Gardening is easier in the southwest, where the climate is mellow

Are you a north-side person in Calgary or a south-side holdout? I have lived all over the city and surrounding areas, including Airdrie, Riverbend, Ramsay, Valley Ridge, Rideau Park and Spruce Cliff, and I make it to many more communities around the city during my travels for work.

During all this moving, there is one thing that I've noticed. If you are a gardener, life in the south is simpler: less wind, less frost, less killer hail and more heat, as elevations drop and the climate gradually mellows. In the southwest, the climate is softer and the garden living is easy.

Growing trees and shrubs in pots around your condo or townhome deck saves space, money and time

For Mike in Lethbridge, it started as a rescue operation.

He found dead-looking shrubs in the garbage behind stores and homes. He revived them, not as full-sized trees, but as miniature, windswept versions of their bigger selves.

His rescues became bonsai, and he built a delicate forest of trees in tiny pots.

Before I met Mike, I had never seen a crabapple or potentilla in a bonsai pot.

Why bother with bonsai? While a crabapple tree at 10 metres tall is a big tree, a 60-centimetre version in a bonsai pot is the perfect size for a patio. And the brilliant red crabapples, 1.5 centimetres across on a full-sized tree, are still the same size on a bonsai version of the same tree.

There is no need to leave town with a garden retreat in your back yard

Together with her husband Bruce, Linda converted a back yard shed into a retreat – a cabin retreat.

"You gotta have a cabin in the back yard," said Linda, my neighbour.

Avid gardeners should consider elevation, climate and soil before buying a new home

As many Albertans know, we can get some really nasty hail storms. Years ago, when we lived in Airdrie, my kids got pelted by golf-ball-sized hail walking back from school. They survived, but my garden wasn't as lucky; the hail had stripped leaves off trees and pummeled my native orchids into the dirt. After nine years in Airdrie, it was the final straw. We listed the house and moved back to Calgary.

Thankfully, garden enthusiasts can now look up factors that impact their garden, such as elevation, before buying a house. Other factors that affect a garden, like soil and microclimate, can be changed, but elevation is fixed. If you are a gardener looking to buy or sell in a satellite community, here are some gardening tips to consider:

By following three simple rules, you can keep your apartment plants happy and healthy

They say you should raise a plant before you raise a pet – it's a warm-up activity. At the very least, tropical plants are easier to take care of, and cheaper too.

Apartment-ready plants, typically in four inch (9 cm) pots, are available at most grocery stores. At that size they're not a big financial or emotional investment. Plus, tiny tropical varieties are just so cute. Before bringing home a baby houseplant, however, it's important to think of the light and space you have available in your apartment.

Grow your own herbs and inspire your next culinary creation

Is there a shortage of basil at the store? No problem. Frost in the garden? No worries. Basil and other herbs are always in season and at your fingertips when you grow them right in your own kitchen.

A herb garden in the kitchen is amazing. And if you're the family cook or aspiring chef, you already know that fresh herbs bring meals to life. With a little space and the right kit, herbs practically grow themselves. Or, if you prefer a low-tech approach, even a modest a windowsill can suffice.

Simple to grow, potatoes are a good starting point for people interested in growing their own produce

Like blaming the dog for eating your homework, John Mills was blaming his tractor for missing my interview call.

"I had to duct-tape my tractor radiator back together to get it working," he said.

Mills, a fourth-generation farmer from Bowden, Alberta, is still using the same tractor his father bought second hand when John was a boy. His father started growing potatoes commercially in 1987 for the french fry market. Mills now grows 45 different kinds of potatoes, including the traditional Russet Burbank french fry potato.

How to freshen up houseplants in the shower

Do you have a layer of dust on your indoor plants from the pre-Obama era?

As the sun shines on my plants, I can see it's been too long. If I can write my name on the leaves in dust, I know it's time to send my greenery to the shower.

Light levels are so low in February in Calgary that any extra interference, like dust, slows houseplants down and blocks the already limited light. If leaf tips are browning or whole leaves yellowing, the plant is probably cutting its losses by getting rid of the lazy leaves that are too shaded to give back.

In nature, regular rains wash leaves clean, but in your apartment or house, plants need a helping hand.

How eco-therapy can warm the soul during the holidays

Whether you believe in gift giving or not this is the time of year to be thankful for your garden and for nature. And the physical benefits gained aren't limited to things we have to buy.
Here is a seasonal selection of garden gifts to ponder:

Winter

Chelsie was at the landfill in late November when she noticed someone else had left large birch branches behind. Knowing these could be striking additions to her seasonal garden containers, she swapped out her waste for someone else's, and happily left with a few striking white branches. Later, she included them in her seasonal outdoor pots and planters.

Engineered gardening could help expand growing potential

You likely don't think about light quality or intensity when you're crunching a carrot or raising a radish, so why should you care about Jack Zhang's newly engineered lights?

Because Zhang's new LED lights could help you grow your own super-efficient vertical farm in a kitchen nook, empty bedroom or spare closet.

Zhang, an electric engineer by trade, spoke to me about his newly imagined LED lights when the Lumenari Biosciences co-founder and CEO attended the Canwest Horticulture show in September. At that time, Zhang said his company was, "all about designing energy-efficient lighting systems for the horticulture industry."