Yes that tomato is 1 lb 5oz! I  know you've been waiting.  Those who have read this blog over the years know I do a tomato review at the end of the season.  I love heritage tomatoes.  There is so much variety.  You can pick from an assortment of attributes such as taste, size, colour - there's a tomato for everyone.  When I had to decide what I wanted to grow for seed this year I had a hard time choosing.  Some are old favourites but I also gave a few new plants a try.   On a side note, I used red plastic mulch this year to see if worked ..read more

The garage stuffed with plants pre-hurricane   Some of you may know that Hurricane Fiona touched down in the Canadian Atlantic Maritimes in the wee hours of September 24.  It was a long sleepless night but it's been an even longer recovery.  Personally we were without power for 11 days after the storm, at the height of harvest season, with frost on the horizon.  To say we're exhausted would be an understatement.         We are incredibly fortunate, the house weathered the onslaught of wind admirably.  Shingles were torn loose but no ..read more

We all have to deal with them - weeds.  The question is how.  Any healthy garden soil will produce great plants but inevitably the weeds love that good soil too.  Gardeners spend a lot of time weeding and trying to prevent weeds.  Mulch, I believe most everyone would agree, is key.  If you don't want to spend your summer on your knees pulling weeds you need to put something down on the bare earth to slow their growth.    More than a few weeds here! Flower gardens typically use cedar mulch.  It comes in a variety of colours and allows water to se ..read more

Poppies have long been a favourite of mine.  There is something decidedly elegant about their tissue thin petals, when the sun hits in just the right way you can see right through them.  They appear so fragile with their large flowers waving atop tall thin stems.  Yet poppies are incredibly resilient and are probably best known as a common addition to wildflower meadows.  Not exactly the place for a fussy flower. I have been playing with poppies this year.  I have been growing a simple pink variety for some years but decided this was the year to expand my horizons. &nb ..read more

Borage isn't a common garden flower.  There are no poems about the beauty of its petals.  No songs waxing poetic about it as a symbol of enduring love.  That's fair really.  The flowers are only a couple centimeters large, forever facing downward so that you don't normally see their fair faces.  Worse still they don't bloom in large masses, creating a riot of colour.  Rather the bunches of flower buds open one by one, just giving us a glimpse of sky blue petals.  For these reasons I don't believe borage has ever risen to great heights of popularity.   Y ..read more

You may be wondering if I dropped off the map again and that would be fair.  I'm surprised to see that several months have gone by and I haven't managed to write a word.  The reality is that I have been obscenely busy! Turns out starting a new garden is hard work.  Some of you may recall that back in 2010 I started my first vegetable garden here in PEI.  It was just an empty spot of land then, situated between the house and the garage. It's so funny to look at that empty space now.  It feels like so long ago.  It took me several years to go from an empty bit of ..read more

I've been making difficult choices lately.  Gardeners will know right away what I'm talking about.  There's a pile of seed packets and only so much space.       So how does one decide what to plant and what to save for another year?  Food is always a priority in my garden.  I love vegetables, feeding myself and my spouse with organic fresh food.  There's nothing better than pulling corn from the garden and throwing it straight into the pot to cook.  This year particularly my priority is vegetables as I intend to grow out seed for sale.  Home ..read more

The world feels broken right now.  For many reasons.   Here in Canada, the population's conflicting medical and political views recently resulted in an angry mob descending on our capital city and conducting a volatile sit in.  While I appreciate a good protest this was different.  What I have seen in the last months is not just frustration with medical protocols but includes threats, intimidation, racist, sexist, and homophobic behaviour.  People are expressing not just frustration but hatred toward points of view they don't share.  There is a level of intoleranc ..read more

    There was a time I thought about removing this blog from the internet completely.  At one point in my life it brought me joy to share my journey in what was my new home.  But life moved in other directions and it's been years since I've put it to use.  When I looked at the stats though I saw that it was of use to others.  Weather patterns, seed collecting, the best kinds of tomatoes.  People have found bits and pieces of useful information so I have left it be.   Now here I am years later and this blog has found it's place in my life again.&nbs ..read more

It's the best time of year.  Spring.  Trees are leafing out, plants are unfurling, the sun is warm.  There's nothing like sitting in the sun after a long winter huddled indoors.  Spring also means it's time to get in the garden.  If you are looking for some new plants to add to your collection the Canoe Cove Plant Sale is the place to go.  A little bird told me this year the plant line up includes martagon lilies, hostas, hardy geranium, anemone, siberian iris, lady's mantle, sea holly, solomon seal, lilacs, and asiatic lilies. Siberian Iris Hosta ..read more