Giving your yard a sense of definition takes some planning and a little bit of foresight. According to Judith Adam, a well-known Canadian landscaper and horticulturalist, using shrubs allows you...

So you want to put in a garden of your own, huh? A from-scratch, off-the-cuff, fit of passion, you’ve wanted-to-do-it-for-years type of move. Here’s what you’ve got to know before...

I have a crush on Marjorie Harris. There. I said it, and can’t take it back. She’s one of Canada’s leading gardening writers — authoring 15 books and penning a...

I’m playing a really interesting game of “musical rooms” since I brought home a tray of periwinkle from the greenhouse last week. I had received the Botanix flyer in last...

 At the farthest reaches of my backyard is erected the grayest cement wall ever. Failing this boundary, I’d have an easy walk past the fingers of birches to the hilltop...

Ok, so here’s the plan. On Friday, a big truck is coming to my place. Why? I’m going to shake out all that soil I turned in the front yard...

 I saw my first yard sale sign of the season on Saturday. And no doubt, it was the sunniest day we’ve had in at least a week. But it made...

 I have a confession to make. I don’t have a compost. I know — how awful of me. It’s truly a character flaw that I’m prepared to remedy. It’s not...

 Spring officially made its entrance this week, at precisely 1:14 a.m. on Tuesday. A fitting time for arrival, too, since the weather was stunning, well into the morning hours.Many of...

 I’m always surprised when the spring weather finally arrives. Week after week of grinning and bearing it, my jaw becomes slack with the first week of above-zero weather. It’s irrational,...

Part of the beauty of the seed exchange that took place this past weekend at Market Square was the variety of heirloom seeds available from attentive gardeners who collect and...

There’s been a few lovely changes for me this past month, and of them, my most favourite is that I’ve carved out some major time to focus on my writing....

I am a lover of hand-knits. Sweaters, toques, leg-warmers, mittens — if it’s handmade, I pretty much become enamoured with it. But I don’t knit. Oh, sure, I’ve started one...

 The e-mail said simply: “Have you ordered your seeds yet?” and I knew then and there I had better get a grip on the real business of sowing. I mean,...

The only decent way I can think of whiling away the long days of February are by gettin’ on up off my butt and getting active. These gray days are...

If you are lucky enough to have a tight-knit community with neighbours that “call,” wave, give advice, lend tools and cups of flour or an egg or two, and collect...

When the lake freezes over and the path is carved along Ramsey’s shore, I feel an intense longing to stroll along those edges, or walk boldly across the bay, into...

I’m going to let you in on a secret of mine — some of the best vintage pieces in my house are found. That’s right. Once lost, they were retrieved...

We live in a charming old house. The floors are wood, the baseboards are high and the doorways are curved. The trees out front are at least 70 years old;...

I’ve been feeding the neighbourhood birds for the last year now. A real commitment it is, since once you begin to set out seed, the birds come to rely that...