Gardening Out Loud

I’m not a horoscope person. I’m not into psychic readings or auras or crystals. I loathe dreams. (If you are into these things, all good!) I bring it up, because until very recently, I would say I wasn’t a tarot person. That changed when I went to Ingrid’s wonderful guided forest immersion, and after, Ateqah asked me if I wanted to pull a card from her Dirt Gems oracle deck. I said okay, because w...

Is this thing on? Popping in to your feed with feelings about fall snow and the onset of winter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

This week: on tending and being tender, signs from a snowdrop, early spring progress. For full episode guide, check out Gardening Out Loud on Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

Hello dear plant people, I don’t want to commit to making a whole new season of the podcast, but spring has stirred up so many of my garden feelings, I thought I’d send out a little missive, and this essay recorded in audio, because the garden is waking and so am I. Winter felt especially hard and long this year, my anxiety sometimes a light dusting of snow, other times chest-high drifts. My partn...

In this episode . . . A frost narrowly avoided. Changing leaves, and beautiful Boston ivy. The local woodchip and leaf economy. Some cutting back (but mostly not). Surprise radishes. Cold frames and improvised low tunnels. Native seed sitting. Bulb planting tips. And a goodbye, or maybe a see you later. Otherwise this week, I’m . . . Savouring: The colours of the leaves and their crunch underfoot....

In this episode . . . Return of the juncos. Winter’s call to rest. Harvesting bean seeds. Late season harvests. The beauty of stolen yard waste. My compost cycle. Starting new beds. Specific plant varieties mentioned : Coyote tomato, Gem marigold series, Silver Years dahlia, Lakeview Peach Fuzz dahlia, Be a part of Gardening Out Loud ! It’s as easy as recording a voice memo on your phone. Record y...

Welcome back to another guest episode. This time I headed northwest on my bike up to the home of Mikael Walter-Campbell, the owner and maker at Sage & Thistle Handmade Goods , where she makes all kinds of wonderful soaps, infused oils, masks, soaks, and more. I wanted to see the garden that provides many of the botanicals for her products and learn more about what she grows for skincare and how it...

In this episode . . . Retreat recovery. The beauty (and practicality) of asters and goldenrod. Time to label dahlias and move or divide perennials. Specific plant varieties mentioned : White snakeroot, large-leaved aster, wood aster, cardinal flower, boneset Be a part of Gardening Out Loud ! It’s as easy as recording a voice memo on your phone. Record your name, where you live, and then describe a...

In this episode . . . Shift in the seasons. Time to top tomatoes. A minor squash victory. Focus on ripening he fruits you have. Compost bin fungi and other surprises. Gardening as act of faith. Specific plant varieties mentioned : Blue Kuri squash, Cosmos Apricot Lemonade Be a part of Gardening Out Loud ! It’s as easy as recording a voice memo on your phone. Record your name, where you live, and t...

In this episode . . . A tree full of birds. Tuning in by slowing down. The delights (and practicality) of the New England aster. Guest appearance by a marauding squirrel. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

In this episode . . . In praise of Canada goldenrod. Strategies for savouring summer. A magical harvest dinner. Saving cosmos, nasturtium, and calendula seeds. My squirrels love honeynut squash. A taste of the tropics with ground cherries. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

Most of Gardening Out Loud focuses on gardeners, but in Toronto there are a few ingenious folks farming in people’s gardens. Sylvia Cheng of Growing Tkaronto Floristry is one of those people growing gorgeous blooms on borrowed land, creating little pockets of abundance beside busy city streets. I came to Sylvia for her perspective on farming in gardens, working with landowners, and, of course, gro...

In this episode . . . On embracing creativity as an adult and finding flow state. A tour of all the plants and flowers I use in arrangements. Basic tips for bouquets and arrangements. The benefits of growing your own cut flowers. The book that taught me so much about arranging seasonal flowers: A Year in Flowers by Erin Benzakein. I get my spring bulbs from Flowerbulbsrus . (Not sponsored.) Specif...

In this episode . . . A passionfruit-scented rose. Tomatoes, beans, cukes. The squash plants persevere. Sprouting broccoli lessons. Planters are not litterboxes (and yet . . .) Surprise cucamelons continue. Attack of the 11-foot tomato plant. Some container successes. Specific seed varieties mentioned: Purple Peacock pole beans, Blue Lake pole beans, dahlia Hollyhill Black Beauty, dahlia Lakeview...

In this episode . . . Cultivating awe. Visits from cardinals and teen robins. Updates from the zinnia and the dahlia patch. Garden time moves differently. Specific seed varieties from this episode: dahlia Hollyhill Black Beauty. Queen Lime zinnia series. If you want to learn more about awe, check out the interviews I mentioned with Dacher Kaltner: On Being and How We Live Now . You can also read K...

In this episode . . . A calla lily experiment. The resilience of mouse melons. All hail the 2023 garlic harvest. First tomato. Dahlias and tomatoes are here. Plus: zinnias! Beans! Cucumbers! Specific seed varieties from this episode: dragon’s tongue bush beans, Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes, Piccolo cucumbers, Eleonora basil, tulsi (holy basil), dahlia Lakeview Peach Fuzz, snowpuff cosmos. This is a p...

Another guest episode! Last year, as part of Urban Agriculture Week in Toronto, I visited Maria Solakofski’s garden in East York, and I found myself signing up for a workshop just so I could return days later. Listen in and I think you’ll get a sense of why. Maria is an herbalist and educator growing a wildly abundant garden according to permaculture principles. She sells tisanes, skincare, and ot...

In this episode . . . After the rain (cue Jim Cuddy). Why I’m done with comfrey tea even if it’s not done with me. Milkweed multiplies. Collecting kale seed. Surprise mouse melons. More edible “weeds” and surprise appearances. A special guest monarch. First zinnia (Queen Lime Blush). Leaf thievery and its many uses. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers...

In this episode . . . The great fence drama of 2023, and why a chain-link fence can be a wonderful thing. First strawflowers and blueberries. Borage abounds. Pinching dahlias. A return to broccoli. Gardens I visited last weekend: Artemesia Daylilies and Fiddlehead Nursery — they’re just down the road from each other. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscriber...

In this episode . . . Snapdragons and poppies in their prime. Serviceberry mystery solved? Revelling in raspberries. On growing friendship. Mulberries as economy of abundance. If you’re in Toronto and have a fruit tree you’d like harvested, or would like to help harvest other people’s trees, sign up for Not Far from the Tree . Similar groups also exist in cities all over the world. This is a publi...

It’s time for another guest episode, this time with Butterfly Ranger and passionate front yard food grower Sarah Joy Bennett. SJ tends a farm in the front and a forest in the back (the horticultural mullet?). The lovely front yard features two raised beds and a nifty terraced side pollinator patch. (If you’d like to see the transformation of her eroding slope with the Dirt Locker , you can see som...

In this episode . . . Garden, farm, or . . . ? Savouring scape season. Elegant cerinthe. The gift of a peony. The carrots’ loss is the beans’ gain. Pinching tomato suckers. Lavender haze. Strawberries are for sharing. What happened to my serviceberry? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack....

In this episode . . . Climate retreat and grounding in the grass. Tomatoes love heat. A moment for scented geranium leaves. (And too many streetcars — words hardly ever uttered in Toronto. Sorry about the sonic intrusion!) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

In this episode . . . A brief history of the garden’s roses (Boscobel, Desdemona, Munstead Wood, and James Galway — all David Austin Roses). Obsessed with my clematis. Dahlias emerging. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardeningoutloud.substack.com

In this episode . . . Visit from a baby raccoon. Flowering raspberries. Purple season continues. Planting for pollinators on a dry, shady, neglected “lawn” and the value of native plants. To find the native plants right for your region, try Pollinator Partnerships’s Find Your Roots tool. Toronto has its own Native Plant Market in the west end, and you can also order plants online from Ontario Nati...