The Peas Are Here — So Are The Deer

We enjoyed our first snow peas today fresh from the garden but it was a close call. Two nights ago some deer climbed over our 3 foot fence and decided to have dinner. Their tasty meal consisted of just perfect, ready to pick romaine and boston lettuce after which they enjoyed the tops of our… Read more »

San Marzano Plum Tomatoes Under Cloches

We are trying to get a head start on the garden this year since planting everything in a two week time frame can be a bit overwhelming. I purchased 8 small San Marzano Plum tomatoes Monday from a local garden center and rather than nurse them along in the tiny pots for a couple of… Read more »

Window Well Coldframe

Unfortunately my coldframe was full of planted lettuce this spring so that meant no room to put my starter plants out to harden them off. Looking around I decided to use my window wells as cold frames and they worked beautifully.

Worth The Wait – Flowering Dogwood

I planted my Cornus Florida ‘Rubra’, flowering pink dogwood, in 2009 and have been waiting, not always patiently, ever since for it to bloom. With all the cold weather this year many of our spring blooming trees and shrubs have been a disappointment. The magnolia blooms have been hit by freezing temperatures more than once… Read more »

83 Yards Of Mulch — Really!

I’m starting to think perhaps I have too many garden beds. OK never mind, that’s just not possible but 83 yards of mulch does seem a little crazy. So we started out like this: 20 yards of mulch, delivered twice to our driveway, and spread out by ourselves over two weekends. Then we ended like… Read more »

The Red Admirals Are Here

The people friendly Red Admiral butterfly is back in Ontario.  I’ve seen quite a few in the garden since early April but several were out today, I guess enjoying the return to good weather as was I.  Red Admiral caterpillars feed on nettles, and while I don’t have any in my garden I know they… Read more »

Growing Celery in Ontario

Always eager to try something new, I decided to try growing our own celery this year. I thought it would be nice to see if we could have our own fresh celery to add to potato salads during the summer and to my Neapolitan Tomato Sauce at the end of the season. Celery has a… Read more »

Snake In The Garden

It’s getting a little bit crowded in the neighbourhood. While planting potatoes in the back vegetable garden today my husband spotted a rather lazy garter snake. Despite making noise the snake didn’t move so of course my husband had to investigate. What he found thrilled my two sons — a garter snake in the middle… Read more »

More Daffodils, Less Tulips

Once again the rabbits enjoyed the tulips in my garden more than I did. In the past I’ve tried repellent and this year did drop a wire planter over a couple patches but with almost two acres to garden I don’t have the time, or the energy, to run around and cover everything up for… Read more »

Protecting Seedlings From The Elements and Chipmunks

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks. The early arrival of spring in our area pushed many plants ahead at least three weeks pulling forward my spring pruning schedule. Then the cold weather returned which meant watching the weather network nightly to check for the need to cover plants seeded early in the… Read more »