Between now and the end of October is the best time to feed your lawn – which needs a yearly application of Nitrogen or it’ll keep getting thinner and weedier. (Why? Because turfgrasses are not sustainable plants, y’all! They’re one…
You may see the slogan “Fall is for Planting” on banners in garden centers or in advertising this time of the year. It dates back to a nursery industry marketing campaign started in the early 1980’s. What we garden folks…
There’s a long tradition in the garden-blogging world (okay, long by Internet standards) of posting what’s blooming in your garden on the 15th of every month, so Happy Bloom Day, y’all! Here’s what blooms in my garden in mid-September, and…
To be honest, container gardens are more work than in-ground gardens, the exception being potted succulents, like my sedum collection that happily bakes in the sun with no supplemental watering. But sometimes we grow plants despite the trouble they cause…
My favorite part of Master Gardener School was the presentation about design. It’s a great topic and the PowerPoint show was pure eye candy, specifically what gardening addicts call “garden porn”, so who could resist? The Instructor Our guest lecturer…
There’s been lots of news lately about the effects of climate change on our gardens and oddly, it’s usually presented as good news to gardeners. They’re shown rejoicing over the warm-climate plants they can now grow, like crape myrtles in…
Organic gardening experts are constantly telling us to improve our soils with organic matter, but what kind? Fully decayed organic matter — compost — is, in the words of one* of my favorite gardening books, “the creme de la creme,…
One of the hottest, most emotionally charged topics in the gardening world is the use of pesticides, the umbrella term for herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and the like (“cide” meaning “killing”). Washington Post writer Joel Lerner recently noted that there are…
Let’s say you just received a poinsettia as a gift, or bought a couple for decoration around the house, and you don’t know much about them. How should you take care of it? Or them. Temperature They are tropical plants,…
Why you might mulch around trees Existing trees don’t really need mulch, but there are three good reasons to mulch one anyway: Aesthetics – it serves as sort of a frame around the base of the tree. It’s tidy. Weed…
As a still-new-to-all-this vegetable gardener whose only good space to grow them is on the deck, I need help choosing the best varieties to grow in containers. Fortunately Marian Parsley, Behnkes’ buyer of annuals (including all vegetables), had some…
Hanging baskets, they’re not just for hanging anymore. By all means, do hang them, but consider that basically, it’s a big pot full of colorful flowers or tropical foliage. You can remove the hanger, and set it on a pedestal…