“What’s that unusual plant?” is a question that almost always indicates someone has just spied the cleome blooming in my garden. I enjoy watching their eyes widen when I tell them they are “spider flowers.” Cleome common name captures how…
What’s the difference between a cantaloupe vs muskmelon? One of the great joys of summer has to be fresh cantaloupe, either from the local farmer’s market or your own home garden. But is it cantaloupe or muskmelon? There is technically…
I started to cage tomatoes a couple of years ago. Why did I wait so long? Partly, it was money. I didn’t want to spend $5.99 each for 16 sturdy tomato cages. That’s almost $100 for tomato cages that will probably…
Over thousands of years, gardeners and farmers have carefully selected the best specimens of a season’s harvest (say, the sweetest or most frost-hardy carrots) and saved the seeds from those exemplary plants to sow again. Continued across generations, this process…
We now live in the age of self-driving cars, robot vacuums cleaning the floors and your smart fridge is getting the shopping done. Now comes the technology of self watering systems. Time, then, to relax in the back yard –…
Although outdoor water fountains have recently exploded in popularity, people around the world have been enjoying them for hundreds of years. Not so long ago, they were considered to be art for the elite, as they were placed politely in front of…
First of all not all country people are rednecks. They’re people that don’t give a damn about high society. I have seen some that do sport mullets, wear the plaid shirts with the cut off sleeves, have their cars upon…
Can a gardener go on vacation in the summer time? You depart, however, with a heavy heart, full of fears and cares for your garden; and you say, “Look here. There is nothing to be done in the garden and…
By this time of the year, most people are during tomato harvest. I have been noticing blossom end rot is showing up now. This show up as a black or brown rotten area on the bottom of the tomatoes. There…
Adding some garden art to your backyard does no require a lot of money, who doesn’t love something made from nothing? Gardens seem to be a natural home for all things re-used and up-cycled…it just seems to make nature happy,…
Raccoons in the garden are nocturnal animals that are thriving thanks to increased human contact, as anyone with an unsecured dumpster or trash can will attest. Wild populations prefer areas with trees and water nearby. But more and more they…
Hackberry psyllids are small aphid-like insects that cause hackberry galls commonly seen on the underside of hackberry tree leaves. An alternative name is hackberry “gall-maker.” They are most commonly noticed, however, as a household nuisance in late summer and fall.…
Use a drip irrigation system to conserve water and improve water absorption in flower beds and gardens. If you watch television advertisements, one would think the best way to water and even fertilizer flowers and other plants is to stand…
If you have followed all the advice on asparagus care you will have asparagus ferns turning yellow by the autumn (October time). I never cut the stems back for they hold snow which is good for the bed. Depending on…
Trees signal their water deficit through several symptoms. The most common changes in appearance are lighter green to yellow-green foliage, leaf scorch around the margins, wilting leaves and dropping them prematurely. Conifers will often produce an abundance of cones the…