Cleaning up garden beds for me is a long slow process. First I remove seedheads of plants I don't want to reproduce. Annual weeds - cut them off (don't pull!) and get those seeds out. It's still an uphill battle with Canada goldenrod and to some degree with white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima, formerly Eupatorium rugosum). [...]
Inspired by my friend Betsy Williams' intriguing lovage soup and lovage-lemon pesto, I decided to get better acquainted with this leafy perennial herb. Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is widely cultivated throughout Europe and parts of Asia, but it's not so common in these parts. Fortunately, Gilbertie's Herbs grows it (organically), so I was able to purchase [...]
Along with doing what I can to keep water on my property, I compost most garden and food waste. Compost - naturally decomposed organic material - improves soil structure, enhancing its ability to hold air and water, yet drain well. It is not fertilizer. Fertilizer is like vitamins. You can't live on vitamins. Compost is [...]
Amaryllis (properly Hippeastrum) are the gifts that keep on giving. This year I've had the privilege of filling my house with top-sized potted bulbs from White Flower Farm. No more cheap supermarket bulbs for me. Eventually the show will be over. But after enjoying two or three bloom stems with clusters of colorful trumpets, I'm [...]
Cats and dogs train their owners to stick to a regular schedule. But plants are on their own timetable. Watering every Wednesday and Sunday, like clockwork, doesn't cut it. Some (most) plants need to dry out between waterings. Some must never be allowed to dry out. If a plant is suffering and you don't know [...]
Kim Eierman is an environmental horticulturist, landscape designer, speaker, teacher and founder of the horticulture and communications company Eco-Beneficial in Westchester County, NY. It's really easy to turn people off by telling the truth. Even willing, well-intentioned listeners can feel beaten up by too many discouraging facts and figures. Eierman doesn't just tackle the upsetting [...]
How do you deal with a stump where you'll be looking at it up close and personal for years? Without resorting to disruptive (and expensive) stump grinding or toxic chemicals?
Hardy rosemary cultivars might survive a Zone 5 winter, but I'm not betting on it. Read how to successfully overwinter rosemary plants.
Tiny spring-flowering bulbs are cheap, quick and easy to plant and addictive - there's always room for more. Check out online and catalog offerings (you won't find all that many in garden centers) during fall bulb-planting season and try something new. Thumb or scroll through and buy whatever stirs your heart and suits your conditions.
A subscriber to my newsletter, Eco-Friendly News, Views, Clues and How-To’s wrote, asking “Am I right to leave alive the tomato hornworms that have the parasitic wasps on their backs?”