I HAVE ALWAYS CAGED my tomatoes, but many experts agree that staking–and regularly pruning and tying the staked plants as they grow–is the most space-efficient and also most hygienic tactic of all, helping manage the potential for disease while yielding plenty of fruit. With tomato-transplant time just ahead here, I’ve been studying up with experts like Tom Stearns (that’s his High Mowing Organic Seeds tomato trial field, above) on how to stake and prune tomatoes, and other tips for producing a healthy, bountiful crop. [read more…]
my new book: order now! on Amazon Barnes and Noble Indiebound
As a passionate, hopeful and often self-delusional gardener (the only kind of gardener there is!), I loved this gorgeous book. Margaret’s work is a blessing.
grow healthy tomatoes: staking and pruning
May 17, 2013 By 9 Comments
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bring ‘em on: the magic of periodical cicadas
May 15, 2013 By 23 Comments
I CAN’T WAIT FOR THEM to announce themselves noisily, though readers have been writing in, expressing varying degrees of cicada anxiety. Brood II of the periodical 17-year cicadas—the brood that returns on that uncanny schedule specifically to parts of the East, from Georgia to Connecticut, are already being sighted where soil temperatures have warmed to the preferred 64 degrees. As with all things, I’m most fascinated by these insects’ role in the bigger ecological picture—besides the sheer magical aspect of witnessing their incredible orgy. Some cicada facts I’ve learned: [read more…]
garden photography 101, with ken druse
May 13, 2013 By 8 Comments
MANY PEOPLE THRILL at a sunny day in the garden, but if photographing the landscape and its plants is your pursuit, as it is Ken Druse’s, you take the contrarian view. “I love overcast,” says Ken, and “drizzle” is another favorite forecast for the author of 18 garden books, whose camera has taken him to more gardens than most of us will see in a lifetime. Ken shared some of his top garden-photography tips in a Q&A interview and this week’s public-radio show and podcast (and I was the guest on Ken’s show this last week, on another topic altogether…more on both on the jump page). [read more…]
clove currant: ribes odoratum, or ribes aureum
May 12, 2013 By 23 Comments
WHAT NATIVE AMERICAN SHRUB smells like cloves right now, with a profusion of golden flowers, and handsome lobed foliage (which will turn nice warm colors in fall)? Another clue: It would have fruit, too, if you had both a male and a female plant. It’s the clove currant, which I know as Ribes odoratum, and woody plant expert Michael Dirr calls it “a rare gem in the shrub world.” [read more…]
gardeners’ incentive: vegetarian reuben sandwich
May 10, 2013 By 14 Comments
WHEN WE ARE PUSHING HARD to get the garden “open” for spring, my trusty helper and I come up with incentives—usually in the form of food. “Treats,” we call them, or “employee benefits”—whatever it takes to get to the finish line despite the to-do list that’s far too long for too-few hands. “Let’s make the Reubens tomorrow,” Susan said, after a relentless day of chores last Thursday, and last Friday we did. Vegetarian Reuben sandwiches, specifically; hold the corned beef. [read more…]
