Cindy's picks& tips

Soil Is Alive. Dirt Is Not.

Feed the living thing under your plants and the plants take care of themselves.

• Dirt is what's on your jeans. Soil is a whole neighbourhood — fungi, bacteria, worms, roots trading favours underground.
• Top-dress with 2 cm of finished compost each spring instead of digging it in. Let the worms do the tilling.
• Never leave soil bare. Mulch, a cover crop, even a cardboard sheet beats naked ground.

The Ten-Minute Evening Slug Patrol

No sprays, no pellets — just a flashlight and a bad attitude.

• Go out an hour after dusk with a flashlight and a jar of soapy water.
• Check the undersides of the lowest leaves and the rim of every container.
• Three nights in a row breaks the population. One night a week keeps it broken.

Water Deep, Not Often

Shallow daily sips train roots to stay near the surface where it's hottest.

• Push a finger in to the second knuckle. Dry down there? Water. Damp? Wait.
• Water long and slow at the base, early in the morning.
• Containers are the exception — in a heat wave they may genuinely need it twice a day.

Label the Lid, Not the Jar

A small habit that saves an hour every canning season.

• Write contents and year in grease pencil on the flat lid. It survives the water bath and wipes off next year.
• Jars stay clean and stack-swappable between batches.
• Keep one index card per shelf listing what's behind the front row.

Canning Safety: What You Need to Know About Botulism

A rare but serious toxin you can't see, smell, or taste — and why the canning method matters.

• Botulism is a rare but serious toxin that attacks the nervous system — it can be fatal, and you can't see, smell, or taste it. When in doubt, throw it out.
• The bacteria that causes it thrives in low-oxygen, low-acid environments — exactly the conditions inside an improperly processed jar. Freezing does not destroy it. Boiling destroys the toxin but not the spores, which can survive and produce more toxin later.
• That's why the canning method matters: high-acid foods (fruits, pickles, jams) can be safely processed in a hot water bath (212°F) — the acid keeps the spores from germinating. Low-acid foods (vegetables, legumes, soups, sauces, meat, fish) must be processed in a pressure canner, reaching 240°F or higher. That temperature is only achievable with pressure — never guess at timing or pressure, always follow a reputable, tested guide.

Preserve Responsibly: 4 Rules to Live By

Four habits that keep your preserved food safe, findable, and actually eaten.

• Keep it clean — proper boiling times, full moisture removal when dehydrating, careful blanching and packaging when freezing.
• Label everything — you think you'll remember. You won't.
• Use it — routinely check your food storage for intact seals, pests, or mold, and rotate stock.
• Store what you eat, and eat what you store — if you don't actually use what you've preserved, you've wasted the time, energy, food, and money that went into it.

Full Sun vs. Partial Shade

Fruiting plants want all the sun they can get; leafy greens prefer a gentler touch.

• Fruiting plants like tomatoes and cucumbers want full sun — the sunnier the spot, the better they ripen and perform.
• Leafy greens are the opposite: they'll bolt in hot, sunny spots, so give them a more filtered location like an east or west exposure.

Feed Your Soil Every Year

Garden soil depletes quickly without regular help.

• Garden soil depletes within just a few growing seasons without help.
• Add aged manure or compost regularly to keep it rich and productive.

In-Ground, Raised Beds, or Containers? Use Them All

There's no single right way to garden — use what each spot offers.

• There's no single 'right' way to garden.
• Cindy uses all three methods in her own yard — in-ground for her tomato garden, raised beds for vegetables, and containers on her patio to extend growing space — depending on what each spot offers.

Fall Mulching

Cover bare soil before winter with the leaves and straw already on hand.

• Cover bare soil with 1 to 3 inches of clean fallen leaves. If you don't have leaves, use the final mowing of dried grass, or chopped straw.
• Pick one kind of mulch and stick to it, rather than mixing them.
• A winter blanket of mulch protects soil moisture and the helpful microbes and earthworms in the soil, and it slowly adds nutrients and humus as it breaks down.
• Cindy doesn't use wood chips in the garden itself. They take longer to break down, so she uses them in the paths.
• Don't rush to rake the mulch off in spring, because some helpful insects haven't woken up yet. Rake off the extra, mow it up with the first mowing, and use it as mulch between plants or as the start of this year's compost.

Good Neighbours, Bad Neighbours

Some plants bring out the best in each other; others should keep their distance.

• Peas thrive near beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, marigolds, peppers, and potatoes — but keep them away from onions, which actually stunt pea growth.
• Onions, on the other hand, do well with beets, brassicas, carrots, dill, lettuce, tomatoes, and even strawberries.

End-of-Season Tool Care

A little winter prep now saves frustration when spring comes.

• Before winter sets in, clean your garden tools and store them properly instead of leaving them out to rust.
• Wash and store seed trays and pots somewhere easy to find in late winter.
• This quiet season is also the best time to fix the small maintenance issues that piled up over summer.

Water Early in the Day

Morning watering gives roots time to drink before the night chill.

• Watering in the morning gives roots time to absorb moisture before temperatures drop at night.

Collect Rainwater

A simple eaves-trough setup can water the garden for weeks.

• Direct your eaves troughs into large drums to collect rainwater for the garden.
• A simple setup that can make a real difference over a season.

Deep Mulch Cuts Down on Watering

A deep straw layer around cabbage funnels water to the roots and keeps weeds down.

• For cabbage, a generous layer of straw mulch around the base does double duty — it suppresses weeds and also channels rain straight to the roots through the plant's big outer leaves, which act like natural funnels.
• Leave at least 12 inches of clearance on either side of the cabbage for those outer leaves to spread out and do their job.
• With a deep enough straw layer, you should rarely need to water the plant directly.
• Cabbage is a heavy feeder, so also work a generous ring of compost into the soil around the base before planting.

Cutworm Prevention

Stop cutworms before they have a chance.

• Place a collar around seedlings right after transplanting to stop cutworms before they start.

Plant for Pollinators

Flowers near fruiting plants bring more bees and better harvests.

• Especially around fruiting plants like squash, plant flowers like Salvia, Cosmos, or Borage nearby to draw in more bees and other pollinators.

Tomato Skins

Don't toss them in the compost! Tomato skins hold up to 98% of the tomato's flavonoids, plus concentrated lycopene and fiber.

• Why save your tomato skins? To use all winter long. They raise the bar on tomato flavour in every tomato dish.
• More antioxidants: up to 98% of the flavonoids found in tomatoes are in the skin.
• High lycopene: tomato skins hold high levels of lycopene.
• Dietary fibre: leaving the skin on adds extra fibre to your diet, which aids digestion.
• Better texture in cooking: unpeeled tomatoes break down more slowly in sauces, adding richness and better body to cooked dishes.
• Next time you peel tomatoes to can them, don’t toss the peels into the compost. Save them and put them in the dehydrator, or slow bake them in your oven at 250°F until they’re crispy. They’re quick to dry (a few hours).
• Once they’re dry, powder them. Use the powder in everything tomato: soups, stews, sauces, to up your salsa or bruschetta, even in meatloaf.
• Next time you peel your tomatoes to can them, SAVE the skins!

Tomato Powder

Blend fully dehydrated tomatoes (or their skins) into a powder, and a little goes a long way in soups, stews, sauces, and even meatloaf.

• Dehydrated skins stay light and fluffy rather than compacting, so many people mix the two together in one jar.
• Store airtight — the powder may compress and get chunky over time from moisture in the air; that's normal, just scrape it loose with a fork.

Canning Once-Frozen Tomatoes

Frozen tomatoes can be canned after thawing — but the texture changes, so choose the right finished product and follow safe acidification.

• Best uses: freezing breaks down the cell walls, making thawed tomatoes very soft — perfect for cooked products like sauces, juices, or crushed tomatoes, but not suitable for fresh-style salsas or canning whole.
• Peeling trick: skins slip right off once thawed, no blanching needed.
• Acidify: always follow a tested canning recipe and add the required bottled lemon juice or citric acid to each jar, just like you would with fresh tomatoes.

Tomato Butter: Winter Swap

In the winter when you don't have fresh tomatoes, use sundried tomatoes and dried herbs to make tomato butter.

After Heavy Rain: What to Do

Wet soil damages easily, so go gently.

• Stay off waterlogged soil. Walking on it compacts it and cuts airflow to the roots.
• Lightly fork the soil to let oxygen reach the roots, and dig small trenches in your pathways to move water away.
• Trim damaged or yellowing leaves, mulch with straw so leaves never sit on wet soil, and stake heavy plants.
• Heavy rain washes nitrogen out of the soil. Yellowing leaves are the sign.
• Set out slug traps and crushed eggshells. Board traps and yeast or beer traps work well after rain.

Raised Rows, Deep Paths

A setup that works in a flood and in a drought.

• Build the rows higher than the paths, using the soil you take out of the paths.
• Put straw on the rows (about 6 inches is ideal, less in a small garden) and deep wood chips in the paths.
• Excess water drains into the paths and soaks down to deep roots, so plants never stand in puddles.
• Wood chips go in the paths, not on the beds.

Blood Meal: A Little Goes a Long Way

Fast organic nitrogen for leafy crops, with a warning.

• Best for leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, cabbage, and chard, and for heavy feeders like corn and squash.
• Use 1 teaspoon per plant, worked into the top 2 inches of soil, then water it in. Keep it off stems and leaves.
• Reapply in about 6 weeks, and skip it late in summer.
• Cindy's lesson: she once over-used it on tomatoes and got giant plants with no fruit.

Horseradish: Wait 3 Minutes Before the Vinegar

The vinegar locks in the heat, so timing sets how hot it gets.

• The heat starts when the root is ground. Vinegar stops the reaction at whatever level it has reached.
• Adding vinegar right away gives a milder horseradish. Waiting 3 minutes gives a hotter one.
• Use plain white vinegar.
• Don't cook or can horseradish, because heat destroys the flavour. It freezes well for 3-6 months.

Map Your Sun Before You Plant

Sun decides your best spot. Every other condition is manageable.

• Six good full hours of sun counts as full sun. Vegetables need at least six, and eight unobstructed hours is ideal.
• Check your yard every couple of hours, from about 7 AM until dusk, and note the sun and shade pockets. Do it in spring, summer, and fall.
• Sketch a map, or use marking stakes, to record where the shade falls.
• Light patterns change. Trees grow, and bare spring branches throw less shade than leafed-out summer ones.

Buy Next Year's Seeds This Year

A habit that keeps your garden safe from shortages.

• Every year, buy next year's seed, and plant the seed you bought last year.
• That way you're never stuck if seed is hard to find, or if money is tight that year.
• You can still pick up an extra packet to use this year.

Bury Kitchen Scraps in Early Spring

Don't wait for the compost pile to thaw.

• In early spring the compost pile is often still frozen, but the ground thaws sooner.
• Dig a hole where you won't be planting root vegetables like carrots or beets, and bury your kitchen scraps there.
• By the time you're ready to plant seeds in that spot, the compost pile is ready for the new season's scraps.

How Old Is "Old" Manure?

Old manure is brown and crumbly, with an earthy smell.

• Well-rotted manure is brown and crumbly, with a fresh earthy smell, not the yucky fresh-manure smell.
• That can take as little as 2 years or as long as 3 or 4, depending on sun and moisture.
• Bring it in late fall or early spring, before planting or after the season's growth is finished.
• As a mid-season mulch around flowers, spread it 1 to 3 inches deep.

Keep Your First Years Simple

Early successes build your confidence as a new gardener.

• This whole adventure is new, so don't get too exotic in your first year or two.
• Choose varieties that other gardeners in your area succeed with.
• Ask neighbours and gardening Facebook groups what grows well. Gardeners are happy to share.
• Do the best you can with what you've got. That's really all you have to do.

Putting the Garden to Bed: Clean Up, but Keep a Balance

Get rid of the sick and dead, keep the healthy and strong.

• Leave dry plant material on the garden over winter. It protects roots from extreme cold, prevents freeze-thaw damage, and preserves soil moisture and microbes.
• It also gives winter homes to helpful insects like solitary bees, bumblebee queens, ladybugs, lacewings, ground beetles, and parasitoid wasps. Dead perennials trap snow, which adds moisture in spring.
• Get rid of plants that are diseased or infested, and weeds with roots or seeds, such as trailing bellflower, dandelion, horseradish, and thistle. Put them in the garbage, not in the compost.
• Healthy plants and the weeds you eat, like chickweed and lambs quarters, can go in the compost. Mow bigger pieces first to speed up breakdown.
• Start on September 1, while the weather is still pleasant, not when it's cold. Work from one corner in a single direction, finishing each piece before you move on.

Fall Planting for an Early Spring

Sow in fall for a harvest next spring, not for a fall crop.

• Spinach sown before the snow flies gives an early yield. Pick a protected spot that gets good sun in April and May, sow a patch lightly, and make sure it has a good covering of snow all winter.
• Dill, poppies, calendula, and other herb and flower seeds can be sown at harvest time to pop up in the earliest days of May. The seeds need a winter and protective snow.
• Plant garlic before the ground freezes to harvest at the end of next summer.
• Cindy lets most things that want to grow, grow. Sage, lemon balm, parsley, and even kale sometimes come back on their own.

Bring Plants Indoors, Cleaned First

A good bath keeps unwelcome hitchhikers out of the house.

• Prune the plant to about 1/3 of its size and trim off everything brown. Shake off the old soil and give the stems and roots a good bath. Replant in fresh soil, water well, and set in your sunniest window.
• Rosemary, thyme, parsley, bay laurel, and Cuban oregano can come inside. Cuban oregano won't survive an Alberta winter outdoors.
• Herbs need a lot of water in the dry air of a winter house. Water when the soil surface feels dry to the touch.
• Geraniums are tender perennials. Before a killer frost, hard prune them by about half, check for aphids, and water deeply. Store them in a cool, out-of-the-way spot and water about every 6 to 8 weeks.
• Don't put geraniums outside for good until after May 1, and cover them if freezing nights are expected.

Water Trees Before the Freeze

One long, slow drink in late autumn keeps trees healthy and strong.

• After the leaves have fallen, give both evergreen and deciduous trees a long, slow, deep watering. Evergreens use water all year, so it matters even more for them.
• Too early can delay dormancy. Too late, after the ground freezes, and the water can't reach the roots.
• Water at the drip line (as far out as the outside branches reach), not near the trunk of a mature tree. A newly planted tree is the exception, because its roots are still close to the root ball.
• Aim to moisten about the top foot of soil, not make it soggy. Push a stick or rod into the soil. It slides in where the soil is moist and meets resistance where it's dry.
• Water earlier in the day, so the roots can absorb the moisture before the temperature drops at night.

Protect Trees from Rabbits

Deep snow lifts rabbits up to the bark.

• Rabbits ate the bark off Cindy's daughter's lilac tree and killed it. They're a constant threat to the orchard in her community garden.
• Wrap the bottom 3 or 4 feet of the trunk loosely with chicken wire. It has to be that high, because when the snow is deep, the rabbit sits on top of the snow and nibbles there.

Garden Lasagna: Don't Dig It In

Three layers on top of the soil, and let the worms do the rest.

• In early spring, spread 3 to 4 inches of straw over the garden area.
• On top, spread 3 to 4 inches of well-aged horse manure, which is rich in nitrogen and loved by earthworms. Add a fresh top layer every year or two.
• On top of that, scatter the first mowing of your spring lawn, with the leftover fall leaves and snow mould. The first mowing is full of tiny creatures that break down organic material.
• Don't dig or rototill it in. That destroys the colonies and the worm channels that bring air and water down. Let the rain wash the nutrients down.
• To plant right away, move the straw aside along your row, plant, and push it back around the seedlings as they come up. Leave the straw in place for potatoes.
• Expect the garden to sit several inches higher. By next year the layers will be indistinguishable. It's not a quick fix.