DIY test for garlic stem & bulb nematode

Holy carp guys. What I am about to share is going to CHANGE MY LIFE. My gardening life anyway. Or more specifically, my garlic-growing life. Last year (um yeah… that was my last post… don’t judge) I published my heartbroken post of discovering what my years-long problem had been with my garlic, which was to…

Dashed garlic dreams

I’ve been growing an increasing amount of garlic at my family farm for about 5 years now, but over the last two harvests I’ve been really disappointed in the quality of it, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It looked like rot. The wrappers were yellowed, the roots more or less missing from…

Rooting herbs to carry them through winter

For the last few years I’ve been buying herbs to plant in my herb bed to replace the ones that don’t make it through the winter, which, aside from chives and oregano that reseeds itself, means buying new thyme, rosemary, and a particular variety of dwarf culinary sage that I really like and have only…

Branding or Botany?

In the last week I’ve managed to seriously catch up on my long neglected garden. One of my major projects was to expand my front flower bed, along the front of the amour stone, to give me a bit more space for perennials (that I’m perpetually over crowding) and to add some more bulbs. In…

Lazy Deadheading

Do you do much deadheading? It’s a garden chore I get pretty lazy about. But the other day I just couldn’t ignore my front door planters any longer. The geraniums were looking very neglected and sad, and the blooms were becoming few and thin. An inexperienced gardener might think their plant had completed its natural lifespan…

Baby chicks

Haha! I wish! If only I could have backyard chickens. Alas, I have to suffice with the rooted variety. I can’t wait to find interesting little nooks and crannies to stuff these guys into. I planted some last year among the huge bank of armour stone we have around the front yard, but they were singletons…

Brrr…

What the hell May? Last night the low was around 2-3ºC. Today it was all manner of weather: freezing rain, sleet, snow, regular rain and sun, windy as all get out and damn cold, only about 5-6ºC. Needless to say I covered up my veg garden last night, and I’ve kept it covered all day…

The lazy mom’s guide to beautiful planters

Last year I was shopping at a garden centre with my mom and trying to figure out what plants to get for my front porch planters (and vaguely wondering how I’d find the time to plant them, with my then 6 week old baby). And of course my mom being the brilliant lady that she…

The garlic is in!

Back in August I harvested my 2015 crop of garlic. I’m still tallying up the totals (everything I do these days is done in the fastest, most efficient way possible, but not always with the same attention to detail as I used to give; having an infant around will do that to you). This weekend…

Tomato Roasting Season

It’s been a busy couple of weeks holidaying out west and at the farm, so I’ve been a little preoccupied. When we got back to the city from each trip I had a huge cache of tomatoes to deal with (even though I only planted four tomatoes this year!). The first batch became roasted tomato…