New Year, New Diabetes Self- Management Plan

Spring will be sprung on you as soon as the snow and frost disappears. But first we need less rain. There isn’t much you can do at the moment but hope that any bulbs and hardy plants like these primroses are quietly getting ready to burst forth. If you are keen to begin then your first job should be planning and organising.

Rhododendron buds

Are you the person who every year swears that this is the year they are going to eat healthy and get in shape, but by February you’re back to your old habits? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most Americans give up on this resolution and just choose to come back around to it next year. Don’t let that be you this year! Reaching your health and fitness goals are possible, and you don’t have to give up all your favorite foods to do so. Life is all about balance, and your diet is no different. Here are some tips to help you stick to a healthy diet all year long.

With the New Year comes the New Year’s Resolutions and goals. If you are making a resolution or goal, aim for the goal to be SMART. What does a SMART goal mean?

January is a special month as it is the start of a new year filled with the hope of great things to come. After holiday decorations come down, with the lights, sparkles, and glitter of the holiday season put away for another year; it is the perfect time to add an orchid for their unique appeal and charm.

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis) is not easy to miss – adults of this large, black beetle with white spots, black and white striped antennae, and blueish feet are between 1 and 1 ½” long (Fig. 1). ALB larvae are equally striking as the large, white segmented larvae can be nearly 2” in length (Fig. 2). Established populations in the U.S. are found in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, and a new infestation was recently found in Charleston County, South Carolina.

Here, at the beginning of 2022, some of us may resolve to make meaningful life changes. At midnight on December 31st, marketing campaigns switch from ‘indulge in holiday cheer’ to ‘new year, new you.’ For me, after the past two years, the wellness industry can keep their diets and gyms, and the self-help industry can sell their ‘ten-step program to be the best version of me’ to someone else. These days, I’m over here just trying to be.

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.– Christian Lous Lange (Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1921)

I encourage you to come ask and answer gardening questions, of course, but also feel at home (especially in the topic marked “General”) to use it as a place for community-driven discussion about anything reasonable that interests gardeners, and even for socializing about non-garden topics, should some of you wish to do so. Sometimes the discussions in blog comments gets unwieldy, so this is a great place to continue if you like. More on the philosophy and etiquette is here on this page.I also encourage you to get a Gravatar photo icon of some kind, so we can tell one another apart. I am user UGQ (with my hands full of heirloom blue corn seeds, left); Leslie is…Leslie (with the red and white Forum logo as her Gravatar, below). The Urgent Garden Question Forum is part of A Way to Garden, but there is a difference between it and the blog itself. Stated simply:On the blog, I choose the topic and post about it, and readers may wish to comment in response.On the Forum, the subject matter is driven by you. You initiate the conversation, and (hopefully) chime in to help one another and just get acquainted. I will stop in, and so will

Since 2011, Timothy has worked at Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, New York, which is becoming a horticultural destination for keen gardeners wanting inspiration–and a getaway for anyone just wanting to be surrounded by bold, contemporary plantings in a dramatic, historic setting. The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy is a non-profit organization collaborating with the City of Yonkers to facilitate the garden’s restoration (details on tours and how to visit otherwise are at the bottom of this page).In case you’re wondering: that garden has many vivid miles to go before it sleeps for winter. I even saw the phrase “floral fireworks” (such as the crape myrtles and hydrangeas in the right-hand photo below) used to describe it at the end of August, and there are plenty of foliage fireworks, too.Timothy and I worked together for years at “Martha Stewart Living” magazine, and he has been a gardener at the famed Wave Hill in New York City, and at the Garden Conservancy project called Rocky Hills

So I can invite guest experts to join me as well as share the program with other public-radio stations, we’re pre-taping “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” to stand alone, instead of airing live as part of my local station’s morning show, which it has been since March 2010.You can listen in to the first such standalone show here, right now. This week’s topic: When to sow what seeds, with guest Dave Whitinger of All Things Plants in Texas. Next time (February 4), the topic is why I’m going to grow calendul