Berry Berry
Invented by a mother of five! After Hannah finally decided she liked Ice Cream last fall (previously she would snack on dry cones), she has been indulging in cones at Sweetpea's and subsequently getting ice cream everywhere. I can't wait for these to come in, I am going to keep one at the store with her name on it! 
Check out this week's flyer for great summer savings, including this popsicle set! These babies are great because of the wide base, which catches all the drips AND has a little spout for drinking the melted juice. 
| Bamboo lining is: | Antibacterial |
| Breathable | |
| Biodegradable | |
| Hypoallergenic | |
| Thermal Regulating | |
| Wash & Dryer Safe |
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| 1. Stand in front of shopping cart and lay Canadian Cozy™ in seating area of cart. | |||
 | 2. Stretch elastic perimeter of Canadian Cozy™ over each side of shopping cart. Align Canadian Cozy™ leg holes with cart leg holes. Smooth Canadian Cozy™ around seating area. NOTE: Short section of safety belt must appear and be threaded through to back grid of shopping cart. |  | |
 | 3. Place infant or toddler in shopping cart seat. WARNING! Do not use Cozy with infant unable to support him/herself upright. Do not leave child unattended in shopping cart. | ||
| | 4. Holding the buckle and long portion of the safety belt, pull around child’s waist. Loop buckle with strap through large buttonhole to back grid of shopping cart seat. Fasten buckle and adjust to fit snugly around child’s waist. | ||
 | 5. Canadian Cozy™ Shopping Cart Covers buckle in the back because toddlers figure stuff out! Attach toys, place items in pocket and enjoy a pleasant trip to the grocery store! | ||
Coming Soon--Baby Bjorn Potties and Stools!
Cold Peach Chamomile Tisane
Ingredients:
Directions:
Build over cubed ice, "iced tea" style. garnish with peach slices and optional thyme leaves.
Summer Trip
Directions:
Infuse for 48 hrs and top with cold blackcurrant, ginseng and vanilla tea when ready to serve
Country Garden
Ingredients:
Directions:
Infuse for 48 hours and top with chilled pressed apple juice when ready to serve.
1. Crush mint leaves and put in a 1-gal. lidded jar. Add lavender and chamomile.
2. Fill jar with water to within 2 in. of rim. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours. Pour through a cheesecloth-lined colander into pitcher for serving.
Lemongrass Ginger Iced Tea
• ½ cup sugar
• 7 ½ cups water
• 1 large stalk lemongrass, dry tops and tough outer leaves removed, stalk cut into small rounds (about ¼ cup)
• 1-inch by 2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 mild black teabags, such as Darjeeling or Assam
• Ice for serving
1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, 1/2 cup water, lemongrass and ginger. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to the dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the lemongrass and ginger to steep in the sugar syrup for at least half an hour. For more pronounced flavor, place in the refrigerator and allow to steep several hours or overnight.
2. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the teabags, turn off the heat, and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the teabags and discard. Pour the brewed tea into a heat-proof pitcher.
3. Strain the lemongrass ginger syrup through a small sieve, pressing on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the solids, and add the syrup to the pitcher of tea. Add three cups of cold water to the tea, and stir well. Serve over ice.
Lavender Lemon Quencher
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon balm leaves, chopped OR 1 tablespoon dried leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh lavender buds OR 2 teaspoons dried buds
• 2 cups hot water
• 2 cups cold water and ice
• Fresh lemon for garnish
1. Steep lemon balm and lavender in hot (80- to 90-degree) water about 3 minutes.
2. Add cold water and ice.
3. Serve over additional ice with lemon wedges.
Peach Pick Me Up
• 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups pureed peaches, chilled
• Fresh mint leaves for garnish
1. Steep mint leaves in hot (80- to 90-degree) water for 3 minutes.
2. Pour peaches into a sieve to remove chunks.
3. After the mint tea has cooled completely, mix it with the strained peach puree. Serve cold, garnished with fresh mint leaves.
By Mark Cullen. For more tips and stories from Mark, visit the CTV gardening page.
For a long time it has struck me that the appearance of a well kept vegetable garden is a thing of great beauty. The straight rows, the glowing appearance of tomatoes on the vine, of carrot tops and bush beans loaded with fruit.
But not everyone agrees with me.
Enter a new generation of gardeners for whom the old rules of gardening do not apply.
Here we have 20 and 30 year olds, some in their first home and with young children and some not: all of them with concerns about the environment and the quality of what they put in their mouths (and that of their kids!).
Today we have this wonderful mixing of edible plants and ornamental ones. In my opinion it is one of the most exciting developments in the gardening industry since the introduction of native plants about 25 years ago.
What grows with what?
First, consider that all plants that produce edible fruit, foliage or roots have some ornamental qualities.
Take a fruit tree for example: an apple in full bloom in late April is just as attractive as many dwarf flowering trees. We don't think of an apple as a flowering tree because it's primary purpose in the garden is it's productivity. Same for cherries, pears and the list goes on.
This photo of a demonstration garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show I England tells a wonderful story: from right to left, note the snap beans, onions, strawberries, young cabbage or kale plants, curly parsley, arugula and finally the Red Sails leaf lettuce.
See the ornamental quality of this planting?
Now you are getting the idea…..
By far the #1 veggie crop in Canadian gardens is the tomato.
And why not - it is no mistake that Heinz has their #2 plant in Leamington Ontario [Pittsburgh is #1 but that is where they 'discovered' the secret recipe too...]
In most of Canada we have loads of sunshine and good soil is not all that far away.
My recipe for a great tomato crop is:
As they ripen, pick often and enjoy.
1. Canadians will be paying down their debt - to the soil. As more and more Canadians realize that they cannot draw on the goodness of soil forever, they will be 'giving back' by adding generous layers of organic material including [you guessed it] COMPOST
2. From Garden to Fork. Inspired by the recent trend to eat food produced with in 100 miles, Canadians will be growing more of their own food in their own yards and on balconies- Why? to control what is put on their food [ie. No chemicals], convenience, money saving and honest to goodness wholesomeness.
3. Naturally. Canadian gardeners are discovering -in increasing numbers - the benefits of gardening organically or [at least] in the absence of chemicals. Or at the VERY least the minimal use of chemicals.
4. Heritage Gardening. As more and more Canadians are prepared to pay a premium for 'heritage' or 'heirloom' tomatoes and other produce, they are also more interested in growing what their great grandparents grew...... look for heritage tomato varieties at garden retailers this spring.
5. Water Conservation. Gardeners are acutely aware of water use and are naturally concerned about the limited availability of water in most regions of t he country. Look for an increase in the use of rain barrels and other 'water saving' devices including low pressure water sprinklers and water conserving products like the new Water Solutions tea bags [which I will bring in for a demo]
6. Bringing Nature Home. Gardeners are closely connected to the natural world and are designing their gardens in an effort to embrace the natural world around them rather than insulate them selves from it, as we did a generation ago... as a result lawns will get smaller, native plants will gain in popularity and birding in all forms [including bird feeding] will continue to rise in popularity.
7. Gardeners as Community minded activists. Gardeners are seeing themselves more as a vital part of the community as a whole, with sensitivity to historic attributes of our towns and cities, our public green spaces and the overall beauty of our communities. We will see horticultural societies and individual gardeners give time and resources to partnerships with Historic societies, conservation groups and a growing interest in Communities in Bloom.
8. Smaller is better. As house builders continue to build larger homes on smaller lots, the nature of gardening spaces will continue to 'intensify'. The popularity of dwarf conifers, small flowering trees and growing in containers will continue to grow.
9. Gardening as Therapy. As our population ages there is a growing appreciation for the therapeutic benefits of gardening.... Improved cognitive skills, sharper minds, better memory, lower blood pressure, increased flexibility and overall better health result from the ACTIVITY of gardening, regardless of age.
10. Gardening for the NEXT generation and Gardening for Pets. The emerging generation of gardeners are integrating their kids and grand kids [and even their pets!] into the gardening experience. In an effort to reduce the growth of 'nature deficit disorder' the garden is providing the perfect opportunity to engage young people in Mother Nature's world, right in our own backyards.
From www.annaolson.com
Excerpted from Mark Cullen's Monthly newsletter, which can be found at www.markcullen.com
“All gardeners live in beautiful places
Because they made them so.”
~ Joseph Joubert
It is the month of May. Time to get serious about the garden.
I don’t quite mean this the way that it sounds: serious is not a word that we should ever attach to the gardening experience. After all, you got into this thing for the fun of it right? May is the month that we really dig in, if a great looking garden is in the plan for this year at all. That is what I mean.
As I travel the country talking with gardeners it is becoming clear to me that the emerging generation of gardeners have some lessons to teach those of us who have been doing this for a time: #1 “There are no rules”
We now mix up vegetable plants with perennials – in the same container! And most every plant that goes in the garden also goes into containers… and most everything that can hold some soil is a container for planting most everything else. No rules.
Where to start: THAT is the question!Vegetables to plant:
For most of us Canadian gardeners it helps to look at May as two months – early (when frost can still occur) and late (when the threat of frost is much less likely).
Plant in the first half: all ‘frost hardy’ vegetable seeds. There are many that thrive in cool soil and will tolerate some frost once out of the ground.
Radish, carrots, all members of the onion family including spring sets, Spanish onions, leeks and multipliers. Plant peas now, both the ‘snow’ peas and the podded peas, (plus, for the record Sweat Peas), lettuce – leaf, head and bib varieties, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts (providing you can find someone to eat them). In fact virtually all of the ‘gassy' vegetables can be planted early –like now.
Later, when the threat of frost is no longer a consideration plant out your tomato plants and peppers, seed potatoes, squash, pumpkins and beans. Corn should be planted when the leaves of your oak trees are the size of a squirrel’s ear. If you lack squirrels, come over to my place and help yourself.
Containers.
I have a way to cut your watering down by up to one half this summer. Water Wicks are a new product in the Mark’s Choice line up that I am very excited about. Each ‘Water Wick’ tea bag absorbs up to 400 times its’ weight in water.
The results are that you will water much less and your plants will become deeply rooted in their search for water at the bottom of the planting hole.
How do we know these work? We tested them ourselves. But not until the Ontario Flower Growers applied them to over one million potted plants that were shipped to retailers across the country. The Water Wick concept was such a hit that reforestation projects are now using them when planting tree seedlings. We (Home Hardware and I) have the exclusive use of the product in the retail market.
Give them a try and let me know what you think. I have used them in the veggie garden, under newly planted perennials and in containers with great success.
Water Wicks are made in Canada and are a 100% Canadian concept!
The BEST Wheel Barrow. Ever. It took us a while to perfect this one, but the new Mark’s Choice wheel barrow is a winner. I know this because my wife has claimed mine as her own.
Mark's Choice Product of the Month
Mark’s Choice garden soils – at last ! We have been working for 3 years on the perfect formulation of soils for the 3 main jobs that you have around the garden.
