. Maybe even (gasp!) scraggly? Deadheading spent blooms won’t fix that, so it was time to get pinchy. Pinching annuals by removing their overgrown and leggy stems will spur fresh growth, thicken up plants, and encourage a new flush of blossoms.

Three things to do with your zucchini harvest

Written by Tara Nolan

Are you sick of zucchini yet? Are you foisting your harvest on unsuspecting neighbours and family? I think I hit a bit of a zucchini-eating-threshold each year—if my crop is not afflicted with any zucchini pests or diseases. When I have interesting zucchini recipes at my fingertips, sometimes I’m able to forget that zucchini is even part of the meal. So it takes longer to hope that I’m at the end of my crop.
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Berry recipes for your blueberries, raspberries and gooseberries

Written by Tara Nolan

I love this time of year so much. Things are starting to ripen in my garden and whatever I’m not growing, I can readily find at the farmer’s market. In my mind, berries are best enjoyed when they’re in season, but if you want to preserve those sweet flavours for the rest of the year, you can freeze them or turn them into preserves—or even popsicles! Here, I’ve gathered a few berry recipes together that will hopefully inspire you to preserve your own harvest.
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Savvy summer gardening tips to keep your gardens in top shape

Written by The Savvy Experts

By mid-summer, perennial gardens can start to look overgrown, annual flowers begin to fade, and bugs may be munching on your vegetables. Savvy Gardening is here to help! We thought we’d share some of our top summer gardening tips for revitalizing your flower gardens and keeping those veggies in high production all summer long.

Bolting lettuce: when good lettuce goes bad

Written by Niki Jabbour

Ah lettuce; the most popular of the salad greens, offering a long season of sweet, crispy leaves. It’s one of my favourite veggies and I plant at least two dozen varieties each year, enjoying the variation of leaf textures and colours. For us, the lettuce harvest begins in our cold frames in early spring, followed by the open garden from late spring through early summer. And, just when I think the lettuce harvest will never end, the summer heat kicks in and I’m surrounded by beds of bolting lettuce.