This fantastic set up caught my eye as I was driving through the Port Hope community. What a brilliant idea to build community and offer up shared resources to be used by others.
A set of scissors are hanging from a hook, with the simple instructions on how to use the community herb box. This warmed my heart and was a great example of how we can provide for others and share within our community. Take only what you need, and leave some for others. If the plant looks like it need to grow, let it grow. Such a simple message and a great way to combine your love of gardening and supporting your community.
There are a lot of reasons to do companion planting in the garden. In this container I have planted a pear shaped yellow tomato, basil and marigolds. I also have a larger raised bed with a variety of other tomatoes. Including sweet one hundreds, heirloom, black cherry tomatoes, and grape tomatoes. I have added marigolds and lots of basil in this planter as well.
Companion planting allows the plants to reap benefits from each other in the same container or space in your garden. The main reason for doing this is pest control. In this instance the pests that may want to eat your tomato plants don’t like marigolds or basil. This is a simple non toxic way to control garden pests from eating your vegetables.
Basil is also good friends with tomatoes. Last year was the first year I planted them together. It was lovely to smell the aroma of the basil while working in the garden. This also led me to discover one of my favourite lunch time snacks. Start by taking a Rye Crisp (or similar cracker) and spreading hummus on it. Then slice up cherry tomatoes and place them on top. Then add a few fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of balsamic and a sprinkle of fresh sea salt ! Delicious!
Some other easy companion planting combinations are corn, beans, and squash or onion, peppers, and garlic. Radishes, cucumber and oregano are also another choice. As well as, rosemary, carrots and lettuce.
It is indeed worth looking up what pairs well with other plants in the garden. This is important because some pairings are not good with each other and will affect your productivity in the garden. A simple search of companion planting will result in a lot of information, which you can then use to get the most benefit in your garden.
Happy gardening!
Some flowers just speak to you more than others. The dahlia seems to be one of those. It has such intricate petals and is so lovely. There are so many varieties to choose from and sizes of flower. Some are even as big as a dinner plate!
My daughter lives in Montreal, and likes to go to the Atwater Market. It is such a beautiful market that is open year round and has the most amazing breads, produce, flowers, sweets, and more. During the spring the parking lot becomes a green house/garden centre and many growers sell plants, vegetables and hanging baskets. It is a sea of green with pops of vibrant colours everywhere, it is simply stunning.
I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to go this year, but my daughter was able to pick up these two beautiful dahlias for me. I love their rich yellow colour and they were so healthy. They have become a welcome addition to my backyard. I decided to plant some lantana with them as well for an additional pop of colour. I have planted them in pots and will see how they do, I may have to upsize the container if they are doing really well.
Do you have dahlias growing in your garden? Maybe this post will give you inspiration to try them, I guarantee you will love them!
This Spring I have been diligently working to improve our front porch. Slowly, I’ve added some new things that make it a place where I would want to sit and have a cup of coffee or tea, a place where I would like to stay a while.
Porches hold a special place in my heart. My grandparents had a front and back porch, both enclosed with lots of windows and filled with beautiful light. We would visit and have tea and eat homemade cookies on these porches. They were so well loved, and I have so many great family memories of them.
I wanted to try to recreate some of what I loved about those spaces on my own porch. Adding an outdoor rug, new pillows, and new plants has made a huge difference. It’s already starting to feel warm and welcoming.
My latest addition is these planters. I wanted to create a ‘living wall.’ Living walls are usually secured to (non-living) walls, but this one will hang and create some privacy at the open end of our porch. It will continue to grow and fill in as the summer progresses. I am hoping for healthy, lush, trailing plants that will fill the space.
I started by attaching a cedar board to the ceiling of our front porch (with the help of my husband, this is definitely a two person job). This provides a place to anchor in the screw hooks that will hold the new hanging baskets.
I then filled the baskets with a good quality soil, and planted a variety of trailing plants that I bought at my local garden centre, mostly different kinds of ivy. The hanging baskets and inserts were purchased at my local Dollar Tree. I plan on adding some baby spider plants that I currently have rooting in the house for a little more filler over the next coming days.
Overall, I am super happy with how this project is turning out. I am excited to see how my ‘living wall’ fills in and to watch it progress throughout the Summer. I will keep you posted on how it’s doing. Happy gardening!
I have always wanted a potting bench for my backyard garden. A place that I could transplant seedlings. The opportunity to store my gardening tools, display flowers and treasures from the garden, and a general outdoor work surface.
This was a weekend project that my husband and I did together.
We used cedar to create this bench. Cedar wood is very nice to work with, and it also holds up well to the outdoor weather.
We used tools that we already had in our garage to make the cuts we needed. The next step was to screw the pieces together to form the potting bench. We made the top deep enough to be able to have a good work surface, which was important to me.
I wanted somewhere to hang things like, twine, gardening scissors, and other gardening tools. We had some left over chicken wire which was the perfect thing to attach to the top portion using a staple gun. We also reused some old Ikea shelves for added storage on the top as well.
I think this is a great addition to my backyard gardening space. I love the way it turned out, it is absolutely perfect!
One vegetable that I have grown in my raised garden bed has been kale. I have dabbled with a few different varieties but my family and I prefer curly kale.
A few summers ago I tried dinosaur kale but the texture was just too tough for my liking. I seem to have great success with growing the standard kind of kale so I have gone with that.
Kale is so versatile because it can be eaten both raw and cooked. When you eat it raw, it is best to wash it in a salad spinner. Then remove the vein in the middle, and chop with a knife. I place my chopped kale in a bowl. Then add a small amount of olive oil to the bowl and gently massage it. This breaks down the toughness of the kale leaves. I generally leave the kale leaves to sit while I prep the rest of my ingredients for my salad. Kale is a good base as a salad and can either have vegetables or fruit added to it.
Kale is also fabulous cooked and used as a replacement for spinach. It is excellent in soups and stews and even adding it to pasta dishes for extra vitamins. I am able to freeze kale from my garden as well. It just easily goes in freezer bags to use another day.
Last summer, I planted kale in my garden and was able to continue harvesting right up until January. The year before had been December for the last harvest. I have a running joke with my Dad and Mom. It has become a challenge to see just how long the kale will last. It just seems to keep producing! Maybe next year it will be February? The funniest part is that my Dad never liked kale for his entire life until I started to grow it, now he comes with a ‘kale bag’ and we fill it up weekly.
This year, I didn’t get a chance to remove the kale plants before the snow fell. So I left them and didn’t really think about it anymore. Then the snow started to melt and Spring began to spring. Low and behold the one kale plant started getting green and looking pretty good! I removed the other plants that were definitely expired. The old kale plant had new growth and was looking really healthy.
I just harvested several great looking leaves from my lone kale plant from summer 2022. I did some reading and apparently there can be 2 year old kale. It has a sightly tougher texture. It may not last the entire season; however, kudos to me because now I don’t have to buy greens at the grocery store.
And so ends the tale of the kale!
Gardening brings me joy!
All I need is a good pair of boots, my favourite gloves and a great pair of garden shears.
Rain boots: Mark’s.
Garden shears: Fiskars Professional Pruning Shears.
My all time favourite gardening gloves: Atlas Nitrile Gardening Gloves.
Happy Gardening to you all!
My zinnia seeds are growing! These seeds from West Coast Seeds are on the move and looking healthy.
I over planted the initial pots with seeds and most of them sprouted right away. Once the first set of leaves had developed they needed to be given more space. With the help of my Mom, we transplanted each individual plant into its own mini pot. My Mom and I had great fun and lots of giggles while transplanting these into their larger homes.
While we were working with the seedlings, my Mom asked what type of seeds we were repotting. I told her it was a wide variety of zinnia seeds. She then shared a story that warmed my heart. She told me about the day that I was born. My Dad had brought her a bouquet of hand picked zinnias to the hospital from their garden at home. She smiled and I could tell that those garden grown zinnias had been special to her just like my Dad.
I guess this is a very good reason for why I adore these flowers so much, because they were the first flowers I ever saw! Interesting how life leads you along and you develop favourites and then someone you love shares a story and ties it all together in a neat little bow.
Most of the transplants have done very well, with only the loss of a few. Some are even developing their secondary set of leaves and the stems are getting stronger.
I purchased an amazing cart from Ikea for my indoor gardening trays. This three level cart on wheels is wonderful for seedlings. It allows me to spin the cart daily so that all the sides are receiving equal amounts of sunlight.
Once these little darlings grow a little bigger, I will be upgrading their homes to larger pots for greater growth.
Planted by hand, with love.
Do you ever get really excited about something? Well on my latest adventure to my local garden centre I soaked up the wonder of the West Coast Seeds display.
I perused the great selection of seeds and was so excited to find some ground cherry seeds. I had recently seen these on Instagram and was hoping to be able to get my hands on a package. Every year I try to plant something different that I have not tried before. My daughter has brought home ground cherries from the Atwater Market in Montreal and I’ve had them in desserts in fancy restaurants. I am so excited to be able to add them to my dessert plates later on in the summer.
I also found scallopini squash, rainbow blend carrots, and golden beets, all of which I am excited to grow and enjoy from the garden.
Another great find was the West Coast Seeds 2023 Gardening Guide. This booklet is jam packed with an abundance of seed choices, as well as great gardening content. I also checked out the their website and it is a great resource for the home gardener. It has tips and tricks, resources, seeds, supplies. You can even take a seed quiz to see what types of seeds are good to grow in your area!
One of the gardening tools I added to my collection this season is this seed sprayer from Lee Valley. This German made sprayer is gentle enough to use without disturbing seedling roots or soil.
If you have never planted seeds or had a garden I encourage you to try it. It doesn’t have to be big, and you can even create your home garden in pots or containers. Growing your own food, nurturing it, and then being able to harvest it and share it with the ones you love is a wonderful thing. Go plant some seeds!
