In Case You Missed It…
December 17th, 2024
The 2024 gardening season was another hot one that brought us plant- and lawn-stressing hot, dry spells but also a few rain dumpings and other weather curveballs.
We saw a lot of this during our hot, dry spells of summer.
And we saw another new bug (box tree moth), the spread of a misbehaving worm, and the arrival of the first bioengineered vegetable crop aimed directly at home gardeners (The Purple Tomato).
I thought I’d close out the year by highlighting some of what I wrote about in 2024, giving you second-chance links in case you missed a post of interest.
Here you go… and happy 2025!
On this website (free, unlimited reads):
I start every new year with a look at what experts say are some of the hot gardening trends of the coming year. See Gardening Trends of 2024.
I then wrote four e-columns highlighting some of the best new plants hitting the market.
Best New Vegetables and Fruits of 2024
Best New Annual Flowers of 2024
Best New Perennial Flowers of 2024
Best New Trees and Shrubs of 2024
Another best-plant rundown I do every year is plants that have won awards. See Award-Winning Plants of 2024.
And these are some of the other topics I wrote about in 2024…
The Purple Tomato really is purple inside and out… not just purple-skinned.
How those controversial new Purple Tomatoes with the snapdragon genes performed and tasted
The spread of a recent type of worm – the so-called “jumping worm” – that’s a threat to our gardens, not a help
A rundown on what the new USDA Cold Hardiness Zone Map means for Pennsylvania gardeners
A collection of tips on how to navigate our increasing erratic weather in the garden
A look at why it’s important to seek out “survivor plants”
Why it’s no longer good enough for us gardeners to get just one round of blooms from our shrubs
The story of how and why the Fruition Seeds company decided to start giving away its seeds instead of selling them
How to head off plant problems by listening to what your plants are trying to tell you
A primer on how to prune landscape plants into more interesting ways than basic boxes and balls
A rundown on the eight most important things I’ve learned about growing vegetables
A look at 10 of the best cutting-edge annual flowers worth trying in your garden beds and pots
How my “mini-meadow” finally flourished in year three, only to completely fall apart in summer
A look at the latest threat to our boxwoods – the box tree moth
A post that’ll help you evaluate (and improve) your “bounce-backability” in the garden
On the PennLive.com website
(you have to be a PennLive subscriber to access many of these)
I write a garden column that posts most Thursdays on PennLive.com (website of The Patriot-News). Some of the topics I covered there in 2024:
They’re colorful, but most people aren’t happy to see spotted lanternflies in the yard.
A Four-Point Game Plan on How to Beat Spotted Lanternflies (tips preventing and controlling lanternflies)
What’s the Best Way to Build a Raised-Bed Vegetable Garden? (options on constructing and filling raised garden beds… the best way to grow veggies at home)
12 Annuals the Animals Won’t Eat (Probably) (troubled with deer, groundhogs, rabbit, etc. eating your annual flowers… this spells out their least favorites)
10 Ways to Get the Kids Interested in Gardening This Summer (ideas on ways to make gardening fun enough that kids will want to try it)
The Great Front-Yard Refresh of 2024 (one of the year’s big trends, this one offered ways to make the front yard look better)
Where Are All of Those Weeds Coming From? (a look at the many ways weeds make it into our yards)
The 2024 Yard All-Star Team (the best of the native plant choices for Pennsylvania yards)
The 2024 Yard All-Star Team (the best of the non-native plant choices for Pennsylvania yards)
10 Shrubs that Can Take Our Summer Heat (good shrubby choices for our warming climate)
The sudden loss of a big tree can pose a problem for the surrounding plants.
A Big Tree Just Came Down in the Yard… Now What?
Hershey Gardens’ New Senses Garden (a description and photos of Hershey’s newest garden)
Shrinking the Lawn? Three Ways to Get Rid of Grass Before Planting Something Else (strategies for removing turfgrass)
Illegal and Frenzied Sales: The Saga of the Purple Tomato’s First Year (a look at the wild first-year ride of the first bioengineered vegetable crop marked to home gardeners)
How to Improve Lousy Garden Soil without Hauling Leaves and Compost (a how-to on using cover crops)
Going Native in the Garden? Here are 10 Bulbs for Early Spring Color (details on 10 little known fall-planted, spring-blooming bulbs that are U.S. native species)
Another Deadly New Threat Looms for Our Top-Selling Shrub (details on the Pennsylvania arrival of the box tree moth)
Why “Normal” Rain Wasn’t Enough for Our 2024 Gardens
Landscape Plants Not Growing? Here’s Why and What to Do About It (reasons why your plants might be stunted and how to correct the problem)
How Pruning at the Right Time Can Head Off a Deadly Threat to Oak Trees (the latest on the spread of oak wilt disease into central Pennsylvania
Some 2024 This Weekend columns of ongoing interest
Besides the Thursday column, I write a “This Weekend in the Garden” feature for PennLive.com that each Friday covers three things you should be doing around the yard and/or other newsy things you ought to know about.
We did a lot of this in the summer of 2024 to help nurse plants through the heat and dry weather.
A selection of them from 2024…
Helping Plants through the Heat and Lighter Impact Lawns
Rain Fakeouts, Harvesting Flowers for Drying, and Groundcovers Gone Bad
Potted Plant Problems, Pruning Tips, and Nighttime Pollinators
Fixing a Summer-Stressed Yard, Trees Dropping Leaves Early, and Dealing with Hungry Animals
Stopping Deer with Psychology and Anti-Weed Strategies
Fungus Gnats: How to Get Rid of Those Tiny Bugs Flying Around the House
Making a Healthy-Yard Game Plan, and Is Your Compost Ready to Use?
How to Deal with Changing Winter Lows and New Summer Highs
Summer Planting Time, Container Tips, and Growing on a Roof
Diagnosing Plant Problems and Weeding Mistakes
And Some from 2023:
Finally, here are a few of my posts from 2023 that might still be of interest:
Japanese maples look almost as good with their leaves off as on.
On my website
Better Naked (a look at plants that look their best without leaves in the dormant season)
Just Say No to These Pass-Along Plants (not all plants people want to give you for free are worth taking)
My Bulb Experiment: Three Years Later (my real-world experience with planting 16 kinds of bulbs… which are faring well and which aren’t)
How One of the Warmest Winters Caused Some of My Worst Plant Damage Ever (the irony and trouble of getting winter weather that’s a little too warm… or unstable)
Composting in Place (no need to lug all of those yanked weeds to the compost bin… most can be tossed nearby where you can’t see them to break down in place)
Lanternfly Obsession (how people are overreacting when they see an infestation of spotted lanternflies for the first time)
Black Thumb? I Don’t Think So (I don’t buy the idea that you’re either born to garden or not… like anything else, the more you learn, the better you get)
The Case for Weeds (not everybody thinks weeds are all bad… at least some of them are here for good reason)
Winners and Losers in a Garden of Change (our growing conditions are changing, and that’s been good on some fronts but not so good on others)
The One Piece of Gardening Advice I Don’t Agree With (I usually go with wherever research leads, but I still can’t buy the one on avoiding improving the soil)
On PennLive.com
Why Snow Can Be Good for Plants, Outside Jobs in Winter, and Smashing Lanternfly Eggs
Yard Do-Now’s vs. Can-Wait’s, Healing Winter Insults, and Fixing Grub and Vole Lawn Damage
How/When to Prune Shrubs, Training Young Trees, and Rose-Care Tips from Hershey Gardens
Clover in the Lawn, How to Tell If Plants Are Dead or Alive, and Penn State’s “Soil from the Past”
Alternatives to Grass, Bumps in the Lawn, and the Dog-Vomit Fungus
How to Get Rid of Invasive Plants, Digging New Beds, and Deciding What to Do about the Lanternflies
Tips for Renovating and Improving the Lawn