By the time you read this, it will likely be safe to plant flower and vegetable transplants and seeds. Do check the forecast for the next week or so before planting though, just to make sure a cold snap isn’t imminent. Here are a few planting tips. When planting transplants from the nursery, first give [Continue]
Have you noticed a little blue and red “AAS Winner” logo on some of the flower and vegetable photos in mail order nursery catalogs? Have you wondered what that means and how a particular plant earns that designation? AAS stands for All-American Selection. The AAS designation is like the Good Housekeeping Seal of [Continue]
Do you remember the story of Johnny Appleseed from grade school? It is more than just a story; Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman, born in 1774. Legend has it that he spent years walking throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada randomly dropping apple seeds along the way. [Continue]
Mid-summer is a good time to take a look around your yard and garden and decide what you like and what you don’t. Go out to the street and approach your home from both directions, pretending to be a visitor. What do you notice first? Is there a plant that is too big, a container [Continue]
Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable garden plan and one of the easiest.to grow. Even people who don’t have a dedicated vegetable garden often plant a tomato or two in flower beds or containers. When buying young tomato plants, look for sturdy plants with healthy green leaves. Avoid leggy plants and those with yellowed [Continue]
Every once in a while, a book comes along that changes everything you’ve believed about a particular topic. “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” by Ann Ralph, is one that did so for me. Pruning is something I have fairly good knowledge of but I never questioned one of the basic tenets, the one that decrees [Continue]
The International Herb Association has chosen peppers as the Herb of the Year for 2016. Peppers seem an odd choice, given that past winners have included plants that we more normally think of as herbs: lavender, dill, sage, thyme, basil and rosemary. However, one of the many definitions of an herb is a “useful [Continue]
People plant vegetable gardens for many reasons – for exercise, to save money, to get outdoors, for relaxation, for better nutrition, to have control over their food supply, and to teach children. Are you ready to plant your first vegetable garden? Nothing matches the thrill you’ll feel the first time you eat a vegetable you’ve [Continue]
Imagine waking up to a stack of steaming golden pancakes or a big bowl of cereal topped with raspberries fresh from the patch. Suddenly, you notice a white squiggly thing inside one of the berries. It looks like a little worm! Looking closer, you see squigglers in all the berries. There goes breakfast! The little [Continue]
Jack Frost will soon make his appearance and you won’t want to let your many months of work in the vegetable garden go to waste. When frost is imminent, harvest all tomatoes both red and green, all peppers no matter how small, and all the beans, cucumbers and zucchini that are still producing. Cut tender [Continue]