A few days before Christmas, the mailbox yields a couple last minute greeting cards and the property tax bill folded inside the spring Jung Seed catalog. In the days after Christmas after the gifts are put away and the tax check is written, it is nice to sit down to peruse the catalog and begin [Continue]
With all the snow that’s already fallen this winter, the foods that birds can scavenge on their own are mostly covered. You can help them out by filling your bird feeder with purchased seed, but it’s more fun to make homemade bird treats. Some of these make great gifts for bird lovers as well. [Continue]
Take the time now to prepare your yard and garden for winter. When spring comes you’ll be glad you did. Cut the grass short to discourage voles and mice from making nests below the snow. Rake leaves out of areas where they pile up and shred them with the lawn mower for free lawn [Continue]
It was late summer and I just wanted to grow something, anything. It was too late to plant seeds outdoors. I’d been thinking about growing alfalfa sprouts for years, but thought it was too complicated. It turns out it is easy, fun and best of all, fast. Sprouts can be grown on your [Continue]
You may be ready to hang up your gardening tools for the year, but there is one more task to complete yet this year if you want a beautiful early spring garden. Mid-October is bulb-planting time. Flowers like tulips, daffodils, crocuses, muscari, hyacinths, alliums and scilla all grow from bulbs. They can be [Continue]
Its name is rather off-putting for someone who wants to grow a nice plant, but dead nettle is a pretty solution for the oft-asked question, “What can I grow under my trees in the shade where grass won’t grow?” Nettle implies something prickly or spiny, and dead, well dead implies dead. Dead nettle [Continue]
Alan Jackson sings, “If money grew on hackberry trees . . . that’d be all right.” Ever wonder what a hackberry tree looks like? Hackbery (Celtis occidentalis) is one of the most versatile shade trees. It is related to the elm and in fact grows in the vase form of the elm, but [Continue]
Make next year’s garden great by getting ready now Now is the time to make plans for next year’s garden. There are many things you can do in fall in ensure that your next garden is the best ever. * Find a source of cow or horse manure and spread it on the garden [Continue]
It’s hard to have missed the news articles over the past several years on the many health benefits of flaxseed oil. The omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed oil help lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Other parts of the plant are also useful – the fibers are used to make linen cloth, high quality paper [Continue]
Remember the story of Squanto teaching the pilgrims how to fertilize their crops by planting a fish head under each hill of corn? It turns out that Squanto really knew what he was talking about. Fish and seaweed from our lakes, rivers and oceans make excellent fertilizers for annuals, perennials, vegetables and even [Continue]