Savvy Gardening

Succession planting for a non-stop harvest

by Niki Jabbour

As the last tomato seedlings are tucked into the garden in late spring, many gardeners turn off their grow lights for the season. Not me! In fact, my grow lights are left on throughout summer to ensure a non-stop supply of high quality seedlings for succession planting.

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5 Mini melons for small gardens and containers

by Jessica Walliser

Melons do not mind their manners – at least as far as their growth habits are concerned. A single rambling vine a of standard melon variety can cover up to 100 square feet of garden space, and many gardeners don’t have that kind of room to spare. It’s sad to think that delicious and nutritious homegrown melons are taken off the menus of many gardeners because of space restrictions. This is specially true knowing that it doesn’t have to be this way. Bush-type mini melons for small gardens are the perfect choice, taking up little room yet producing much like their full-sized brethren.

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Grafted tomatoes

by Niki Jabbour

For the past few years, I’ve been hearing more and more about grafted tomatoes. Last year was the first time they were offered at garden centres in my region, but I took a pass. It seemed like there was a lot of hype surrounding them, and my penny-pinching self didn’t want to pay $12.99 for a single tomato seedling. This year, grafted tomatoes are back, with even more glitzy advertising, and so I threw in the trowel and added an ‘Indigo Rose’ grafted tomato to my garden. Continue Reading
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Lost ladybugs

by Jessica Walliser

Over 30 years ago, three native ladybug species, the 9-spotted, the 2-spotted, and the transverse ladybug, were very common across Eastern North America. But, starting in the late 1980s, their numbers began to decline. In fact, the 9-spotted ladybug, New York’s state insect, hadn’t been spotted in the state in well over 20 years! One of the most common ladybug species in the Northeastern U.S. had seemingly vanished, only to be found in sparse populations in parts of the Mid-West. Continue Reading
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Garlic scape pesto

by Tara Nolan

I planted lots of garlic last fall—four garlic varieties and so much that I need another raised bed or two to fit my other veggies. I like to grow garlic because many of the recipes I use to make sauces and dressings, and other tasty dishes calls for it. Another reason is that garlic provides two harvests: the delightfully loopy garlic scapes and, of course, the cloves. Continue Reading
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Why garden in fabric pots?

by Tara Nolan

There was a theme that connected much of a recent trip to Québec City: fabric pots. They were in front of the parliament building, on a rooftop garden, in public gardens. The pots ranged in size from small to large; some held a single plant, like a tomato, others had various herb combinations. But the most remarkable use of these fabric pots was found in a couple of gardens that created these fabulous willow arches—almost like a living pergola. The one shown here at the top of the article was at the Maison de Lauberivière, part of the rooftop garden that sits atop Québec City’s largest homeless shelter.
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