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.)

Specific plant varieties mentioned: Black Knight scabiosa, Costa Silver snapdragons, Black Prince snapdragons, Little Lime hydrangea, cosmos Apricot Lemonade, cosmos Snow Puff, ninebark Diablo, geranium Rose of Attar.

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 Peach Fuzz, dahlia Karras 150, cosmos Apricot Lemonade, ninebark Diablo, Aspabroc sprouting broccoli, Mesclun mix, Duke blueberry, geranium Attar of Roses, Coyote tomato, Fall Gold raspberries. The ruffled tomato in the container I couldn’t remember is called Costoluto Fiorentino.

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 Keltner’s new book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday. And let me know what brings little doses of awe to your life.

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.

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 other herbal products, and runs workshops and a mentorship program out of her East York yard.

You’ll find this episode runs a bit longer than the other guest episodes, because we covered three gardens — and if you like listening as much as I liked being there, I don’t want to cut it short.

Tune in to learn a bit about permaculture, but also unique berries, growing in containers, soil amendment, and cooperating with wildlife. The episode also feature’s the pod’s first-ever groundhog guest.

If you’d like to learn more about Maria and her garden, check out her website, Wild by Nature, to learn more about her offerings. I hope you enjoyed soaking in her knowledge and enthusiasm, and you too always remember her prompt to enjoy something you don’t strictly need: “But wouldn’t it be nice?”

Lastly, I can’t seem to record a guest podcast without an audio problem (🤦‍♀️) and you’ll find the last three minutes with Maria are a bit of a shambles because it seems my new mic didn’t connect and you were getting raw phone audio. I encourage you to keep listening though — those are some of the most vital minutes of the conversation. One day I’ll crack this audio thing, I swear. Listening to my intro this morning, I thought maybe it’s making me sound like a robot, so my mic search may continue. Thank you for your grace as I stumble my way through. At a certain point, you’ll also hear some rambunctious play from a nearby yard, because that’s just life in the city.

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.

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.

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.

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 some photos from installation, year one, and year two on her Instagram. It’s pretty cool, and I’m not just saying that because I helped.) While we recorded, the whole space was just humming with pollinators.

This is an especially useful episode if you’re a renter with access to potential growing space, but we also discuss growing with kids, the wonder of berries (including the new-to-me annual huckleberry), gardening as a gateway to community, and focusing on growing what you love, which is less obvious that it sounds.

If you’re now invested in Sarah Joy’s garden, you can follow it through the seasons through her Instagram, @sarahjoybennett.

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?