Monthly Archives: September 2012

Purple carrots behaving badly: Fifty Shades of Grey Soup

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Chrystal

Purple carrots have an unexpected dark side. Earlier this week I harvested the last of my fingerling and purple haze carrots as well as my four mutant parsnips. I roasted the vegetables with olive oil, intending to serve them with … Continue reading →

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First Zucchini Ever!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Chrystal

This summer has featured a number of garden growing “firsts” for me, including first cucumber, first fava bean and now, my first zucchini. (That would be “calabacín” in Spanish). When originally tried to start the zucchinis indoors in late May, … Continue reading →

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Quote of the year

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Chrystal

A quote from Dee Dee Taylor Eustace in the Saturday Globe & Mail: “think of weeds as wrinkles; you have earned them and they fought to be there” She’s not offering gardening advice, and the quote is a little out … Continue reading →

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Trimming the English Laurel

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Chrystal

Tomorrow is garden-waste removal day so I spent a chunk of my afternoon trying to tame the English Laurel hedge. I have a love/hate relationship with this particular entity, although by the end of today it was balanced towards the … Continue reading →

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Mole holes

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Chrystal

Early in the season a mole moved into our yard and started to burrow under – and in – one of my garden boxes. I left cat hair near the mole holes in the hopes that the smell of our … Continue reading →

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Shirley Double Mix (I need a better camera)

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Chrystal

Most of my gardening focus is on (1) growing vegetables; (2) pruning hedges, tress and shrubs; and (3) trying to get some one else to mow, trim or weed. A distant tertiary priority is (4) filling up the space not … Continue reading →

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Cyclamen

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Chrystal

I have blogged about cyclamen before, but I can’t help myself. LOVE THEM. They show up unexpectedly after everything else is almost finished blooming, lighting up an area of the garden that is kind of dry and boring. One of … Continue reading →

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Albinos?

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Chrystal

Albino plants. In a previous post I mentioned that I have albino strawberries and white California poppies that grow along side their pigmented sisters.  Today I noticed two white cyclamen, which I have never seen before. I tried to take … Continue reading →

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