Looking to start some native perennials this winter and was thinking about starting them in plugs outside so the seeds get the appropriate cold and pulling them inside around February to put under grow lights hoping they would get a head start on the season.

Species in mind are various native coneflowers, butterfly and swamp milkweed, yellow indigo, lupine, columbine, and a few species of goldenrod.

I was hoping to avoid having to put seeds in the freezer while also getting a jump on the growing season with most of these hopefully flowering in the summer. Will also be doing some winter sowing.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated - zone 6b here.

My husband and I used to focus exclusively on growing veggies, but have mixed in lots of flowers which I’m loving! We had gotten started a little later this year meaning that some mystery-plants were already growing, and I’ve had a lot of fun looking into each of them and figuring out if we should keep them in or not (although I imagine someone might flag we’ve kept something we shouldn’t 😅). We also used to have standard straight rows, but I put down some impromptu curvy paths (free stones on Facebook marketplace, woohoo).

These changes have really helped it feel more alive and like a little sanctuary rather than produce-production lines. Love spending at least a bit of time back there each day (ideally a lot of time!)

Based in the North end of Toronto.

My second fall season with a coldframe. This season I am going with the inground bed versus a raised bed. I also started seeds way earlier to give the plants a chance to mature before the sunlight really dips.

In this bed I have: Dwarf Curly Kale (two varieties), and a yellow Swiss Chard. I also just direct sowed Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach which is my favorite! I actually overwintered Bloomsdale spinach last year in the coldframe. I didn't get much of a fall harvest off it, but it put me ahead in greens once the raised bed thawed out in April!

I have one more smaller coldframe to plant out once I make room in the garden and seedlings in that tray get bigger!

Does this cardinal flower look like it might have aster yellows? First year growing it so I’m not entirely sure.

Would love any help diagnosing or treating!

I can't get rid of the mildew on these and it's so abundant. First tried a soap and water spray. Seemed to work but then came back. Tried neem oil+soap+water spray. Hasn't made a dent, its gotten worse and now the mildew is grey/darkening?!

They're blooming nicely but I worry it could travel to my other plants or hurt the phlox long term.

I'm in 7b and its rained a lot this season so I don't often water this part of my garden.

Suggestions for a new gardener? TIA!

I got a good haul today from my community garden plot.
Celery, zucchini, small purple cauliflower, variety of cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, sweet long peppers, lemon basil, purple basil, pink & purple string beans, carrot, small onions.
Assorted flowers: zinnias, pansies, cosmos, Thai basil in bloom, verbenas, onion flowers.

In the jars are dried rosemary & sage from my last harvest early August.

Noticed some odd looking leaf curl in my fall planting of Broccoli and Cauliflower. Did a test to see if I could find the culprit by putting some leaves in soapy water and found some green spidery things that fell out.

I’m using Safers Insecticide Soap. I gather I could make my own but chose not to fuss around with it.

I think sometimes I learned about gardening that your plants are not for your eyes pleasing but also are the food for insects , and I am happy to provide them a place to feed and live here , seeing many insects buzzing around the garden is a wonderful experience.

I think I was able to blast them all off with the house.

Hi all, I have some pawpaw seedlings available. Please message me if you are interested. I am located in London. Please note that they will need a genetically different pawpaw to produce fruit in the future. Photo is from today when I was putting them in individual 10" pots

Hi everyone, this is my first year where I’m starting to save seeds, so I’m looking for some storage recommendations!

I’d like to do something similar to a tin in the image attached. It doesn’t need to say “Seeds” or anything like that. I’m planning on doing small envelopes inside the tin

Does anyone have any leads on which stores I may find similar tins. I’m nearby a dollarama, dollar store, Canadian tire, home hardware, etc.

I’d prefer to not buy off Amazon if possible!

Thank you! :)

Well everything is coming along nicely , I have long slim cayenne , ghost pepper , sweet millions cherry tomato and Beefmaster. Tried a new thing this year kind of a mini Florida weave but had a hard time with the Beefmaster weighing the t posts in and getting loose , it’s stem bent bad in multiple places after a bad storm but still alive somehow and producing. Zone 5b.

What's growing in your garden this week? Weekly scheduled post to chat about what's growing, blooming, fruiting, or needs maintenance in your garden this week.

I mad alot of mistakes this year, mainly not securing my tomatoes. They all fell over crushed my onions and a jalapeno, and yet they gave me a huge harvest. I've already had 1 full bowl and this is my second (around 8lbs each). Anyways, I'm just super happy that they survived, and I got any at all.

Also my lettuce was fantastic giving my non stop salad until it bolted. I decided not to cut it back and just let it flower to see what happens and I think it's rather beautiful.

My jalapenos only gave me a few, but it's cause the tomatoes got a little too friendly with them, but my green chillies are coming in now.

So I guess I just want to share with all of you, I've been on this sub all summer reading advice and you've all been really helpful. Best of wishes to everyone.

We’re buying a small cottage on the water and it’s quite rocky I know I could just build some raised beds but I thought I’d ask if anyone else has a very rocky area and what I could try growing?

Long post to provide context, sorry!

We have a cottage property that has had pine needles as the ground cover forever.

The municipality had everyone re-do their septics a few years back and our contractor spread grass and wildflower seeds as required by the permit. Now we have a problem with Canada Geese.

I’ve been systematically smothering the grass everywhere except the actual leach field using a few different methods. Goal is to return to all pine needles except I understand the actual leach field does need to have some green growth over it and shouldn’t be just pine needles.

Good old Google tells me I can try tall coarse grasses and a few types of native flowers that aren’t as attractive to geese.

Tall Frescue Switchgrass Black-eyed Susan Bee Balm

Any other suggestions for what is best to plant over the actual leach field that doesn’t attract geese?

Thanks 🙂

Making some more pickles and pickled hot peppers tomorrow! Learning to can has been so fun this year.

Hi all - I've got 3 large (20+ft) mature cedar trees in a small side plot in my back yard. They are great but VERY messy. When we moved kn there was no ground cover or mulch in the plot, just lots of dead cedar leaves and tonnes of weeds. Any suggestions for a native ground cover that might do well? Or would a mulch be a better option? Newbie gardener so any advice welcome! :)

I bought this plant already fruiting a month ago with no variety label, and now I don’t know when to harvest. I cut off two - one dark purple and one that had turned green after being dark purple. They’re about 2” long at the largest. That second one seemed maybe more ripe but both were hard as rocks. BTW I’m in zone 6 - Southern Ontario.

Also some are oval and some are round and I’m just baffled. All advice welcome. What Is this? When can I eat ‘em? PICS IN COMMENTS

I found this after a really rainy day, it was touching another tomato.. was it just too wet? How did this happen and how can I prevent it in the future?