Unusual Ideas, Tips & Guides

Earlier this year I was absolutely horrified when the flat footed fence fitters trampled all over my wild garlic. It was just starting to leaf out, and I don’t know why the sudden garlic smell wafting up from their feet didn’t give them pause, but it didn’t!

Alison Tindale tells explains everything you need to know about Chinese artichokes!

I used to have a broad-leaved sorrel in the old garden, and the chickens were the only members of the household who enjoyed it. I briefly had one in the new garden, but it always looked awful and we didn’t eat it, so I removed it.

I don’t generally watch Gardeners’ World these days, but two weeks ago they broadcast a special edition (episode 20 in this year’s series) as part of the BBC’s Big British Asian Summer, exploring South Asian influences on British gardens. Monty Don ‘hosted’ the show from the stunning gardens of Europe’s first traditional Hindu temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in London. The stonework for the temple itself was all carved in India, then brought to London to be assembled. Flowers, particularly the sacred lotus, are represented throughout the decorative motifs. Mountains of flowers are used in the temple’s religious ceremonies, and I was intrigued to learn that – in India – there are businesses based around recycling temple flowers into products such as incense sticks, soaps, and eco-packaging, to reduce their environmental impact. At the London temple, the gardens are a fusion of a European parterre-style design, with Indian motifs, colourful flowers, and a delightful lack of symmetry.

Gardening for some provides the daily bread, for others, it’s an escape from reality and for you, it might be your favourite hobby. Nevertheless, a garden decorated to your own preferences will act as a source of inspiration and will provide you a place to gather up your thoughts.

Lilacs are members of the Syringia family and are named for the colour. There are deep lilacs verging on violet and light pinkish lilacs even some pretty floriferous white flowering Lilacs.

Visual nature can be found all around in your garden, local park or field. Keep a look out for interesting or unusual shapes, patterns and textures and take a camera around with you. I like the contorted Hazel branches that weave their own pattern.

I came upon Kollibri (below, curing tobacco leaves), and his farming partner, Nikki, thanks to their listing in the online collective called Local Harvest [dot] org. Why, I wondered, was my endless Nicotiana search, already many pages deep into Google results, taking me there?I knew Local Harvest as a great place to find a nearby CSA farm to buy a share of, or to order farm-made cheeses or meats or even wildcrafted salves and soaps and such—but Nicotiana? Turns out that Kollibri and Nikki are former CSA farmers from the Portland, Oregon, area, and so the connection. And I couldn’t resist their online claim, under their internet store called Daggawalla Seeds and Herbs, founded in 2012 [UPDATE: Daggawalla is h

I’VE BEEN EXPERIMENTING with a wider palette of brassicas—those good-for-you plants in the mustard family, a.k.a. cruciferous vegetables, or cole crops.

Niki helped convince me of that, as part of my annual wintertime seed series. She is author of “The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener: How to Grow Your Own Food 365 Days a Year No Matter Where You Live,” and a contributor to the blog Savvy Gardening dot com. She also creates the award-winning radio program, The Weekend Gardener, heard throughout Eastern Canada.Most relevant to this discussion, though: she grows a global range of vegetables and other edibles—from the world’s craziest cucumbers and edible gourds, to “Chinese artichokes” that aren’t artichokes at all, to oddball salad ingredients and even rice, quinoa and more.Read along as you listen to the Jan. 2, 2107 edition of my

About 10 years ago, Dan Furman joined the nursery and mail-order operation his parents Kasha and David had started in 1989 in Connecticut to specialize in Chinese tree peonies, which are still a mainstay of the family business. Well, Dan brought with him a growing interest in edible ornamentals, he says, “to make landscapes more bountiful, not just beautiful.” And with lots of personal research and experimentation, he has added a great assortment of them to the Cricket Hill lineup. That’s Dan, below, in a recent video he did on Cricket Hill’s Instagram, praising Aronia fruit (chokeberry).Read along as you listen to the September 16, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).unusual fruits, with dan furman of cricket hillMargaret Roach: Welcome Dan. I’m so excited that I saw you at the booth the other day.Daniel Furman

I have known some extreme plant geeks in my time–people whose combined lust and knowledge set them on a course, sometimes to very out-of-the-way places around the world, to find, collect, and eventually disseminate stuff that wasn’t your average red geranium or generic hosta.  One of those longtime he’s-gotta-have-it botanical OCD types, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina, introduced me to the Nichols brothers. What started as the quest to meet and acquire every possible var

A popular lecturer and author, Niki gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia, producing harvests in all four seasons and not just your basic everyday edibles, either. I welcomed her back to the program to talk about a wacky wide range of things to grow this year—and especially about eight surprising substitutes for spinach, in case you crave the flavor but have trouble with spinach in some portion of your growing season, like maybe in the hottest part of summer. I learned that we can eat our hosta shoots (well, not if you want to look at the plants all season) and also purple hyacinth beans and more surprises.Plus: Enter to win a copy of “Veggie Garden Remix” at the bottom of the page.Read along as you listen to the Feb. 5, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).unusual edibles to grow, with niki jabbourQ. I see that you’re going to be in my area pretty soon, Niki. In March, I think you’

My annual Seed Series continues with this seed source that is all new to me, including many unusual varieties available nowhere else but Experimental Farm Network dot org, the nonprofit cooperative whose co-founder, Nate Kleinman, was my latest radio/podcast guest. We talked about the EFN mission and the fascinating assortment of goodies they offer, including a whole stash of perennial edibles in their 2020 online catalog.A core belief at EFN: that agriculture can and should be used to help build a better world, not help destroy it. Co-founders Nate Kleinman (in New Jersey) and Dusty Hinz (in Minnesota) grow most of EFN’s seeds. Each year they’re adding more growers to their roster, including inspiring plant breeders who often wor

Before I placed my bulb order, I called Matt, who gardens in Worcester, Massachusetts, and blogs on the website GrowingWithPlants.com. On the latest podcast we showcased some of his favorite bulbs, including the most lily-leaf beetle-resistant lilies, and also some of his top bulb sources.Read along as you listen to the August 24, 2020 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Plus: It’s my first podcast episode ever recorded with the voices of newly hatched heirloom turkeys to accompany us…more on that below (including a photo of the special avian gues

Last year, during catalog season, I was introduced to Nate Kleinman, who’s co-founder of Experimental Farm Network, a non-profit cooperative of growers, whose mission includes the core belief that agriculture can and should be used to help build a better world. I asked Nate back to my public radio show and podcast to widen our palette of possibilities to try this year from seed. Besides unusual varieties you may wish to make room for, he also suggested some other lesser-known sources whose catalogs warrant a browse.Read along as you listen to the January 11, 2021 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).seed shopping, with nate kleinmanMargaret Roach: Hi, Nate.Nate Kleinman: Hello, Margaret. Happy to be here.Margaret: Ye

One of the couple’s passions is unusual edibles, and now they’ve written a book about their favorites.“Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts” (affiliate link) profiles 50 easy-to-grow selections, and we talked recently about a few of those that are also native plants (including pawpaw, above, persimmon, Aralia, Aronia and more).Allyson and Sc

As the spring flowering bulbs need pre-chilling, you should plant them in fall in a way that they get enough time of some weeks to establish their roots before freezing but not that enough that they’ll start to sprout.

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We have had this peculiar Hamamelis intermedia-Pallida for two years now

One’s mailbox is one of the first contacts with the household, being in the front yard, in an accessible area for the postman, it often enters the perspective of the pedestrian walking along; in some cases, the mailbox itself is the only item that connects you with the outside world, reason for which, cool mailboxes are carrying an immense responsibility, they`re meant to connect buildings with the pedestrians, with the road, they`re meant to function as small landmarks for households, and more importantly, businesses; in some cases they facilitate mailbox correspondence too.

Make this faux garden clock on a round tabletop or wood cut into a circular shape. Hang it in your home or outdoor sitting area for decoration. Check out the tutorial here.

Have a hose making your garden messy? Here’s an unusual way to hide a garden hose without spending money on a hose reel.

Here are some easy-to-make  Cute, and Unusual DIY Hanging Planters  that you can put on display by creatively recycling some old stuff around your home to make them look stunning. 

Looking for some peculiar and quirky plant hangers? These DIY Plant Hangers from Unusual Items are wonderful and effortless projects that will give you exactly what you want.

If you want to grow plants that stand out from the rest in the most unique ways, then try growing these Houseplants with Most Weird and Unusual Leaves!

 Rubber ducks lined up outside my local

ATCO is a century-old* lawnmower manufacturer and judging by its appearance this is a relatively old one. Unusually it's been quite hard to find out much information about it online. According to this guide, my best bet is to go back and see if there are any useful looking numbers on the metalwork.* = just over as the company was founded in 1921

When you grow your own fruits and vegetables at home, you have your choice of options. And if you have an adventurous streak, there are a wide ar