Kill Pen Scammers are Preying on Horse Lovers

Biennials are plants that have a two-year life cycle. In the first year, they grow leaves and in the second they flower, before setting seed and dying. June and July are the ideal months to sow their seed. You’ll have young plants ready to go in the ground where you’d like them to flower by early autumn. Then, next spring or summer (depending on which biennial you’ve grown) they’ll produce their flowers.

Dahlias are having a good year due to the summer rain. Slugs permitting my Cactus Dahlias will have given one of the best shows for several years by November when they get cut down and stored. As I expect the flower power will still be present until the first frosts in November I am going to give them a foutnightly tonic of liquid fertiliser and a further mulch.

Here’s everything you need to know aboutHow Not To Kill Plants In Containers. Follow these handy tips to keep your indoor plants happy and healthy!

Needling little care and symbolizing tenacity, strength, and selfless love, succulents make the perfect gifts for anyone. Here are Gift Ideas for Succulent Lovers that will excite anyone and convey your warm regards with these beauties.

Growing Spinach in Containers is the best way to enjoy a homegrown harvest in a limited space like a windowsill or a balcony. This nutritious leafy green is not difficult if you know all the tips on How to Grow Spinach in Pots!

Poinsettias are a classic holiday plant used to decorate homes from November to December. When South Carolinian Joel Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, introduced the poinsettia to the United States in 1825, it is doubtful he had any idea how popular this plant would become.

Nothing says Christmas more than a poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Did you know that December 12th is known as National Poinsettia Day? Plant breeders have developed a wide range of colors in hues of white, purple, orange, and pink, but red poinsettias continue to be the most traditional color of the holiday season.

Icon of the southwest, organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) is one of the best known species of cacti in the United States.Reaching up to 26 feet in height and 12 feet wide, this slow

“Last year [2012] at the overwintering sites, the area occupied was at only 60 percent of its previous low,” she says. “It had been declining, but that was astonishingly low.”The migration-monitoring program Journey North also reported lower stats in 2013’s cold spring. And though the numbers were only preliminary when we spoke that fall, University of Minnesota’s Monarch Larva Monitoring Program seems to indicate that “we’re at about 20 to 30 percent of our average,” Oberhauser says, acknowledging that these drastically lower numbers might be a “new normal.” But she’s not sounding defeated, by any means.A big positive: A lot of people are interested in monarchs. “Though it will be difficult to make up for all the habitat we’ve lost, we can make that ‘new normal’ as good as we can.”  (Ways to help are father down this page.)what going wrong for monarchs?MONARCH

Sigh.I have to say I was a little relieved to see that the Chicago-based blogger who calls himself Mr. Brown Thumb, Ramon Gonzalez, has been similarly frustrated (misery loves company and all that). And also pleased to see that Ramon’s and my common affection for the cypress vine was shared by Thomas Jefferson, who grew it at Monticello.Whichever of these hummingbird favorites you grow, treat them like other morning glories: For a headstart (especially in short-season Northern garden areas like mine) sow indoors and grow under lights, sowing 4-6 weeks before final frost. Soak the seed in warm water for a few

Maybe the variety description says something about a pledge, and makes a comparison to open-source software–the non-proprietary kind that doesn’t require a license to use.Welcome to the world of “freed seed,” a concept inspired by the open-source software movement, but aimed at insuring that the genes in at least some seed varieties can never be patented and otherwise restricted, and thereby locked away

LISTEN IN to my chat with WNYC’s Amy Eddings, on their “Last Chance Foods” segment that aired today. Their whole season of “Last Chance Foods,” part of WNYC’s version of “All Things Considered,” is archived here.tomato junk recipeingredients:olive oil garlic onion 1 teaspoon to 1 ton anything edible left in your garden or at the farmer’s market, including herbs such as parsley and basil tomatoes, equal to at least one-third the total volume of ingredients water salt and pepper to taste Especially good vegetable choices include: summer squash such as zucchini; green beans; brassicas such as kale or broccoli; chard.Trickier choices: cabbage, or beet or mustard greens, and other distinctive-tasting vegetables, including roots such as turnip; hot peppers; or eggplant, that might overtake the flavor or texture of the Junk.Celery and carrots work well in batches that will become soup. Include spicier peppers