I've split the gardening pages from my website (christinedemerchant.com) to a different page, DirtOnMyHands.com . Navigation was getting confusing, if you want boats, cats and various experiments then go here to christinedemerchant.com

Dirt on My Hands - My Gardening Pages

What's New?

What is a hybrid?

What is a hybrid, are they better than regular seeds, are hybrids GMO?

What seeds need to germinate

What do seeds need to come up quickly and produce healthy seedlings. Why are some seed so difficult to grow? This article looks at some regular and some exceptional requirements for seed germination.

Don't feed these things to your cat

I got yet another link about food you should "never" feed to your cat. I decided to check if this was really true and what the evidence really was. Here is my result. Good for dogs too. List of what (really) you should not feed to your cat, and what is OK.

Distilling Fresh Catnip to get catnip essential oil

I distilled fresh catnip oil to get essential oil to add to my insect repellent recipe. It was a success. My apparatus was simple stuff I had around the house.

Growing Parsnips

Not only are they delicious but they can be picked late in the fall or in spring.

Have you ever wondered how potentially Rabid animal bites are treated?

I was bitten by an unknown stray cat and got treated for potential rabies. Not much fun. Both cat and I survived.

Pink Slime Mould in my firewood

I found pink and yellow slime mould growing on a piece of firewood.

Growing Cardoons

This year I grew a cousin of the artichoke called Cardoons. It is popular in Mediterranean Cuisine. It grew very well but was annoying to prepare. It makes a nice ornamental plant though.

Butterflies in my Back Yard

Sorting out my summer photos I found I had some nice butterfly photos

A visit to the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory

A great place to visit and take the kids. Don't forget your camera

Plants that attract bees

A sampling of plants that I have found that attract a lot of bees and other pollinators

Simple DIY Irrigation System

I put together a simple irrigation system for my raised beds. Some drip and mostly soaker hose. It's been working really well and saves a lot of time and some money.

Does using newspaper mulches add heavy metal to soil

I Did some checking and here is my report

Making Charcoal at Home

I make charcoal for the garden and also for burning. I'm planning to try and cast aluminium after I launch my boat. This is how I make charcoal in the woodstove. Easy and safe.

Growing Milkweed

I updated my milkweed growing page and added several new photos

LED Lights

I made a light to help start seeds inside. It cost me about 20 dollars.

Photographs of spiders in my back yard

I was looking at some of my summer photographs and decided to share a few of the spiders. Spiders are some of my favourite insects and they do a tremendous job keeping my garden pest free.