The Grow Bed we all wish for: A bountiful harvest free of pests and disease. This spring, I was pleased to get an e-mail from my newly retired Aunt Ila, who wanted to start a vegetable garden in Michigan. I set her up with a 3×6′ Grow Bed, a link to the Kitchen Garden Planner, and my best wishes for a bountiful harvest Well, it’s been a tough year for gardeners. Here in the northeast, intense heat has prevailed for most of the s…
…ming. A presentation of the gloves at the Chelsea Flower Show netted the company a merit award and caught the eye of the RHS. “After initially introducing our products for sale to the public, at the RHS Garden Wisley in 2004, we were asked to supply our gloves to the RHS gardeners,” Cooney says. As a result of their overwhelmingly positive reaction — particularly to the gloves’ dexterity, durability and comfort — the RHS approached Cooney a…
We’re especially proud to be working with the Green Education Foundation, a group that aims to get kids interested in gardening. Passionate about preserving the world’s natural resources, Victoria Waters founded the Green Education Foundation (GEF) in April 2008 with the mission of providing free sustainability education resources to schools worldwide. What better way to connect kids to sustainability and the environment than a garden?…
Garden Crusader Ronda Clark has worked to get gardening tools and know-how into the hands of people all across southeastern Ohio. Ronda Clark Ronda Clark of Athens, OH, is one of the many people we met this year who is making a difference through gardening. For her tireless work to expand gardening and improve the food security in her area, Ronda has been honored with a 2009 Garden Crusader Award. More Informatio…
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…
…. Cline, former director of the Garden’s Kemper Center for Home Gardening, started the program in 1998. The botanical garden’s Pots to Planks program sells 6″ x 6″ timbers made from ground-up pots (No. 2 and No. 5 plastics). The rigid, heavy timbers are great for raised beds and strong enough to use for retaining walls. “They are fantastic,” Cline says. “It’s a lot of plastic in one product, but we&…
…ck and eat, and our team members will be tending gardens and talking to passersby about gardening and fresh foods throughout the summer. Our team has 39 years of garden and horticultural experience, ranging in age from 16 to 21. We are excited to make use of our skills from past summers to benefit the community and provide education about healthy eating and gardening as well as food relief support in Minneapolis. Gardening for Good is under the…
Last week, I found myself looking out the window and watching it snow in mid-April. I began to think about these bumper stickers we have that say “Practice Random Acts of Gardening.” I was trying to think, what would be a random act of gardening — even if I could not be in the garden yet? The perfect solution came to me. Recently I had been looking at our PatioArt Planter Slipcovers. Even though it’s too early for gardening her…
Ann Watson, Hawaii Even though it snowed last week here in northern Vermont, we know the spring planting season is well under way in many parts of the country. One of our customers, who also happens to be a product tester for us, is lucky enough to garden year-round. Ann Watson, from Laie, Hawaii, is also an inspiration. Here is her story: “I have always tried to have a garden wherever I have lived. But after my stroke in 2001, I aske…
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 dr…