grow-vegetables / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Tips for Urban Gardening and Gardening in Small Spaces
Food production

Grow food at home: 8 great tips for growing food in small spaces

Many of us look forward to the unmistakable taste of fresh, locally grown vegetables and fruit, especially those that come from our own soil. For those of you who would like to grow food at home but have limited space, don't despair. Your dream of home-grown food is still within reach. You may be wondering how to grow ...

Shaded vegetable garden success
Food production

Growing vegetables in the shade

If you're like me and you love to grow your own food but have limited access to all day sun, do not fret - a bountiful harvest is still well within your reach. Just like the gardeners that grow them, many vegetables will actually appreciate a little respite from the sun during the hottest months of the growing season. ...

Urban farming
Landscaping

Urban Farming turns beautiful gardens into a grocery store!

How to grow vegetables & fruits in a garden Plants survived long before humans were around to water them, so we aren't talking about reinventing the wheel here, but rather a sensible choice of plants and basic water management. Native species of plants in a given region have adapted to their own climate and can usu...

Growing Food Indoors, Vegetables for Homes & Apartments
Food production

Food & Greens can be grown easily indoors - here's how!

A certain level of independence and a real sense of satisfaction can be gained from the growing hobby of gardening at home to produce food crops! As with any hobby, starting small and making a success of it encourages the whole family to get off the couch and their screens and into the garden. One of the easiest ways t...

Lasagna Gardening - How to Build an Easy Vegetable Garden
Food production

Lasagna gardening - the easiest vegetable garden at home?

Lasagna gardening - what is it? The easiest way to turn a backyard lawn into an organic food-producing garden is by building a lasagna garden, as there is no digging required. The first thing we will clear up for any rookie gardeners; we aren’t planting noodle trees where we will be harvesting penne and rigatoni. Not e...

A Vancouver laneway house
Flexible house design

Flexible house design

Design basics for flexible housing: Depending on the stage you are at in your life, you might have kids, they might be gone or you might want to have some in the future. Design floor plans that work for you right now but can be easily adapted to accommodate different family dynamics in the future. Flexible housing star...

Alex and Jerelyn Wilson's Vermont farm
Lifestyle, location and commuting

Creating a farm and building a resilient lifestyle

As founder of the Resilient Design Institute, Alex Wilson is an internationally renowned authority on resilience in home design. Beyond just homes, 'resilience' can in a way describe a lifestyle, or perhaps a life philosophy. Sure, 'green' homes can help save the planet, but some of them may also save the individual. ...

Dog strangling vine invasive species
Landscaping

Avoiding invasive species when landscaping

Invasive plants are defined as plants from other continents, countries or even other regions of Canada. Humans have been introducing foreign plants to new lands since the 17th century, for horticultural, agricultural or medicinal purposes. Due to a lack of natural competitors they can often propagate swiftly and comple...

CaGBC, LEED green building trends
LEED Homes

New report shows Canadian green building market growing steadily with owners seeing strong benefits from building green.

OTTAWA, June 18, 2014 /CNW/ - The Canadian green building market is poised to see strong growth over the next three years, with surveyed Canadian firms expecting to grow their green practices from one third in 2014, to one half by 2017. These findings are part of a new report prepared by McGraw Hill Construction and co...

Off-grid LEED Gold house in Low, Quebec
LEED Homes

Canada Ranks as the top country for LEED green building for second year in a row

Washington, D.C. and Ottawa, ON — (July 22, 2015) — Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that Canada ranks first on USGBC's second annual ranking of the Top 10 Countries for LEED, the world's most widely used and recognized green building rating system. The Top 10 list highlights countries outside o...