2020 Ideas, Tips & Guides

This is Julie Prince (Julie’s Georgia Garden), with a few pictures from the late summer and fall garden. The pool garden was started in the summer of 2020. The front-drive garden was started in 2021. Both are still “works in progress”! Things are changing constantly as I try to give the garden more height and winter interest.

At the end of February, the town board of Lind, Wisconsin voted against changing the zoning laws to allow a nearby 600-cow dairy to install an anaerobic digester. These digesters are becoming more common, particularly at larger dairy operations housing thousands of cows, called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). This is partially because they have been included as a key ingredient in the Biden administration’s pledge to reduce methane emissions in animal agriculture.

On October 9, 2023, Travis Gienger from Anoka, Minnesota, set the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, weighing 2749 pounds. The record was previously held by Stefano Cutrupi with a pumpkin weighing 2708.8 lbs. Gienger had already established the U.S. record in the previous year with a 2560-pounder and in 2020 with one weighing 2350 pounds.

At the start of 2023, the U.S. housing market was still in a state of upheaval, but experts were optimistic that the tides were turning. While interest rates remained high following a competitive seller’s market post pandemic, bidding wars were expected to cool and inventory was expected to climb. 

I wasn’t expecting a lot from today’s count, but mild temperature in the week leading up to Christmas Day must have given things an unseasonal boost and I have had some surprises in the last few days. Having noted it was still only in bud, I wasn’t going to include sarcococca in the total until I came out of the back door again a little later and was instantly hit with an almost overwhelming fragrance: tucked under foliage and sprawling ivy was a clutch of fully open blooms, doing what they do best and perfuming the garden from several metres away.

In previous years, my garden plan has revolved around what I want to grow. There are a lot of unusual plants that grow, or might grow, in our climate, and I enjoy trying them out. With my experimental impulses mainly focused on the Hydroponicum, I have been thinking about what we would like to eat from the garden.

Sorry if this post is a bit repetitive from one at the beginning of May but my mind is socially distanced from my memory. My garden lilac has never smelt so good but I am sure the colour has been stronger in previous years.

Rhododendron buds

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Rob Last reports, “Strawberry crops continue to develop well with minimal pest and disease pressure so far. Fall vegetables are progressing towards the market. We continue to see pest pressure from caterpillars, and a few isolated aphids have been spotted during scouting. As we progress towards the holiday season, scouting of crops remains of vital importance to catch insect infestation and disease progression early for treatments to be effective.”

This will be the final update of 2020. We will pick it back up on 1/4/21. Be sure to keep an eye on the upcoming events tab, and give us a call if you need anything. Happy Holidays from the SC Grower team! We hope everyone takes some time to enjoy the season, and may 2021 bring you good health, great family time, and as always…prosperous fields!

Zack Snipes reports, “After a long Thanksgiving nap, I was able to waddle out in the fields and look at some strawberries. We have had some really good strawberry growing weather especially considering most folks got their plants out somewhat late this year. We need some cold weather to slow them down a bit in places. I have seen a tiny bit of plant collapse and death in some spots within the fields. It is very important to send these plants into our lab to get a positive identification of the pathogen. Phytophthora crown rot and anthracnose crown rot can cause similar symptoms but are managed differently. For information on how to submit a sample during COVID times, click here. I am also keeping my eye on a good bit of leaf spotting in some fields to make sure it’s not the new disease, Neopestalotiopsis. I don’t think we have it yet, but being proactive is better than being reactive. More information on that disease can be found here.”

EUROPEAN UNION? The first Apis mellifera aka European honey bee I see each year is always having at the first Eranthis hyemalis or winter aconite to open, likewise a European species. I don’t know enough to know if their distant ancestors did the same dance way back when, but I like to wonder (and I like to imagine they might have, cause that’s how my brain works). And now I will spend 57 hours reading esoteric botanical and entomological research papers on the native ranges of each if I can even find them, because it beats reading the news lately. By a mile.March 20SURVIVORS! Lichen and moss are ancient creatures, living on earth for hundreds of millions of years already through thick and thin. When I filled the bird feeder this morning, I looked more closely than I usually do at the community that has formed using a slat of a very old wooden bench as its substrate, and just thought: right, hunker down and stay put. Thank

The previous time Ken had visited the show, just a couple of weeks prior, we got so sidetracked into talking about favorite tools that we rely on that we barely started sharing our garden resolutions, and then time ran out. So he’s back as promised to make his confessions, and I made mine–ranging from reclaiming grass paths that have grown too narrow, to tactics for avoiding overwhelm, and even a commitment to sharing plants (and the important of ruthlessly tossing some out, too).Read along as you listen to the December 30, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Plus: To celebrate the new year and decade, I‘m offering two giveaways with this edition of the show and blog: a chance to enter to win Ken’s 2019 book, “The Scent

Gardening was already in a rage and the pandemic has pushed it into overdrive. Here are the Trendy Gardening Things of 2020 on Instagram that people experimented with, which we are sure you’ll also absolutely love!

The Covid Pandemic has sparked the interest of people in gardening all over again! If you are wondering about the plants which got the most attention on social media, then have a look at these Most Liked Indoor Plant Pictures of 2020 on Instagram!

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We have handpicked the Most Popular Garden DIYs on YouTube in 2020 that garnered tonnes of views thanks to their creativity. Take ideas and use them in your own garden and home!

AtBalcony Garden Web, we always strive to serve you the best of balcony gardening. So, keeping up with the tradition, we are beginning a new series–where we’re going to curate the top 15#BalconyGardening posts shared each month on Instagram. Here are the 15 best we found for September.

Started from October, this is third in the monthly series where we pick the best gardening ideas from social media and bring them to you. Here are theTop Balcony Gardens of November 2020! 

It is the most beautiful time of the year again, and keeping in mind the spirit of Christmas, we have exciting New Year & Christmas Balcony Ideas for 2020 to help you decorate your apartment balcony in tune with the festival!

Last month, we showcased some of the most beautiful garden ideas for the month of September. Now, have a look at some of the Top Balcony Gardens of October 2020 on Instagram!