Published in Harrowsmith Magazine, winter 2024/25 Early in winter, stores fill up with pots full of flowering daffodils, tulips, crocus and the like. They are so prolific that they must be easy to force into bloom, right? After all, come autumn, all we do is dig a hole, plop the bulb in with the pointy…

Published in Harrowsmith magazine, Winter 2025 Winter can be a difficult time of year for us passionate gardeners for whom soil humus and fresh foliage supports a regular part of our wellness routine. While digging in the dirt remains a few months away, the benefits of gardening can be successfully brought indoors for the winter…

Published in Harrowsmith magazine, Summer 2024 What is the difference between farming and gardening? Though not all farmers would agree, we argue gardeners are basically smaller scale farmers. Questions of livestock management and economics aside, there has always been lots to be learned between farmers and gardeners. With the current trend toward “regenerative agriculture” taking…

Published in Harrowsmith magazine, Summer 2024 Food shopping can give you indigestion. Grocery shopping is a mundane task that is underestimated for its complexity. Culture, diet, budget, seasonality, convenience, emotion, habit, instinct, environmental concerns and more all come into play. Whoever runs the Procurement Department in a household has a big job when it comes…

Published in Harrowsmith magazine, Spring 2023 = Terminology At first, the term “food gardening” sounds odd. After all, we eat a lot of stuff that we don’t grow, including some food that other people grow but we cannot. Like pineapples or avocados. In recent years, much has been written about so called odd-ball edibles, like…

This is a short list of commonly used plants that can cause harm to pets: Aloe Amaryllis Apple (including crabapple) Begonia Black walnut Boxwood Calla lily Castor beans Clematis Coleus Cyclamen Daffodil Foxglove Hellebore Hosta Hydrangea Lily of the Valley Milkweed Periwinkle Rhubarb (leaves) Tomato (leaves) Yarrow Yucca If you wish to confirm that the…

Winners of the 2015 Amaryllis Photo Contest

Earth Day 2014 Contest

My early spring recipe for a great looking lawn

The poppy is a survivor and for that reason I think the flower is a fitting symbol for the fighting spirit of all those who fought for Canada in the Great War.

Every year, National Garden Bureau names one edible, one annual and one perennial as featured crops for a year. 2014 is the Year of the Cucumber.

4th annual amaryllis photo contest

For Our Grandchildren is sponsoring a community panel that will have recommendations for preserving Toronto’s tree canopy.

As a rare winter storm passes through Ontario, “homeowners and clean-up crews need to remember to be extremely careful when working around damaged and ice-covered trees”.

It is my goal to make sure that you are ready for whatever may come our way over the next four months. More precisely, I want you to prepare your garden and the valuable permanent plants that you have in it from the ravages of our fourth season.