For buried treasure later in summer – plant a spud. Or several spuds. Once our soil dries a little from the welcome snow, get your bed nice and fluffy, then pop in tubers of red, gold and blue. Start your potatoes from certified “seed pieces,” which are sections cut into one-and-one-half to two ounce [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Plant potatoes soon
Posted in Vegetables and fruit, tagged Planting potatoes; spuds; seed potatoes on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Wasp control
Posted in Bad bugs, icky diseases, and operator error, tagged wasp control; yellow jackets; paper wasps; traps on March 25, 2009 | 2 Comments »
There she is in all her glory: a queen rising from her winter bed ready to begin a new life, a new colony. She is strong, hungry, and looking for real estate in which to build her nest – probably under your porch, your patio, or in the rock walls of the raised garden. Yellow [...]
First Garden – is it setting a good example?
Posted in Uncategorized on March 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Reader Timothy sent a comment that poses a thoughtful question: even though the White House vegetable garden is a good thing, is it being done in a way that sets a good example? Timothy supports the concept of square-foot gardening, where plants are grown closely together and managed intensively. By crowding the plants, they shade out weeds, waste [...]
First Garden – a White House Tale
Posted in Uncategorized on March 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Sprained backs. Tendonitis. Forearms scratched with deep welts. Slight moans as people lower themselves to a chair, and the soft hiss of breath as a thorn is removed. Ahh….the sights and sounds of spring. It’s a joy to be back in the garden, isn’t it? Getting ready to grow is in full swing – [...]
Taming Big Grass: ornamental cut downs
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged gardening, ornamental grass, pruning grass, trimming on March 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This is one dangerous time of year. With things waking up quickly and warm days beckoning, it’s time to get out and tame the most savage beasts in the garden: ornamental grasses. Oh, sure, roses can be cruel – cutting them back leaves my arms so scratched I look like a catfight gone bad and [...]
First vegetable garden; a gardener’s confession
Posted in Vegetables and fruit, tagged first garden, vegetable gardening on March 13, 2009 | 3 Comments »
True confession time: when I started my first vegetable garden, it frightened me. Yes, I felt good growing and tending; I read all the magazines I could for advice. But when the time came to harvest the first peppers I’d ever grown, I faltered, afraid to eat them. I was young, inexperienced, and did [...]
Which manure do you prefer?
Posted in Uncategorized, Vegetables and fruit, tagged gardening, manure, soil, tilling on March 10, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Fellow blogger Susan of Digging In sent along a question from a “mysterious reader” on dung, which gives me the opportunity to muse on the merits of manures: Good soil is critical to successful growing, and gardeners often have entrenched feelings about the best type of material to plow under when preparing for planting. [...]
Facelifts for old fruit trees
Posted in Trees and shrubs, Vegetables and fruit, tagged Fruit tree; pruning; renovating old tree; olf fruit tree; apple; pear; cherry; gardening on March 6, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Everybody loves a young fruit tree, but for those of us who are a bit more matronly, keeping in shape can be a challenge. Taking your tree from an shocking mess to full fruited glory isn’t hard, it just takes time. But hey – what’s a few years of your life when it’s for a tree? [...]
Spring – there’s no stopping it
Posted in Lawns, Trees and shrubs, Uncategorized, Vegetables and fruit, tagged lawn; spring; dormant oil on March 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Ok, everybody just stay calm. Yes, the weather is warm. Yes, the trees are in bud swell. The bulbs are up, some are blooming, weedy grasses are greening, a few pines are beginning to candle, the pussy willows are pussying, bees are buzzing… Of course, the wind is blowing, we’re setting record high temps, and [...]
