Gardening That Grows With Me
The forsythia have been in full bloom for about a week now, brightening up the spring garden. Sunny yellow blooms of the forsythia are not the only reason to have this shrub in the garden however. Forsythia can be used as an indicator plant for the eastern tent caterpillar. Indicator plants are often used to… Read more »
They say necessity is the mother of invention and this morning I discovered my own need. Yesterday I removed the greenhouse lid on my yellow pepper starts as I had 11 beautiful 1 inch plant seedlings. I took a look this morning and something had eaten the tops off all the new seedlings. Needless to… Read more »
April is finally here, a month all cold-climate gardeners look forward to despite all the work that is ahead. After a long cold winter, we are experiencing some unusually warm weather right now which, of course, makes me want to jump right out there and start my spring chores. However I’m trying to remember from… Read more »
I’ve heard a lot over the past two days about Earth Hour and how everyone should participate. Sorry, but I think Earth Hour is just plain stupid. All the hype shows everyone going to parties and burning candles right? Well, let’s take a look at how that helps the environment: Did they drive their fossil… Read more »
Well, I’m part way through my spring vegetable garden planning. I know what I am going to plant and I’ve prepared a garden layout based on my crop rotation schedule. The next step was to determine my planting schedule. There is a lot of information out there on seed starting schedules. A nice one is… Read more »
We all know that crop rotation is critical to a healthy vegetable garden. Crop rotation helps reduce the risk of insects and diseases as well as manages the fertility of your garden soil. While the concepts are not challenging, actually sitting down and planning out a rotation schedule can be a bit frustrating. Everywhere I… Read more »
A first sign that spring is just around the corner is the blooms on my Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Westerstede’. These witch hazels are a cross between Japanese witch hazel (H. japonica) and Chinese witch hazel (H. mollis). The bright yellow blooms arrive in my zone 5 garden in mid-March and are very cold tolerant. The… Read more »
Before starting my own seeds indoors I would spend most of March and April looking longingly out the window, wishing for spring to arrive just a little bit faster. Now I not only get a head start on my vegetable garden, I actually look forward to late winter. Last year was my first year starting… Read more »
Our first attempt at storing potatoes, carrots and kohlrabi last winter didn’t turn out too bad. We experimented with what we had — plastic storage containers with a tight seal, a wooden wine crate and those vegetable bags with the holes in them. All of these were placed in our wine cellar, which is kept… Read more »
It’s time to order my seeds for the vegetable garden again this year. While I enjoy browsing through the many seed catalogues that come in the mail, I tend to order most of my seeds on-line and this year is no exception. I was even able to place my order on-line for the more unusual… Read more »