Two tenets of gardening that really fell out of favor in the last generation were growing vegetables and starting plants from seeds. Both were victims of convenience. Why dig, sweat, lug, and get dirty trying to grow your own food when you can just go to the store and buy whatever you […]
Three more garden trips that I was going to lead this year through Lowee’s Group Tours are now off, victims of the lingering coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainties it’s brought. Both of our June day trips – the June 18 trip to the new Delaware Botanic Gardens and Mt. Cuba Center and the […]
One of the odder things you’ll sometimes see in nature this time of year is little green balls about the size of Ping-Pong balls. Sometimes they’re very light-weight and papery with white fibers inside. Other times, they’re spongy – almost like over-ripened, mini green apples. People usually don’t know what to make […]
A lot of gardeners are trying to lean native in the landscape these days. Trees are one of the easiest ways to do that because, fortunately, many native Pennsylvania and U.S. tree species are as functional survival-wise and wildlife-friendly-wise as they are beautiful and “well behaved.” If you’re planning to add a […]
I got an email from Cathy in Camp Hill wondering what to do about her 70-by-70-foot lawn that’s so overrun with weeds that there’s barely any grass left. “I’m die-hard eco-friendly,” she says, “and I really don’t want to use anything toxic to the birds I feed or the insects they eat.” […]
Be on the lookout for some new little bugs crawling around that you might never have seen before. The spotted lanternfly – that voracious new bug from Asia that was discovered in Berks County in 2014 – has officially spread into Cumberland, York, and Perry counties in addition to Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon. It’s […]
You’re probably tempted about now to cut down the now-bloomless daffodils, hyacinths, and other spring bulbs in your yard that have finished their show for the year. Don’t. Also don’t twist them, braid them, or otherwise mess with the foliage. These few weeks are the most important of the year for your […]
I’m running a deficit right now. Money and energy, too, but the one I’m talking about has to do with trees. When my wife, Sue, and I moved to Pittsburgh last year, we inherited a long-unkempt lot that had a variety of dead, dying, and hazard trees. A huge, struggling pin oak […]
The two garden trips that Lowee’s Group Tours and I had planned for April and May are officially casualties of the coronavirus pandemic… for now. The April 30 day trip we were going to do to two Lancaster County home gardens and to two stellar Lancaster County plant places is off but now […]
I thought it was the heavy black clay that’s on the way to becoming coal that was responsible for the awful drainage in my new Pittsburgh yard. As it turns out, it’s the future coal and a solid layer of rock lurking a foot underground that’s behind all of the sogginess and surface […]