Blog Feed – The Trials and Tribulations of an Urban Farmer

Club Barbados, Resort and Spa and Hunte's Garden

16 Feb 202016 Feb 2020

Last week I wrote about our first trip to Barbados in 2001. After many years away from the beautiful sun and sand, we finally made a return trip to the…

Inspirations…

Barbados and The Box of Secret Stuff

9 Feb 202011 Feb 2020

I have a box marked “Secret Stuff”. It is from a time before digital images and documents floating in the cloud. It doesn’t really contain secrets but rather memories of…

art

Nature Meets Art

2 Feb 20202 Feb 2020

I have been gardening since I was a little girl. I have also always loved art. Education in 1980s Ontario required a certain number of art classes and the funneling…

Why Pesticide Free Gardens Matter: Honeybees and Me

26 Jan 202026 Jan 2020

I was attending a conference at the Seneca College campus during a quiet study week this past October. Over lunch attendees were given the opportunity to take a tour of…

Garden Crops…

Fish are Garden Friends

19 Jan 202021 Jan 2020

Goldfish arrived in our home in the mid-90s. My oldest daughter was spending some summer break time with her grandparents when she came across an old fish tank in the…

A Canadian Winter Garden

12 Jan 202013 Jan 2020

I spent an hour gardening outside on January 3 in Canada. This is not west coast, temperate Canada, but middle-of-the-country should be really cold and snowy winter Canada. We had…

A Garden Trip to Nova Scotia

5 Jan 202012 Jan 2020

I asked my son Gavin if there was some place he would like to go on a family trip. He immediately responded “Scotland!” Although he was in his early twenties,…

Top 10 Garden Resolutions

29 Dec 201929 Dec 2019

While I generally avoid unrealistic goals like weight loss and fortune finding, I do like to make positive plans for times ahead. As I look back at what was great…

A Trip to the Emerald Isle

22 Dec 201922 Dec 2019

The first time I crossed the border I was 23 and we were on our honeymoon. We had time in between hotels and my new husband thought it would be…

How I Crafted our Holiday Wreath

15 Dec 201922 Dec 2019

The first Christmas wreath I made was of grape wines from the backyard of our first home. I wove the vines together and added ribbons and ornaments. Thirty years later…

Dog

Dogs in the Garden

8 Dec 201915 Dec 2019

My oldest brother Mark had a poodle when we were growing up. I was only two when the dog came to live with us and though I have vague memories…

The Top Six Reasons for Community Gardens

1 Dec 201922 Dec 2019

I was inspired to reconsider the uses of my own little plot of earth five years ago when I first visited the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Located a…

Planting Good Seeds for Change

24 Nov 20191 Dec 2019

My husband says I could never let a plant die. I do have fern that I received before I married him. His mother gave it to me to see how…

Zero Budget Gardening Tips

17 Nov 201922 Dec 2019

Money has been one of my biggest gardening challenges over the years. I married just two months after graduating from university and soon after that, we were expecting our first…

How to Grow the Biggest Sunflower

10 Nov 201922 Nov 2019

I have always loved sunflowers. When I was growing up, I would only see them on vacation in Southern Ontario. The growing season where I lived was not usually long…

Sowing Poppies for Wally, John and Jean

3 Nov 201922 Dec 2019

Wally and John My Mom always made sure I had some quarters to put in the box at school on Poppy Day. Though I had never seen a real poppy,…

Gardens Past and Pumpkins

27 Oct 201922 Dec 2019

This week is all about Halloween. Although jack-'o-lanterns were originally carved from turnips, pumpkins are now the standard. While I have baked my share of pies and carved a good…

Keeping Squirrels out of the Hanging Baskets

20 Oct 201922 Nov 2019

Critters can invade any garden. Pollinators including bees are indispensable to growth. Spider mites, like those that devoured my friend Carsey’s newly planted balcony garden, are unwelcome. Furry creatures can…

Growing Conditions for Cherry Tomatoes

13 Oct 201922 Nov 2019

This weekend marks Canadian Thanksgiving. I am not sure why it is earlier than that of our American counterparts, but I am guessing it is because it tends to get…

Spring Gardening in Colder Climates

6 Oct 201930 Nov 2019

I grew up in a mining city in Northern Ontario. Up there snow can arrive as soon as September and doesn't usually disappear until mid-May. The Southern Ontario Victoria Day…