Why start your own tomato seeds when you can pop into your local nursery and buy ready-to-plant seedlings? The biggest reason is variety! Your local nursery may have a dozen or so varieties of tomatoes, but growing your own tomatoes from seed allows you to choose from thousands of heirloom, hybrid, and open-pollinated varieties available through seed catalogs. Plus, starting your own tomatoes can save money, especially if you have a large garden.
Read More »Growing tomatoes from seed: A step-by-step guide
Houseplant fertilizer basics: How and when to feed houseplants
Being a houseplant parent can be confusing business! Unlike human babies, houseplants don’t cry when they’re hungry or uncomfortable. Instead, they respond to their environment in different, far more subtle, ways. Knowing when it’s time to feed houseplants is challenging stuff, even for long-time houseplant growers. Today, I’d like to review the basic ins and outs of houseplant fertilizer, and cue you in on how and when to feed your houseplants. Continue Reading
Read More »New plants for 2019 gardens
One of the perks of being a garden writer is I sometimes get to trial new plants and seeds a year before they appear in retail nurseries, garden centres, or catalogues. I may also spot a striking specimen in other trial gardens a year or two before they’re released, or watch someone in the plant world tease new varieties in a talk. And at some point in any given year, my inbox starts to receive sneak peeks at new plant introductions. By the time the growing season rolls around, I’m usually pretty prepared to make recommendations—and seek out my favourites for my pots and plots.
Read More »Vegetables to grow in winter: 8 crops for winter harvesting
I live in a region where winters can be long, cold, and very snowy. But, I still enjoy a homegrown harvest from my vegetable garden year-round. The key to a successful winter harvest is to know the right vegetables to grow in winter and pair them with the right season extenders. That means growing cold tolerant crops in structures like cold frames, mini hoop tunnels, greenhouses, or polytunnels.
Read More »Apartment plants: 15 of the best houseplants for apartment living
Fill your living space with houseplants to improve your mood and help clean the air. While you may think you need a big space to grow houseplants, nothing could be further from the truth. Just like our homes and our bodies, houseplants come in all shapes and sizes. But people who live in apartments, condos, lofts, or other tight living quarters need to think a bit harder about which houseplants are best for them. Thankfully, there are a whole host of perfect apartment plants for even the most petite home. Continue Reading
Read More »Drying herbs and flowers to make gifts from the garden
In the spring and summer, as some of my herbs and flowers grow lush and full, I snip a little sprig here, a few blooms there, and I bring them inside. I don’t like anything going to waste, but there’s no way I can work oregano or mint into every meal while it’s in season. So I save them to dry for when I do need them. I’ll brew some for tea and toss pinches of this or that into a soup or stew. However, this past summer, I also had something else in mind when I was drying herbs and flowers from the garden: gifts.
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