Kim’s Gardening sources

I love to know good sources for stuff, I think it’s a holdover from when I was an interior decorator. I’ll tell you the good and the bad of each of my recommendations.
This is a work in progress!

Seeds

  • Veseys- They have everything, seriously. They are also one of the few suppliers that import from other countries, like Garland in the UK. Be forewarned they sell out fast. Thinking about your garden? Buy early like November or December, seeds included. They are super popular so shipping takes ages, but they deliver. And if you have a problem customer support makes it right. Oh yeah they are in PEI and pronounce is vaseys. That is all.

  • West Coast seeds- great seeds, again, they run out fast

  • William Dam- not great, they have some rare seeds, but they aren’t any good at e-commerce, lack of updates and support is not helpful. Their url is dam seeds and that’s about right “when will I get my damn seeds!”

  • Dahlia May- if you like dahlias you’ll like them. Great quality, organised and communicative.

Nurseries

With the demise of Humber Nurseries and PlantWorld I know my toronto gardening friends and I have been scrambling to find good alternatives, this is what I’ve got so far.

  • vandeermeer- this a great spot for a wide range of plants and they are alphabetised. That sounds uptight, but seriously when you’re looking for a particular plant (as I often am) you need efficiency. This place provides. Sheridan Nurseries on the other hand? Complete chaos. No thanks. Granted you have to drive to white-by (spelt that way on purpose ;) but it’s worth it.

  • ValleyView- so I actually haven’t been here yet, but the Gardeners’ group i am in swears by it. Will report back

  • Connon- this place is huge and has lots of plants, but almost too new and sterile. Put it on your list, but not at the top

  • onplants.ca- native plants shipped by Canada post. The plugs are tiny, but they are of good quality. Don’t expect a lot of growth year 1, year 2 will be great tho!

  • plants in the city- perennials via delivery in Toronto, worth putting on your list if you’re willing to buy sight unseen.

  • Paramount Nursery- nursery from Ottawa that makes deliveries. Seriously good for trees, ever tried to transport a tree home from a nursery? Well if you want a tree of a reasonable size, it’s not fitting in your car. that’s where paramount comes in.

  • Islington- small but convenient to the west end, good selection even late in the summer. It’s no vandermeers but it’s pretty good.

Soil Ammendment

  • Gro4.ca- these are the worm casting guys, the stuff is expensive but really good for your garden, also they are super responsive 10/10

Garden Hardscaping

  • irrigation- there’s 3 ways you can go with irrigation, professional install (who’s got cash for that), configurable kit from Lee valley, or Gardena, or totally home grown. Brian made mine from scratch including the software, so I am a lucky person, but he got all his parts from here if that’s your jam

  • Raised beds- I did some serious research into galvanised feed troughs that people make into raised beds, they also look super swish, except one small peoblem. The smallest they come in is 2 feet wide, So instead I called up Danforth roofing, they made it with flashing, fast and cheap!

  • Terracotta pots- Canadian winters can be cold and most terracotta pots don’t make it thru without cracking , also the ones from Home Depot are thin and crappy. I got some at Kawa Canada, totally unassuming storefront in the bowels of Mississauga, and a huge warehouse out back, they even threw in those little pot feet with each pot! Anyways they are gorgeous, thick and will make it thru our winters supposedly (will report back, just got them)

  • Marquis gardens- wow if you want water features this place is where you should go. They have everything from ponds, to pissing Cupid’s and everything in between. I had been eyeing a birdbath water feature on Wayfair for ages and found the exact thing for 1/2 the price. Granted my water feature weighs the size of a grown man, so it was probably the shipping but still, seeing it in person was pretty great.

Garden Tools

  • Lee Valley- if you can wade thru the plastic garbage on Lee valleys site and feast your eyes on their wooden tools, you can’t go wrong, they are a joy to work with. Granted you don’t need them all. I am all about a good trowel, hoe, and hand rake, possibly a hori hori knife, and the old standby Felco secateurs.

  • Sneeboer- if you watch enough Gardeners’ World, you’ll notice that those brits seem to use flat trowels, and I needed one, yes they are superior. And there’s one that opens beer, that is all.

Gardening Sites

  • Gardeners World- there’s nothing better than Gardeners’ World, Friday nights will never be the same (especially in a pandemic) without the soothing balm of this program. I subscribe to Britbox just because of it, oh and the magazine is great, and so is the website. Also Monty Don is my gardening hero. Go on, watch it all, you’ll thank me ;)

  • I like other sites like thespruce etc, I’ll get around to them in time, but frankly I checkout GW first every time.

Education

So if I wasn’t nerdy enough about Gardening, I am trying to learn as much as I can about it. So I am currently taking a horticultural certificate and landscape design certificate from University of Guelph. Not as hard as a degree of course but really levels you up. I am three courses in and learning a ton. At first I went to George brown for their program but it was silly in comparison, Dottering old professors, and tedium. Go for uofg, and you can become a master gardener!

Kim Phelan