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Plant a Halloween Garden!
Halloween is coming! Fortunately for us gardeners, Mother Nature has several scary plant species worthy of boos and scares. From flowers shaped like eyeballs to grass stained with blood, you’re sure to find a frightful plant to set the tone of Halloween.
Are you ready? Here’s a little garden’s worth of spooky delights to showcase for your trick or treaters!
Spiderflower
Spiderflower, or Cleome, is a perfect start to the Halloween garden. What’s Halloween without spooky spiders? To boot, this plant also has vicious sneaky spines along its stem. It flowers all summer, until frost, and prefers full sun to part shade. It is an annual that re-seeds like crazy, so BEWARE!
Eyeball Plant
Show the neighbors that you’ve got your eye on them by growing the Eyeball plant, Spilanthes oleracea. It can be grown as an annual plant …
Berries are for the Birds!
Fall in the garden is a time of over-ripe, worn-out, raggedy plants. It is also a time when plants from tiny perennials to giant trees put on a spectacular show of fantastical fruits. No matter where you live, there are native and exotic ornamental plants that put on a pretty show of berries that feed wildlife and are easy on gardeners’ eyes. If you’re going to plant berry-bearing trees and shrubs, check to make sure that the variety you are planting isn’t invasive in your area. (Note–the Eunoymus pictured below, is a native plant. It isn’t the “burning bush” that is so popular in the landscape trade, and is horribly invasive.)
Feast your eyes on some recent sightings. (For the most part, the plants are market. I have no idea what the last plant is.)
[caption id="attachment_2002" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Beautyberry"]…
The Gen Y Gardener?
According to a recent talk I attended, there have been 7 million new gardeners entering our ranks this year. In a few years, Generation Y (people born between 1977 and 2000) will comprise 47% of the work force. (We are somewhere much lower than that now. I can’t find my notes.) If you listen to the mainstream media, we are portrayed as entitled, philanthropic, in want of instant gratification, constantly asking “Why?” skeptical of authority, in search of mentors, addicted to our mobile communication devices, and more. Our work ethic is questioned, yet we are accused of being materialistic.
Another talk, the keynote speech at the same conference, couched all of the above in different terms. This speaker said that Gen Y’s grandparents, who came of age during the Great Depression and World War Two, were in survival mode their entire lives. Because of what they did, their children were able …
How to Stop Your Dog from Digging Up Your Garden
Let’s face it. If your lovable little furry friend is creating craters in your yard, he’s only doing what comes naturally. Digging is a natural part of puppy hood and some adult dogs dig because it is part of their genetic make up.
So Is It The Dog or The Garden?
If your furry friend is digging his way to China it is possible you will never stop his digging completely. But many people have dogs and beautiful gardens. So you do not really have to choose.
This is a great opportunity for you to train your dog at home, in the garden. This is not the kind of behavior that will be dealt with in puppy or obedience classes.
The same way you have rules for inside the house, you can have rules for the garden. You can teach him where to redirect his energy and can properly train your …
Who Decides what’s Pretty?
I’m back from the Garden Writers Symposium in Raleigh, NC. It was, as per usual, a great time! This year, in particular, I talked with a wider cross-section of garden professionals including writers, lecturers, photographers, illustrators, retail owners, plant breeders, tv personalities, publishers, and so on and so forth.
Here’s Where I Play Eye Doctor
I went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago so that I could order some surfing sunglasses. (If you want to read about that, you have to go here.) When you go to the eye doctor, they flip and slide lenses into place in a giant contraption and then ask you “Is it better now?” (slide some things around) “Or now?” “Is number 7″ (slide some things around) “or number 8 clearer.” “Can you see with this” (flip and move and such) “or this?” By the end of the appointment, it is kind of …
Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I’ve been reading and reading and reading this summer, into fall. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Food Matters, by Mark Bittman. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I finally got to the big one: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. (Full disclosure: I listened to the first half of the book, unabridged, on CD, while driving through the very cornfields of the Midwest that Pollan describes.) I finished reading the book, which I had purchased at Costco (how’s that for irony), when I got home from my trip. Everyone who reviews this book says this, but I’ll say it again: I’ll never look at a meal the same way …
Using Corn Gluten as a Pre-Emergence Herbicide in the Fall
Using a pre-emergence herbicide in the fall can drastically cut down your weed problems in the spring. Luckily, organic gardeners practicing natural lawn care techniques do have a commercially available pre-emergence herbicide at their disposal: corn gluten.
You can’t just go to the grocery and buy corn gluten. As with other garden remedies, corn gluten is commercially available from garden supply companies. It can still be a little tricky to find these products in mainstream garden centers, so one of the easiest ways to purchase them for use is through an online garden retailer that specializes in organic gardening, such as Gardens Alive.
Why Use a Pre-Emergence Herbicide in the Autumn?
If you are devoted to your lawn, or have a perennial garden with over-eager plants that constantly re-seed, using a pre-emergence …
Garden Tasks for Late Fall
September and October are the months to prepare your garden for the winter. In warmer areas, the fall is the time to plant cool-season vegetables. In colder climates, gardeners need to “put the garden to bed.” Here are the main fall gardening chores for the fall, including warmer and cooler climates.
Cool Climates (Pennsylvania and north)
Remove dead flower stalks (example: daylily flower stalks), dead leaves, flowers and debris, but wait until perennials are fully dormant to trim back to the ground. Removing as much dead plant debris as possible will help avoid problems with diseases overwintering.
Rake the yard, shred and add leaves to the compost pile. Leaving dead leaves on the ground can cause turf problems over the winter and into spring.
Plant spring blooming bulbs before hard frosts occur regularly. Be sure to water the bulbs after …
Harvesting Your Apples: and Anyone Else’s for that Matter
As September gets into full swing, so does apple season. This is an exciting time of year as apples become abundant, and harvesting your apples from your own orchard (or someone else’s), brings pies, cobblers, and crisps to your table on a regular basis. It is a bittersweet time of year as well, because it signals the end of summer and the abundance of all of the crops that you have been able to grow throughout the summer.
The great thing about apples is that with a bit of knowledge and a few tips, your apple season can last well into next year. So, when a neighbor or friend asks if you want a few bags of apples that they cannot use, shout “Yes!”, knowing that you can use as many of them that you can get.
How to Preserve Your Apple Harvest
There are a number of different ways to preserve …
Create a Backyard Habitat-Make a Haven For Feathered and Furry Friends
If you live in a city or suburban area, the idea of creating a backyard habitat for birds and other wildlife is a responsible thing to do. As residential areas grow, and woodlands are lost, there are fewer places for birds and animals to take up residence, forage for food, and to retreat to in response to dangerous predators. It is not a difficult task, does not use many resources that you do not already have, and can be a great family activity.
Elements and Tasks That Produce a Great Backyard Habitat
Feed the Birds (and squirrels if so inclined) – There are multiple benefits to providing food and shelter to the birds in your area throughout the year. Birds are an excellent form of insect control in the organic garden. I counted a number of robins and jays this year snacking on the green worms attacking my broccoli and cauliflower bed …
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- Annuals and Perennials (11)
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- Garden Design (20)
- Garden Maintenance (37)
- Garden Pests and Diseases (19)
- Hydroponics (1)
- Indoor Plants (3)
- Organic Book Reviews (12)
- Plant Profiles (7)
- Product Reviews (4)
- Regional Gardening Tasks (1)
- Savory and Sage Tidbits (10)
- Seasonal Garden Maintenance (10)
- Seed Starting (12)
- Shade Plants (1)
- Soil and Fertilizer (13)
- Trees and Shrubs (6)
- Water Gardening (5)
- Weed Control (5)
