It may be miserable and wet outside, but it’s balmy here under the Gro-light. It’s been so wet here in Vancouver that even if the soil weren’t too soaked to support seed growth, not even the most hardcore gardeners are braving the downpours to plant. Today, I literally ran out to the salad garden during […]
Pousse Créative: planters for flora and fauna
Whenever we hear about designing gardens for small spaces, there’s talk about objects that can do double duty, such as benches that also serve as storage. Designers Sébastien Haquet and Thomas Lanthier of Pousse Créative have taken that concept one step further, creating beautiful and functional garden pieces that also provide shelter for birds, cats, […]
How to start seeds indoors
March is prime seed-starting month for many gardeners. Not only can we direct seed (plant outdoors) some of our cool-season veggie crops like arugula, Asian greens, broad beans, corn salad (mache), collards, kale, peas, spinach, and radishes, but we can also start many of our warm-season crops indoors for transplanting out once the weather warms. […]
Eating your weeds
Chickweed (Stellaria media) As I was weeding the salad garden yesterday, I found several small clumps of chickweed (Stellaria media). Appropriate that it was in the salad garden, because fresh, young chickweed makes a fabulous addition to a spring salad. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Oh god. I know where this […]
Arugula and radishes: fashionably late to the spring planting party
Finally! I’ve got some seeds in the ground. Normally I’d have had arugula, peas, radishes, and spinach started weeks ago, but all this travel has kept me away from the garden. I’m also totally disorganized this year (normally I’d have one or two of these filled out, too). Thankfully the weather cooperated this weekend and […]
A wearable planter
It’s been a little quiet here at Heavy Petal, which is pretty much the opposite of the rest of my life right now. Where have I been? Not in the garden, that’s for sure! But I have been having fun promoting my book all over the Pacific Northwest. I spoke in Seattle at the Northwest […]
Heavy Petal 3.0
You may have noticed that Heavy Petal has a new look. It’s been several years since the original site was designed (and before that, it was a very basic blogspot template) and I was ready for a change. Hell, I never go more than six months with the same hair style… five years with the […]
Free downloadable seed starting and succession planting tools
Free printables and downloadable resources for garden planning, including a seed starting worksheet, a succession planting worksheet, and a printable seed packet pattern from the author of Small-Space Vegetable Gardens.