A noun. A verb. A blog.
It all started with a basement pillar that had been removed, years ago, by a previous owner. The shoring-up they’d done might have once been code. According to the structural engineer we consulted, just in case, it wouldn’t be code now. And our basement project escalated from there. For me, the worst of it wasn’t […]
This brass Y spigot with the ball-valve shut-offs is very easy to operate My heart broke last week when – as temperatures dropped – I had to empty three full rain barrels. It seemed sinful, somehow. A long section of hose on the spigot, backed up by a watering can, let me spot water the […]
For the past few months, this White Clover tool bag has been a decorative feature in my front hall. You could say that my loppers have never looked so good. Among the so-much! I’ve wanted to write about lately, my review for this White Clover tool bag (designed for those awkward shapes like loppers) is […]
‘Therapy’ – Joyce Johnson’s ribbon-winning design in her category at Canada Blooms 2015 – seems like a serendipitous way to begin a post on The Herb Lover’s Spa Book. Geez, it has been a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold few months. The snowy, snowy, snowy weather is finally receding, at least in Toronto. Still, we […]
British writers Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz When you have less, you want more. Especially when you have less time or, in my case, less space and sun in which to grow vegetables at home. So I was excited to receive The Speedy Vegetable Garden, a new Timber Press book about veggies for the impatient […]
This post could have been called, “Andrew Keys broke up my marriage.” It was a long marriage, too; 25 years. Of course, my partner was prickly: a climbing rose (Rosa ‘New Dawn’). And the break-up is only starting, thanks to Keys’ book, Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday […]
Some people live to garden. But, for many of us, gardening is only part of the pleasure of living. We want a nice garden, but we don’t want to be a slave to it. We want to spend some time simply enjoying the fruits of our labour… and with a lot less labour. If that’s […]
Sarah and Helen tag-team for a She Said/She Said review of No Guff Vegetable Gardening by Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs (all illustrations used here are © Mariko McCrae). Sarah: My first impression was, Wow, I love these illustrations! The graphic designer in me really appreciated Mariko McCrae’s fun, whimsical drawings. It sets a friendly tone that […]
Heard of companion planting? It’s the concept of putting plants together – ones that attract pollinators, let’s say, with fruiting plants that need pollinating. In that spirit, I’ve just read two books on vegetable growing that make perfect companions. The first is Garden Rant-er Michele Owens’ Grow the Good Life: Why a Vegetable Garden Will Make You […]
Don’t be mislead by the title of Plants for Atlantic Gardens, Jodi DeLong’s new book from Nimbus Publishing. Atlantic gardeners aren’t the only ones who will find this book useful. Sure, east-coasters deal with a harsher range of climates (as cold as Zone 0!) than we do in our part of the Golden Horseshoe (Zone 5-6). They’re more […]
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 […]
Deadheading can be strangely satisfying. Unlike indoor chores, dishwashing, for instance, where you do the same thing over and over and get the same result—clean dishes—deadheading has a double reward. One, the wonderful cleanup effect Ugly seedheads are off so your garden looks less forlorn and…dead. There’s nothing that perks up a garden like deadheading. […]