Category: gardening

Edibles You Can Easily Add to Your Garden

When planning your garden, the major considerations include the following: location, space limitations, containers, and aesthetics. Now that people are finding ways to grow their own herbs and veggies, whether for health or personal reasons, usually that means more pots, more space needed, and more time spent tending the garden. Don’t compromise between flowers and…


Spring Garden Pest Control

As spring arrives, it is time to start scouting for signs of diseases, insects, and weeds. Once a pest is found that may result in significant damage, a control measure must be found to produce an economical reduction of the pest population. The control must also be minimally disruptive to the natural controls of the…


The Fleeting Beauty of Spring Ephemerals

Spring is moving north. One way we know that is to look at the early spring ephemeral wildflowers. These flowers are designed to leaf out, bloom, produce seeds, and then go dormant before the landscape becomes too shady. Some of them keep their leaves all summer, and some go dormant as the summer heat comes….


Easter Lilies and Early Tomatoes

Last year at this time, around Easter, most areas had lockdowns. Most churches weren’t able to have in-person services and weren’t buying Easter lilies. I wrote about how many independent garden centers that sold Easter lilies, annual flowers, and vegetable plants were having a hard time financially. But as people stayed home from work and…


Five Essential Starter Gardening Tools for Beginners

Gardening is a fun and inexpensive hobby with the potential of offering hours of fun and entertainment. What better way to enjoy the fresh air this spring than by trying your hand at growing some new plants? You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on purchasing supplies. This article will introduce you to the…


Growing Gardeners: DIY Newspaper Pots for Starting Seeds Indoors

As the days start to grow longer, outside temperatures grow warmer, and the landscape awakens from its winter sleep, our opportunity to start our garden is upon us. We can begin the process of starting our garden from seed. The best time to start your seeds varies by region and crop. The Farmers Almanac, which…


Kick Off Your Garden Conversation With a Handful of Peas

Gardening is a conversation with the earth. The gardener does something, and the earth responds via the outcome. If you plant a tomato seedling upside down, for example, the earth will happily swallow it, thereby ending the discussion. A new dialogue starts every time the gardener sows a seed or does anything to disrupt the…


Rose Care and Privacy Plants

Q: Last year, I planted six roses. Over the winter, the stems have turned brown except for the very bottom. Rabbits have begun eating some of them. Is there something I can do to protect them? A: Late winter is a hard time of year for many animals. New sprouts have not yet started their…


Growing Gardeners: A Case for Starting a Family Garden

A special painting by our children hangs framed on a wall in our house. It’s a simple tree standing in a field, painted as though you can see the roots as well as you can see the branches and leaves. The roots are labeled, in cursive, with the words “truth,” “patience,” “generosity,” “goodness,” and “growth.”…


New Books for New Gardeners

As we talked about last week, many people became gardeners in the past few years, especially last year. Gardeners have always turned to books to help them learn. Here are new books that are going to deserve a special place on the gardener’s bookshelf. For the people who are new to houseplants, there is a…