gardening

Warm weather means going outside to share food and good times. That means not a lot of time to be inside blogging. Here in this photo is Dave Dawson playing music with our neighbour friends at our housing co-op in East Vancouver. We share a lot of meals outside during the season of good...

These are the nasturiums I planted in my house on April 4, 2010 “Starting seeds indoors in Vancouver.” A week later on April 11, I wrote First shoots of life emerge. On May 13, I planted the baby nasturtiums in a big pot outside: Nasturium ready for the big plant garden. Today the nasturium...

Update: the fluff is from cottonwood – not dandelion. But I’ll leave my post as it was, which is now a weird irony because it is wrong. Original post The white fluff that parachuted them is still visible. Now an army of dandelion sprouts has invaded the soil under my little coleus plant and...

Despite the lack of sun everyone is complaining about in Vancouver, my new hosta plant is boasting some lovely blooms. Out of curiosity, and because I’m at a bit of a loss re: what to write about, I checked Google News for any kind of media buzz on the humble hosta. Had this notoriously...

Their white fluff has been in the air for the past few days. Now the dandelion seeds are nestled – so fertile – into the soil and patchy lawns of my neighbourhood. Nearby you see the rubbery stems of last year’s crew. Wind dispersal of seeds Known in some circles as “Prince in Pauper’s...

Parking for cars is pretty tight – but if you’re coming to the market on your bicycle, Geoffrey Vincent will set you up with a free, safe, and secure spot in his enclosed bike lot. Geoffrey is program coordinator for The Bicycle Valet, run by Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST). This three-year-old program encourages...

I don’t know what kind of flower this is, but it’s in my garden and I think it’s really beautiful. My next door neighbour pal, the horticulturalist and passionate plant person, mentioned the name before, but I can’t remember it, and she’s not home right now. You can still enjoy the flower, even if...

I peeked out the window of my friend Mike’s house today and noticed his neighbour’s back yard. It’s totally overgrown with weeds. Some are as tall as the roof. Mike said cats go in there to have sex fairly often at this time of year. Once he heard the terrible sound of a raccoon...

Today I moved my plant seedlings into the great outdoors. Til now, it looked like the wildly growing little nasturtiums were pressing their faces up against the window – pining for a life outside. (So I liked to imagine…) Eight wee, light-seeking plants snaked their way to the window and grew big flat leaves...