Category Archives: Uncategorized

Winter gardening: lessons learned and modified expectations

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Chrystal

This is the second year I have tried to garden year-round, and  I am happy to report that this year has been much more successful than last. The big lesson I learned last year was that plants need to be … Continue reading →

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Soil Amendment (warning: boring post about fertilizer)

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Chrystal

I haven’t spent any time in the garden in the last month except to empty the compost into the bin and to pick kale and swiss chard. Today was fabulously sunny so I decided to go out and do a … Continue reading →

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White Christmas?

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Chrystal

Yesterday it snowed heavily and Vancouver traffic was the usual nightmare. Even though I don’t have to commute (and I am annoyingly smug about that), I find the snow distressing because of the damage it always does. After meeting a … Continue reading →

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Planning for 2013

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Chrystal

After a few early Christmas baking failures, I’ve decided to take a break and put my seeds in order and think about what I need to do differently next year in the garden. With the exception of fava bean extravaganza … Continue reading →

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The Emotional Life of Trees

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Chrystal

This time of year my larch is in full color. Time to enjoy –  in another week the tree will start to drop the needles and the cone-laden branches. This tree requires some complicated pruning each year because of a … Continue reading →

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Tomatoes and the end of the world

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Chrystal

My good friend, “Madame Z”, is counting down the days to the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st, by Facebooking suggestions for how to spend each of these last days. I know that Madame Z is not at all serious about … Continue reading →

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What’s more important: sunlight or warmth?

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Chrystal

I don’t normally think of sunlight and warmth as mutually exclusive, except for yesterday, when I had to decide which of those were the most important for my plants. We had some fabulous sunshine, but without the usual winter cloud … Continue reading →

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Weedy Wednesday

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Chrystal

Today looks like one of those rare sunny fall days; get out and do some weeding. Please go to my post in BC Living: http://www.bcliving.ca/garden/winter-weeding-tips!

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Deciding what grows and what goes

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Chrystal

Now that many of my plants such as the lilies, black eyed susans, crosocmia and salal are thriving and starting to spread, I need to make some hard decisions about what gets to stay and what gets pulled up. Some … Continue reading →

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Chrystal vs Slug

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Chrystal

The slug biodomes were activated just over a week ago, and a quick inspection  revealed that the plants in biodome #2 are all doing very well – the spinach is growing quite fast and the kale is thriving. I was … Continue reading →

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