A noun. A verb. A blog.
Any beginning gardener would happy to find either – or both – these books under the giving tree. But you don’t have to be a beginner to appreciate them. In the spirit of “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” this experienced gardener filled many gaps in her knowledge in reading them. For […]
Our Flowtron Leaf Eater, a little battle-scarred, but still working four years later Today was perfect for leaf shredding. The sun was shining, and the leaves were dry. So that’s how I spent my afternoon. Because we love our leaves, and so do our gardens. They really, really do. Since I wrote about my leaf […]
Toronto’s Dufferin Waste Management Facility Now I’m gonna talk garbage – more precisely, the stuff we Torontonians put in our Green Bins, and what happens to it. Ever wonder about that? Earlier this month, three other Master Gardeners and I were invited by the Compost Council of Canada to join a day-long tour of organic […]
The delightfully named “dog vomit fungus”, aka dog vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica) Talk about going from the sublime to the real-ick-ulous on the Toronto Gardens blog! Look what bloomed – overnight – on my worm condo. When I say “overnight,” I mean that the slimy yellow barflike substance frothed up over the lid and […]
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 – […]
In my other life as a designer I’m involved in a project involving Alchemy as a symbol. This got me thinking as I was looking at the little – er, increasingly massive – pile of eggshells and tea bags I’d set aside to add to my worm composter. (The city isn’t getting this good stuff, […]
How quick come the reasons for approving what we like. – Jane Austen Today, I used my new purchase for the first time, and have to say the Flowtron Electric Leaf Eater pretty much (or pretty mulch) lived up to its billing: it shredded mountains of leaves, wet and dry, quickly and conveniently. The worst […]
This is one reason why I wish I had an electric lawn mower: to chop autumn leaves into bite-sized, easily composted pieces. This is a trick you can use now. My rickety, ancient push mower (all I can justify for my narrow strip of grass, which soon might disappear completely) doesn’t have the ooomph required. […]
Black tar spot of maples (Rhytisma acerinum) is one of the few excuses I can accept for sending your leaves off in the yard waste truck. Toronto gardeners have likely noticed this unsightly fungal disease over the past few years. It manifests as dime- or quarter-sized black spots on leaves, hitting many kinds of maple […]
Linda from Crafty Gardener has alerted us to a new way to revisit some of our blogging blasts from the past – to introduce them to new readers and because some things are just worth repeating. This great idea comes from Happy To Design, who hosts links to reprises from bloggers everywhere. This post, written […]
With the garbage strike on, and no system in place to get rid of your green waste, unless you have a backyard composter, it’s a great time to worm your way back… to vermicomposting. I experimented with this in the early 90s, but the standard bin left too much room for escaping worms. I gave […]