The Echo Garden

Marigolds are one of my favourite annuals. They seemed pretty hard to kill in my garden last year, and bloomed from the time I planted them until the frost finally killed them in November. Deadheading, a little water, and a little food are all these little beauties need to thrive. The internet told me not to feed them at all. My mother suggested that I ought to feed them a little. Mom was right. Small marigolds handled periodic rain quite well. The smaller orange flowers above seemed to fare well in my coastal garden. On the other hand, the large, puffy, yellow flowers of the "Aztec Gold" variety held onto rain water, stayed damp, and went moldy very quickly. Since these marigolds have to live in a temperate rainforest (albeit with some decent sunny stretches in summer), I chose to skip the seeds of large, fully double flowers in favour of the more modest Brocade mix. Aztec Gold on sunny days, but Aztec Mold after rain. The seeds were planted in seed st...

For the first time, I am starting seeds indoors. When I first picked up the seed catalogue in January, the prospect of filling my garden with annuals for very little money sounded like a dream come true. Then, pragmatism set in. A wise gardener should start with a few varieties and scale up once they built up some experience. It even said so on the internet. I decided to purchase three packs of seeds and one seed tray. I was responsible and level headed. That sage version of myself lasted right up until I actually got to the seed display at the garden center. After repeated visits, I wound up with ten packs of seeds and two seed trays. My logic? Ten packs are still pretty inexpensive, and there is little labour required. If it works, I'll save a ton of money. If it fails hard, I'll just try again next year. There's very little to lose. This is the argument that was offered up to my husband to justify coming home over and over with a bigger purchase than discussed. W...

Please let me tell you why I chronicling my healing journey as a heart mom in the garden. The story begins in 2014. My husband and I found out that we were expecting our first child just a few days before we moved into our first house. The possibilities were enormous. Our previous home - a one bedroom finished condo - was nothing compared to this four bedroom family home on a flat, quarter acre lot. We had no furniture. A TV perched on a still-packed cardboard box and an air mattress were our only living room furnishings for the first few months. In the front yard were gorgeous flower beds, but they were to be neglected for a while. I had no gardening experience, and had swiftly killed every houseplant I had ever owned. Meanwhile, the interior of the home needed some work. A full time job and some morning sickness took up the rest of my energy. Plus there was a baby to prepare for! Life was blissfully busy. Right around the first day of Spring 2015, we welcomed our baby boy, Gabe. ...