How to stop squirrels digging up bulbs

The pesky squirrel problem makes people want to stop planting bulbs. Those darned critters seem to have radar, and know exactly when and where you’ve planted your bulbs – then they dig them up and either eat them, or plant them in someone else’s garden. Grrrrr. But don’t despair. I used to be one of those people, […]

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Make a woven leaf wreath

Quick! Before all those beautiful fall leaves get crunchy or covered by snow! Run out and gather a handful of the prettiest leaves to make this wreath. I made a leaf wreath yesterday, inspired by online pal and brilliant contemporary basketmaking artist Kari Lønning. (Skip over to Kari’s Facebook page for examples of her work.) Here’s how I did […]

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This is an espaliered Belgian fence

We should be grateful to Philippe Kahn, credited with inventing the camera-phone, back in 1997. (Or not, according to C-Net.) Whomever the mastermind, he (or she!) ensured we could have a camera, all the time and everywhere. So as we walked briskly past this fence near Woodbine Park one evening this May, I could follow up my double-take with the […]

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Making fish box troughs

Let’s focus here on just one of many reasons to love the garden of Lee and Jerry Shannon on the Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling*: Alpine troughs made from recycled fish coolers. Yes, that’s right. Fish troughs. Even while photographing them, I had no idea they weren’t concrete, stone or hypertufa, but styrofoam. This row of troughs […]

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Growing An Oak Tree From An Acorn: Part 1

Walking in the ravine today I noticed quite a few acorns and picked up about six or seven. I’d recently listened to an interview with wildlife and biodiversity expert and entymologist Doug Tallamy where he talked about growing an oak tree from an acorn and thought, yes, I would like to get on that bandwagon. Trees […]

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Making a water trough planter

A welcoming way to break in garden equipment – invite it to a party and put it to work This wasn’t why we bought the trough, but as a happy coincidence it arrived at our house just before a Big Birthday. Post-Prosecco we put it (and another just like it) to work in another way: […]

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Treated myself to a tulip (photo) safari

Corner store tulips, taken with Camera+ app – cropped as Golden Rectangle; Miniaturize filter applied. What could be an easier than treating myself to an afternoon walk down the Danforth, looking at corner-store tulips through the eye of my iPhone? Then taking a few self-indulgent minutes with neat camera apps, making pretty pictures – prettier? […]

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In which I make a fragrant-ish wreath

My completed fragrant-ish wreath (and a great reflection of the new kindergarten wing across the street) A couple of weeks ago, Twitter started it all with a link to this post by Shannan at Flower Patch Farmgirl. In it, she tells how she dried orange slices to make an orange garland. Cute! It reminded me […]

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My straw bale gardening failure

My naked bales did grow the cool ink cap mushrooms called Tippler’s Bane. Don’t eat them if you’re drinking alcohol! I’m a failure – or, a bailure – at straw bale gardening. It was a failure months in the making when, from all I’d read, I’d anticipated easy-peasiness. Sadly, not so here. Read my bale […]

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Hyacinths: She forced us!

Hyacinthus orientalis ‘Delft Blue’ – the camera turns it more purple than the soft blue of real life So glad I didn’t plant hyacinths last fall – or, rather, so glad I didn’t plant all of them. I held back six extra-fragrant ‘Delft Blue’ hyacinths from Botanus to try forcing. And now, when you step […]

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