A noun. A verb. A blog.
Now that the hardscape portion of our Grand Simplification is complete, let’s step back and evaluate. And, to celebrate the first day of school, I’ve even given grades, using my very arbitrary rubric which is no rubric at all. You judge whether we’re being too easy – or too hard – on ourselves. Circulation: B+ […]
It’s another heat wave. So we thought it worthwhile to repeat these tips for water-wise gardening from May 2009 – still useful, even as we enter July: Okay, the picture exaggerates. But today we’ll get a taste of it, and tomorrow’s forecast is 30˚C and full sunshine. On hot days like tomorrow, it’s smart to […]
Because it’s Saturday night, and because I’m suffering from mild hippopotomontrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words), I thought I’d simply share one of the more unusual water features seen this year, from an Indianapolis garden.
Coal wagon stalled on muddy Ashdale Avenue, a photo by Toronto History on Flickr. When you consider this photo, taken just over a century ago, you realize that Toronto isn’t much beyond its infancy. This is on Ashdale Avenue, just a few blocks from where my home would be built — a couple of decades […]
And by “cheap,” I mean “a really, really good bargain.” The Toronto Master Gardeners has teamed with the Toronto Botanical Garden to sell these rain barrels with a neat history. They’re former food product containers that once travelled the world holding things like olive oil. Now, thanks to a Canadian company, they’re fully rigged up with […]
Here’s a fountain any garden would have space for: A perpetually refilling watering can. One like this captured my imagination at Canada Blooms one year, so I immediately asked the ever-ingenious Mr. TG to figure out how to make one for me. It’s just the kind of challenge he relishes. With a few rocks in […]
The days are lengthening. Round about this time, our dad would say, “Now we’ve broken winter’s back.” Experience tells me it hasn’t happened quite yet, despite this January thaw, but we are headed in that direction. In fact, winter hasn’t yet made a creditable appearance, up here in Toronto. So to find some of Winter’s […]
Getting to know many bloggers in California has introduced me to the concept of lawn controversy: the fact that there is a strong and vocal movement against having lawns altogether. One of my first posts about lawns here got a heated comment from Twitter friend and California blogger Billy Goodnick. He described it as unleashing […]
Okay, the picture exaggerates. But today we’ll get a taste of it, and tomorrow’s forecast is 30˚C and full sunshine. Sudden summer, indeed. Expect your new plants to go into mild to moderate shock till they acclimatize. Bye bye, last of the tulips. Oops, there go the apple blossoms. Many spring flowers will move into […]
In no particular order, here are a few of my wisherful things: • A grey-water recycling system to turn water from showers or dishwashing into garden irrigation – like the one used by the Toronto Healthy House in Riverdale. (But it’s likely I’ll have to satisfy myself with our grandmother’s method. She used a basin […]