To most people, this Friday’s St. Patrick’s Day is a time to celebrate Irish heritage, usually with shamrocks, green clothing and green beer. But to gardeners, the occasion means green of another sort – time to plant the peas. That’s not going to happen this year since the prevailing color is now white. When gardens […]
Cheapie fluorescent tubes in the basement are useful for more than just starting seeds. They also allow you to overwinter tender plants, grow cuttings, and get a head start on spring by “forcing” summer bulbs.
Deer might think you’ve set out all of those tender landscape plants so they have plenty to eat in winter, but gardeners know a deer visit is the fastest way to lose a landscape short of a tornado.
Here in central Pennsylvania, we have our cherries, peaches, pears and apples. And glorious these tree fruits are as they tastily hand off to one another throughout summer. While hiding out from winter last month in Florida, I had a chance to see a whole different kind of tree fruit in action – citrus. Florida […]
If you’re pretty sure you’re going to foul up planning or re-doing your gardens this year, I’ll be happy to bail you out with a design. Up to now, I’ve offered sketches and scale drawings as an add-on option for the on-site Garden House-Calls service I’ve been doing for 17 years. This year, I’m adding […]
I was dozing off with some seed catalogs one evening, when all of a sudden…
Maybe it was the first sign of getting old… or turning Scroogey or becoming just plain lazy. December had arrived, and it was time to go out and get the traditional cut evergreen to decorate for Christmas. We’d always done that when our kids were little. But with the kids grown and gone and plans […]
So you think you know yard care, eh? Below are 10 gardening beliefs that people think are true but that are really myths. See how many you thought were true… Myth 1.) A little fertilizer is good. More is even better. Wrong. You’re wasting money by putting down more fertilizer than a plant needs […]
I know it’s tempting… those artificial or “permanent” Christmas trees are less work and look a lot nicer these days than the original ones, which were modeled (I’m serious) after toilet brushes. Many of these trees come with lights already strung. You just fold out the branches, hang a few ornaments, and you’re good to […]
It’s pretty obvious what’s been killing our hemlocks (woolly adelgids), our ash trees (emerald ash borer), and our Douglas firs (needlecast disease). What’s not as obvious is why so many Japanese maples have been struggling the past 2 to 3 years. The trees I see are dying slow deaths. A few branches go leafless and […]