Healthy, homegrown garlic can be enjoyed in four wonderful ways — as young or mature bulbs, scapes and greens. Incredibly easy to grow, this superfood even deters pests from the rest of your garden, and if you let a few plants flower, the stunning spherical blooms help to support our struggling bees. How to grow garlic To grow garlic, plant large cloves in fall. Buy local … [Read more...] about 4 fabulous ways to harvest homegrown garlic
mulch
Sun-proofing containers
When it's hot and sunny, I try to fall back on the guidelines for container plants in stressful circumstances, clustering them together to form a microclimate, and frequently misting with a fine hose nozzle to temporarily cool foliage. I sometimes cut back stems to ease stress on root systems unable to adequately service limp leaves. What also makes a difference is mulching … [Read more...] about Sun-proofing containers
Student Design Challenge at Evergreen Brick Works
I went to the official opening of a new site at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto this week. The design of Gloria Perez and Jessica Gafic won the inaugural Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS) Student Design Challenge, part of a contest held last fall by OTS with the support of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Entrants were asked to create a new landscape feature using … [Read more...] about Student Design Challenge at Evergreen Brick Works
Tips for lawns this fall
Lawns will forgive a summer of neglect if you’ll do something good for them in autumn. Books could be written about this, but it all boils down to three main points, and here they are: 1. Aerate Lawns are made of millions of grass plants growing shoulder to shoulder, and they all need to breathe oxygen. The roots of grass plants take oxygen from soil, and if that … [Read more...] about Tips for lawns this fall
Why we feed the soil
With all my prattling on about saving leaves and covering every square inch of soil with them, you might wonder why I’m leaning toward obsession on this issue. Well, there are new thoughts about possibly overfeeding plants with manufactured or commercially processed fertilizers. When I look at a plant, I want to see health and vigorous growth. But sometimes I forget that plants … [Read more...] about Why we feed the soil
