Spring came early this year. It’s getting warm, and spring flowers like daffodils and tulips, as well as magnolia trees and cherry blossoms have pretty much come and gone.

Many of you have probably already done some spring clean-up in your gardens or community spaces. Maybe you’ve started some seeds, done some direct sowing or visited the garden centre.

We decided it was a perfect time to revisit one of our most popular (and surprisingly controversial!) episodes from last year about the colonial roots of gardening.

In this episode, we explore the complicated roots of the garden, including what to plant, and who gets to garden. We also discuss practical tips with an eye to Indigenous knowledge. We speak with researcher Jacqueline L. Scott, who studies Blackness outdoors, and community activist Carolynne Crawley, who leads workshops that integrate Indigenous teachings into practice.

How we garden is deeply tied to colonialism — from the spread of seeds, species and “knowledge” around the world, and the use of forced labour and slavery that went hand in hand — to the collection and commodification of plants.

But, there is a growing shift away from the status symbol of the lawn and manicured gardens, in favour of pollinator-friendly native plants. And a growing understanding that centuries-old Indigenous knowledge and practices — like controlled burns — can help foster a more resilient landscape.

With concerns about our climate crisis growing, one of the possible avenues for creating more sustainable cities may very well lie in our gardens. Could we have an impact simply by thinking a little differently about the seeds we sow and the “weeds” we pull?

With Mother’s Day a few days away, this weekend would also be a great time to revisit our Mother’s Day episode from last year, which looks at the fastest growing prison population in Canada — racialized women, many of whom are mothers. We know this holiday can be a complicated day, and this is especially so for the 66 per cent of incarcerated women in prison who are mothers. In this episode, we speak to a scholar who researches prisons and feminist criminology, as well as a formerly-incarcerated activist who works with a non-profit organization that helps women with education when transitioning out of the system.

Also today:

• University campuses should be places of peacemaking, not venues for proxy wars
• Game changer: A labour group in Québec is pushing for a province-wide video game workers’ union
• Ottawa’s efforts to modernize regulations fail to prioritize public safety over profit
• How to find more information about a drug that your doctor prescribed
• How to find more information about a drug that your doctor prescribed
• How to celebrate Mother’s Day every day to boost moms’ and kids’ well-being

All the best.