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Sunflowers: Origin and Impact
Sunflowers raise their majestic heads and follow the sun. Why and where do they come from?
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Plot Number 6: How A Community Garden Began
The Campbellton Community Garden was five years in the making. This is the story of how it came into being.
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The Food Security Garden
As the cost of oil rises so does the cost of food. The increase in your food costs may not take place at the same time as the increase in your food bill, but be certain as gas goes up so does food. Now you can reduce the use of your vehicle,...
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The Morons Organic Gardening Guide
Organic gardening is so basic, even a moron can create a garden where plants thrive, flower and bear fruit. I am not comfortable with the term moron which means someone who is considered stupid, however, I have used it to make the point that anyone...
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How Secure is Your Food Supply?
When would your food supply run out if you were unable to buy food anywhere?
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How to Grow Beans, Peppers and Squash Under Lights
Beans, potatoes, and squash growing indoors under lights can it be done? I believe if the will exists to do a thing then the way to do that thing can be found. The question is just because you can do a thing is it a good idea to do that thing? ...
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Cracks & Potholes: Crumbling Urban Infrastructure
potholes perhaps being the most visible evidence of how, in far too many urban centres, the municipal infrastructure is crumbling.
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Home Vegetable Garden Adding Annuals
Short growing seasons call for a variety of techniques to get the most from the home vegetable garden. Tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers need to be started indoors about six weeks before planting out, if starting from seed, or work with...
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Bob's Home Vegetable Garden Guide
If you want it and are willing to devote a little bit of time on a regular basis you too can have your own home vegetable garden. Fresh food tastes best and the freshest food is food you grow yourself at home or in a nearby community garden plot. ...
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Fresh Food: Backyard Fresh
Fresh food is best so make my food fresh. Even if it is frozen, it will taste better if it was fresh when it was frozen. Now while I appreciate the need and value of frozen food, I use frozen spinach, for example, in soups and stews and now and then...
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Bob's Guide to Organic Gardening
Make mine local and organic, that is a great motto that we need to see and hear more often. Organic means that no harmful unnatural ingredients have been used in the production of the food we eat or any product we use for that matter. Why...
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The Urban Orchard
Imagine stepping out into your backyard and picking yourself a fresh apple, or plum or pear. It is not a far stretch from imagining this scenario to being able to do it. You will need an outdoor space that gets sufficient sunlight, for example...
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Tips for First Time Container Gardeners
When it comes to container gardening size does matter. It is possible to grow most plants in a container but if the container is too small then the plant will suffer and possibly die. It is not likely to produce the vegetables or flowers you are...
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Urban Agricultural Enterprises: An Overview
All living beings must have nourishment better known as food. Food production and food distribution, carried out to meet this basic need, are the common ground upon which we can build sustainable communities. Food production, otherwise known as...
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Sustainable Cooking
Change, the change that needs to take place if our society is to thrive, involves: how we are governed; how we pay for the goods and services (health care and education, for example) we need, and how we express our connection to Nature, can, in...
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How to Breathe Life into an Idea
Ideas where do they come from and once they arrive do they stay around or fade away? I find that ideas are everywhere and coming up with one is not difficult. What is tricky is how to take that idea and put some life into it; get it to breathe so it...
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A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Turkey is a common Thanksgiving main dish. However, you can prepare an excellent meal and do so without turkey or any other meat, fowl or fish. Sweet potatoes, green beans, potatoes, apples and cranberries, all can complement a vegetarian dinner,...
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The Edible Hedge
There are many good reasons to add a fence or hedge to your property; it helps keeps kids and pets in, it lends privacy and defines property lines and a hedge or fence can even add beauty to the site. However, why limit yourself to just these...
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Earwigs: Garden Foe or Friend?
If you are going to have a garden, a garden that is safe for kids, pets and friends to romp, roam and run, then you are going to have to learn to appreciate insects. Yes, insects, bugs, the crawly, all too fast creatures, that surprise you,...
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How to Benefit From Your Gardening Mistakes
We are obsessed by mistakes, by getting it wrong, by failure. I blame our education system for this fear. We are penalized when we try something and do not get it right. The resulting shame prevents us from going up to the blackboard or raising our...
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How to Create an Ecological Garden
Gardening is one of the world's oldest professions; there are older activities hunting and gathering come to mind, but about ten thousand years ago, humanity realized that food could be obtained by working the earth. The process of gardening has...
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Feeding the Wild Birds
Now when we consider songbirds, both those that winter elsewhere and those that stay in our yards all year round then we can indeed feed them and we may even have an obligation to do so.
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The Gardeners Kitchen: Organic Fertilizers & Compost Tea
Feed the soil, the organic gardener’s mantra. One of the most effective ways to feed that soil is to add organic material, such as compost to the garden. Another is to add compost tea. Compost tea is relatively easy to make; you simply put a...
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Spring: Nature Renews
There is a change in the air, the wind, although still strong is warmer, only slightly, but the difference is everything. Spring is near, though the snow still lays heavy on the ground, little rivers of water slowly trickle from under the...
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Designing The Sensory Garden
A garden should stimulate all the senses. Imagine spending an afternoon casually strolling through a garden that is full of enticing aromas, is pleasant to the touch, a feast for the eyes, delicious with an undertone of sound bringing it all...
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On Being A Lazy Gardener
The secret to keeping the garden work you do to a minimum is in the planning and the preplanning.
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Gardening With Nature's Bounty
whether it be a new garden bed or tending a vegetable container garden, I rely on Nature to not only provide the materials I need but for ideas and techniques that I can use.
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Why Saving the Bees Is so Important for Our World.
Now, with bees and honey bees, in particular we know that over one-third of our food supply relies upon them for pollination services and we know that pollination is essential for the reproduction of the plants the bees service
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Make Mine Bald
The decision to go bald did not come easily. I had hair down to the middle of my back for the better part of 30 years when I made the decision. Aside from a rare trim, sharp objects had not touched my hair since the mid 70s. So why cut it all...
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Your Backyard: An Outdoor Classroom
When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school It's a wonder I can think at all These lyrics from Paul Simon’s Kodachrome often repeat themselves in my mind, especially when I think about my high school days; it was a...
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Heritage Seeds Why and Where to Buy
When it comes to the seed, the best way to make sure that you grow strong and vital plants is to purchase heritage or heirloom seeds
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Growing Great Strawberries
Strawberries, the fruit that shouts summer. I love fresh strawberries, I do not mind using frozen berries in smoothies for example but fresh strawberries are a taste treat all by themselves, just sitting in a bowl waiting for me to dig in. Or add...
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Harvesting and Eating Dandelions
You may not even have to leave your own property to gather this most versatile plant. If you are a home owner and have a lawn, the odds are good you have a handy supply of dandelions.
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How to Become an Urban Food Forager
what I am talking about is urban food foraging. Urban food foraging is similar to wild crafting where you go out and find the delicacies that Nature provides,
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How to Eat the View
Okay, I just have to say. Come right out and voice what I think. Here it is, lawns are a waste of time, energy, water and space. There that feels so much better. The lawn was once a sign of wealth; it indicated that you have enough resources...
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Gardening in Limited Space and Other Gardening Options
So you want to garden but your backyard is small or non-existent; well do not let that discourage you, if you have the will, you will find the way. The first step, as in all forms of gardening, is to assess you existing space. How...
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Growing Great Peonies
There are a few flowers that when I see them, even a picture, or read about them, my memory is activated and I take a journey back to my childhood and my mother’s garden. Hollyhocks are one. The peony is another. The family backyard was a place...
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Reducing Waste by Reclaiming Food
Some of us may recycle that food by putting it into the compost; too many others will simply toss it away without any thought to what this says about us and our society.
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Composting: How-To and Why
Feed the soil: feed the plants. This an organic gardener knows is one of the ways to ensure a healthy, vital and productive garden. The organic or natural gardener does not tend the plants but takes care of the soil. Follow this advice and you...
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The Rooftop Gardens & Green Roofs
There are always options and that is the approach that I take to gardening and most other aspects of my work and life. When it comes to gardening, if you want to grow something green you can. Your desire and your imagination will wake up the...
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Growing Culinary Herbs: Chives
A few years back a friend and I were discussing herbs and we reached a point where it was necessary to ask, what is an herb/ Herbs serve many purpose and in this hub the use for herbs that we are examining is culinary. So in light of that, what is a...
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Fair Trade and You
Fair Trade is a trading partnership: a partnership between individuals and communities that uses dialogue, transparency and respect, to evolve greater equity in international trade. Fair Trade contributes to sustainable development because...
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Great Container Gardens #1
This hub will look at a gardening method that makes it possible for people with limited, time or space to grow some of their own food, flowers or both, container gardening.
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Growing Great Gladiolus
You can spot a gladiolus or glad as they are affectionately called from some distance away. These natives of South Africa are known for their spear shaped leaves and their brilliant flowers. Glads look fantastic in flower arrangements or growing...
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The Literacy Garden
There are also excellent examples of gardens working with children as a form of active learning and encouraging them to become engaged in the learning process
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Bedding Plants
Bedding plants appeal to the gardener who wants to make some change each year or just wants to add a little something to that bare spot that is annoying.
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Your First Garden
So you want to start gardening; you have been saying it for years now, but somehow the garden just never gets started. You have your reasons, no time, don’t have a green thumb, no space and so on, but what you have lacked prior to reading this hub...
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Gardening Encourages Creativity
Do you believe that you are a creative person? Many don’t and the partial reason for that is that for many of us creativity gets tossed out in our early years in school when we first are taught how to conform to others’ perceptions of how things...
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Vertical Gardening
The gardener will eventually emerge in us if we do not lock ourselves into a pre-conceived definition of what a garden is and what it looks like. Take a minute a think up instead of along the ground, vertical and not horizontal. We grow...
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Small Space Gardening: Part One
Where there is a will there is a way and gardeners are among those who lend the truth to this old adage. If you want to grow something, anything, be it fruit, flowers, herbs or vegetables and have even the smallest space you can do so. It is...
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How To Plant Spring and fall Bulbs
Remember right plant right place will help you grow beautiful flowers. Most spring flowering bulbs will need a high organic, well drained, slightly acidic (pH 6-7) soil in a sunny location(6 to 8 hours of sunlight.) When it comes to planting...
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How To Grow Great Potatoes
Potatoes, mashed, baked, boiled scalloped and perhaps my favourite, potato salad especially when it is made with new red potatoes, are a great food. What is even better you can grow your own potatoes and make your favourite dish with the freshest...
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How To Start Your First Garden
This primer will help you plan and design your first garden; it does not matter what you decide to grow, vegetables flower, herbs or all three, the steps are the same.
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The Education Garden: Learning While the Plants Grow
You can solve the problems of the world in a garden - Geoff Lawton I have chosen to preface this hub with the above quote from Australian permaculture designer Geoff Lawton. Why? Because I agree with him; we can develop the...
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Gardening: Weeds use Them and Lose Them
Weeds, if they were called by any other name would they still annoy us to such a degree. The topic of weeds and weed control can touch off a frenzy of discussion when gardeners gather. Some gardeners have little to no problem with weeds as...
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Flower or Vegetables Is That a Question?
Over the years I have designed and grown a wide range of gardens from a one pot with tomatoes and basil on my balcony to a 1 acre commercial operation. One reoccurring question raised through all these various gardens’ projects over a 17 year...
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Gardening Makes You Healthy and Wise
Gardening, no matter what you grow, will help you become healthy and wise, as for wealthy well, that all depends upon how you define wealth. If you want to be healthy, then it is important to grow naturally which means that you do...
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Flowers Love's Primal Language
Love, such a simple four letter word that is laden with so many meanings; the love of a parent for a child; the love between husband and wife, between siblings or the love for a friend, a pet or sunsets. How often have you said I love chocolate or...
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Gardening For The Honey Bees
The gardener does not work alone; to be successful and produce beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables the gardener has many assistants lending a hand. The honey bee is one that pulls more than its weight when it comes to your garden. You...
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Growing Cacti and Succulents as Houseplants
We often hear about curb appeal when a discussion about selling or buying a new home is underway but often the discussion stops at the front door. If you truly want to impress a potential buyer you will see that the wow factor created by the...
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How to Grow Great Tomatoes
The tomato is one of the most commonly grown plants for home gardeners. They are reasonable easy to care for, once you get them started which I do indoors from seed about six weeks before I put them out. It can get quite cool here until around...
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How to Make Compost with Worms
Worms ate my garbage, is what you will be able to say when you put a worm composter in your kitchen. Worm composting or vermiculture is an ideal way to dispose of kitchen vegetable matter, that you would otherwise toss in the garbage. Or if you...
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The Care and Feeding of Roses
The rose or genus Rosa comprises approximately 150 species and has spread throughout the Northern hemisphere from Mexico on north to Alaska and even to northern Africa.
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Sunflower Possibilities
From children’s forts to cleaning up radioactive waste, sunflowers are a very versatile and beautiful plant.
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The Community Garden
When it comes to gardening , much like other things in our lives, where there is a will there is a way. If you want to garden and grow and maintain your own food, flowers or herbs but do not have a space suitable at home then a community garden can...
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Gardening with Annuals
Some people are positively passionate about annuals and each one of them may have a different reason. An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers and dies in one year. Some love annuals because they make excellent...
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How to Start a School Garden
What is a school garden? Simply put a school garden is a garden on the school property. It may be a flower garden or a vegetable garden or both. The choice is up to the people who plant and tend the garden; the students with guidance and...
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Landscape Add Value to Your Property
Landscaping your front yard can increase your property's value by up to 20 per cent. I divide home buyers/owners into three broad categories. This is simply done in order to help the buyer make appropriate landscaping decisions for their...
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How to Design Your Organic Garden
If you starting you first garden or simply adding another bed to an existing garden, there are a few things that you can do that will not only reduce the work that you do but will help create the conditions that will enable the plants you select to flourish.
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How To Design An Accessible Garden
I feel that it is important to begin this hub by saying that I believe that gardening is one of the most rewarding and useful activities that people can spend their time doing. There are many lessons for one thing, that you can learn from a...
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How to Garden in Containers
Growing flowers, herbs and vegetables in containers is an excellent way for anyone with a small space, such as a balcony, to grow their own plants. Containers work well on deck, steps and patios by allowing you to add colour, shape and...
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How to Help Your Houseplants Flourish
Right plant right place is a basic gardening rule whether you are growing indoors or out. What RPRP means is that when you place a plant where it gets the sun that it needs, receives the water that it requires and has its roots set in a soil that...
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How To Attract Butterflies to Your Garden or Yard
It is not all that difficult to attract butterflies to your garden and have them set up house. There are two things that butterflies are seeking: one is nectar, the food that adult butterflies need, and the other, host plants, the place where the...
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Give the Gift of Food
We all need to eat, what and how much we consume depends upon many factors. This common need makes food an ideal gift for any occasion. There are a number of ways that you can give the gift of food, you can give food or money to an organization...
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More-with-Less: A Cookbook Recommendation
Now I have quite a few cookbooks and usually pick them up at book sales where they cost be a buck or two, but, this one caught my attention and I had to buy it.
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Our Genes Determine Our Food Choices
A study, that was recently conducted, at King’s College London, has found that what we choose to eat is largely determined by genetic factors. So what this mean is that people, who like garlic and coffee, as well as those who eat plenty of fruits...
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Cheese Melts and Grilled Cheese recipes
Cheese has been around for at least 7,500 years. I am not talking about the single sliced process cheese that many of us use in sandwiches from cheese and tomato to grilled cheese. I am talking about extra old white cheddar, blue, brie and...
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Apple Pie (Sugar Free) & Apple Sauce Recipes
Apple sauce is fairly easy to keep and very handy to have in the fridge. It goes great with oatmeal or pork and can be added to a smoothie or enjoyed all by itself.
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Hearty and Healthy Stew: Recipe
Let Food Be Your Medicine and Medicine Be Your Food ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC), Exercise and sensible eating is the pathway to weight loss and good health. Food not only fills our bellies but contributes to...
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What Is Your Favourite Food?
Do you have a favourite food? Is there one meal that you covet above all others or one food? For example, if you had to order a last meal, what would it be? A platter of double cheese burgers with fries and onion rings? A steak, prepared as you like...
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Food and Diabetes: Part Two
The fact that you have type II diabetes does not mean that you cannot enjoy food. It does mean that you will need to learn more about what your safe options are. One tool that I find useful when meal planning, is the Glycemic Index (GI) The GI is...