Sooner or later every garden needs some tweaking. Don't let it overwhelm you.
There's only one reason needed to try growing heirloom vegetables - Taste. You won't find many of these varieties in your grocery store. That's all the more reason to make room for growing some heirloom vegetables in your own vegetable garden.
Certain holidays just lend themselves to cut flower arrangements; Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter and Thanksgiving are tops among them. The warm hues of autumn flowers are a perfect match for the sentiments of the season as well as the hearty food on the table. If you're giving or getting flowers this Thanksgiving, here are some quick and easy tips for enjoying them as long as you can.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
Companion planting has been a gardening technique long before most of us were even aware of the term. Just think of the classic Native American "3 Sisters" planting of corn, pole beans and squash: the corn staked the beans, the squash provided a living mulch and its scratchy leaves deterred animal pests and the beans fixed nitrogen in the soil. About.com's Guide to Landscaping reminds us that companion planting, combining plants that provide benefits to one another, isn't restricted to the vegetable garden. You can employ the same techniques throughout your yard. You'll have nicer roses and a great vegetable garden!
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
I asked this question a couple of years ago and most people who responded said yes. This year a lot of novice gardeners tried their hand at vegetable gardening for the first time. I do hope it was a great success and you've become a gardener for life. And I'm hoping you saved some vegetables to enjoy at Thanksgiving, the harvest festival.
Living in Zone 6, my garden is pretty much cleared out for the season, but I've managed to stash away some potatoes, squash and a freezer full of green things. The only thing I'll be picking fresh for Thanksgiving will be herbs, but it's still a treat. The only thing better than eating food you've grown yourself is watching other people enjoy it. So I'm curious, will any of your harvest be part of your Thanksgiving feast?
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
It's the rainy season for many of you. With some unseasonably warm temperatures up north, it's the rainy season for more gardeners than usual. And with rain comes snails and slugs. Yuck! Like deer and free plants, slugs are a never ending source of befuddlement. The quest for a non-toxic slug control goes on. You may recall that I stopped using beer when my neighbor's dog began using my garden as her neighborhood drinking hole.
The last time I asked for suggestions, a couple of you recommended a product called "Sluggo". Unlike other slug controls that use Metaldehyde, Sluggo's active ingredient is iron phosphate, which is labeled safe to use near kids, pets and around edible plants. I tried it and I thought it did a pretty decent job for me this summer.
If you're entering your slimy season, here's the list of slug control suggestions, so far. Please, please feel free to add your suggestions or comments. I'm sure there's a purpose for snails and slugs somewhere, but not in my garden.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
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