The Blog is Saying Goodbye Dear readers, I have decided to close this blog down after 12 years of writing. I think the pandemic had a lot to do with my lack of writing. I felt so uninspired with everything that was happening during the pandemic. It should have been to best time to write with everyone at home and so many people starting gardens. My health is not the best and it’s time to spend more time with family and friends. Instead of writing lengthy posts you will still be able to find me on Facebook at That Bloomin Garden and on Instagram. Its fun interacting with comments and I try to p ..read more

It’s hard to believe it’s already July. Where did the last six months go? We have done so many changes over the last few years that we decided to open the garden to the public. I know what you’re thinking, I must be crazy. I advertised the open garden day on my Facebook page at That Bloomin’ Garden and on my personal page. I mentioned it to a few friends as well but hoped to keep the numbers small. In the end we had fifteen people visit the garden and at different times. It was a lovely sunny day albeit a bit warm. I wanted the share the history of the property with friends of the garden. Our ..read more

Sweet William belongs to the Dianthus family of plants and is a cousin of the carnation. I love them for their fragrance and wide variety of colours in the red and pink tones. It’s an old fashioned flower that isn’t grown nearly enough these days. Sweet William is a biennial flower which means it grows leaves in the first year and flowers and sets seed in the second year. Now that June is here the plants are in full flower. As I walked the garden I took photos of the plants as a reminder to collect seed when the flowers have faded. I let the flowers fade but watch carefully as I want to colle ..read more

It’s April and the garden is starting to come to life. I love this time of year as hope springs from the soil and makes us feel like we have a fresh start. With all we’ve been through the last two years we need some hope for a fun year ahead. With that said lots has changed here over the last couple of years. Like many others we’ve spent time building, planting and designing new gardens. I want to say we are done but a garden is never done. As Farmer Jim said the other day the garden is now ours, not the former owners. He’s right as the old hoop house frame with climbing roses is gone. A farme ..read more

Start with the Basics When planning a new garden it’s best to make a list of plants that you like and colours you want to use. There’s no sense having a garden you don’t enjoy. What size do you want it to be? Are you new to gardening? If you said yes to the last question start small and add on as you gain experience. It’s easier to enlarge a garden than it is to make it smaller. An experienced gardener usually has an idea of how much garden they can manage. Sketch out the shape of your garden and do it on graph paper so it will be easier to see if the plants will fit in the space as they matur ..read more

When should I start my seeds? This is a question I see on various garden groups all over the lower mainland of BC. First let’s examine what you are trying to grow. Are you growing vegetables or flowers, annuals or perennials? Once you’ve answered this question it gets easy. The whole idea that plants are all planted in May doesn’t work for many plants. For the most part annual vegetables take about 6-8 weeks from seed to the transplant stage. It’s best to know your last frost date and count backwards 6-8 weeks and plant your seeds inside. If you start too early your plants will be large and h ..read more

As we approach the holidays I wanted to write to say how much we appreciate all the questions and feedback we get on the blog and on our Facebook page. We accomplished a lot in 2021. The old rose arbor went to a new home and Farmer Jim replaced it with a beautiful pergola. We removed all of the old roses and bought new ones that would be easier to manage. We received a large load of wood chips in January that enabled us to cover areas that were hard to weed. It reduced the amount of time weeding so we could focus on creating new gardens. The Arthur Glen garden that we planted in the fall of 2 ..read more

If the last two years have taught us something it’s always be prepared. The pandemic has affected the whole gardening industry and they weren’t prepared for it. With more people working from home or out of work they navigated to the back yard and gardens sprung up everywhere. All of a sudden the demand for seeds and plants skyrocketed. What many people don’t understand is that plants have to complete their lifecycle before the seeds can be harvested. Seeds are harvested and cleaned and then graded and placed in packages, much of it being done by hand. I have great respect for seed packagers as ..read more

Its already started! I’m planning the garden for next season but this time all the raised beds will be filled with cut flowers for a wedding. The bride to be has sent me her list of flowers she would like me to grow for the wedding and half the seeds have already arrived. The rest of the seeds can’t be ordered until early December but that’s not far off. I love growing flowers for events. Okay, I love flowers any time. The colours we are using are light pink, white and light purple. Some of the flowers are new to me so I have to admit I’m a bit nervous about growing them. I’ve done a garden pl ..read more

Gardening saved me during the pandemic. As I look back at all the garden changes completed this year I realize how being home and in the garden has soothed my soul. After almost two years of reading stuff online that either came across as angry or divisive, I would go outside to calm my nerves. I just couldn’t be online as much as before. Although I found myself talking to insects or birds it was better than trying to talk to people online. The pandemic brought us a rush of zoom everything. I don’t mind zoom talks once in awhile as it’s a great way to talk to friends far away. I did a few pres ..read more