It’s a common tale. A bed of carrots is seeded, they sprout and start to grow, and a harvest of crisp roots beckons in a few short months. Yet, when it comes time to dig the crop, it’s discovered that some of the carrots have forked, developing multiple roots. The multi-rooted carrots may look a little funny and are harder to clean, but forking doesn’t affect the flavour. So, what causes carrots to fork?
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Good carrots gone wrong
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Attracting more bees and pollinators: 6 ways to help our native insects
The worth of pollinators is undeniable. Each year, more than $20 billion dollars of food crops come to fruition across North America because of creatures far smaller than the coin in your pocket. That’s a lot of weight on those tiny shoulders. And unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you know about the troubles facing European honeybee populations. So, with European honeybee numbers at risk and pollination rates dropping, attracting more bees and pollinators is more important than ever. But, what’s a gardener to do? Well, helping native bees is a good place to start. Continue Reading
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Plant milkweed to help save the monarch butterflies
In 2014, I came across one of the most clever uses of a hashtag I’ve seen on social media: #GotMilkweed. The hashtag was part of a campaign launched by the David Suzuki Foundation that aimed to create a monarch butterfly corridor in Toronto. (For readers who live in the U.S. and abroad, David Suzuki is a prominent scientist and environmentalist here in Canada.)
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Forcing forsythia and other spring-flowering branches
Each spring, there comes a point in the winter when I’ve had enough. I’m longing for longer days and warmer weather, so I’ll bring a little bit of spring inside until things warm up enough for spring bulbs and blooms outside. I’ll head out to the yard (usually sometime in March) and snip some forsythia branches, so I can force them to bloom in a vase indoors.
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Five questions with tomato expert Craig LeHoullier
Craig LeHoullier is a bonafide tomato expert, having grown over 1,000 varieties of heirlooms (and a few hybrids) in the past few decades. His first book, Epic Tomatoes (Storey Publishing) quickly became a best-seller, and won the 2016 Gold Award from the Garden Writers Association. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Craig and ask him to share some of his experiences, tips and musings on growing tomatoes, the most popular garden vegetable in North America. Here are my five questions with tomato expert Craig LeHoullier:
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Smack-talking weeds: What is the worst in your garden?
All gardeners are faced with pernicious weeds from time to time, and the Savvy Gardening experts are no different. Here are some of the worst experiences we’ve ever faced with weeds… and how we tackled them (or at least tried to!). Continue Reading
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