Silverlinings Garden Designs

09/01/2026

The hot peppers are coming along and finally starting to ripen. Scotch bonnet, Thai chili, red cayenne, Serrano, yellow reaper, jalapeño and Mulato isleno are all spicy peppers full of capsaicin. In gardening capsaicin is used to repel insects, rodents and other pests, so while I do like spicy things, most of these peppers will be going towards making my own repellent.

How do you use up the hot peppers you harvest?

08/21/2026

This year I’ve been growing cucamelons and I think they’re one of the cutest things growing in my garden next to my teeny tiny currant tomatoes.

They look like tiny watermelons, but taste more like a little cucumber with a slightly tangy, citrusy kick. I usually just eat them straight from the vine before they are fully ripe, but I’ve also cut used them whole or cut in salads and fresh tomato and basil dishes, so we shall see if I end up with any leftover for seed harvesting for next year.

What everyone else does with them.
If you grow cucamelons, what’s your favorite way to eat them? And how do you manage the cucabeetles?

08/20/2026

It’s finally tomato harvest time!
From Golden Queen to the tiniest of tomatoes, Tess’ Landrace Currant tomatoes. Now to start preserving and stocking the pantry.

What does your tomato harvest look like this month?

08/04/2026

Share a pic of your favourite colourful summer perennial?

08/04/2026

08/03/2026

I love having my boys in my garden, hard at work examining flowers and eating all the ripe raspberries.

08/01/2026

Deadheading sounds like a brutal activity, but it’s nothing more than just removing the blooms that have finished showing off to allow new blooms to grow.

07/30/2026

The best part about being a gardener is when your client asks you to tear out her hydrangeas because they look too messy - and hydrangeas are one of your favourite flowering shrubs!

What flowering and scents plant would you put in their place?

Follow to find out what plants I chose!

07/29/2026

Another beautiful summer bouquet full of just 3 flowers two being medicinal; Echinacea, used mainly to fight the common cold, support the immune system, and reduce inflammation, native Bee Balm brewed as a hot tea or used in steam inhalations to break up chest congestion, soothe sore throats, and ease coughs from colds or the flu and the modest Daylily.

What’s your favourite perennial flower?