Killing Mosquitoes: The Good, The Bad and The Weird

You’ve heard that saying – Be careful what you wish for! I’ve been waiting for those classic hot-‘n’-muggy summer days to finally arrive here in Southwestern Ontario. In my mind, it ain’t summer until you and your can of cold beer are both sweating buckets. But with humid weather comes mosquitoes. And so the battle…

6 easy shortcuts to an English country garden

I read an article recently about some gardeners in North America (ok, the U.S.) who’d designed lust-worthy gardens evocative of an English country garden and it occurred to me that, despite the fact that the gardens did indeed have that distinctive English Country Garden vibe about them, there wasn’t any information about why exactly they…

Simple solutions to summer lovin’ Japanese beetles

If it’s late summer in Ontario, it’s time for Japanese beetle mania. It sure is in my garden. Popillia japonica has a voracious appetite for over 300 plant species but that’s not the reason why they’re so annoying. No, for suburban gardeners dealing with the classic yin-yang of flower beds and lawn, it’s that wicked one-two…