This is a list of things that you can do if you want to enjoy a great garden this season. It requires some ‘work’ on your part.

How can a city feed itself? Can local food be made available to every citizen regardless of their income and access to transportation? Is it possible to eliminate the need for food banks in our cities? Can we grow our own food in the urban environment?

Ms. Field imagined an urban environment where people are knit together through a common interest in food. Not just an interest in filling our tummies, but in locally grown, home grown, always fresh, accessible food that would be used to prepare meals that reflect the rich, deep and complex cultural mosaic that makes up Toronto.

Now is the time for gardeners to think about what they are going to grow in their garden this season.

Toronto is going to go wild this Friday. For 10 days Canada Blooms, the venerable festival of all things green and colourful, will kick off with the theme “Wild” at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place.

Here is a primer on seed ordering for spring 2014.

I was asked the other day if I wished that I could live in a climate where I could garden all year round. Without any hesitation I answered, ‘No’. Then I began to think through the reasons why I feel so strongly about that. Here is my answer in five parts.

When Mother Nature ‘glazed’ the city with over 30 mm of ice in late December, we were unprepared for the effects, for the most part. But there is a silver lining: we have never been more aware of the presence of our trees.

Some day soon the effects of the now famous ice storm on the trees in your neighbourhood and yard will reveal themselves in all of their fullness.

Free Tree City. The thesis begins on the premise that trees are to urban life what food is to human survival. Food feeds our bodies, trees and green spaces feed our souls.

I have become a great fan of buildings that incorporate plants into their design and consequently provide extraordinary benefits to the people who work and live in them.

Last year at this time I wrote a column titled, ‘Dear Garden: I will change.’ It generated more comments and interest from readers than any of my columns. I pulled it from my files in an attempt to stimulate some thought on how, in fact, I had changed and why. I hope that this written reflection is helpful to you.

Gardeners should be the easiest to shop for. Mark Cullen offers his best gift suggestions for the gardeners on your list.

Tropical plants could use some TLC.

This situation raises important issues for anyone who lives with mature trees, especially in an urban setting where the roots and canopy of the trees are shared with other property owners.

The most asked ‘gardening’ question this time of year on my website is, “What is the best Christmas tree?”

While touring the Republic of Ireland earlier this fall as a guest of Tourism Ireland, I had the very good fortune to visit an extraordinary farm: Ballymaloe in County Cork in the south.

Gardeners in this country have to be grateful for a lot of things. Here is my short list:

The key to the future of gardening lies in its connection to food and the environment.

A personal reflection on my experience in my garden this month.