Hi, I’m Nikki, welcome to my Forest Garden Adventures

A slightly wild, deeply hopeful gardening journey tucked into the woods of Nova Scotia.

After moving east, one of my biggest dreams was simple:
a big garden.

Well… careful what you wish for.

What I found was not a tidy little backyard plot with matching planters and perfect rows. I found a sprawling forest garden filled with possibility, mystery, native plants, deer with absolutely no respect for boundaries, and years of abandoned garden beds waiting to be uncovered. Oh, and invasive plants that I WILL CONTROL.

Some days it feels less like gardening and more like an archaeological dig with black flies.

There are old pathways disappearing into the trees. Perennials popping up where nobody expected them. Plants that seem determined to survive despite years of neglect. Hummingbirds that buzz by you with attitude.

And somewhere in the middle of it all is a spicy dachshund (mini wiener dog, technically) who loves helping in the garden right up until the moment she catches a scent trail and vanishes into the woods like a tiny sausage-shaped cryptid.

I focus on culinary herbs and flowers because they live beautifully at the intersection of usefulness and joy. They feed pollinators, bring texture and colour to the garden, and make their way into cocktails. And sometimes food.

Garden and Garnish is part garden journal, part learning curve, part love letter to messy, evolving spaces. I’m learning how to work with the landscape instead of fighting it — embracing native plants, figuring out what survives in this climate, and accepting that deer are total JERKS.

If you love untamed gardens, woodland chaos, stubborn dogs, edible flowers, swearing, thunderstorms, coffee in the garden, fighting the patriarchy, and finding peace in a world that is just seriously f’d right now. You are in the right place.

Hugs from Hemford, Nova Scotia ~ Nikki