Read this: The $64 Tomato...

The $64 Tomato:  How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden William Alexander, 2006 The paperback cover of The $64 Tomato quotes a line from the New York Times Book Review of the book:  “Gardening as an Extreme Sport.”  The reviewer hit the nail right on the head.  William Alexander’s account of his first ten years with his garden at his...

Pruning Roses in the Winter...

Winter need not be the end of gardening, even if you live where snow flies.  In fact, once the ground is good and frozen, or your plants are fully dormant for the winter, it is time for pruning!  Woody plants that flower on new growth are good candidates for winter pruning.  If your plants flower on old growth, you do not want to prune until immediately after they fininsh flowering because you will cut off the flower...

Time to Order Seeds!...

It’s time for the seed catalogs to start arriving!  I look forward to opening my mailbox in January, which makes me different than about 99% of the population, I know.  I look forward to the glossy pictures and gardening dreams that arrive with my seed catalogs.  (My credit card bills are ever-present.  They aren’t any worse when the holidays are over.  I keep paying, they keep sending me bills!)  But,...

Greeting Cards that Grow...

Recycled paper cards filled with seeds are presents in and of themselves.  If you love to garden and get the blues during the winter, here’s a gardening inspired craft to keep you busy and create works of art for your friends.  Make several of these at a time, and you will have a handy stash for any occasion.  You can make the card paper and decorate for the occasions as they come up. Supplies Paper to recycle Small...

Houseplant Starts Make Great Gifts...

Use your green thumb to give gifts to your friends!  It is certainly easy to “snip snip” a few starts off a spider plant or sitck a trailing piece of pothos in a little bud vase.  It is nicer if you go ahead and root those starts yourself and pot them up in a cute flowerpot or plastic pot inside a nice container.  Houseplant starts from your plants make great housewarming gifts, get-well gifts, and...

Aphids in the salad? “They’re a garni...

The morning my boyfriend broke up with me (the one I thought I would marry, though obviously that didn’t happen), I sat in the snow on my patio in Delaware and sobbed my eyes out, planting lettuce in a pot.  I was so upset, I couldn’t see straight, and the only thing I could think to do was garden.  Unfortunately, it was early March in Delaware–not exactly a great time to be gardening.  Never mind the...

What *Was* I Thinking?...

Anyone who gardens can identify with hair-brained schemes that did not go as planned!  I have one such gardening story to share.  It is about my first large-scale vegetable gardening experience. Tons of Tomatillos I had my first vegetable garden when I was about six.  I think I grew tomatoes, and not much else.  I was way more interested in flowers.  I stayed a “flower child” for years and years until I...

Squirrel Proofing your Bulbs...

If the ground where you live is not completely frozen solid, you can still plant your spring bulbs.  Bulbs need a chance to set roots before the ground freezes so that they can get a running start in the spring.  One of the most aggravating thing about planting bulbs is going outside a day or two (sometimes an hour or two) later to find that the squirrels or chipmunks (or other garden-destroying rodent), has dug up all of...

Now is the time for All-Season Deer Repellent...

Winter is almost upon us, and with it, less tender vegetation for deer to eat.  In northern climes, leftover grain from harvests will soon be covered with snow.  What does that mean for avid gardeners?  All but your most prickly, foul tasting (at least, for deer), trees and shrubs become targets for hungry pests.  If you are unlucky, like William Alexandar, author of The $64 Tomato, you have a neighbor who thinks it is...