A noun. A verb. A blog.
Can social change grow alongside art in a garden? I’ve been mulling this question over since Sarah and I returned from the annual garden bloggers’ meet-up, known as the Fling. This year, the Fling was flung in the trendy Appalachian town of Asheville, North Carolina. The Battersby Girls (plus Sarah’s son J, a good sport) were the sole […]
Little did I think that when I dropped by The Stop Community Food Centre Green Barn at the Wychwood Barns on Thursday that Jamie Oliver would be hot on my heels. Sure enough, the super chef, food activist and all round cute guy visited The Stop the very next morning. Ah, my almost-brush-with-greatness. In the […]
Savoy cabbage is one of many cole crops that like a touch of frost. With a few exceptions (we still have some carrots to harvest), we wrapped up our community garden plot back in October. But, next year, I won’t be so hasty. The pictures here, snapped a day or so ago, are reminders that […]
Too much direct sun, especially along with unusually hot weather, can be a bad thing if you’re a ripening tomato. It’s one factor that can lead to the colour disorder shown above, which goes by names including yellow eye, yellow shoulder and green shoulder. Some tomatoes, particularly some heirlooms, grow naturally with a bit of […]
Before the end of July 2010, we’ve harvested radishes, many bouquets of frilly lettuce, a kilo or more of bush beans, and nearly that in tomatoes, with more to come. Not to mention the flowers. Aren’t they all pretty? The contrast between this year’s and last year’s tomato harvest alone from our community garden is […]
Who in this metricized, largely urban world even knows what a peck is anymore? In grade six, when our family was living in a rural community, our class had to memorize all the Imperial agricultural measurements: 2 pints in a quart 4 quarts in a gallon 2 gallons in a peck 4 pecks in a […]
Our little 0.0018 acre looks a whole lot neater than it did last year. If you were reading Toronto Gardens then, you might recall our very late start in July 2009 as brand new plot owners at the East York Community Garden. Earlier this year, I described how Mr. TG created raised beds using cedar […]
When our youngest daughter was in 6th grade, she had to write a two-page short story. At page five, she was still writing, so I asked her why. “I can’t help it,” she exclaimed. “Things just keep happening!!” Things just keep happening on the garden calendar, too. Sunday, May 2nd is no exception, and one […]
Yesterday was opening day at East York Community Garden. When this picture was taken, the crowds had gone home for a well-deserved rest after many hours of digging, de-sodding, tidying and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. In my Compost Queen role, I worked with volunteer Yves to construct a mountain of overturned sod – […]
Parents of high school students likely know that to graduate in Ontario kids need to complete 40 hours of volunteer time. Some do more. If yours are still looking for ways to contribute their time, read on. From April 18 to May 7, 2010, Change the World: Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge hopes to get 10,000 students […]
A week ago, we put our baby (allotment) to bed. Our community garden project of Summer 2009 was a qualified success. It got us back into the vegetable gardening groove, something my husband and I hadn’t done since becoming parents, nearly 25 years ago. And it gave us modest returns on our investment and labours; […]
Frost hit my community garden plot over Thanksgiving weekend. And there is a frost warning in the city for tonight, about a week ahead of the statistical average for downtown Toronto – though right on target for the northern part of the city. Bring in those tender plants! With such a clearly demarcated end-of-season, it’s […]