Gardening: A Beginning

Looks like Giz is protesting my lack of blogging by not blogging. Ok. She wins. I'll post.

It all started with a massive post about a crazy day of food. Then, I got tired of the post and lost my blogging mojo. Do long, overwhelming posts ever do that to you?

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Let me start with something simple.

See that little patch in the corner of my backyard?


Here's a closer look...


That's the "before" shot. I'm going to document my first real attempt at gardening (not including the 3 cucumbers I managed to grow a few years ago).

Step 1: Go to Ottawa is Blooming to see what I can learn about gardening. COMPLETE

Step 2: Win a book about gardening that will take me from pathetically ignorant about gardening to slightly less pathetic. COMPLETE

(Yes - I actually won something else! My unlucky streak is officially broken)

I won Mark Cullen's new book, The Canadian Garden Primer.


It's a clearly written book that cover many aspects of gardening. It's the perfect book for me.

Step 3: Convince my dad and stepmom to come to Ottawa to help me enlarge and plant a garden (yes, Dad...I'm putting you to work...no, you cannot pretend to work by reading the paper all afternoon.) COMPLETE

Note to self: don't alienate parents with snarky comments.

Step 4: Do the actual work to plant and maintain a vegetable garden. I'll keep you posted

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I also wanted to mention a new film that may be particularly interesting for Canadian bloggers. It's called Poor No More.

Here's the short synopsis:

Poor No More is a feature documentary that offers Canada’s working poor a way out. Mary Walsh takes some hard-working Canadians to see how poverty has been reduced in Europe and how it might be reduced here. They discover that the countries with the least poverty have affordable housing, strong unions, free university and childcare -- and enjoy successful economies. It’s a road movie with lots of tears and passion that will appeal to the millions of Canadians who are worrying about how to make ends meet.

The film is well done and will definitely get you thinking about poverty, the working poor and the influence of big business in Canada.

You can find screening information on the website's main page.