Gardening That Grows With Me
Gardening evolves with knowledge and experience. I have been formally planning my vegetable garden layout on paper for several years now and each year I think I get a little bit better. In addition to learning about plant families, I … Read More
When planning your vegetable garden, consider the benefits of crop rotation. Good crop rotation prevents the build up of pests and diseases in the soil and preserves micro-nutrients. For example, legumes (beans and peas) will actually add nitrogen to the … Read More
I’ve often found it hard to know what shrubs needed pruning when, and with all the new shrubs I have planted or plan to put in this year, this task will get even harder. To help me this year, I’ve … Read More
I experimented with quite a few different garden design software packages. Many of them were very cumbersome or too limited for what I wanted. I eventually found that it was easier to use an Excel spreadsheet by treating it like … Read More
Who would have thought you could make jelly out of something you usually dump down the sink but this is an amazing way to use the water you boil beets in. The first time I made this jelly I cooked … Read More
I love peaches and the best are Southern Ontario peaches picked during the peak of the season (well okay, any local peaches from your local farmer’s market probably taste just as good). I’ve been expanding my repertoire of jams and … Read More
Rhubarb is the first produce we see out of our garden every year. Maybe that’s why I look forward to it so much and love almost everything baked with rhubarb. This is a muffin recipe my kids just love and they … Read More
Do you like your’s hot or cold? Sweet or tart? Whatever the choice, there is nothing better than fresh made rhubarb sauce. Here is our recipe, made with brown sugar in place of some of the white sugar for a … Read More
Given what they charge for crème brûlée in restaurants I always thought it was hard to make. Then I discovered this recipe for rhubarb crème brûlée in a Foodland Ontario flyer provided by one of our local farm stands and was so surprised … Read More
The lusher our garden becomes, the more wildlife we see. Birds, rabbits, deer, chipmunks, squirrels, even garter snakes are now common place in our yard. Isn’t that great you say? Well perhaps, but couldn’t they be better house guests? I … Read More
I know it’s still officially spring and that peonies, irises & weigela are technically spring blooming plants, but I always think of June as the promise of summer to come. The blooms are bigger, brighter and more intense than the … Read More
I’ve got a pretty good green thumb when it comes to outdoor plants and the vegetable garden. On top of that I love to experiment. We’ve grown our own sweet potatoes, celery, kidney beans, black beans and even pak choi … Read More
Spring may have arrived late this year but it has been almost picture perfect. For the past several years, unseasonably warm weather in April and early May meant that most plants began to leaf out and put on blooms early, … Read More
I don’t care what the calendar says or what the weather was like yesterday, you can always count on a good chance of frost in southern Ontario even into the end of May. Having said that, I always jump the … Read More
I’ve been away from garden blogging for a while. Having returned to work this past winter my energies were focused elsewhere and that meant taking a break from gardening and garden blogging. Perhaps that’s healthy. I’m now ready to start … Read More
With back to school time approaching, I was looking for ways to create new, fast, but healthy on the go breakfasts and snacks that my boys could eat on the drive to and from school. Their new school is a … Read More
“A sweet wine jelly infused with mint and rosemary”. For our first try at mint flavoured wine jelly, we used a Voignier wine that was a bit passed it’s prime — and it worked wonderfully. I’ve made wine based jelly … Read More
If you are wondering what to do with all those extra cherry tomatoes from the garden, one option is to slow roast them in the oven with a little garlic. The extra sweet nature of cherry tomatoes make these a … Read More
It has been a terrific summer to enjoy the outdoors this year and at the same time it has been a busy summer for most gardeners. Flower pots had to be watered constantly, often twice daily, to keep up with … Read More
“If I Had $1000000 We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner. (But we would eat Kraft Dinner. Of course we would, we’d just eat more. And buy really expensive ketchup with it. That’s right, all the fanciest Dijon Ketchup. Mmmmmm.)” … Read More