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Then again, my side projects are more in the vein of, "Find security holes in Symfony," than, "Start a multi-million dollar enterprise."
She doesn't encourage it, nor discourages it. It is completely disjunct from what I do for my employer. And maybe somewhat intriguing, I don't know, she's just never asked for more information.
There's no reason not to hid something that shows another side of yourself, be it art, technology, business, trade, psychology, whatever. Assess the relationship with your colleagues first.
Heck, I had some colleagues that would regularly miss meetings because they were volunteer firefighters. That never caused them any shame.
Assess the conflict of interest. If there is none, declare it. If there is, then tread carefully, because you may be violating a contact you agreed to.
As a manager I love seeing people have side projects. I've also learned it's pretty easy to figure out where their priorities lie. So, I think letting them know is generally a good thing, just be prepared to let them know everything if you do.
IOW don't tell them at all? As an employee I don't think everything is my manager's business. I've chatted with my manager about my side projects but if he started demanding to know everything, I would find it very rude and intrusive, and it would greatly lower my opinion of him. What I do off-hours and unrelated to the business is not something a manager has a right to know. Doesn't matter if that is programming or…
And yes, anyone with a manager like the one you describe should absolutely run for the hills :)