Premature yellowing a sign of stress

I spoke to a client not long ago who asked me why yellow-leaved trees are not available in commercial tree nurseries. The person remarked on how beautiful they looked. I suppose that person got tired of looking at normal trees . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

A frosty harvest

Autumn doesn't have to mean the end of homegrown goodness

Vigorous and flavourful plants are yielding in Manitoba gardens. You’ve waited for the fresh, crisp taste of homegrown veggies but is the clock already ticking on the remaining days in the growing season? Hardly, says Niki Jabbour, award-winning author of The . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

The berries that make gardeners blue

Beautiful, healthy fruit hard to keep happy -- and safe from pesky thieves

Loaded with vitamins, antioxidants and other good things, blueberries are the trendy health fruit of summer. This isn’t hype: have you ever seen a sick catbird? If you don’t net your blueberry bushes, the catbird will clean you out, taking fruit . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

Even artichokes are purple now

Is every common vegetable going purple? Purple broccoli, purple cauliflower, purple carrots and purple bok choy now have pride of place in the seed catalogue kaleidoscope, along with the more customary purple cabbage, lettuce and beans. I say the more . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

Doubling upon design

A&S Homes took an award-winning layout and gave it an innovative update

Some new home models are singular in design conception — while others are a compendium. It would be fair to say the San Danielle sits in the latter category, says A&S Homes’ sales representative for 48 Eaglewood Dr. in Prairie Pointe, . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

A perfect place to start

Condo with superb floorplan suitable for first-time homebuyers

If you’re a young couple looking to purchase your first home, the local real estate market is a tough one to crack. With good starter homes costing in excess of $250, 000 — and other factors such as the government-imposed stress . . .

Posted: 2017-07-29

Add spices after cooking to give fries extra flavour

QUESTION: I bake French fries from frozen or freshly cut potatoes in my oven. Is it better to add the seasonings such as salt or pepper to the potatoes before putting them in the oven or after? What can I . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Pumping iron like our ancestors did

Vintage home offers fascinating glimpse into life during 1800s

You didn’t have to have a gym membership to get fit back in the mid-1800s, you simply had to walk into your kitchen and iron your clothes. Some of the irons back then weighed almost more than the person using them, . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Pretty poison banked on for insect's survival

The brutish common milkweed, not a choice garden plant, is setting its strange pods now that its muddy pink blooms are waning, but other milkweeds are still flowering, and in a prettier way. The vivid orange clusters of butterfly weed are . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Mixing it up on your patio

Summer drinks with vegetables from the backyard

If life gives you lemons just in time for summer, make lemonade. That’s what my nine-year-old step-grandson Hayden decided. He promptly set up a lemonade table outside our farm stand and sales were brisk. But Hayden, born with a head . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22