There are many great Houseplants That Can be Used as Christmas Tree Alternatives, and apart from that, they look good as well.
21.07.2023 - 23:04 / awaytogarden.com
HURRYING TO THE STARTING LINE can make for mishaps such as false starts, so don’t. That’s my best advice on when to sow what seeds for this year’s garden, but I know it isn’t very specific. To zero in on just what date you should sow your tomatoes indoors or put your peas in the ground, I’ve rounded up some calendar tools that can help, including a new one just sprouted by my friend Dave Whitinger of All Things Plants.It should be no surprise to me that it was Dave who created this new online application, since besides his garden expertise, Texas-based Dave is a programmer (and the founder of Dave’s Garden, which he ran before moving on to start All Things Plants). Dave was the guest on this week’s “A Way to Garden” public-radio show and podcast, where we discussed the new Garden Planting Calendar app. (Stream the show now; get it on iTunes, or Stitcher, or at RobinHoodRadio.com.)
“My wife, Trish, is actually the one who pushed me to do this,” says Dave, adding that the Garden Planting Calendar took him only two months to develop and launch. It gives you first and last frost dates (where applicable) and sowing and/or planting dates by crop, based on the location you enter.
The app started with just U.S. weather data, but Canadian users quickly said, “What about us?” so Dave added that information, too. He also programmed in the Wikipedia-like ability for users to help fine-tune the calendar by adding their city and frost dates if they didn’t find them, or to correct errors—and in fact “many hundreds” of gardeners from Israel to South Africa to Pakistan have already widened the tool’s now-worldwide scope, Dave says.
“I’m improving it daily; it’s almost still in beta,” he says. Last week’s addition: a map feature, so you can
There are many great Houseplants That Can be Used as Christmas Tree Alternatives, and apart from that, they look good as well.
As we continue to break heat records in many different regions around the world, gardeners have to think more than ever about how they can create gardens that can stand the heat.
It’s well known that the housing market is so competitive right now, but prospective home buyers aren’t the only ones hurting—renters are, too. According to personal finance website WalletHub, inflation has impacted rental prices, and 2022 saw the second-highest price growth in decades with a 6.2% year-over-year increase.
The tropical rain forests of South America hold a treasure when it comes to plants that are beautiful, exotic, and can make for great houseplants. Have a look at the most amazing South American Indoor Plants you can grow!
Each year, I look forward to watching the bleak winter landscape begin to come to life as if transitioning from black and white to Technicolor. Yellow is one of the first colors to appear with the flowers of forsythia and our state flower, yellow jessamine. As I was driving to work this week, I noticed a new color emerge amidst the roadside trees.
While enjoying a slice of delicious locally-made pecan pie, I felt motivated to share with you some tips on growing and enjoying pecans. Whether you say “pee-can” or “peh-cahn,” they are one of the most nutritious nuts you can buy. Or grow for yourself!
While the Christmas tree takes the front-and-center stage during this holiday season, supported by a cast of poinsettias, cyclamens, kalanchoes, Christmas cactuses, and amaryllises, hollies often find themselves relegated to wreaths, garlands, and candle adornments. Years ago, I learned from Fred Galle’s tome, “Hollies: The Genus Ilex” (Timber Press, OR 1997), that hollies were quintessential Christmas symbols extensively used for centuries in holiday wreaths and Christmas decorations. Galle wrote that in London in 1851, 250,000 bunches of English hollies (Ilex aquifolium) were sold and adorned houses, churches, street corners, and marketplaces. In some parts of England, residents retained the holly sprigs until the following year because they believed it would protect their homes from lightning strikes.
In July 2022, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) drew attention to North America’s migrating monarchs by adding them to their ICUN Red List of Threatened Species. In the United States, the more immediate plight of other threatened and endangered species has precluded the monarchs’ inclusion on the Endangered Species List. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that their place on this list is “warranted.” They mandated that the monarchs be reviewed annually as a potential candidate for inclusion. These incredible insects migrate 4000 miles every spring and fall and face immense dangers on this epic journey. What simple steps can you take to help monarchs as they travel past your home?
Q. I have leftover seeds from last year. How long do seeds last, or remain viable?Q. How do I do a germination test of leftover seeds?Q. When do I start which seeds in my Zone?Q. Can I grow my seedlings on the windowsill? Will I need grow lights?Q. How many hours a day do I run my lights?Q. What are heating mats or germination mats? Must I use one to get seeds to grow?Q. What kind of soil do I start my seed in? Can I use regular potting soil, compost, or garden soil?Q. I need a basic how-to on starting seeds.Q. What seeds do I start outdoors, right in the ground?Q. I am confused by claims of “organic” seed and other words like “sustainable” seed. Does it matter what I buy?Q. Who sells organic seed? Where can I find it?Q. What about the genetically modified or GMO seed that I hear so much about in the headlines?Q. Where can I shop for good-quality seed; what are your favorite catalogs?Q. How do you figure out what to buy in the seed catalogs? So many beautiful choices!Q. How do I grow tomatoes from seed?Q. All my spinach and lettuce matured at once, then I had none. Why? What is succession sowing of seeds?Q. What are some of the seeds you order for yourself, Margaret?Q. Can I grow garlic from seed?Q. Can I grow potatoes from seed?Q. Can I grow asparagus from seed?Q. Can I grow clematis from seed?
I got to know Franca this year when she opened an actual shop for Boxwood Linen in the next town, Hillsdale, New York, at the historic Hillsdale General Store, which was recently renovated. Franca grew up on a farm in Ontario, the daughter of parents born in Scanno, Abruzzo, so she is no stranger to the ways of the garden and kitchen.“We had a cellar, a cantina, at the old farm in Canada,” Franca recalls, “where we’d store not just canned goods but cheese and prosciutto and sausage—but no more!”Now Aida, Franca’s mother (above), visits her daughter’s Hudson Valley, New York-based home from Toronto each late-summer-into-fall, when the garden is offering up its best and there’s work to be done. Together, Franca and Aida continue the old traditions, but in a new location. They do hot-packed tomatoes two ways: chunky, and also as a puree. Aida used to use a motorized mach
YOU COULD JUST GIGGLE AT DOODLER Andre Jordan’s take (above) on my “new” life and be done with this post, but I’m hoping you’ll read on, and help make “And I Shall Have Some Peace There,” coming out two weeks from today, a success. I’m not very comfortable asking for help, or “selling” myself.
I knew my garlic mustard from lamb’s quarters or mugwort, wild grape from bittersweet or Ampelopsis, oxalis from everything else. But clearweed kept me in the dark longer than most. I could have guessed at its common name, since the stems are practically translucent, or clear. And no wonder I have so much of it: It favors moist soils such as mine generally is, and shady and semi-shady spots in or near woodlands such as the one I garden on the edge of.The USDA conservation map show the presence of Pilea pumila in 38 states, and parts of eastern Canada. The Flora of North America (efloras [dot] org) says that Native Americans used clearweed medicinally, “to alleviate itching, to cure sinus problems, and to treat excessive hunger.” The Illinois Wildflowers website notes that certain native insects use the plant, too. All these years, the only thing I thought it was useful for? To aggravate me.Turns out various caterpillars of moths and butterflies enjoy it as a host plant (they’re listed here and include the comma and the red admiral), and so my new policy is t