This is a work in progress. Last update: Oct. 24, 2025 If you read just one thing, make it this short but comprehensive article in Connecticut Gardener magazine, by Kim Eiermanhttp://monarchawardshamilton.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Becoming-An-Ecological-Gardener.pdf Another more comprehensive read for the curious and skeptical: “The Basics of Ecological Landscaping” from the Ecological Landscape Alliancehttps://www.ecolandscaping.org/10/developing-healthy-landscapes/ecological-landscaping-101/the-basics-of-ecological-landscaping/ E. O. Wilson’s classic article READ MORE
Blog
The Plunk-and-Plop School of Gardening
This article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of Cross Pollination, the newsletter of the Halton Region Master Gardeners. Late one evening in mid-September I was walking around my small urban garden with a plant in each hand, unaware that my husband was watching. “Looking for a place to plant those?” he asked. “Yup. READ MORE
The Orange Menace
by Bev Wagar Buckthorn foists himself on Hort Court. I wrote “The Orange Menace” in September 2025, during the Terrible Trump Times in the USA. Sean and I had just moved to Eastern Ontario, a short distance across the St. Lawrence River from upstate New York, which had overwhelming voted Republican. But what really motivated READ MORE
A pussy willow problem
I did it before I knew better. Or maybe it was a simple lack of willpower. Taking a cutting from a plant on public property is a no-no, but this was a pussy willow, a robust species that tolerates abuse and roots easily from cuttings. On the Bruce Trail near my home in Hamilton, Ontario, READ MORE
Watch out for weird worms
A slightly shorter version of this article was published in the May 2024 of North End Breezes, a community newspaper in Hamilton Ontario. 747 words © Beverley Wagar 2024 please email me for reprint permission. Jumping worms arrived in southern Ontario at least a decade ago and, since 2019, they’ve been writhing and chomping through READ MORE
Winter Sowing – Part 1
Winter sowing (or wintersowing or WS) is a way for home gardeners to germinate seeds outdoors in mini greenhouses made from recycled containers and bottles. It’s a somewhat controlled way to mimic what nature does when seeds drop in autumn, spend winter outdoors, and germinate naturally in the spring. The technical term for this process is “cold moist stratification.”
Winter Sowing – Part 3
Container choices Topics in Part 1 Before you start (links to section on this page):What is winter sowing?Why winter sow?Basic principlesWhat can I grow?When should I sow? Topics in Part 2WS step-by-Step (links open in new tab)Prepare containersAssemble suppliesPrepare seedsPrepare soil mixFill containersPlant seedsLabel & tapePlace outsideWatch & wait Topics in this articleContainer choices(links to READ MORE
Winter Sowing – Part 2
A step-by-step guide to success Topics in Part 1 Before you start(links open in new tab) What is winter sowing?Why winter sow?Basic principlesWhat can I grow? When should I sow? Topics in this articleA step-by-step guide(links jump to topic on this page) Prepare containersAssemble suppliesPrepare seedsPrepare soil mixFill containersPlant seedsLabel & tapePlace outsideWatch & wait READ MORE
Gardeners should care about sprawl
Ford’s pro-sprawl legislation has it’s own sordid back story involving grift, handshakes, and election promises, but while that drama festers, let’s turn to our own backyards and look at how sprawl affects gardens
Plant markers that do it all…
This year saw many changes to my garden, some small and some drastic. The drastic ones resulted from the discovery of invasive jumping worms back in late June. But more on that later. The common denominator for all these changes was soil disturbance. There was a huge increase in digging– not only my efforts to READ MORE