Welcome to Shifting Roots
Finding solutions to the challenges of growing in cold climates with short growing seasons, all while inspiring you to grow something beautiful.
Have you been scrolling through Pinterest and binging gardening content on YouTube, but are struggling to find gardening advice that will actually work for where you live?
I’ll never forget flipping through gardening magazines when I was a teenager, pouring over those gorgeous yards complete with the plan and plant list to make your own version of this perennial flower oasis. I excitedly showed my parents what I found, only to have them inform me that none of these plants would grow here–we lived in too cold of a growing zone.
Despair!
Years later I’d see gardeners in warmer climates harvesting vegetables straight through winter, or my favourite YouTubers starting the bulk of their seeds in February. . . when I was up to my eyeballs in snow and still convincing myself that -30 degree days were necessary to have blooming peonies and tulips in the spring.
Sound familiar?
You’re among friends. While a lot of my gardening advice will work for those of you in warmer climates, everything you see in this blog is designed with the Northern Gardener in mind. If I can’t grow it in my zone 3 garden (or haven’t seen someone in the same zone who has) I don’t write about it.
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Start a Garden
Most Popular Posts
35+ Canadian Seed Companies & Nurseries to Order the Garden or Landscape of Your Dreams
What Grows in Zone 3
Cold-Climate Vegetable Gardening for the Complete Beginner
10 Easy-to-Grow Vegetables for Beginners (Plus 5 You’ll Want to Avoid)
Seed Starting
Most Popular Posts
DIY Seed Starting From Your Window
Indoor Seed Starting Schedule for Easy Vegetables & Flowers
The Best Grow Lights for Seedlings (From Budget to Bougie)
How to Start Seeds When Your Home Has No Light or Space
Additional Resources
Seed Starting Success
Avoid many of the most common newbie seed starting mistakes and have more of your seedlings both survive and thrive.
Pretty Practical Garden Planner
Organize every inch of your garden. Checklists, Trackers, Maps and more!
Cut Flowers
Most Popular Posts
10 Easiest Annual Cut Flowers to Grow From Seed (Plus 2 to Avoid)
How to Grow Ranunculus in Zone 3 (So They Don’t Die!)
How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
How to Start a Cut Flower Garden
Vegetables
Most Popular Posts
How to Grow Ground Cherries in Zone 3
How to Get Free Lettuce Seeds for Life (with this Seed-Saving Method!)
6 Organic Ways to Keep Bugs Out of Broccoli
How to Pinch Pepper Plants for Healthier Plants and More Peppers
Additional Resources
Garden Harvest cheat sheet
Never waste your garden vegetables again! Know exactly what to do with the vegetables you harvest.
Small space
Flower gardening
Most Popular Posts
How to Plan & Design a Low Maintenance Flower Bed
21 Practically No-Fail Perennials to Plant in Zone 3
57 Best Perennials to Plant in Zone 3
32 Flowers, Ground Cover, and Shrubs That Grow Under Trees