Herbs are often defined as “useful plants.” This means they are used as food or medicine or in crafts. But many herbs have an additional attribute – beauty – and can hold their own in gorgeous bouquets. Take basil for example. When growing basil for food, leaves are harvested before flowering for best flavor and [Continue]
Health food magazine articles have frequently touted superfoods and superfruits the past few years. While “superfood” and “superfruit” are marketing terms developed in 2005 and have no official FDA or USDA endorsement, it is generally understood that the terms refer to foods with highly concentrated nutrition in the form of heart-healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. [Continue]
Gardeners have many reasons for pursuing their hobby – exercise, relaxation, spending time outdoors, creativity and beauty, or growing healthy, fresh food. These are all admirable motives for pursuit of a worthwhile pastime. Gardening should be a lovely, relaxing activity. So why do we sometimes make it so much work? Why do we try [Continue]
The International Herb Association makes an annual selection for Herb of the Year based on the herb being outstanding in at least two of three categories: culinary, medicinal, or ornamental. IHA has selected Artemisia as its Herb of the Year for 2014. This is a rather unusual selection, because there are about 400 different species [Continue]
In winter, trees, shrubs and perennial plants go dormant. They stop growing and in some cases die back to ground level. The single signal the leads plants to begin the process of going dormant is day length. When daylight hours shorten in fall, growth regulator hormones begin to build up in plants, slowing [Continue]
After gardening for many years, I’m – fortunately – past the stage where I feel the need to grow every single thing out there. Still, every year I try a few new things in the vegetable garden and flower beds. Here’s a quick look at what is new for me this year in the [Continue]
Two Christmas gifts advertised annually allow gardeners and non-gardeners alike to grow something pretty in the midst of winter. Paperwhites and amaryllis are easy to grow regardless of the greenness of your thumbs. Paperwhites have delicate white, star-shaped flowers growing atop tall stems. Long, flat, strappy leaves look like those of daffodils. In fact, [Continue]
How are you coming along with your fall yard and garden clean-up? Still have a ways to go? Wouldn’t it be much easier to leave the annuals standing, the perennials uncut, the leaves unraked and the brush piles unburned? You could just quit now and allow your yard to be a haven of shelter and [Continue]
After the first hard frost of autumn blackened the basil, wilted the peppers and knocked down the nasturtiums, one plant still stood proudly in the vegetable garden – the kale. There are three types of kale and you are probably most familiar with the one that has been around the shortest time. Ornamental kale with [Continue]
What tasks are you doing in your vegetable garden this time of year? Pulling everything up, rototilling, maybe trying to find some free manure, beating yourself up over the many weeds you didn’t pull? There is a way to make autumn’s garden tasks, and indeed the entire vegetable garden year, easier. It’s called deep mulch [Continue]