Longer days and warmer temperatures signal that it’s time to begin serious planning of this year’s garden. Seed catalogs were mailed months ago and the big box stores have seed offerings on prominent display. It’s a good idea to begin with a list of everything you want to plant including seeds, purchased seedlings, and larger [Continue]
I hate to admit this even to myself, much less make it public, but this year I had physical limitations that changed the way I garden. I slipped on the ice last winter and unknowingly broke my back. It took many months for the pain to present itself, but when it did, oh boy! Gardening [Continue]
The mission of the Winnebago County Master Gardener Association is this: “To provide research based horticulture education, community service and environmental stewardship to our community in affiliation with the University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension.” The Master Gardener program was initially conceived to assist Extension agents in answering the public’s questions on home gardening and landscaping. [Continue]
Every yard has one. Maybe it’s out of sight behind your garage or on the side of the house where you never go. Perhaps it’s in the back corner behind the kids’ yard toys. Maybe it’s inside the vegetable garden or at the back of the flower bed. Possibly it’s right out front for all [Continue]
Every year I experiment with a new vegetable, herb, fruit or flower in my garden. Not this year. This year, in my new home, everything is different. The soil, light conditions, wind, water, surrounding vegetation, weeds, insect pests, the deer population, whatever critters live along the riverbank; it’s all unfamiliar. The ecosystem I created [Continue]
Every occupation and hobby has its own unique language. Newcomers can be confused by terms that they haven’t heard before, or haven’t heard used in a particular way. Gardening is no different. Here are a few terms to know before you buy plants or seeds. Annual plants aren’t able to survive our winters so they [Continue]
A few columns back, I mentioned that my husband and I have moved from our one-acre property to a smaller ¼-acre yard with many challenges. We closed the sale of our former home at the end of September leaving a garden still producing bountifully, apples and pears yet unharvested and grapes fermenting on the vines. [Continue]
The outdoor gardening season is over in Wisconsin, so it’s time to learn something interesting for which the average gardener will probably find no practical application. You can always throw your new knowledge and vocabulary words around to impress your friends though. Have you ever wondered how plants like clematis, grapes, peas, cucumbers, squash, ivies [Continue]
After 24 years on a beautiful acre in the Town of Clayton in northern Winnebago County, my husband and I have moved. Just a half hour’s distance by car and only ten miles as the crow flies, everything is very different. Our new home sits on a ¼ acre of land. It is waterfront, so [Continue]
When my husband and I decided to attack the long overdue task of cleaning out our file cabinets, he found some old papers he’d brought home from work years ago that had been printed on a dot matrix printer, on that continuous feed computer paper with the holes down the sides. He took a photo [Continue]