Known to many as the founder of yougrowgirl.com and author of the popular gardening guide, You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening, Gayla Trail took the gardening world by storm from her very own hometown of Toronto.   After publishing her book in 2005 and celebrating her website’s eighth birthday this year, the young gardening guru is still teeming with ideas.  Her blog, which is updated on a daily basis, constantly supplies readers with more original new recipes, new projects, and new adventures.  In addition to gardening, Trail has also runs a successful design studio, Fluffco, with co-founder Davin Risk, works as a public speaker and photographer, and contributes to several magazines.

    “Gardening for the People” (the motto of You Grow Girl)  essentially explains Trail’s mission: to make gardening more accessible and fun for everyone.  Trade perfectionism for humor.  Throw in some style.  Trail understands that gardening is no bed of roses and relates easily with new gardeners, constantly encouraging them to keep trying.  She assures her readers that a garden can be anywhere– even a rooftop, and she shares recipes for Nettle Soup and complains about bad weather.  Trail is a gardener’s best friend– she understands problems, is always armed with creative solutions, and shares ideas that you’ll wish you’d thought of first.

    Gayla Trail generously took the time to answer some of our reader’s top questions, and tell us about the origins of Nettle Soup and her plans for a second book.

Back when the site was in its infancy I fantasized about making a gardening book.  I love books – nothing can replace the feeling of holding a book in your hand and turning the pages.  Books are utilized and read very differently then websites.  I wanted to make a book that could be read linearly as a process to follow or something the reader could open up anywhere and dive in based on their interests, much like a magazine.   Most new gardeners are intimidated and afraid to start so I wanted to make a book that would be very readable and ease people into the process from a starting point of interest and confidence. I really believe that anyone can garden and that we should all know how to some degree. The old-school way of approaching gardening as a snooty, intimidating pastime doesn’t jive with me.

2. How does your background as a graphic designer influence your approach to gardening? 

Less than you’d think. My gardens need to meet my personal needs but since gardening is also a big part of my job they are primarily experimental. I am constantly trying out new varieties and plants for the experience of growing them so aesthetics tend to take a back burner to personal needs. People expect me to have a very ordered, minimal garden but the reality is that that sort of gardening doesn’t suit my lifestyle or my work needs. If the gardens were strictly my own then the designer/artist in me would be more out front. 

3. On May 16th, you embarked on Project The Best and Most Ass-Kicking The Roof Garden Has Ever Been 2008.  What makes this year’s roof garden the Most Ass-Kicking?

In truth, I make exaggerated declarations like this every year about all of my gardens. And then I create a very long title ala The Simpsons to officially initiate another year’s attempt at outdoing myself.  Last year I managed to grow 16 tomato plants on the roof.  This year I’ve cut back on tomatoes but have increased the overall number of containers.  The newest and hardest challenge to achieve will be Eliminate All Messes. With such a small space there is no garage or shed in which to hide the messes and in-progress projects so I am attempting to find ways to rein that in.  So far I am scoring points in the projects category but failing in keeping the messes under control. The yet-to-be-planted seedlings have taken over every available surface including the table and chairs. One of my ongoing personal missions is to find ways to get the season started as early as possible and finish later.  Unfortunately, the weather is a big factor so I have to roll with whatever comes along.

Start small.  Gardening fever tends to hit people fast and hard, leading new gardeners to overburden themselves with too much too soon.  Plants always seem small and manageable when you bring them home from the garden center in those little pots.  And then they grow.  Some grow larger than others.  Much larger. And the summer heat waves and droughts come on and the next thing you know you’re drowning in the needs of a herd of plants, things are dying and you’re left feeling like a failure.  The second bit of advice I give to new gardeners is to allow yourself to make mistakes.  Everyone kills plants.  I still kill plants.  Learn from your mistakes and try again.  Gardening is a lifelong learning experience.  You can never know everything so you might as well not put all that pressure on yourself and enjoy it.

5. You have written and posted several recipes on yougrowgirl.com especially for fresh garden-grown herbs, fruits, and vegetables.  Where did you get your inspiration for your Nettle Soup recipe?

One of the great things about gardening is that it naturally extends and overlaps with other interests.  Alongside gardening I love to cook and am also really into foraging.  This interest took off when I was a teenager and happened upon a book about wild foods in the public library.  There are so many plants growing in our backyards that can be eaten and were probably eaten by our ancestors until we culturally and collectively decided to stick our noses up at all of that good stuff.  I had been collecting nettles to use in making a home brew fertilizer for my plants and I had made it into tea but I’m afraid that’s as adventurous as I got with it until by happenstance I caught a British documentary-style TV show called “Evacuation” on TVO (Canadian PBS). On the show, a group of kids live like it is WW2 era, which includes eating foraged foods.  In this particular episode they prepared and ate a rather bland-looking nettle soup. I knew I had to try it but put my own spin on it by adding ingredients for taste – after all I’m not living with rations or reenacting WW2. The soup (my version anyway) is surprisingly delicious and good for you too but you’ve got to harvest nettles really early in the season because late-season nettles can do kidney damage.

6. What is the hardest part about gardening?

Gardening is an activity you can approach from different places based on your strengths and weaknesses.  But the one aspect you can’t really avoid is the growing part and that takes consistency and commitment. A crafter can set a project aside indefinitely if they become bored with it or lose inspiration but a gardener has got to keep those plants alive.  A gardener can’t stop just because they feel like it. Well, I suppose they can stop but they’d lose their plants to neglect. That said it’s a good way to learn commitment if that’s a problem for you.

Gardening can teach you a lot about who you are and what you’re made of. That sounds exaggerated but it is shockingly true.

7. You have a section entitled Gayla’s Gardens.  How many gardens are you currently caring for?

Three. The one I concentrate the most attention to is the roof garden where I grow edibles in containers.  I also have a community garden plot where I grow edibles in-ground, and a garden of drought tolerant and very hardy perennials growing on City-owned land beside my apartment building.

8. Do you consider gardening a hobby or an art?

Both and much more.  How it is approached depends on the gardener and where they are coming from.  In my case it is such a big part of my life, the way I approach it is as a way of life that pulls from and integrates many interests.

9. When you are not busy as a blogger, writer, photographer, graphic designer, and gardener, what do you do to relax?

I walk a lot. Walking with my camera is one of the most relaxing and meditative activities I indulge in.  I like to bike to a couple of local conservation areas to explore, and look at birds and plants.

I watch a lot of films and documentaries. At times I allow myself to play video games but have to watch it because I can get addicted. I have a long-standing love for Galaga that goes back to grade school, although if you sat in the room listening to me curse and scream at the screen you would not believe it “relaxes” me.

10. Any plans for a second book?

Yes! I am currently working on a book that I am really excited about.  Unfortunately I don’t think my publisher wants me to provide any details to the public just yet.

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Interview by Claire Day; Illustrations by Elizabeth Schult.