Veggies in part shade? Yes


Wed. Feb. 21, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Veggies in part shade?  Yes

Most people believe you must have full sun (about 8 hours) to plant all veggies.  And while I agree that full sun is optimal, it’s not necessary.  So says Jeff Gillman (former U of M Hort Professor and currently Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in Charlotte North Carolina) in his book ‘Decoding Gardening Advice’.

I highly recommend this book!

Gillman says these vegetables/herbs need as little as 2 hours of  … [Continue reading]

Prepare to Prune


Tue. Feb. 20, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Prepare to Prune

Gardeners!  Prepare your pruners!

Cold temperatures provide the best time to prune because the plants are dormant, their sap flowing less freely and the insects are not a bother.  With this warm up, that changes things.  Never prune spring flowering shrubs now or you’ll lose any flowers.  What you CAN prune are dead or diseased branches.

Forsythia

This is also a good time to really look over your plants for any pests.

To prepare your  … [Continue reading]

Self-watering systems


Mon. Feb. 19, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Self-watering systems

Asking family and friends to take care of your place when you’re on vacation is always one of those tasks you sort of dread.  

Pick up the mail, stop by to see the cat, make sure it hasn’t shredded the curtains, flip the lights on and off and water the plants.  Some of this can now be don remotely, but not so much the plants.   Remember all those “As Seen On TV” ads for Aqua Globe?   … [Continue reading]

Re re re Repot!


Mon. Feb. 12, 2018

Click below to listen to  my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Re re re Repot!

reDuce, reUse, reCycle,…..  NOW rePOT

Now’s a good time of year to repot those houseplants that have outgrown themselves.  If their roots are coming out the bottom, or have circled around so many times they’ve formed their OWN pot, it’s time!

As you can see from the above picture some of those roots have circled around themselves and are of no benefit to the plant.  They’re actually strangling it.  There are plenty of healthy  … [Continue reading]

Growing Avocados in the North


Mon. Feb. 5, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Growing avocados in the North

I had a listener ask me about growing avocados in Minnesota.  He’d taken some pits and put them in water. One sprouted.  After months and months of sitting in water, it’s started to sprout leaves along with those roots.  The question from there was what to do with it!

A How-to guide on sprouting an avocado seed/pit at Inhabitat

I did some research and found that, based on the pictures and the information  … [Continue reading]

Social network for the garden – it’s a trend!


Thu. Jan. 25, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Social network for the garden – 2018

What’s trending?  Ever get tired of these new digital phrases?  I do, but I’m a bit old school!  That said, plants have been “social networking” for, well, just about forever.

They recognized early the importance of each other.  Social networking is now a term for the garden as well.  It’s a 2018 trend, according to landscape architect Thomas Rainer.

I’m always curious to give something a go!  Instead of seeing your  … [Continue reading]

Palmer Amaranth


Wed. Jan. 24, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Palmer Amaranth

All above and below ground parts of the plant must be destroyed. Additionally, no transportation, propagation, or sale of these plants is allowed. Failure to comply may result in enforcement action by the county or local municipality.  Whoa, what’s THAT about?

The dreaded Palmer amaranth, a runaway weed threatening ecological systems.  Palmer amaranth is an annual plant native to the arid southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

It is a traditional food of Native Americans including  … [Continue reading]

Let’s go googling and why does “Days to harvest” matter?


Wed. Jan. 17, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Let’s go googling and why does “Days to Harvest” matter?

Floating in a sea of catalogs, immersed in a maze of vegetables and perennials SHOUTING at you to buy them, try them, eat them!  While these companies are reputable, because most of my audience hales from the colder climate zones, I suggest googling!  I KNOW, there’s a lot of bunk on the internet, however, check your sources and take a peek at how these new plants grow in  … [Continue reading]

Rusty patched bumblebees


Tue. Jan. 16, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Rusty patched bumblebees

Yesterday I talked about the endangered dwarf trout lily, today, I’ll take you back to the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis).  Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the bumblebee is now protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Over the past two decades its population has declined 87 percent.  Once common and abundant across 28 states from Connecticut to South Dakota, the rusty patched bumble bee has experienced a swift  … [Continue reading]

Dwarf trout lilies


Mon. Jan. 15, 2018

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show:  Dwarf trout lilies

Last weekend I had the opportunity to walk in the Big Woods State Park in Nerstrand, MN.  The frozen tundra that the Upper Midwest was locked in, gave us a glimpse of warm weather!  WHEW, we needed that respite!

While there, a friend who lives in the area told my husband and I that the roped off areas were to protect the Minnesota dwarf trout lily, an endangered species.  Now, the regular trout lily is  … [Continue reading]