Other than pull your hair out, scream in frustration, angrily rip it out by its roots and burn it in a bonfire….ok, that may be extreme….but if you are fond of growing herbs (like me), than take heed to what I am about to tell you.  Cilantro, Basil, Sage, etc. and often many lettuces have an annoyingly bad habit of doing something called ‘bolting’ when it gets too hot outside.

Bolting refers to the plant slowing down leaf production in favour of flowering and setting seed.  The plants main focus (after leaf production for food/growth) is to generate flowers which … Read more...

Surprisingly, after only a mere couple weeks of warm weather, parts of my garden needed a good sheering off.  Like sheep at the end of winter.  My resident Sage plant below was totally over-crowding my newly planted Tomatillos and due to the instant 30C heat in our neck of the woods, promptly started flowering…something it usually saves itself for in July.

So I took a few of the flowers and put them in a vase in the living room – the leaves give off that nice ‘sage-y’ smell and they really do look good as a cut flower arrangement.  I … Read more...

Yes, it is quite easy to ‘Shock’ your plants in preparation for their final place in the garden.  There is a transition period whereby you slowly ease your plants into the great outdoors a little at a time to get them used to the harshness of the world.

When plants spend time in your sunny window in the early spring or under grow lights, they are shielded from the burning rays of the sun that can scorch their delicate leaves and stress the plant.

To acclimatize them to the outdoors, start by taking your plants outside to a shady spot, … Read more...

I hope all you gardening folks are as excited as I am this Spring.  My living room window (and half the floor area) are already crowded with plants just itching to get their roots into the outdoor garden soil.

Now hold on to your green thumb for a sec,  before you get the shovel out, you need to create a layout of your garden patch.

This is where I have come across a jim-dandy web-tool to help you do just that.  No more writer’s cramp and numerous crumpled pieces of paper tossed aside while you try to perfect your ‘to … Read more...