Search Results

Showing 1-10 results for "helen chesnut"

Helen Chesnut

January 31, 2013

As a garden columnist in the Times Colonist, Helen Chesnut weaves stories about friends and neighbours into her descriptions of gardening procedures and favourite ornamental and edible plants. She . . .

Garden Notes: New neighbours Blaze and Bowser announce arrival

August 18, 2018

Two sleek, gentle presences have appeared in the garden, soon after the arrival of new neighbours next door — their rescue cats. Normally, I don’t welcome cats in the garden. They stalk the birds. . .

Garden Notes: Attractive tamarisk shrub an invasive species

August 15, 2018

Dear Helen: Can you identify the shrub or tree in the attached photo? I saw it blooming late last month at the end of the Oak Bay marina. The pink colouring is unusual. I can't find it it any of my. . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: This year’s garlic harvest looks great

August 11, 2018

It’s been a very different spring and summer this year, as a crippling knee injury has enforced regular intervals of rest between gardening sessions — times to stop and pamper the knee with cold . . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Now is the time to start a ‘kitchen’ garden

August 8, 2018

Dear Helen: I would like to convert part of the lawn into a “kitchen” garden, mainly for salad vegetables and a few herbs. Can I do this without lifting the grass? I’ve heard of “lasagna” gardens. . . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Hamlet seeds produce fine tomatoes

August 1, 2018

Dear Helen: I’ve been admiring tomatoes sold in clusters, on a stem, in local stores. They’re a little smaller than regular tomatoes, but very attractive. Are seeds or transplants ever available of. . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: You can sow salad vegetables in August

July 28, 2018

As July comes to an end, I sense a change of direction in the garden: from creating to maintaining, sowing to reaping. Not that planting is over entirely. Early August is good timing for sowing . . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Good results start with right soil conditions

July 25, 2018

Dear Helen: A few stems on a young clematis vine collapsed, just as flowering had begun. Why, and what should I do? D.L. This is clematis wilt, a condition that is most often the result of . . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Keyhole gardens designed to provide food at low cost

July 21, 2018

Early in the spring, a reader introduced me to a gardening concept I’d not heard of: “keyhole gardening.” She was trying to decide whether to arrange her vegetable garden in boxed raised beds or to. . .

Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Readers politely point out error

July 18, 2018

In a column two weeks ago I identified a reader’s tall, imposing plant as a foxtail lily — Eremurus robustus (Giant Eremurus, Giant Desert Candle). I was incorrect. The plant is Echium pininana, . . .