Slight Detour from Compost: Seed Starting
I will be back at the compost inquiry shortly. (Probably tomorrow.) However, today, I am diverting my interest to starting seeds because, well, once I get all of this compost going I need to plant something out in it. I am also enjoying all of the posts and tweets from fellow gardeners about their new …
Organic Gardening New Year’s Resolutions
2009 is almost here, and I’m making my gardening New Year’s Resolutions. In theory, these resolutions should be fun to keep. In practice, I might need a nudge from time to time. Thinking about the previous year of gardening, blogging, copy writing and more, I’ve come up with some things I definitely want to try so that I can I can write about them (and enjoy …
Bye Bye Botrytis
Last week, in preparation for what appears to be a long, warm, winter, I planted four flats of pansies, two flats of snapdragons and some camellias. Now, I have to see if botrytis strikes. I certainly hope it doesn’t, as I prefer to not spray my plants with anything, if possible, even organic fungicides. However, if it does strike, I suppose I will treat it. After …
Orchids for Beginners
The last post was all about interesting attributes and intriguing stories about orchids. Now that your appetite is expanding for orchids, we’ll teach you how to grow them! There are lots of interesting species orchids, but the easiest to grow are some of the new hybrids. Once you get your feet wet with the orchids described below, you can branch out into more intersting varieties. You will have the confidence and the green thumb …
Winter Houseplants: Orchids Part I
The merest mention of the word “Orchid” is enough to send some people running for the exit at the garden center. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way! Tissue culture techniques and hybridizing have made lots of easy-care varieties available. But first, a little bit of the mystery and magic behind orchid fever. . .
The Orchid Thief
Susan Orlean, a writer for the New Yorker, wrote …
Be Thankful for Gardening
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. It has almost disappeared as a holiday, with Christmas decorations going up right after Halloween in many places. (I think WalMart had a tree up on November 1.) I still like it for what it is: a chance to gather with family and friends after a long summer. It is a chance to hunker down for winter. Where I …
Organic Landscaping
Am I seriously going to write a post about Organic Landscaping? Yes. Why? Well, because there is a lot of talk about Organic Gardening, and rightfully so (that is what this site is about, yes?), but not so much talk about organic landscaping. Why might we care? Well, because “landscaping” is kind of another term for the plants …
Native Plants in Your Organic Garden
Image by HillowakWhat are native plants? Why is everybody so hung up on planting them in their gardens? Are native plants necessary inclusions in an organic garden? Are the words “organic” and “native” interchangeable?
What are “Native Plants?”
The definition of “native plant” is different for every gardener. The definition can be as broad as “a …
Habitat Gardens: Happy Meals and a Home for Garden Critters
“Invite animals into my garden? I don’t THINK so!” I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that from many serious gardeners if asked whether they welcome or shoo away insects, small mammals, birds and other animals to their gardens. Yes, deer herds indiscriminately ripping baby lettuces out of the vegetable garden, and cheerfully eating hostas and stripping arborvitae of their leaves is maddening. …
How to Create a Backyard Butterfly Garden
Butterfly conservatories are a favorite tourist attraction in any city lucky enough to have one. You don’t have to wait for a vacation to a far-off place to enjoy bountiful displays of butterflies! Planting a backyard butterfly garden is easy and fun. The key to raising your own butterflies is to grow plants for the larva to eat, for holding the chrysalis, …
