Share my passion for all things gardening!
Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects. Published by the Xerces Society (Timber Press, 2016, 287 pp., $24.95) Don’t you just love learning new things? I know I do. I’ve been wanting to find out more about attracting butterflies to our garden. And I just found an ideal guide for that exact purpose. Gardening for […]
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I know I’ve talked about this before but crop rotation is a big deal! It’s the best tool vegetable gardeners have to cut down on insect and disease problems. And it’s free, too. Crop rotation involves keeping records of where you grew each crop in the previous 3 to 4 years. That way, you can grow them in different locations […]
Read moreWhen I talk about attracting insects to the garden, this is a common reaction: “Why would I do that?! I don’t want more insects in my garden!” Attracting beneficial insects, as well as pollinators, is exactly what we need to do. That way, we’ll keep damaging insects in check and create a balanced ecosystem within our gardens. When I think of […]
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Who loves butterflies?! I would guess everyone thrills to see them in their garden. While touring our way through Georgia recently, I saw all sorts of beauties and enjoyed photographing them. That is, when they’d hold still long enough! I thought you’d enjoy seeing some of the butterflies of Georgia in this post. This beautiful orange-and-black butterfly (photo to left) is […]
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How do you feel about slugs? If you just shuddered and if your blood pressure just went up a few notches, we’re on the same page! I despise slugs. Why? They seem to want to eat the very same veggies that I love to grow and eat. Yet they can be tricky to control, especially organically. That said, I’m willing […]
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Even though I recently wrote a column about the top 5 damaging insects and how to deal with them organically, I decided to write today’s column about the importance of insect ID. Here’s a link to it in The Spokesman-Review: Season’s pests may surprise you. (or you can read my column lower in this post) If you want to successfully […]
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As you know, one of my favorite gardening topics is attracting beneficial insects. My husband Bill and I recently discovered a whole bunch of ladybugs on our hops vines. And boy, were they busily dispatching aphids. It brought an important point to mind: I love Jessica Walliser’s excellent book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden. She mentioned how she used […]
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As I’ve mentioned before, I’m all about attracting pollinators to my garden. No matter what it takes, I want those guys here! All joking aside, we all need to do what we can for pollinators. Several factors are having an adverse impact upon them. “Colony collapse disorder” affects honeybees, also the decline of habitat for pollinators. And certainly the use […]
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This is a common question I hear as a Master Gardener each year. A gardener will discover small zucchinis on their plants and excitedly start looking at recipes to use for their bounty. But then, the worst thing happens: those little zucchinis fall off the plant and shrivel up. What the hey? Well, you can usually blame one of two […]
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I love learning new things, but I’m not so happy to learn the following tidbit. Pillbugs aren’t quite as benevolent as they’d like us to believe. Darn. For years, I’ve known that pillbugs are benign critters that primarily feed on decomposing organic matter. So they play a useful role in building soil fertility. However, I now know there’s a Dr. […]
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