Here are two simple tips that will help your Christmas tree stay green and hold its needles longer: 1) Just before placing your tree in the stand, cut off about 2 inches from the trunk so there is a fresh wood submerged in the water. If you cut the tree the same day or have kept it in water since cutting this isn’t needed. Of course, keep the stand reservoir filled with clean warm water through the holidays. 2) Do…
Garlic is an easy crop in New England and it’s great to have something to look forward to for next year before winter arrives. You will never accept store bought garlic after you’ve had fresh garlic from your own garden. Mild temperatures have caused me to delay planting this year but now through mid-November is the time to sow your garlic, along with other bulbs for next spring. Let’s look at a few tricks to have a successful garlic crop…
September means gardens are now heading into the season finale with harvests of tomatoes, beans, squash, cukes, onions, potatoes, and peppers leading the way! Wet weather has been hard on some veggies and flowers this summer but there are some special techniques to keep plants healthy despite the saturated soils. This is a good time of year to apply foliar compost tea and your own homemade biofertilizers. It’s also a good time to get a soil test so you know…
After the welcome rains of July, gardens are in full maturity and producing an abundance of veggies, herbs, flowers, and weeds. Soon we’ll harvest potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, and more. It’s the reward that a hard-working gardener deserves and should enjoy this time of year. Proper harvesting is key to successful production, and the more you pick the more you get! Leaving blossoms or fruits on plants to get over-ripe or go to seed tells the plant its job is…
This is the time of peak flowers and rapidly growing veggies along with weeds and bugs. It’s the best of gardening and time to enjoy all our work coming into fruition. We also have work to do. Regular weeding, watching for inevitable pests (bugs & critters) but also early harvests have begun, and succession plantings can start. Weeds are simply taking advantage of our good preparations and space. They are not really “bad” plants but are just unwanted volunteers in…
June brings better gardening weather, what a welcome change! Vermont spring is unpredictable but recent rains have created a great time to get new plants into their garden homes for the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and salad greens have mostly been planted out. It’s time for heat loving plants like basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, sweet potatoes, & peppers to be in the ground. Annual flowers like geraniums, petunias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and snapdragons will do well outside now. …
Sunny, warmer days make the garden real in May. While there are many garden plants that can be seeded outdoors now, don’t be tempted to start working your soil if it is still wet. If you insist on tilling your garden it is very important to wait until the soil has drained and dried enough to be crumbly, not gooey or sticky. I do not till my garden soil at all because tilling is very damaging to soil & unnecessary. …
This is the time of year when we can plant some things in the ground. Some seeds can go in early, other seeds & plants need to wait for warmer days. How do we know what to plant when? In April and early May most soil is still too wet to dig or till unless you have raised beds. Let’s look at several ways to determine when it’s OK to plant seeds or put out transplants. Also, a few words…
April showers bring May (and June) Flowers. Snow drops have been showing for a few weeks and daffodils are soon to blossom. This means we gardeners have lots to do to get the season started. Along with early pruning and planting there is the necessary clean-up and garden preparations. In this article we will cover details of these renewing tasks and offer a couple reminders about why we garden. Mostly we garden because we enjoy growing plants for flowers and…
As March begins, we can’t be sure if it’s going to snow or rain but there are garden tasks for us to do. Snow has buried any sprouts peeking up from the ground but the good news is that the snow means more water availability come spring. As the days get longer there are indoor and outdoor garden preparations we can be doing now, including planting, pruning, and feeding! If you haven’t yet pruned your fruit trees (apples, pears, cherries,…