When to seed? Ideally you want your seedlings ready to be transplanted outdoors once the last chance of frost has passed. For us that is usually mid April.  Your seed packets will tell you how many weeks before last frost date to plant your seeds.  Beans and...

Mention growing roses to most gardeners, and they respond with “I would love to but…” .  We love the idea of growing our roses to enjoy, but the fear of failure often holds us back.  We are told time and time again that roses are hard to grow. While it is...

We create gardens for numerous reasons. Sometimes we enjoy the visual excitement of an explosion of color, or maybe to watch the wildlife our garden attracts. Oftentimes it’s a means to escape and relax. Creating a relaxing or meditation garden is not difficult, but...

Do's Planting a tree Do dig the hole the same depth as the rootball Do dig the hole at least twice as wide as the root ball Do use your native soil when back filling but you can allow as much as 25% be a soil amendment Do loosen the roots from the sides and bottom (if...

The Psychological Stages of Becoming a Gardener Planting a shrub or two doesn’t make us a true gardener. Becoming a gardener takes time, and we pass through several psychological stages during this journey.  While we may deny some of these stages, we have all...

Creating a Haven in Our Back Yard With the disruption in our lives brought on by the current pandemic, most of us have spent more time at our homes than ever before. With that our focus has shifted to home improvement projects.  For many of us, that includes...

Have you heard about the new space-saving seed that grows tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers and even radishes all on one plant?  I have not either.  Actually there is a plant that grows tomatoes and potatoes, but we will leave that for another time. Instead I...

The azalea that is paler than the others, the hydrangea that just doesn’t seem to be growing or a dogwood that barely blooms; we all have that one plant that just isn’t happy.  Like an unmotivated 15 year old teenager, sometimes they just need a kick in the butt....

“Thanks for allowing me to fail over and over”, followed by a peck on the cheek. That was my wife’s greeting to me this morning while eating breakfast. An idea she had for a dessert for the garden club didn’t turn out as planned the night before.   Why is it we...