We saw this field of sunflowers in Essex County while visiting my parents. Now I’m excited to plant a major patch for myself next year.
Drying Onions and Garlic
I harvested both our onions and garlic this week and am now drying them for storage. Onions are ready for harvesting when the tops have started to yellow and have fallen over. Garlic is ready to harvest once the leaves start to turn yellow. Wait for a dry day about a week after the majority… Read more »
It’s Potato Season
We have been harvesting potatoes at least two times a week for the past couple of weeks now. Our potatoes were planted in a brand new garden this year and while we removed a lot of rocks from the soil prior to planting there were still quite a few in the ground we found when… Read more »
My Life Is Ruled By The Weather
We’ve had a great summer so far — lots of rain from thunderstorms but also lots of sun and heat. As most gardeners do, I plan my day or week based on what the weather predicts. This week, with both my kids in camp and sunny weather predicted all week, I decided it would be… Read more »
Zucchini Overload!
What do you do with all that extra zucchini in the garden? Our favourite way to eat zucchini is grilled on the BBQ with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Next up are slices fried in garlic and olive oil until still crispy. I also cut up zucchini for use in rice and… Read more »
Bounty From The Garden
Summer is here and the vegetable garden is really in full swing. After enjoying much of our early season harvest of peas, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and kholrabi we are now enjoying the bounty from our summer garden. We picked all of the vegetables in the above picture today and still have a red cabbage… Read more »
Fall Webworm
The Fall Webworm (Hypantria cunea), a native pest found throughout North America, is now upon us. The fall webworm forms a large web sometimes one metre long over the ends of branches of birch, ash, Manitoba maple, flowering crab, and many other deciduous trees. The webs are can easily be seen during August and September… Read more »
Japanese Beetle Peak Season Arriving
We are definitely approaching the peak of the Japanese Beetle season. In our area, just north of Brantford, Ontario adult Japanese Beetles start appearing in early July but their peak season is from around the last week in July to mid-August. The Japanese Beetle is a serious problem for both turf and ornamental plants. Grubs… Read more »
When It Rains, It Pours!
As a gardener I often get very frustrated with the weatherman. I mean really, sometimes they can’t even get the weather prediction correct a day ahead. Saturday’s weather though made it very apparent why predicting the weather can be so difficult. The forecast called for a chance of thunderstorms with rain predicted in the 2-5mm… Read more »
Sulphur To Control Blackspot
Rosa ‘Lilli Marlene’ is another healthy rose that has stayed in my garden. Lilli Marlene is a floribunda rose with clusters of deep red blooms among dark green foliage. In order to help combat black spot during the hotter weather I have been using lime-sulfur this year as a preventative. I also removed a large… Read more »