Okay, I’ll admit: you won’t find any trashy talk here today, no matter what my heading says. But we are going to talk about trash, because today’s blog is about compost. As you probably know, compost is simply a mixture of decaying vegetation and well-rotted manure. You can make it by putting your kitchen scraps [...]
Happy New Year’s Day! If you’re like me, you’ve been oohing and ahhing over the fantastic floral designs and floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade. I needed all that splashy color now that we’re in the gray days of winter. Makes me yearn for spring. But spring is still some time away, so instead [...]
Have you checked your mailbox lately? Mine is starting to fill up with new seed catalogs, and yesterday, I got one from Tomato Growers Supply Company, a mail order business that will celebrate 25 years in 2009. Tomato Growers, as you’d guess, specializes in tomatoes, and there are some delicious new varieties coming onto the [...]
All right, maybe I’m exaggerating. People don’t really live in glass houses, unless the people you’re talking about are gardeners, and the houses are greenhouses. Many of us would practically move into that kind of “glass house,” if it meant having more time to enjoy and work with our plants. Recently I received a catalog of some of the most beautiful [...]
No offense, but –leave your Lima beans at home when you visit the Southeastern Flower Show on opening day. Why? Because keynote speaker Mike McGrath, host of the nationally syndicated public radio show, ”You Bet Your Garden,” hates Lima beans with a passion, that’s why. Hey, we’re cool with that, Mike. After all, the theme for the 2009 show is passion, and that intense [...]
Most of us have heard of the volunteer training program that allows you to become a Master Gardener here in Georgia. Administered through county offices by the UGA Cooperative Extension Service, it’s a wonderful educational opportunity. Once you’re certified in horticulture and other areas, you pass on your knowledge by helping to train others. Since its launch in [...]
From most accounts, the Pilgrims weren’t exactly savvy gardeners when they arrived in the New World. The Native Peoples had to teach them about cultivating corn, pumpkins, squash, and beans in a climate very different from England’s, or they might have starved while walking around in those funky shoes and weird hats. But at least the Pilgrims got one thing right. After [...]
Picture this, gardening friends: I got up early today and stumbled to the kitchen. Turned on the coffee maker and poured a steaming cuppa. Tied the belt on my robe–I’d watched the news the night before, so I knew our temperatures had dropped toward freezing–and headed into the garage, intending to raise the door and fetch the paper that the deliveryman always slings into my [...]
Imagine your holiday table dressed up with gorgeous flowers blooming in deep red or snowy white; pale pink or brilliant copper; dark burgundy or even pale green. Better yet, imagine that you’ve grown these beauties yourself, indoors–and with very little effort at all. You may have already guessed that I’m talking about amaryllis (Hippeastrum). You can find amaryllis bulbs for sale now, at garden [...]
Before we leave the subject of pumpkins (see yesterday’s post), I want to tell you about an unusual variety to look for at this time of year. It’s the beautiful, so-called “true” or French pumpkin, also known as Rouge Vif D’Etampes. You’ll recognize its classic shape, which artists copied when they drew Cinderella’s fairy-tale carriage. Cooks disagree over [...]