Monthly Archives: March 2008

What’s Your Favorite Source for Seeds?

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The seed catalogs start piling up in January. We speak with tens of thousands of gardeners over the course of a year, and one of the questions we’re often asked—especially by new gardeners and people who have relocated—is "Where should I purchase my flower and vegetable seeds?" If it’s a gardener from New England, the task is easy. We tend to recommend regional companies such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds (in Maine) or Select Seeds (in Connecticut). These regional seed providers Read more [...]

Starving at the Salad Bar: Testing Soil pH

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Healthy turf grows on healthy soil. It starts with a simple soil test. It’s been quite a while since I tested soil samples from my lawn, but it’s clearly time to do so. The turf is looking a bit thin and the weeds seem to be gaining ground. I suspect that soil pH is the source of both problems. When the pH is out of kilter, plants can’t use the nutrients in the soil around them. It’s like standing at an all-you-can-eat buffet with your jaw wired shut. Even when the soil contains Read more [...]

Alliums—the Ornamental Onions

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The Purple Sensation allium bridges the gap between spring and early summer-flowering perennials.Deer discovered my garden a few years ago, so I’ve been growing more plants from their do-not-eat list. It turns out that deer, voles, chipmunks, and rabbits find alliums— plants in the onion family— distasteful. That’s great news because alliums offer a broad palette of colors, heights, bloom times, and flower forms. They are easy to grow and make excellent cut flowers for fresh or dried bouquets. Read more [...]

Parsnip Season

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Freshly dug parsnips By the middle of March, the only food I’m still eating from last year’s garden are onions, shallots and garlic. I feel pretty good about that until I think about the fact that some lucky gardeners out there are digging parsnips right around now. I love parsnips (roasted or roasted and then pureed), but have never been able to produce more than a handful of misshapen little stumps. Considering the fact that the ideal soil for growing parsnips is deep, sandy Read more [...]

Windowbox Inspirations

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Windowbox by Suzanne Dandeneau, Denver, Colo. Spring is almost here and now is a great time to drag out your pots, planters and window boxes and get them prepped for another year. Of course the best part about this job, is it means you can start dreaming about all the great new plant combinations you're going to put IN those containers. With that in mind, we’ve put together a short slide show with 16 of our favorite entries from last year’s window box photo contest. It takes just Read more [...]

How to Double Your Pea Harvest

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There are a couple tricky things about growing garden peas. The first is planting time. Plant too early and your peas may be stunted by cold soil and frost. Plant too late and your plants may start to shrivel up from the heat just as you get ready to start picking peas. Every year is a bit different, but generally I try to get my peas in a full month before the last frost date. (Be sure to soak the seeds in water the night before you plant them.) Providing adequate moisture is another essential Read more [...]

Make Room for Sunflowers!

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Sunflowers are now available in a wide range of colors and sizes—from little ones that get no more than 1-foot tall to 12-foot giants. If I could plant just one seed this spring (!) I think it would be a sunflower seed. Sunflowers deliver a whole lotta flower power in one summer. They require almost no attention at all, are fun to watch grow, and have an irresistibly happy personality. A sunflower is also a one-stop backyard habitat station. All summer long, bees, butterflies and other beneficial Read more [...]

Saving the Salvias

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The overwintered salvia, with new growth emerging from the crown.Many years ago, I discovered salvias. It's one of those times when you think you're the only gardener who really knows about this new class of plants. The next thing you know, you're obsessed with a genus. And you find that you're the last gardener on the block to learn about these cool plants. I'd discovered the true blue of Salvia patens and marveled at the inky black stems of S. guaranitica 'Black and Blue'. My friend Kathy taught Read more [...]

Test Garden Update: Heuchera and Agastache

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As staff horticulturist, part of my job is to plant and maintain a display garden. I grow many of the newest perennials on the market and evaluate them here in zone 5. Improved varieties of some North American native plants were among the most outstanding plants in the garden during the 2007 growing season. Lime Rickey HeucheraOne of the most exciting groups of native perennials is heuchera (HUE-ker-ah), also known as coral bells. Low-growing rosettes of lobed leaves look great from early spring Read more [...]

Begonias to Share

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After pulling the begonia tubers in late October, I let them dry for several weeks. Then, I nestled them in moist vermiculite in a plastic bucket. When I checked in on the tubers in February, they'd already sprouted—even though the bucket had a lid on it!Mrs. B. called me late in October. The frost was coming and it would be the end of her begonias for sure. She was recovering from a fall and couldn't get to the garden, so I drove to her cottage during lunch and quickly uprooted the tubers—as Read more [...]