“Mild Weather Tricks Plants To Thinking Spring Has Arrived” is a headline I saw recently and is certainly true for my garden. In December there were only a few frosty nights and January so far is mild and wet. The camellias have clearly decided that spring is here. The first flower appeared a few days [...]
→ No CommentsTags:camellias·compost·gnome·grow·mild weather·spring
Garden Supplies News has been neglected of late because my wife and I took a two week vacation to India. After two weeks of warmth and sunshine we returned to a cold and dreary climate and promptly caught colds which we are desperately drying to shake off before we go to stay with our family [...]
Choosing a Christmas tree can be quite an emotive matter. I found an interesting article the other day which set out to prove that buying a live tree was greener than an artificial alternative which can last for several years, but was distracted by other matters and now can no longer find it. However I [...]
→ No CommentsTags:Christmas·eco-friendly·free range·holidays·organic·pesticides·tree
However enthusiastic a gardener you are, you will surely welcome ideas to make routine tasks easier. For instance who wants to engage in double digging when the same effect can be achieved without all that physical effort. Horticulturist Felder Rushing is firmly of this opinion and has, as he puts it “worked my tail off [...]
→ No CommentsTags:digging·earthworms·garden rug·ghosts·rabbit
“Aphids aren’t all bad” claims the headline, but “Gardeners know aphids as tiny, squishy pests that can suck the life right out of plants and, as if that weren’t enough, leave behind a sticky, nasty mess”. It’s common knowledge that ladybugs eat aphids and and so can be used as a non chemical form of [...]
→ No CommentsTags:aphids·compost·control·figs·ladybugs·non-chemical·pests·soil
It’s time to start thinking about planting bulbs to flower in the spring, but if like most of us you have squirrels in the area, you need to plan how you can protect the bulbs. I found this article by Ciscoe Morris writing in the Seattle Times in which he suggests various ways to safeguard [...]
→ No CommentsTags:brain fruit·bulbs·osage·squirrels·tie·tulips
Last year I planted a helenium in one of my herbaceous beds and this is the second year that it has bloomed profusely. The other day I noticed a Red Admiral butterfly on the plant. I was able to go back into the house to collect my camera and then return to find the butterfly [...]
For me August is the month when the garden is past its best and my thoughts turn to the autumn cleanup and plans for next year. But there are plenty of things to be done in August and I have found two articles, one covering lawns and the other irises. I have to confess that [...]
→ No CommentsTags:iris·lawn·lawncare·robot·terrarium·transplant
Conventional wisdom tells us that shade is the last thing that vegetables need, but Mark Hoffman from Kempton, Illinois disagrees. He will tell you from personal experience that some shade can have unexpected benefits. For instance potatoes which are grown partly in shade are more resistant to leaf hoppers. While crops grown in shade will [...]
→ No CommentsTags:gadgets·guerilla gardening·proactive gardening·shade·vegetables·veggies·weeds
