The Path To Bettering Your Soil
Gardening in the Yukon can sometimes feel like a perennial struggle when in other parts of the country it might appear almost effortless.
Gardening
A Gardener’s Work Is Never Done
To a non-gardener it might seem as if the gardening season has come to an end now. The last of the vegetables have been harvested and stored, the colourful leaves raked together and one might think that there’s nothing left to do this year. But just like a hunter is busy thinking of the next …
Go Wild With Greens
There are few wild greens easier to enjoy than lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium album) also known as white goosefoot and, sometimes, pigweed. A member of the populous Amaranthaceae family, which includes amaranth, quinoa, beets and spinach, among thousands of other plants, the leaves can be eaten fresh or cooked and have a flavour somewhere between spinach and kale.
Preserving Veggies For (Brrrh!) Winter
In the Yukon, the growing season in summer is very efficient, with almost 20 hours of daylight but winters are tough for our food gardens.
When Gatherers Become Gardeners
Mid-winter Potato, Kale and Cheddar Pie. A hearty, cheesy, main course that only needs a side salad for a satisfying mid-winter meal.
The secret to composting
We all know we should compost. It is the right thing to do, even in bear country. Composting is the natural process of decay.
Gardening in the blood?
As leaves start to fall and I swaddle my garden in rows of spun plastic to protect it from night frosts, I am exploring my family connection to gardening. Perhaps it’s because I feel a little alone sometimes, a spur way out on the family tree with little connection to roots that lie in other countries and cultures.
Gardening on the cheap
This series, The Radical Gardener, will look at ways in which working class people (or people who just want to save some scratch) can approach creating, caring for and maintaining a food garden — something which, given the uncertainty of these times, seems like a pretty good idea.
Great Thumbs, Great Ideas
With everyone still on lockdown and the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in under the COVID-19 lock down, many people are thinking about growing a garden this year — some, perhaps, for the first time in their lives.
Somebody, please turn out the lights and rescue me
I’ve lost all control of my indoor-growing habit. No sooner has one batch of oregano or rosemary emerged shyly from its earthy grave than I’ve planted three more to keep it company.
Five perennials for the northern flower garden
Thoughts of vibrant flower gardens seem whimsical when it’s -42 C and snow covers any evidence of those gardens. But seed catalogues are starting to arrive in the mail and what’s more fun than imagining your garden from the comfort of your couch? Vegetable farming is what we do here on the farm. My little …
Seed dreams are made of these
Here, as elsewhere, we’re on the January/February cusp. For all practical purposes, that means gardening season is still a few months off.
Batten down the hatches
I feel tumbled up against the advance of winter. All summer, the sun pulled me on with the force of a tearaway sled dog and, when the days shortened into fall, it was as if she slowed suddenly to sniff out a piece of news and I hurtled into her. I sit on the trail …
Let the apple harvest begin
A couple of weeks ago, I was stayed in my tracks as I was strolling by one of our apple shelters. They’re coming, my nose told me as the fragrance of ripe fruit wafted out of the open door. I poked my head in. As luck would have it, beneath the laden branches lay a …
Playing possum … when trees play tricks on us
Mysterious are the ways of plants, and when it comes to trees, we wait until they are well and truly dead before we cut them down.
The Yukon landscape
One thing that thrives up here is the humble spruce tree. Now before you shake your heads, let me clarify: I’m not talking about just any ol’ spruce tree.
Those Bloomin’ Apples
Yukon fruit growers have work to do in all seasons to ensure a successful harvest come fall. In the spring this involves two main strategies: avoid early bloom and watch that weather.
Growing a Sense of Community
Many Whitehorse gardeners are planning to grow an extra row of vegetables to donate to the food bank this year. Whitehorse is one of the 35 communities across the country that now participates in Grow-A-Row. The program is the brainchild of two green thumbs in Winnipeg, Ron and Eunice O’Donovan. In the summer of 1986 …
Flowering Azaleas: Beautiful Indoors and Out
The azalea plant is among the most colourful and beautiful of flowering shrubs. Domesticated to become an indoor flowering plant, many varieties can be placed outdoors for the Yukon summer months and wintered indoors. By following a few simple tricks of the trade, you can grow azaleas to produce a flowering period of three to …
