Once the Holidays have passed thoughts turn to garden dreams. There may be no better way to overcome the mid-winter doldrums than to imagine your next garden and decide what new things to grow this year. Despite the calendar, now is the time to get your plans and seeds organized so you’ll be ready when spring arrives. Unlike “normal” times, this year may again be challenging to get what you really want to plant. Seed catalogues have already been arriving…
Like it or not, the gardening season in the Green Mountains has ended, mostly. Before our thoughts turn completely to the holiday season there are a few tasks worth attending to before we’re totally snowed in. There are also a couple easy tips to help keep your Christmas green and fresh longer. Indoor pest prevention. If you brought indoors a few of your favorite plants, as I did, this is a good time to give them a close health exam…
I like to finish fall gardening with planting. Garlic is an easy New England crop and it’s great to have something to look forward to for next year that’s already in the ground when winter arrives. Nothing compares with fresh garlic from your garden and now is the time to sow your garlic, along with many other bulbs that will be the first things up next spring. Let’s look at a few tricks to have a successful garlic crop year…
Leaves made the great Green Mountains green all summer and now provide the beauty of autumn across the Vermont landscape. Next they are dropped from their trees to add fertility and build soil. The key message here is to use those rich leaves. Do not remove or discard them as is so often the misguided custom. The second message this week is about the great importance of water to plants heading into winter. Let’s look at why we should not…
Autumn has officially begun and Jack Frost isn’t far away. Many gardens are already showing signs of leaf loss on squash, cukes, peppers, tomatoes, and basil. These are among the most susceptible plants. Good News, there are a few easy precautions we can take to protect our favorite plants and extend the gardening season to get a little more out of our summer long efforts. It’s also the best time to begin improving the soil for next year’s garden so…
The rainy weeks of August have promoted plant diseases, weeds, and some pests. As harvesting of onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and other vegetables continues it’s important to practice prevention to limit damage to our hard-earned harvests. While harvesting veggies, herbs, and flowers is the best part of gardening, don’t overlook another crop you might want to gather… seeds for next year. If you’ve grown peas, beans, tomatoes, or lettuce these are the easiest to save and assure you will have good…
Rain or shine, our gardens are now heading into the home stretch with tomatoes and peppers leading the way! Weather has not been good for some veggies and flowers this summer, so disappointments are part of the game. Tomatoes and peppers are really sub-tropical plants and don’t know that winter is coming so they are still trying to grow as though they have many months ahead. We know better and there are several things we can do right now to…
After all these rains it’s a great feeling to see your garden in full maturity and producing an abundance of veggies, herbs, flowers, and soon to be harvested potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, and more. It’s the reward that a hard-working gardener deserves and should enjoy this time of year. Harvesting is key to good production, the more you pick the more you get! Leaving fruits on plants to get over-ripe or go to seed tells the plants its job…
We are in peak garden season and there’s a lot happening out there. While you enjoy some satisfying harvests and flowers stay alert to new pests showing up now so we can prevent serious damage. There are some great things that can be planted now too. Garlic harvest is almost here so let’s look at the best way to harvest, cure, and select next year’s crop? Weeds are growing too and it’s important to prevent them from producing seed that…
Garden planting and transplanting is now in full swing and everything we want to grow can be planted out from now on. It’s even not too late for planting of favorites like tomato & pepper plants, squashes, potatoes, onion sets, or greens. But one question remains, which plants make good garden companions and which do not? Plants affect their neighbors and the soil so we should try to place compatible or non-competitive plants near each other when possible. A similar…