Share my passion for all things gardening!
For today’s garden column, I wrote about the compelling reasons why we should all grow flowers in our gardens. If you want to help pollinators, grow flowers. If you want your vegetable crops to be more productive, grow flowers. If you want a beautiful garden, grow flowers! You get the idea. As you can see, growing lots and lots of […]
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Ready for the next installment in my seed starting series? We’re just about finished! This time, I provide updates on how all of the seeds I’ve started are doing. Then I share which seeds I’ll be planting next. There are some useful tips along the way: when to up-pot seedlings and how to automatically water your seedlings. If you take […]
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While today’s garden column might sound icky, I’m hoping you’ll find it interesting and helpful. As most folks know, cabbage family crops (also known as Brassicas) are quite prone to insect problems. The primary culprits are aphids and cabbage worms. I’ve written about aphids but thought you’d like to know more about the latter because a little bit of knowledge […]
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Last week, I wrote about the correct timing of starting tomato plants from seed. For this week’s garden column, I discuss why hardening-off seedlings is so important. If you’re not familiar with the concept of hardening-off, this applies to any plants you’ve started indoors from seed. It’s really important to acclimate them to the intensity of sunlight before transplanting them […]
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I’ve been writing the garden columns for The Spokesman-Review’s Sunday newspaper for many, many years. And every week, I enjoy choosing a topic that I think will help gardeners be successful. This week’s column is about when to plant tomatoes. That might not sound like a very exciting topic but the timing of starting tomato plants from seed is so […]
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Even though it’s a bit early to start tomato plants, a lot of folks tend to jump the gun. I’m not picking on you, though, because I used to be in that group, too! But that’s the reason why I decided to write about that very topic this week. In addition to stressing the plants by starting their seeds indoors […]
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You would think I’d run out of things to tell you about seed starting but that hasn’t happened yet! In part 5 of my video series, I provide updates on all of the seeds I’ve planted so far. This includes seeds that required extra heat, darkness, not being covered with soil, and so on. Then I dive into special treatments […]
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My third garden column for the season is about how to grow potatoes. Here in our zone 5b garden, we usually don’t plant them until about April 15. But I felt there were important reasons for writing about it now to help you be successful. The primary focus of my column is about starting out with certified, disease-free seed potatoes. […]
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Did you buy or receive Amaryllis bulbs over the holiday season? I think a lot of folks toss them after they’ve bloomed but I’m hoping to change that habit with this blog post! Amaryllis bulbs either come in a box with some potting mix and a pot or the bulbs come encased in wax. No matter which type you ended […]
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This week’s video continues my discussion of seed starting. My goal has been to take the mystery out of seed starting by covering all aspects of it. In this video, I give a quick update on my lettuce seedlings and discuss how often to water your seedlings. Then I talk about seeds that have special requirements in order to germinate. […]
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