I have a crush on small Magnolias . They are as compelling as their more mature counter parts, and are just so damn cute. I have a few pictures of some of the best I have seen in  TO. Today I am going to take drive and visit my favorite Magnolia in the city and say hello. We have been apart too long. Do you have a favorite Magnolia? I would love to see them, send me a link.

Next year I am planning a trip to Nepal where, the Magnolias are as big there, as Maple trees are here. I am not going to be there at the time of the Magnolia bloom, which is a bit of a downer, but hey it's Nepal , so I ain't complaining. Some of the most amazing Magnolias I have seen are in the southern United States and are a  very different animal  to the Magnolia that we have growing here. For one, you could damage your lawn mower blades if you accidentally suck up the dried Magnolia leaves. I can't believe how thick and tough they are, and they take for ever to break down in the compost bin. But the flowers are extraordinary.

This little guy is on Albany just north of Bloor and east of Bathurst, and here is a close up of the flowers. Pretty gorgeous. This variety is called a Star Magnolia and it also comes in shades of pink. This pink specimen is almost directly across the street from the white one, and this is what it looks like. Today is another glorious day to be above ground! get out there are say hello to the natural world! Beth

                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to introduce to you the awakening of my spirit. It's called Spring, and this is what she looks like.

 Forsythia blossoms

                       Pulsatilla blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

             

trilliums
      

 

 

 

                                              

      

 

 
 

 

          Vinca Blossom 

            
 

           

 

 

Blood root

                                   

 

                                                                         I don't know but isn't it pretty?

                                                                 

Wild Leeks . Wild leeks are so delicious, when eaten raw the flatulance is quite something. But the intense flavour of garlic infused with pepper may just be worth it. When cooked they sweeten and lose their potency. If you are going into the forests to harvest some please remember to harvest them sustainably. Only take one leaf per stem. PS. they freeze beautifully.  I don't wash them before I freeze them. I wash them just before I use them.

 

 
This is such a special time of year. Please, everyone go and visit High Park in the next two weeks there are about 1000 white flowering Japanese Cherry trees that are going to be in bloom. Truly the best part of that experince is watching the blossoms flutter out of the trees like snow and fall to the ground. It is so romantic. Take a lover and a picnic, although you don't need either, just bring your child like wonder. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!! In the timing scheme of things I am especially excited as I watch the Scilla disappear. It means that the Lilacs are about to bloom. I Love the scent of lilacs! Last year my friend Natalie and I carefully pruned a road side Lilac and brought the scent indoors. It was heavenly. Give the branches a shake, you don't want to bring in any 8 legged hitch hikers. 

I have always wanted to start perennials from seeds, and wouldn't you know it, the perennial that I chose is Aconitum (Monkshood) are the only seeds on that shelf that need a cold period before being sown. Who knew? So, into the fridge they go for 3 months!

If you look at the photo below you'll see that my basil is about 3 cm tall and my beefstake tomatoes are amazing (far right) the Nastutiums are lucious (center right) and just turned green. I have an east facing window so I shuffle them around from the front window to the back window during the day. Also on the window sill are (to the far left) my orange "Explosion" Dahlias and to the far right are my organic potatoes that are growing their eyes beautifully.                                                             

I also have some red current tomato seeds in this terra cotta pot that I will have to transplant pretty soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made my own fertilizer out of a bag of turkey pooh that I got as a freeby at the Guelph Organic Conference back in January. I poked holes in the zip lock bag let the pooh meld with the water for about 6-7 hours. After a good saturation period, I dilute it, and then every other watering I pour/spray it on. You can also do this with a bag of well rotted compost from the bottom of your composter, you know, just in case you don't have any pooh around. The next few photos are a demonstration of this process. Including one really cool photograph of a close up of the pooh leaving the bag and making it's way down to the bottom of the vase! I also made a fertilizer out of seaweed, which I will show you as well. Ok here goes.

 I poked the bag with a knife.

(and cleaned it very well after!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then I put the pierced bag into this tall vase, but any container will do, and I let it sit here for a few hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Ok, tell me that this isn't a very cool photograph! I think knowing it's pooh makes it even cooler!

 

 

 

 Ok lets move on...

 

 I then pour it into a spray bottle and spray it onto the plants every other feeding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also do this same thing with sea weed that you buy at any health food store, although you want to dilute this more, as there is some salt content. I let it sit in the water for about 2 hours. It is very cool how the seaweed expands.

 

 

 

 

Rehydration! I put the spent seaweed into some miso soup. It was delicious!

 

Everything is doing beautifully. Remember to put your seedlings out in to the sunshine for short periods to get them used to direct sunlight before setting them out. Hmmmm nothing like cooked seedlings on a hot day.

 

Good Luck with your seedlings! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's cold out. I mean really cold out. Like blustering winds, hats, mitts and scarves kind of cold out. What happened to Spring? Are we being punished for our delightfully mild and late winter? Is there nothing we can do? You'd think that a gardener would have more patience, I don't. I wanna get dirty. I wannna clean gardens and say hello to these sleepy plants that are starting to poke their heads out.

Two nights ago I had the funniest dream. I dreamt that all plants were retractable like a turtle. If it was too cold for them, they could move back down slowly into the earth and stay warm :)

A few days ago, I took this photograph of a very tall Fan tail Willow that I planted in a customer's garden. The pussy willows are just coming into bud. This shrub is finally making its signiture shape of branc, the shape of a fan. What is so remarkable about this photograph is the deep grey color of the sky. The Nether Wetwork says that it will be 15 C and sunny by next Saturday. I have my fingers crossed, and In the mean time I have been admiring photographs of flowers that have the sun shining directly onto them, and imagining that I too am feeling the warmth of the sun.

 

 

For all of you apartment dwellers in the north end of the city, who need a patch of green, I may have a solution for you. I was just looking on line at a forum in Vancouver where people who have gardens and don't pay any attention to them, find people who love to garden, and they swap services. The property owner gets a garden, and the gardener gets to garden.

Last night between, between huge hunks of maror , I was chatting with my brother Bob. He feels badly that as a young(ish) bachelor he doesn't have the time to use this 20x7  vegetable patch at the back of his garden. I asked him if he would mind if I posted this on the net and let people know that there is a garden in need of a farmer/gardener in North York (Bathurst and Wilson area). So, if you have any inclination to tend a garden, then please feel free to contact me. It needs a little love, but a few years ago he and I grew some pretty spectacular tomatoes and zuccinis.

I have been thinking about running a similar forum if one does not already exist in the city of Toronto. Does any one out there know if one does? please let me know. I'll rustle up a picture of the garden and post it soon. 

Well, I know this isn't a Spring related journal entry, but I just couldn't resist. A few weeks ago I was surfing the web and I came across this google ad. I was so intrigued, I had to click it. I wasn't sure if I was reading the add correctly, but it turns out that I had. It was an ad for environmentally friendly coffins! and they are so beautifully decorated. Well, I can now exit in the style I have grown accustomed to.

I have often wondered why people spend  THOUSANDS  of dollars  on a coffin that you will only see for a few days, and then never see ever again. 

In this day and age of global deforestation this option couldn't come at a better time. My friend Sagar was over for lunch yestareday, who is from Kathmandu, and he was telling me  that  1x1' of lumber starts at  $10.00 CAD  because trees are so scarce.  Looking out of the window he said "It's not like Canada, where you have so many trees" When he said that I thought about all of the sweet little wood lots around the city that are now condominiums, and all of the places I used to go hiking along the Humber River that are now golf courses.hhhmmmmm. Maybe in a cardboard coffin is, "the way to go".

Well It's official with temperatures in the high teens today I spotting two special varieties of wild flora and fauna. These two photos will demonstrate the wiley and no longer hibernating Homo Sapien engaged in various mating rituals and activities, including cleverly procuring a fermented beverage long known for it's ability to loosen and lubricate vocal chords and pockets. Gathering together in the sunshine they admire one another and eat a variety of foods, the other is a Galanthus.

There it was and not just poking through, she as you can see is in full bloom. If you would like to see her she is on Kensington Ave south of the market on the west side. I can't unfortunately give you the address as I don't have permission from the owner of the house, (they weren't home) but I hope that I have given you enough clues to find your way. Happy Spring Toronto! 

What can I say, England was....beautiful. Just being able to go out side with out a coat on was such a treat. The icing on the cake, was all of the incredible plants that were blooming. The Purple Sand Cherries , which are as tall and thick as trees were in full bloom. I could spot at least 6 different varieties of Daffodil , and growing wild at the side of every road way was a variety of Prunus avium which were just covered from top to bottom with little white flowers. For those of us in Canada and the north, they looked fairly similar to our Serviceberry , Amelanchier canadenis which also grow wild at road ways and forests. I can't wait to show you the photographs and the latest podcasts that we are presently editing.

I traveled to England at this time of year for two reasons. One, my friend Gary's parents were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary, and the other reason I went to England was to revisit Kew Gardens. Two days was not enough. I could live in one of those floating boat houses that we spotted along the River Thames and visit Kew everyday for a year, easily. The feeling I get when surrounded by living history is so extraordinary. Glass houses that were built in eighteenth century, and their world famous Pagoda that was built in seventeen hundreds. I have old country envy. Even the venue for the anniversary party was in a sixteenth century country estate, that was later converted into a hotel, and in some rooms the floors are the original wood.

I felt safe in a 300 acre world where the understanding upon entering is....

“This where you come to know, and then to feel, that plants are the most important species on this planet, here is the evidence to prove it. Now, be in awe, and, not only are these plants going to save the world if we let them, but here is how we can do it with knowledge, class, and style!”

Click on my Flickr box and check out the photographs, much much much more to follow.

Hello

It is very late on a Saturday night and I am doing a ton of last minute organizing before I head off to England! YYYEEEAAAHHHH. I hear that the Daffodils are blooming every where? Do you hear them too? Oh I am so excited. I am off to Kew Gardens, the gardening Mecca of the collected plant world.

So, for this weeks garden journal I am doing something a little bit different. I went to Canada Blooms this past week, and I loved it. I saw so many unique and wonderful gardens and floral arrangements, but rather than tell you about it, I uploaded my photographs onto my flickr account for you to see! Just click on the Flicker square in the top right hand side of the page. 

In about 1-2 weeks I am going to be posting my first podcast! All I need to do now is learn how to edit :)

Take care Everyone.

 Beth 

Bioregionalism-Is a term often used to define a geographical area. More recently It has come to connote our preference to buy locally. I wasn't too long ago farmers didn't have much choice in who their market would be, they sold their produce closer to home for fear of it rotting.

For years now I have toyed with the idea of living for 6 months, or even more challenging for 1year eating a bioregional diet. What would this entail?... well, I would choose a boundary. Say, southern Ontario, and I would for the allotted time, eat only food that was grown in this area . Now it helps if you grow and preserve your own food. But what about wheat to make bread? In my city there are some beautiful bakeries, but where is their wheat grown and processed? I wouldn't be able to eat it unless it was grown in my bioregion. It means forgoing all tropical fruits, unless I grew them in a green house, and eating out would be next to impossible. The amount of planning it would take to have this diet would be Herculean .

I think what I would become most aware of, is how far food has to travel< to enter my digestive system. The amount of fossil fuels it would take to send Canadians apples from New Zealand, if it was measured, would be staggering! For some who may be reading this and aren't aware, most regions of Canada have the ability to grow hundreds of apple varieties, so it does seem a bit absurd to be getting apples from as far away as the Tasman Sea!

As a consumer (or an eater, as I like to call my self) I try and buy as locally as possible, especially when it comes to purchasing seeds and plants. I can't always know exactly the conditions the plants are grown in, but I can get some idea of the hardiness of that plant or seed if was grown near by. In making this decision, I also get the opportunity to support local businesses.

Over the years I have tried different seed companies, and here are my own reviews of the various companies and why I continue to use them. Also worthy of mention is a catalogue of garden catalogues called gardenlist.com,

Urban Harvest - Organic. Excellent seeds, great rates of germination and lots of heirloom varieties. For those of you who live in Toronto, Urban Harvest sells WONDERFUL wildflower and vegetable plants in the Spring! They also sell salves and garden amendments like kelp meal and compost activator.

Wildflowerfarm - Is a pick your own wild flower farm, and sells wild flower seeds and plants. The seeds are all native to North America, and the plant material is sturdy and hardy. Miriam who runs this company with her husband, does a lot of speaking engagements and will be at Canada Blooms this year as both a seller and a speaker. Go say hi, she has a wonderful sense of humor, and is very knowledgeable.

Richter's Herbs - organic. I definitely prefer to go there, and smell everything. The scent of Earth and mustiness is heavenly. They should be in full production of their cuttings for Spring. Well worth a visit!

Howard Dill Enterprises - "Dill's Atlantic Giant" The largest pumpkins EVER! If you have an empty spot somewhere in the back, plant one or two seeds just for fun. I did, and it was huge!

One of my favorite seed companies is an American company from Vermont called The Cook's Garden. The diversity of her seed selection is pretty impressive, especially if you like exotic lettuce.

Here is a list of some companies that I haven't used before, but have a very good reputation.

Hope seeds - Organic. The owner of this company and I met recently at the Guelph Organic Conference a few weeks ago. She has a wonderful small family business growing her own seeds, and they have quite a few rare varieties of beans.

The Cottage Gardener - Organic-Has any one reading this, ever had blue banana winter squash?

Greta's Organic Seeds - Wow she has 184 varieties of tomatoes, Rapini and 12 varieties of cucumber!

Eco Genesis - Organic. It turns out, upon inspection that they have edible Chrysanthemum. This vegetable is also known as Shingiku and is a real delight if you like slightly bitter vegetables like rapini. You can cook it so many ways, but sautéed lightly with butter is heavenly. (Please image that there is an accent aigu over the first e in sautéed, unfortunately, my key board and the web apparently only speak English, Editor's note: I Fixed it for you!) Go Gary! The best PDA in the world.

Terra Edibles -Their farm is located just north of Belleville in Ontario, and has a lovely selection of fragrant sweet peas. Who doesn't love the scent of sweet peas? It is important to plant sweet peas in a well ventilated (It is so funny to consider an out side area as well ventilated) however they are prone to powdery mildew, so a good breezy spot with lots of sunshine would be the best.

Garden Makers-If you are looking for rare and unusual flower seeds this company has a very extensive list of just about everything you could want.

Finally, and almost in conclusion, I wanted to mention seedsavers. This service is a great (in both senses of the word) way to keep seeds alive, literally. Certain seeds can have a short shelf life and if the seeds aren't used they can dry out and become unviable. The purpose of seed exchanges is to keep heritage varieties from becoming extinct. The most impressive organization doing this preservation work in Canada is Seeds of Diversity. The best part about seed exchanging is that it is free; you get to meet new people, and potentially save a variety of a species. Not bad! If you want to know more about the state of the worlds seeds, I recommend reading anything by Vandana Shiva, or visiting the site of Wakehurst Place. They have started an ambitious project of saving all of the seeds on the planet and storing them in a -20C vault!

I have grown so many things from seed, and by far my favorite was Tithonia speciosa or "Mexican Sunflower". In an unmarked Ziplock bag, I was given a present from a fellow gardener Cynthia Chataway, who mischievously didn't give me any other details other than "They are gorgeous". I think of her when ever I see one of these giants in someone's garden. They aren't very common, but if you are into orange, huge and prolific blooming, then this is the annual for you. There are other varieties, smaller and yellow and bushier. But Speciosa are my favorite. Last summer, Cynthia lost her battle with breast cancer. There were so many ways that she touched my life. When she began chemo in the fall, as a symbol of her own hope she asked all of her friends who had gardens to plant red, orange and yellow tulip bulbs. She wanted to be around in the Spring to see them bloom.

Thanks for tuning in.