It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
I know a few of you might find it incredibly hard to believe, but I actually spend a considerable amount of time researching my columns rather than just making s#%t up. In truth, it is probably a combination of both. We live in the information age where knowledge is all around us, literally at our finger tips. The challenge of course is…
Have you heard of “regenerative agriculture”? I hadn’t until recently, but after a bit of research, I realized that this “new” movement is at its base just an expansion of organic gardening and farming principles that can be adapted from commercial agriculture to our very own backyards. Here are some components of this style of gardening that we should all take to heart…
Now that summer has arrived and we are spending more time out in our yards, it is becoming increasingly apparent that at certain times of the day we are not alone. By that I mean that the mosquitos are out in force and looking for some sustenance. Here are some techniques and more specifically, some plants that will help mitigate these annoying creatures and let us enjoy our yards without becoming victims of these flying hypodermic needles…
Now that the frenzy of May plant-buying is behind us, I always wonder just how many of those beautiful Mother’s Day baskets and pots full of flowers are actually still alive. Or once the thrill of the purchase is gone, how many have at least been neglected to the point of near death? You see, no matter how healthy and beautiful a plant looks when it leaves the garden center, in order to keep it looking that way, it needs to be fed…
I have just spent this last week, and countless hours, researching the topic of ‘trends for 2020’’ in hopes of bringing you something of deep profundity. Unfortunately, I have to confess; it has been a struggle to find the perfect morsels of wisdom for your reading pleasure and I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I am trying to set the bar too high. The trends for 2020 are really just a continuation of what I have observed over the last 5 years, so here are some of the points that caught my eye that hopefully you will find informative and useful…
Speaking as a self-proclaimed “plantaholic” who likes just about all things with foliage, fronds, or needles, one plant I started to salivate over in the 1990’s was Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.). For us in northern latitudes, these mythical plants were uncommon and were perceived as…