My Everchanging Garden

Gardening That Grows With Me

Welcome to my garden blog

I love to garden. I also love to experiment. Throw the two together and you have my everchanging garden.

In 2004 we purchased a little over 2 acres in the country in Southern Ontario. My garden has taken many twists and turns since then and I have made many discoveries along the way. My blog is a simple record of how our garden landscape has changed over the years. I also post our family recipes, something I can refer to easily and share among family and friends.

I post here for my own garden record. It’s my garden journal and bullet journal of to-do lists and goals. If you manage to stumble upon a page or two, I hope you enjoy a little of what is here.

Latest from the Blog

Embracing Early Spring Planters

Category: Let's Talk Gardening

spring planters on the kitchen patio

For years, I’ve skipped the whole early spring planting ritual. You know the one—those cheerful little violas, pansies, daffodils, and primulas that brave the inconsistent temperatures of March and early April. My reasoning was based mostly on being practical: Our temperatures don’t reliably stay above freezing until mid-April I thought why go through all that… Read more »

My 2025 Garden Vision: More Changes Ahead

Category: Let's Talk Gardening

Last year, I discovered the power of writing down my garden design objectives. What began as a simple bucket list for 2024 transformed into a valuable roadmap that kept me focused throughout the season. It’s not like I worked on one project at a time until completion – I did follow my usual habit of… Read more »

Keeping Track of My Seed Spending

Category: Let's Talk Gardening

Like any gardener, I have a weakness for seeds (and yes, plants and tools too, but let’s focus on one obsession at a time). While I dutifully try to plan ahead each December, making detailed lists of what I need, the siren song of seed displays proves irresistible. Whether at garden centers, hardware stores, or… Read more »

Garden Bed Edging Project

Category: Let's Talk Gardening

Creating clean, defined borders in the garden has transformed both the look and maintenance of our outdoor space. While I’ve always appreciated the semi-formal aesthetic that crisp edging brings to garden beds, the decision to edge all our borders was equally driven by practicality. Our robotic lawn mower has become a much more efficient gardening… Read more »

Braised Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs

Category: Let's Talk Recipes

Easy and very flavourful INGREDIENTS 1.1 kg deboned chicken thighs, clean off extra skin 1 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon mirin 4 teaspoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 1 sprig rosemary chopped DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 450F Combine all sauce… Read more »

Christmas Cookies & Cocktails

Category: Let's Talk Recipes

What happens when you mix sweet treats, signature cocktails, and five friends? A lot of fun! Recently, I hosted our neighborhood ladies for a Cookies & Cocktails afternoon. I thought it would be fun to combine my love of baking with some festive libations (which I’m new to). Here are the cocktail recipes that accompanied… Read more »

Classic Rolled Shortbread Cookies

Category: Let's Talk Recipes

I adore the idea of making festive cutout cookies during the holidays – but traditional sugar cookies are just too sweet for me, and we don’t like icing on our cookies either. Since I’m a big fan of buttery shortbread, I figured – why not try shortbread cutouts instead? I asked Claude (my AI assistant… Read more »

Rice Flour Shortbread

Category: Let's Talk Recipes

hand written shortbread recipe

I got this recipe from my mom, who got it from Claudette (whom I don’t even know!). It’s fun to see how recipes are passed around, even without the internet. I adjusted it slightly and added a few more instructions based off my test baking of the recipe. INGREDIENTS 1 pound butter, well-softened 1 cup… Read more »