When it comes to annuals, gardeners can get a little, well, snooty. Some disdain any plant that’s not a perennial. But the fact is, annuals provide some of the best non-stop color in a garden. Sure, they only last one season, but they bloom more than any perennial ever could. This is what my friend Kathy came up with when I challenged her last year. Sweet. I tried something with a purple planter, thinking the color-play would be really co…
…nd what went into producing it. So how come I can’t have the right to know what’s in the food I buy in the store? That’s the goal of the Just Label It campaign, which last month submitted a record-breaking 1.1 million signatures to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in favor of labeling genetically engineered (GE) foods. And in polls by ABC, MSNBC, NPR, the Washington Post, Consumer Reports and others, consistently…
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My house is on a fairly busy street, so I like to do something special with the strip of garden that borders the sidewalk. I plant tulip bulbs for a spring show, but summer is reserved for annuals. One of my most successful and unusual plantings was a “hedge” of Redbor kale and cardoons, shown here in early summer. I used white petunias to keep things interesting early on, while the kale and cardoons were getting started. In add…
Cutting garden gets a low-maintenance makeover. Early June in my “sweepable” cutting garden. When possible, overlap the fabric to avoid any unnecessary cuts. Tuck the edges under, giving yourself a 5″ or 6″ hem, and anchor securely on ends and sides to prevent fraying. Headed for the dahlias, his life was cut short … It was about six or seven years ago that I began to realize I’d create…
Though cold winds chill the air and snow blankets much of the U.S., pesticide use remains a hot topic — and not only among gardeners. The most recent comments come from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Environmental Health, whose December 2012 policy statement makes a clear link between pesticide exposure and children’s health problems. Published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the 60,000-member AAP, “Pesticide Ex…
…tes hosts a trailer, brings it in when it is full, and returns with an empty one,” Cline says. Steve Cline sorts plastic pots and cell packs at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s recycling program, where they collect 100,000 to 140,000 pounds of horticultural plastic every year. 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 s…
Like many who lost tomato plants to late blight last year, I’m wondering: How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again this year? Plant a diversity of tomato varieties to reduce the possibility of disease. Like many gardeners who lost their tomato crop to late blight last year, I’m wondering: How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again this year? Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet. The most important thin…
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…
…en the earth-friendly ones. At first, I tried neem, a relatively harmless spray that does wonders on aphids and controls blackspot on roses. It worked to control the larvae the first year, but I had to spray frequently (every 10 to 15 days). The second year, I couldn’t keep the larvae under control. My lily crop was hit hard, and I got few blooms. Last year, I decided to resort to a systemic called imidacloprid. The results were instantaneo…