Yesterday my boyfriend Ben and I went to Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC to check out a matcha festival.

Considered to be one of the top traditional Japanese gardens in North America, Nitobe Memorial Garden honours the Japanese scholar, educator and diplomat Dr. Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933).

Nitobe is meticulously designed and maintained, down to each pebble; every leaf and stone. And everything is infused with meaning.

There is tranquil harmony here, in the careful balance of masculine and feminine forces traditionally attributed to natural elements: waterfalls, rivers, forests, islands and seas. Grab a pamphet on your way in – it directs you on a self-guided tour.

A number of stone lanterns, strategically placed, grace the two-acre oasis. Stone lanterns appeard in Japan during the Asuka period and were used to light the front of Buddhist temples. Their decorative use in gardens began with the rise of the tea ceremony and the need to illuminate the roji path to the tea house. This Nitobe family crest lantern (shizen doro) was not in garden designer Dr. Mori’s original design but was added later as a gift from the city of Morioka. The stone is local to Morioka district and it bears the crescent moon and stars of the Nitobe family crest.

Stones, which have many symbolic meanings in Japanese gardens (female, male, child; alarm, sensory awareness, etc.), anchor and provide the “bones” of the garden.

I love the serenity inherent here. I really want to create a Japanese-style garden when we move to our new place, but I’ve never been good at self-restraint. Maybe it will serve as an exercise in that.

Heavy Petal is on holiday until August 9. This article was originally posted September 18, 2005.

I love the simple drama of this Crescent Beach garden; there’s only, as far as I can tell, three types of plants used here. I could never be that restrained. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’ (Maiden grass) is in the background, Pennisetum villosum (Feathertop) is in the mid-ground, and there’s another grass in the foreground that I can’t identify. The plantings suit the seaside community and the house they surround.

See how the grasses seem to grow right out of the pavers on the front drive? And the use of white sand to further blend the plants with the pavers? Genius.

This was originally posted September 8, 2005 as I Love Grass No. 2. (And if you’re wondering, this is I Love Grass No. 1)

After several weeks of being hunched over my computer, it’s time for sand between toes, popsicle-sticky fingers, and yes, running through the sprinkler. Heavy Petal is taking a mini summer vacation this year, but I’ll be reposting some of my favourite posts from the past. Regular posting will resume August 9. Happy Summer, everyone!

Wow – where did July go? I’ve been too busy working on the final proofs of my book to be able to do much lounging or gin-and-tonic drinking (two things, that, without which, summer is not complete). The good news is that the book is done! Well, my role in it, anyway – at least for now. Yay.

When I do manage to get into the garden, I harvest the first of the summer crops. I harvested the first batch of potatoes yesterday, stealing several handfuls from around the edges of the potato patch. Above are heirloom Russian Banana fingerling potatoes. They look like fat little sausages and taste like heaven.

These are Sieglindes. They have thin, almost clear yellow skins; we’re having them for dinner tonight.

‘Sweet Slice’ cucumber is producing straight, long cukes on plants that climb along my balcony railing. This one is being used as a rolling pin.

We’re also starting to see the first of the beans and zucchini, while cool-season crops like radishes and peas are finished for now. I can’t believe it’s almost time to start sowing for winter!

What are you harvesting now?

No, it’s not the latest ornamental allium – they’re leek flowers. Pretty, eh?

The sole ‘Thumbelina’ carrot I managed to raise to maturity (yes, they’re supposed to resemble golf balls in their shape and size!)

My garden is officially in limbo land. We didn’t get summer weather (read: consistently above 15C/29F) until just last week, and then it hit – hard. So all my cool-season edibles, such as lettuce, radishes, and peas, are stressing, while it just became warm enough for heat lovers like peppers and basil to be outdoors overnight unprotected.

That said, I’ve got lots of stuff coming out of the garden:

* Lettuce: ‘Garden Babies’ butterhead, ‘Red Sails’, and ‘Amish Deer Tongue’. (I also planted ‘Darkness’ but it was a bust.)

* ‘Easter Egg II’ radishes, which are quickly bolting.

* ‘Sugar Loaf’ radicchio, also bolting.

* Beets: ‘Chioggia’ and ‘Touchstone Gold.’

* Garlic

* One single, solitary ‘Thumbelina’ carrot.

But we’re only days away from major harvests of potatoes and cucumbers; tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and peppers will soon follow.

What are you harvesting now?

I am thrilled to officially introduce my book, Sugar Snaps and Strawberries: Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden.

This book has been a long time in the making, and I’m not even talking about the years spent learning how to grow edibles, or garden organically (or how to string a coherent sentence together, for that matter). It feels like forever since the idea for Sugar Snaps germinated, ’til now, when I can finally share it with you.

It all started when I was a few days overdue with my daughter: around mid-April 2008. I got an email from Juree Sondker, an acquiring editor at Timber Press. For those of you not familiar with Timber, it is the garden book publisher – they’ve created many of the world’s top-selling books on gardening, horticulture, sustainability, and the Pacific Northwest. The authors they publish are accomplished, brilliant, and well respected. So what did they want with me?

They wanted to know if I’d ever considered writing a book.

After I stopped shrieking and doing exuberant high kicks (not an easy feat when you’re 41 weeks pregnant, I assure you), I responded. I wrote something to the effect of, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, however, I’m just about to pop out a kid. Can I get back to you when I determine the extent to which my life is about to totally change?” But I was already writing that book in my head.

It’s true: I have always wanted to write a book. It’s been number one on my life list for years. In fact, there’s a mortifying video floating around out there (thankfully on VHS) taken on the night of my high school graduation. The videographer asked everyone to say where they were going to be in 10 years, and I said something about living in a VW van and creating world peace. I KNOW. And I was completely sober. But I also said I was going to write a book. And now, just a few years later (ha!) I can check that off my list. Done.

After that initial contact with Juree, I spent my entire year’s mat leave (yep, that’s one full year of paid leave. God bless Canada) working on a proposal for the book, which I called Homegrown. Now, a little after a year later, the book is written, the photographs are taken, and I’m looking at page proofs of the most beautiful veggie gardening book ever. Seriously, this thing is gorgeous.

I do want to talk about how this book actually got written, but this post too long already. Soon, I’ll show you sneak peeks at some of the inside pages, and let you see some of Jackie Connelly‘s amazing photos. They are truly stunning.

Unfortunately, there’s still a bit of a wait until the book actually comes out (in late December 2010). But it is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca, which is wild, and also nerve wracking (people are actually going to read this!?) Of course, I’d love if it you did.