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Teaching Responsibility Through Gardening

I’ve never been a good gardener. I forget to water my plants and within a few days they are usually dead. I figure it must be genetic; my mother suffers from the same problem. But I saw a pretty amazing thing happen this week. It is finally starting to warm up outside so Logan and I decided to spend some time working on the yard together. We spent hours digging up weeds and making things look perfect again. The next day my father took him to the store to pick out some strawberries to put in our little garden. He … Continue reading →

Sneaky Gardeners: The Trap Crop

This year, I’m enjoying “my” new garden very much. It’s a garden up the street from our house, and it belongs to someone else. I just get the pleasure of growing vegetables in it this year. A few years ago, I inadvertently discovered the idea of a trap crop. What is a trap crop? You’re probably familiar with the idea of companion planting. Companion planting is all about planting crops that work well with each other. Carrots loosen the soil for other plants. Many herbs attract beneficial insects that help pollinate other plants or eat other insects that will eat … Continue reading →

Creating Your Rain Garden

If you’ve decided to create a rain garden to channel moisture in your garden, here’s how to find a place for that unique garden. Plant a rain garden in a place where a drain might be located. If there is a wet area at the end of a parking lot, flatten the curb and allow water to flow onto marsh plants. Locate a rain garden underneath a drain pipe next to a house in an area where one might place a small drain. Work with the lay of the land to choose an area that is a problem area for … Continue reading →

Easiest Plants For A Child’s Garden

Oats, peas, beans, and barley might grow, but what will thrive in a child’s garden? It’s a little depressing to find wilting and slug-munched plants, especially if you’re a child who’s been excited to eat from your very own garden. If you’re poring through seed catalogues like I am, think about the kid-friendly prospects inside. Peas and beans are great small space container crops. One added benefit of container crops is that they’re not always as prone to predators of the slimy persuasion. While slugs and snails can reach your containers, it might be easier to eat the goodies in … Continue reading →

Container Gardening: Growing Fruit in Containers

A long time ago (ok, 6 years ago), we lived in a small third floor apartment. The beautiful highlight of this small apartment was its gorgeous deck. As an added bonus, the apartment had access to a communal sundeck, and we were allowed to grow fruit and vegetables on this bountiful, sunlit patio. I grew up gardening, but as I got busier in my high school and university years gardening dropped away to be replaced by other, loftier pursuits. This sundeck was my first foray back into the world of gardening, and I wanted nothing less than a fruit tree. … Continue reading →

Container Gardening: Is Your Site Suitable?

As one of the many parts of my day job, I help run workshops on gardening. One of the most popular workshops is one on container gardening. Our city is expensive, and buying land is one of the most expensive parts of it. It’s no wonder that many people live in apartments or in townhouses like we do. However, many of these apartment-dwellers have thumbs that yearn to be green. This is where container gardening comes in. If you’re thinking of creating a container garden, you need to determine whether you have a suitable site. Container gardening frees you from … Continue reading →

The Vegetable Garden

It is spring in Australia and usually by this time the vegetable garden is in full swing. But this year, because Mick has been sick a lot and I’m not a gardener, it has been let go till yesterday. Yesterday we went and bought a number of plants. Given that our tomato plants were going in so much later than usual Mick had to buy larger and therefore more expensive plants than the seedlings he normally buys. This year he decided, because of the limitations of space and the price of buying plants these days, to concentrate on those things … Continue reading →

Household Plants Poisonous to Pets

With autumn upon us and the holidays soon to follow, many households have begun seasonal decorating. A lot of that decorating involves various sorts of plants, and with that come many pet owners’ concerns over whether those plants are poisonous to their furry family members. The ASPCA has a helpful list of commonly kept plants that will hurt your pet and one that actually gets a bad reputation. The site names poinsettia as one of the most misunderstood plants, revealing that about 70% of the population believe that it is poisonous to their pets when in fact it isn’t really. … Continue reading →

Friends in the Garden

Just the way we enjoy being with our friends, so do plants in your garden. To continue on with the friends in the garden or buddy planting, here are some other suggestions of plants that like each other’s company. Broccoli does well when grown with beetroot, chamomile, celery, onions, potatoes, rosemary and sage. Cabbage is another one that will happily co-exist with all the items mentioned in the broccoli list as well as dill, and mint. The one problem with mint is that is can tend to take over in the garden if left unchecked. Carrots like to have cabbage, … Continue reading →

Gardening: Baby-Friendly Pest Control

Summertime is here, and with it comes gardening season. If you’re like me, you love the idea of eating organic without having to pay the hefty grocery bill. Planting a garden allows you to do just that. Eating healthy is important for people of all ages, but it is especially important for babies. What could be better than feeding your baby steamed green beans, broccoli, or carrots straight from the garden? When you plant your own food, you control exactly what goes into growing it: the soil, the fertilizer, and the pest control. I’m able to plant a garden for … Continue reading →