A wide variety of containers can be used to start seeds indoors – the containers that your salad greens came in, yogurt containers, pots that you have saved from last summer, purchased pots and cell packs from the garden centre. …

Hard to believe when the ground is thick with snow and the air is frigid, but spring is not far away at all. Now is the time to prune out any damaged, diseased or tangled / crossed branches and stems…

Now that the days are getting longer, it is time to start to feed your houseplants. Give them half the recommended dosage of plant food every other week rather than full strength every month.  Be sure that the growing medium…

The arrival of spring may show a vertical ‘split-like’ wound in the bark on the west or southwest side of a young or newly planted tree.  This wound, sometime called sun scald, is the result of the sun heating up…

Now is the time home gardeners are planning their vegetable gardens and ordering seeds, and some may be considering growing potatoes this year. The Ontario Ministry of Food and Agriculture (OMAFRA) has some cautions about growing potatoes in urban home…

Seed packages indicate the number of weeks needed to have a seedling ready for planting out.  Add on a week for ‘hardening off’ your seedlings.  To calculate the date for starting your seeds indoors, start with the date when you…

Now is a good time to tour your property on a sunny day looking for damaged or dead wood. Prune out the shrubs and easily reached trees as you walk around; schedule an appointment with a trained arborist for major…

Always move your houseplant up just one pot size at a time.  Your plant will not grow well if you suddenly move it from a 6 cm pot to a 12 cm pot.…

Indoor plants need to be grown in pots with good drainage.  The drainage hole should be covered to avoid the growing medium from washing out.  Paper coffee filters and sections of old pantyhose are excellent choices for covering the drainage…

Growing medium in terra cotta pots will dry out more quickly than in plastic pots.  If you want to use terra cotta pots, soak the pots in water for several hours before using.  If you are re-using a pot, be…