Halloween And Snow, Oh My!
I hope you all had a great Halloween, Samhain, and/or Día de los Muertos! Taking kids out to trick or treat, celebrating the high holiday of Samhain, or honouring and paying tribute to the ancestors, are all wonderful ways to have fun and connect with family and community at this time of year. In our area we even had some heavy flurries at the beginning of the night!
As the days get shorter and colder we are reminded of the importance of rest and reflection to help us move forward in life. The garden rests and so do the gardeners. This is also a perfect time of year to think about how you can improve your soil for next season. There are lots of options out there from rock dust to mycorrhiza to help enliven your soil organically. To learn a little bit more about this, skip down to our November Growing Guide. For some other learning while we break from gardening, you can watch this tomato seedling video below. If you are thinking about doing your own seedlings this year, be sure to save this edition and come back to it when you're ready to transplant your own tomatoes.
Matchbox Garden Update We have so much seed and it's ready to be packed up and shipped to you! The month of October was busy with seed cleaning, seed packing, and germination tests. This process ensures all the seed leaving the farm is up to the task of helping you create a bountiful garden! To get your seed for next year, click the Seed Shop button below. It certainly was a strange feeling cleaning the last commercial batches of seed this fall knowing that life will be much different this time next year. While I am not ready to share all the changes happening around here, I can tell you that I am looking forward with great optimism and excitement to the next chapter. I have the privilege of staying within the organic farming sector and working with new people on some exciting projects. This new opportunity also means that I will no longer be producing seedlings for the public. It has been such a joy to grow plants for you all over these many years. As you plan your own gardens for next year and begin to look for new sources to purchase your seedlings, I invite you to check out Trout Lily Nurseries and Urban Harvest Seeds. Both of these companies are women owned, certified organic, established farms that produce quality plants for gardeners. You can find their plants at locations from Guelph and Rockwood(Trout Lily) all the way east to Warkworth and Peterborough(Urban Harvest). Both of these farms bring plants into the GTA as well. As we move into the last 2 months of 2023, you can expect one more newsletter from me with a few more bits of advice and garden tips to help you get ready for 2024. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
November Growing Guide
A little lesson on mycorrhizae fungi! This is not a topic I have shared about before in any great detail, however, after having an inspirational conversation with owner and founder of Root Rescue, Bob Reeves, I feel compelled to share some of his knowledge with you this month.
Mycorrhizae is a type of fungi that can be dated back 450 million years and plays a crucial role in plant life. Mycorrhizae operate in a symbiotic relationship with plants, attaching themselves to root systems and converting excess carbohydrates produced by the plant host through photosynthesis, into food. In return the mycorrhizae absorb nutrients and minerals from the soil and pass them along to the plant. In both cases each species makes otherwise inaccessible food readily available for the other. In the garden a healthy community of mycorrhizae make the difference of healthy and abundant plants. They also do this around the entire globe for almost all plant and tree species. There is so much to learn about these wonderful givers of life and the symbiotic relationships that define their existence! If you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out Bob's videos and explanations over at Root Rescue.
Holiday Season Is Around The Corner Choose From 13 Seed Collection Gift Boxes For Your Favourite Gardeners
The gift that keeps giving long after the holidays have passed, my seed collections are designed with special themes in mind such as the Herb Garden, Babies First Foods, or Heirloom Tomatoes. To view my full line of gift box seed collections, click the button below.
