4 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Laundry Pods

Another wet and rainy day and all I can think about is the compost heap (well may be not all). We all slip up, drop clangers and get it wrong so I thought I would list some of my own compost errors or lash-ups.

A happy and pleasant surprise has just arrived through the post at home.

If a plant is worth growing it is worth growing well and this applies no more so than to Chrysanthemums. I have said recently that Chrysanthemums will repay the gardeners attention with a productive crop of flowers for the home, show bench or garden.

You may like to “put de lime in de coconut” or “pina coladas in the rain”, but these two products (pictured below), while both made from the flesh of the coconut, are NOT the same.

IN OUR CHAT on my public-radio program, I learned why not to till when prepping a planting; how to help a desired species outpace an unwanted one by learning to manage and influence natural processes; and what the word “naturalistic” means today.what’s ‘naturalistic,’ anyway?Q. How did the native and natural become your specialty, Larry—did the education in landscape design come first, or the nature and science?A. My first experience in the landscape world was working in traditional horticulture—first a job, and then going to school for it. However my interest in it always came from the naturalistic end.As a kid, I grew up in the urban Philadelphia and I don’t think I even knew there was such as thing as a garden designer, until I got a job with a landscape firm, in the summer between high school and college.But the thing that always interested me was na

THE FLYER PIQUED MY INTEREST: Dan Benarcik, part of the creative team at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania (a must visit!), would be lecturing nearby about “The Art & Craft of the Garden,” and how to personalize a garden using artistic elements, found artifacts, and ornamental containers. I quickly got a ticket—you can, too, for the June 16 event, including garden tours and a garden market, in Spencertown, New York—but also asked Dan to share some of his ideas and images (including the bromeliad-artemisia- urn-and-melianthus moment at Chanticleer, above) with us, no matter whether we can attend. A Q&A with this enormously talented plantsman and garden artist.

KEN CALLS HIMSELF “a slob,” and I call myself a “spot cleaner,” meaning at cleanup time, neither one of us treats the garden like a living room that we’re vacuuming. We don’t go wall-to-wall, but rather pick it apart slowly, with a method to our madness:Leave especially ornamental or wildlife-friendly plants standing: “Some things are pretty,” says Ken, “and some provide cover for animals and insects—hopefully the animals and insects you want to encourage, but of course you can’t choose.”  Save what looks good—to you or the birds—as long as you can, particularly seed-laden ones (assuming they are not the weeds you’re trying to combat—more on t

With Ginny, who has been at Longwood since 2000 and teaches a popular conifers course in the Continuing Education Division, we compared notes on our top conifers for the landscape, I learned how to prune them, and got a quick review of conifer taxonomy, what “dwarf” really means (hint: not ever-small), and even inspiration on her home-garden collection of conifers in pots.Read along as you listen to the Dec. 7, 2015 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).my conife

You many know Katrina Kenison as author of several books (Amazon affiliate link), including “The Gift of an Ordinary Day,” and “Magical Journey” and “Moments of Seeing.” She’s a former literary editor at Houghton Mifflin, where she was series editor for “The Best American Short Stories” for 16 years and co-edited, with John Updike, “The Best American Short Stories of the Century.” Katrina’s also a yoga teacher and an increasingly keen gardener in her own New Hampshire backyard.Read along as you listen to the November 23, 2020 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Plus: Enter in the comments box at the botto

I called Lukas to talk about dependable, versatile ingredients and how to use them, about how to cook better no matter what ingredients we have on hand, and also how to make vegetables last.Lukas Volger is the author of three previous cookbooks, and the co-founder and editorial director of“Jarry” magazine, an award-winning biannual publication that explores where food and queer culture intersect.Plus: Lukas has shared a recipe for his Cheesy Cabbage and White Bean Soup right here, farther down the page, and we’ll also h

A new awareness of ecological and conservation concerns has resulted in a rising interest in growing native plants and trees. Why are native trees important? One of the main benefits of planting native trees is their adaptability to their specific region. Living in their natural habitat means native trees require less water and fewer herbicides and pesticides to keep them healthy. Trees in their natural environments are also hosts to local wildlife, providing them with food and habitat.

When it comes to growing healthy and thriving broccoli plants, choosing the right companion plants can make all the difference. In this guide, you can explore the best Broccoli Companion Plants.