The design and plants used in the Undersea Garden successfully imitate the look of a coral reef. |
On a recent trip to Southern California, I spent a plant-lover’s dream day at Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas. I live and garden in northern New England, so visiting a public garden in Zone 10 is a rare and wonderful treat.
Located on 35 acres 20 minutes north of San Diego, Quail is designed as a series of themed gardens that feature plants from different regions of the world as well as special theme and activity areas. One of my favorite places is the Undersea Garden, which is planted with succulents and other plants to resemble a coral reef. The effect is so uncanny that I expected to see schools of fish swimming among the crested cactus and Euphorbia. The garden also demonstrates the creative use of water-wise and fire-safe plants for the drought-prone Southwest.
The Bamboo Garden contains the largest collection of bamboos in the Northern Hemisphere. Peaceful paths meander through the towering grasses. Signs along the path explain how the different bamboos are used in their native countries, how they grow, and which one is harvested to feed the Giant Pandas at the San Diego Zoo.
The Tropical Rainforest is a soothing retreat in this arid climate. It features a dramatic waterfall and river overhung with ferns, palms, and other lush plants. Benches in this area are perfect for reading, bird watching, or eating a picnic lunch.
The Seeds of Wonder children’s garden has lots to explore, too. It contains an amazing wind sculpture, animal topiaries, playhouse, and other nature-themed activities. The staff offers classes, camps, and events throughout the year.
For a photo tour of Quail Botanical Gardens, click here. And if you visit in person, don’t miss the plant nursery where you can purchase succulents and other plants for your own garden or sunny windowsill.
-Ann Whitman, Horticulturist
If you're going to be starting seeds indoors this spring—under lights, on a windowsill or in a greenhouse—you don’t want to be using regular potting soil. It's too heavy and dense for the delicate, hair-like roots of a newly-germinated seed.
The best soil mix for seed starting is not really soil at all. It's a growing medium comprised of sphagnum peat moss and small amounts of vermiculite and/or perlite. This blend helps ensure a consistently moist environment to encourage good germination. It is also light enough to provide lots of wiggle room for tiny roots. Just as importantly, it has been sterilized to eliminate bacteria and fungus which can cause problems such as "damping off".
Professional Germinating Mix is my #1 choice for starting seeds—especially very tiny flower seeds like those of petunias, snapdragons and flowering tobacco. It has an ultra-fine texture because the sphagnum peat moss has been milled to remove all clumps and lumps. This mix is also a must for the APS seedstarting system because it doesn't get waterlogged when it's used with capillary matting.
Transplant Mix contains essentially the same ingredients as the Germinating Mix, but it has a more coarse texture. It is the right mix for starting larger seeds such as cucumbers, zinnias and marigolds. It’s also the right choice when it comes time to transplant seedlings into larger pots.
(Hint #1: I sometimes fill the bottom half of a seed flat with Transplant Mix and the top half with Professional Germinating Mix. Seedlings get the benefit of the fine texture when they’re very young, and as they mature, they send their roots down into the Transplant Mix. It saves a little money and the seedlings don’t seem to mind.)
(Hint #2: When I'm transplanting seedlings into larger pots, I'll often mix in some worm castings or compost. This provides valuable nutrients and also helps prepare the plant for garden soil. Seedlings that are 6 or 8 weeks old have had time to develop a tolerance to the naturally-occurring bacteria and fungi in compost.
To learn more, check out our how-to articles: Seedstarting Made Easy and Seedstarting Tips.
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
Onions grown from seeds or seedlings get larger and keep longer than onions grown from sets. |
Onions must be one of the most confusing vegetables to grow for new gardeners. Does it make a difference whether you grow them from seeds or sets? Yes, it does and here’s why.
Most onions are biennial, which means that they grow vegetatively the first year and bloom the second year. Onion sets are marble-sized bulbs that grew from seed the previous year. They can be planted in cool soil early in the spring, grow quickly, and naturally want to bloom and set seed in the summer. This makes onion sets ideal for scallions and fresh harvest throughout the summer. They don’t keep very long in storage, however, and the bulbs stop enlarging as the flower stalks develop. The variety selection is usually limited, too.
If you want to choose your own varieties and store big, solid onions for the winter, grow them from seeds or buy started seedlings. In the North, look for long-day varieties that begin forming bulbs when the day length is more than 14 hours. Southern gardeners grow short-day varieties that form bulbs when days are 12 hours or longer.
Sow fresh seed about ¼”- ½” deep in sterile soil in seed trays about 8 to 12 weeks before your transplant date in mid spring. To prevent them from forming bulbs too soon, give the seedlings no more than 12 hours of light a day. Keep the tops trimmed to 3-4” high and don’t allow the soil to dry out.
Transplant your own or purchased seedlings to a garden spot that gets full sun. Plant them about 4-6” apart with the roots just under the soil and the top of the bulbs exposed. You’ll find more information on growing onions and other root crops in our how-to article called Preserving the Harvest. For a fun fact sheet on cooking with onions and storing them, click here.
-Ann Whitman, Horticulturist
I have a confession to make: Although I work for Gardener's Supply, I don't have a backyard composter. Startling, but true.
All yard waste—and there's a lot of it—is thrown directly into the bed of my truck. From there, I bring it to the Intervale Center, which is just down the road. It's a huge, compost-making facility that accepts yard waste from the region. The only problem is, what to do with our kitchen waste? That's where the Biobags come in.
Dinner prep in progress, with the Biobag close at hand, right by the cutting board. |
When I start making dinner, I put a Biobag on the counter, rolling the edges a bit to make it stay open. You can even use it to line a mixing bowl. All the trimmings go into the bag. After the prep is done, I tie off the bag and place it by the front door. In the morning, I take the bag to the restaurant that my partner owns, where it gets tossed into the compost dumpster. Eventually, it ends up at the same location as my yard waste: Intervale Compost. The bag is 100 percent biodegradable, so there's nothing left to rinse out or clean. It's just gone. For me, the key to being a diligent composter is finding a way to fit it into the flow of daily life, and the Biobag makes it easy.
I've even found that the Biobag can be tucked into a standard kitchen garbage can, where it covers just half of the opening. That way, I can toss regular garbage and collect compostable material at the same time. Another great use for the bags: dog poo. Responsible dog owners are diligent about picking up after their pets, but plastic bags are usually the tool of choice. Biobags are a better option, because they are 100% biodegradable.
-David Grist
Online Content Coordinator
My mid-winter daydreams often take me back to Holland’s Keukenhof gardens. This is one of the paths I walked along when I was there on an April morning in 2006. |
My garden has been frozen and covered with snow since the middle of November. At this point in the winter, I'm so color-deprived that a patch of yellow snow is actually looking sort of interesting.
This is the time of year to put your feet up, close your eyes and bring to mind some of the best gardens you've ever visited, whether near or far. If your screen is looking a little dark, no worries! We've put together a photo album called "Garden Tours and Travel" that contains pictures from some of the world's most beautiful gardens.
The photos in this album were contributed by our staff. If you have some of your own "dream garden" photos to share, please upload them into this album. There's plenty of room to add captions (please do!). Click here to enter our photo center and add your own photos to the album.
Enjoy!
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
I already have 5 of them. Three old black ones and two more in pistachio green. But I could definitely use a couple more.
Last fall, when I was harvesting the last of the vegetables, I filled my tub trugs with beets and carrots; I used them to transport asters and other plants that I had dug out of the perennial border; I put daffodil bulbs in them (the ones I accidentally dug up when planting tulips); and I always had one of them filled with a mix of peat moss, granular organic fertilizer and compost so I could give a boost to plants that were being divided or moved.
Even though it's winter now, evey one of them is still in use. There are three in the basement filled with acorn squash, glad bulbs and canna lily roots. Another one is filled with worm castings from my worm bin. And the last one holds potting soil for transplanting houseplants.
Last weekend we had some unusually warm weather and I was able to clean up one of the perennial beds that I hadn't dealt with last fall. I was disappointed that there wasn't an extra tub trug around to hold my gear (pruning tools, scissors, gloves, etc.). I like keeping one in the back of my car, too.
So I figure need at least 2 more of the big, 11-gallon size. And now that we're offering two smaller sizes, 3 1/2 gallon and 7 gallon, I'm sure I'll be coming up with a bunch of new uses once spring arrives. Hmmm... will it be purple? Sky blue?
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
Allan Armitage |
Allan Armitage is one of the world’s leading experts on perennials and annuals. Born in Montreal, Quebec, and now living in Georgia, he has experience gardening in zones 3 through 8. As a professor of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, he oversees the University's test gardens and new plant programs.
Over the last 20 years, Allan has introduced dozens of new plants to the gardening world, including the number one selling verbena variety in the U.S., ‘Homestead Purple’, the chartreuse sweet potato vine ‘Margarita’ and a series of coleus that thrive in full sun. He is especially interested in plants that grow well in the hot and humid Southeast.
Allan is the author of six gardening books and hundreds of articles. With his incredible range of experience and sharp wit, he is always in demand as a speaker. His reference book, Herbaceous Perennial Plants, was designated as one of the most important horticultural books written in the past 75 years. It’s one that every professional keeps within reach.
If you have the opportunity to hear Allan speak at a garden show or special event, don't miss out on the experience. And if you find yourself in Athens, Georgia, with some time on your hands, stop by the University of Georgia test gardens and check out some of the great new plants that will soon be available at your local nursery.
-Ann Whitman, Staff Horticulturist
Gnomes aren't to everyone's taste, but I really like this one. |
Other than two stainless steel orbs, a small stone buddha and two concrete bunnies, I have kept a lid on the number and type of "decorative accents" allowed in my garden. But I recently made a new acquisition: a gnome.
My British gardening friend Sue found it quite shocking when she saw him in my garden last summer. (She was even more surprised when she opened up her Christmas present!) But I already have a deep fondness for this little man. I'm not exactly sure why. It's partly the coloring, which is nicely muted. It's also the fact that he's made of real cast iron. And I like his attitude: He's strolling along with his head up and eager to see what's ahead.
Gnomes have been around for a very long time and can be found almost everywhere in the world. The British web site Gnomeland has information about the history of gnomes, and best of all, has hundreds of images of different gnomes from all over the world. I didn't look at them all, but of the ones I saw, mine is definitely the most handsome.
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
The best tomatoes I've ever eaten were grown in Italy and Texas, where the hot sun makes for a high sugar content and lots of rich tomato flavor. So I was surprised to discover that tomatoes are actually native to the Andes of Peru.
Sara McAllister on her deck in Carbondale, Co. |
Sara McAllister probably didn't know that when she set out to grow tomatoes in Carbondale, Colorado, elevation 7000 ft. But when people told her it was nearly impossible to get ripe tomatoes at such a high altitude, she set out to prove them wrong. Sara's been so successful that she now harvests more tomatoes than she can eat, and has plenty left over to can and dry. She even trades some of her harvest with a neighbor for bottles of wine.
"For me", says Sara, "the Tomato Success Kits are the only way to go. I crowd 3 to 4 plants in each container, which means fewer fruit per plant, but overall I get higher production and an earlier harvest." Sara keeps the containers on a sunny deck close to the house. In the spring, she opens the windows right above them and lets the warm air from the house help keep the plants warm overnight. Read more about Sara's high country garden.
Any chance you're using our Tomato Success Kits to grow tomatoes in a challenging location? We'd love to hear your story!
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
Compost is the key to a healthy, productive garden. Adding organic matter to the soil also helps sequester carbon from the atmosphere. |
An interesting article by my friend ecologist Steve Apfelbaum appeared in the Christian Science Monitor this week. In "A Dirty Way to Fight Climate Change," Steve and his associate, retired soils scientist John Kimble, remind us that one of the best places to keep carbon is right in the soil.
This idea is nothing new for organic gardeners. We're constantly trying to increase the carbon content of our soils by adding compost and shredded leaves, minimizing tilling, and using mulches and cover crops. Garden soil with a high organic content grows healthier, more productive plants. What Steve and John are telling us is that it can also help the planet. Here's how Steve and John put it:
"Scientific analyses show that recapturing atmospheric carbon into soil and plant communities is the easiest and least expensive method for mitigating climate change and that it provides many other economic, cultural, and ecological benefits. Restoring soils in currently farmed land can rein in 10 to 15 percent of the annual carbon emissions Americans create."
Gardeners know best!
"We need to follow nature's lead," say Steve and John, "and put carbon where the earth has securely stored it for millions of years – in the soils. Among many other benefits, this will cleanse the atmosphere, taking a big bite out of the existing greenhouse-gas loads."
PS. An editorial of mine was recently published in Vermont's largest newspaper, describing a simple way for any person or business to think about steps to reverse climate change. To read it, click here.
-Will Raap, Founder and Chairman
Several years ago, I wrote a book called Passport to Gardening. Each chapter included a brief overview of a particular gardening topic (from annual flowers to water gardening) and recommendations for best books on the topic. In order to make these recommendations, I reviewed more than 400 gardening books. Most of them were sent to me free of charge because I was writing reviews. Can you imagine what fun it was to have 400 gardening books arrive at my front door?
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DiSabato-Aust |
Once I'd completed the research and the book had been published, I brought most of the review copies into the office and established a terrific reference library for our customer service team. But I must admit that a few of the books remained on my own bookshelf.
When I have a gardening question, these are some of the books I find myself turning to time and again:
- Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
- Step By Step Organic Vegetable Gardening
- The Organic Gardeners' Handbook of Insect and Disease Control
- Secrets to Great Soil
- The Well-Tended Perennial Garden
- Four Season Harvest
- The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers
- The Flower Gardener's Bible
- The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion
- The Flower Farmer
- Bulbs: Four Seasons of Beautiful Blooms
What gardening books do YOU turn to most often when you have a question?
-Kathy LaLiberte, Director of Gardening
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