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It’s Fall – Time to Redesign Your Garden Space

What are you thankful for today? Today, I am thankful for my new garden up the road – a borrowed garden in someone else’s yard that is so much sunnier than my own. I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with mulching techniques and garden design. In my own small garden, I’ve had to be quite creative about space. I live in a townhouse with a tiny yard, and my tiny yard doesn’t really have room for a big garden bed. For a few years, I tried having a garden bed, but it just didn’t make sense. It was … Continue reading →

Four Ways to Propagate Plants

Growing additional plants from your existing ones can result of plenty of new landscaping for you or to share or exchange with a friend, neighbor or club. Fill out your garden beds or make someone else happy now once you know how. Leaf Cutting Most tropical species, such as begonias and violets can create new plants from leaf cuttings. First select a nice thick leaf. Then, with a sharp razor blade or X-Acto knife, cut the leaf into one-inch sections, making sure that you get a strong part of the vein in each section. Next, place the sections vertically into … Continue reading →

Creating Color: Dye Plants in the Garden

If you have children, you’ll know about some amazing dye plants. Tomatoes (via spaghetti sauce) are pretty good, as are blueberries and cherries, particularly when they’re mashed on a white shirt. While many of us run for the wash at the sight of these glorious fruits being mashed into clothing, some people actively seek out plants that dye cloth. I want to be one of them. I love dyeing silk, and I would love to dye some wool this year. Through my experiments, I’ve discovered a number of plants that make lovely dyes. Over the next few years, I’ll be … Continue reading →

Know Your Seeds: Seed Language

The language of seeds can be intimidating for a new gardener. What’s a hybrid? Hint: it’s not a plant that grows cars. What’s an open pollinated seed? Aren’t all seeds pollinated? Here’s a quick guide to some of the more common seed language you’ll see this winter. Hybrid seeds are created when two lines of seeds with desirable characteristics are crossed, and the resulting seeds are collected. Hybrid seeds are good if you’re looking for a specific characteristic. However, since these seeds breed with the characteristics for a single generation, if you try to save the seed from a hybrid, … Continue reading →

Chilly Yet? Time to Plant a Winter Garden

It’s officially summer, and while the sun might be shining I am thinking about my winter garden. Winter garden? Yes, that’s right. Winter gardens are a summer activity, however hot it might be. Summer time gives your plants the time and warmth they need to grow, and June and July are excellent times to install your winter garden. Those of us in temperate climes have it lucky. If you love food gardening and you don’t want to stop, you can keep on gardening right through the winter time with very little help. Yet winter gardening is possible even in colder … Continue reading →

The Delights of a Fruit-Full Garden

I aspire to be a neighbour who is beloved by the children in our townhouse complex. No, I don’t give out good Halloween candy, and we don’t have any particularly cool toys. Nope, I plan to be the neighbour with the berries. The front yard of our townhouse does not really deserve that moniker. It is a space that is about four metres long and a couple of meters wide. It boasts a lovely miniature maple tree that I can’t bear to get rid of, but the rest of it is covered in berry bushes. Now, I am quite happy … Continue reading →

How to Have a Frugal Garden

Every year when I talk to my husband about gardening, he gets that look in his eye and says, “You know, it isn’t going to be cost effective.” This is because although growing our own food could in fact cut our grocery bill, all that is entailed with actually starting a garden from scratch could cost money. So in dedication to the love of my life, I thought I would come up with some ways to have a frugal garden. My husband’s biggest concern is prepping an area for a garden. Because of our location, we would need fencing to … Continue reading →

Starry Nights, Spooky Blog Tours, and Dachshunds: An Interview with Author Christine Verstraete

This next interviewee’s name may look familiar to you since I’ve interviewed Christine Verstraete before. Last time it was about her miniature doll hobby and the dogs she often includes in her displays. This time around I asked if she’d be interested in talking about Petey, the dachshund who stars in her new book, Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. She again graciously agreed, and added something fun just in time for Halloween: details on her spooky blog tour and how you can enter to win a set of Halloween minis or a copy of her e-book, … Continue reading →

Plan Your Garden

I remember hearing as a child the importance of having a garden. Spencer W. Kimball encouraged every family to have a garden for several reasons. A garden is great opportunity to save money and become more self-reliant. A garden also gives you the opportunity to work together as a family. This is the perfect time of the year to begin to plan your garden. While it is too cold to plant outside, you can still be doing things to prepare for your garden. You may consider the vegetables you want to grow. If you live in an apartment or have … Continue reading →

RS/EQ: How Does Your Garden Grow?

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In the ten years I have been a member of this church, I knew that we were counseled to garden. I’ve heard a number of good reasons. But until I read this lesson, I did not know that we were so strongly encouraged to plant and produce. I really loved the quote from President Kimball on gardening. “We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property.” Not just a little bit, or a couple of flowers and a tomato plant or two. “All…that you feasibly can.” I’m not completely certain we need to … Continue reading →