You Grow Girl

About You Grow Girl™ and Gayla Trail
Gardening for the People.

You Grow Girl™ was launched by Gayla Trail in February 2000 and has grown into a thriving online community that speaks to a new kind of gardener, seeking to redefine the modern world relationship to plants. This contemporary, laid-back approach to gardening places equal importance on environmentalism, style, affordability, art, and humour.

Now in its eighth year online, You Grow Girl™ has become a thriving community for likeminded gardeners and even self-confessed “black thumbs.” The project's aim has always been to promote exploration, excitement and a d.i.y approach to growing plants without the restrictions of traditional ideas about gardening. While we have never said "You must do things this way" organic growing and a motto of “Do no harm” has always been the platform to start from. I strongly believe that most people take the plants around them and the food they eat for granted, and that if they are encouraged to see the wonder of plants and the relative ease with which they can be grown, it will foster a respect for nature that will extend beyond their backyards. - Gayla Trail

False Spring

Last night someone mentioned how much they are enjoying our false spring. I thought it was a funny term, but understood it in the context of a warm couple of days after a cold spell, to be followed by another cold spell. This morning, I noticed birds singing, and again later today, as if they were saying that they too were enjoying the warm weather. Later, I dug in the still frozen ground and planted about 300 tulip bulbs, awoke still sleeping worms and tender shoots that are getting ready for spring. I checked in on my beehive, they were busy carrying out the dead bees from the hive and learning new flight paths. And I thought to myself, that days like this seem like a gift because we know that the weather will be cold again before it warms. Do we take for granted the days of real spring when days are predictably warmer and lead to summer? I felt so fortunate to be able to spend much of today outside and feel the sun on my skin, the dirt in my hands, the song of the birds, and to look forward to the tulips in my garden. What do you look forward to this spring?