Monthly Archives: June 2008

What’s Your Fertilizer of Choice?

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Over the years, I have become a firm believer in the importance of fertilizing plants. One of my favorite pots this season (see plant list below) with two of the three fertilizers that I'm applying and one of my trusty watering cans. Over the years, I have become a firm believer in the importance of fertilizing plants. Now, when there’s a pest problem in my garden, I run for a fertilizer rather than a pest control. In most cases, I find that strong plants do a better job of fending off insect Read more [...]

Taming Wisteria

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Learn when and how to prune for abundant blooms and watch a how-to video. This spring was the best I can remember for this wisteria, which has been in the ground for about five years. The cultivar, Wisteria floribunda 'Lawrence', was discovered in Canada, and it gets hardiness ratings of 4 or 5. When it blooms, the vigorous wisteria vine is spectacular. But it doesn't always perform on cue. You can find all kinds of wisdom out there, but to my mind, the key is pruning. Once you've figured that Read more [...]

Flower Supports to the Rescue

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It's never too late to prop up a flopped perennial. Just move in with a little support. This aster (Aster oblongifolius 'October Skies') is a strong grower, but it tends to flop toward the end of the season. The grids provide good support. Even if you're one of those super-organized gardeners who get all the flower supports in stalled before they're needed, chances are good that at some point during the summer you'll have a flopper or a leaner. That's when you move in with infrastructure: Read more [...]

Coddling Your Tomatoes for an Earlier Harvest

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If you grow tomatoes in a cold or windy location, try this simple technique of wrapping your tomato cages with garden fabric. Inside this cocoon of Garden Quilt fabric, are two very cozy 'Sun Gold' tomatoes. Tomatoes are tropical vines that evolved in a climate about as different from Vermont as you can get. So here in the north, we need to do whatever we can to fool our tomato plants into thinking they’re not living on the 45th parallel. I’ve developed a super-easy way to get Read more [...]

Stealth Gardeners

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Under the cover of night, gardeners in L.A. and London are taking to the streets, turning traffic medians and empty lots into lush gardens. This is me (a couple years ago) making a surprise delivery of plants to a local business. Several years ago we ran a program here in Burlington, Vt., which we dubbed “Random Acts of Gardening”. Our staff planted up about 30 self-watering planters with a mix of flowers and vegetables, and then we drove around town, dropping them off at various homes Read more [...]

Netting Helps Clematis Climb

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Clematis use the stems of their leaves to climb. In order to get a good grip, they need something quite thin to grab onto. This lattice forms the backdrop for the double border in our Vermont display gardens. There are several clematis plants at the base of the lattice, which is too thick for the leaf stems. We've added Nearly Invisible Netting to give the vines what they need to climb. By midsummer, the lattice panels are covered with blooming clematis. Training clematis to grow up a trellis can Read more [...]
These are the four paws that "protect" my garden.

Dogs in the Garden

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A letter to the editor warns dog owners to cover their compost piles so their pets can't eat what's inside. I'm in the office today, but I'll bet my dog is in the vegetable garden right now. And I doubt she's staying on the paths. Unlike the family dogs that have patrolled my garden in the past, this one doesn't like paths. She'd also rather chase bees than rabbits and chipmunks. And dog food? It's just that: dog food. She prefers to wait for people food to pass through the kitchen and make its Read more [...]

When to Prune Flowering Shrubs

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My favorite spring task involves a very sharp pair of red-handled pruning shears Lilacs set their flower buds the year before they bloom. When the first really fine spring days arrive, I’m eager to get out into the yard and start cleaning up the twigs and leaves strewn about the lawn, the fallen stems of last year’s perennials, and frost-heaved annuals. My favorite job isn’t at the end of a rake, though. It involves a very sharp pair of red-handled pruning shears. The snipping feels decisive Read more [...]

Amaryllis Summer Care

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Many people wonder if they can get Amaryllis bulbs to rebloom. The answer is yes and it's actually easier than you might think. Amaryllis plants spending the summer outdoors.“The flowers faded months ago, but I can’t bear to throw it out. I’d like to save it and see if I can get it to bloom again. What should I do?” Blooming Amaryllis bulbs make spectacular holiday gifts and the recipients invariably want to keep the plants in hopes of a repeat performance and to honor the gift giver. Read more [...]

Make Room for Parsley

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Flat-leaf parsley I used to do much more canning and freezing than I do now. With our household down to just two, we’re cooking smaller meals and don’t need to have as much food around. But there are still quite a few garden crops that I squirrel away in my freezer or pantry, and one of those is parsley. I can chop and freeze a huge basket of fresh-picked parsley in about 15 minutes. With a half-dozen sessions like that throughout the summer, I can have plenty of frozen parsley to last right Read more [...]