Scarlet Runner Beans An edible landscape, simply put, is one that provides value visually and on the table. There are hundreds of good-looking edible plants that you can easily tuck into your perennial borders, containers, or even as a stand-alone potage. And just think of being able to pick and eat vegetables that you’ve grown […]
More reasons to RIP OUT your lawn
The lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water a week – enough to water 81 million acres of organic vegetables, all summer long. Food Not Lawns is an organization dedicated to encouraging and supporting people in replacing their lawns with edible flowers, fruits, vegetables, and other useful plants. “Or,” they […]
I can see it now…
Black Lace arrives in select garden centres in spring 2006. Normally polite Canadian gardeners will be knocking over little old ladies in a bid to secure what will quickly become the latest “must-have” perennial. Some will be reminded of the 1983 Cabbage Patch Kid shortage. Seriously, though. Black Lace elderberry (Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’) from ColorChoice […]
Fall container with Canine schnauzer ‘Shadow’
An amazing selection of fall blooming perennials (50% off!) at David Hunter Garden Centre allowed me to make up some stunning containers. I combined tall, red Carex buchanii (New Zealand sedge) with two varieties of Heuchera; ‘Dolce Peach Melba’ and ‘Velvet Night,’ Ophiogogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ (Black Mondo grass), Bracteantha bracteata ‘Sundaze Golden Beauty,’ Capsicum annuum […]
Even the world’s smallest balcony…
Wouldn’t this be the perfect this for those teeny Juliette balconies appearing in new developments all over Vancouver? (Yes, Degan, yours too!) The Leopoldo City Vegetable Garden is kind of a modern version of a window box or hanging basket, but waaaay more stylish. I like the double-decker styling, which provides more growing room for […]
transcendental kitchen scraps
Bette Midler on gardening: “My whole life had been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that lets you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first compost heap.” From the marvelous Horticultural, Jane Perrone’s organic gardening blog.
I heart edamame
There’s nothing better than a bowl of steamed, lightly-salted edamame (soybeans) with your beer. Why not grow yourself an appetizer? West Coast Seeds, which I love because they’re local (president Mary Ballon and I even went to the same Elementary School, albeit 30 years apart!) sells soybean seeds. West Coast Seeds carries the ‘Early Hakucho’ […]
I feel like paella tonight
Did you have any idea that you could grow your own saffron? Saffron is the dried, bright red stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus, which is a relatively easy-to-grow perennial. According to The Farmer’s Almanac, it grows well in Zones 6 through 9. It lies dormant all summer, then pushes its purple blossoms up through […]