ACCORDING TO MY SCIENTIFIC FACEBOOK FOCUS GROUP (kidding, but four-dozen people did reply to my question about how their plants were doing) it’s generally a thumb’s-up tomato year so far. But with multiple hot, dry spells here (even though I have been watering!), I keep worrying about the dreaded blossom end rot. And here it comes—though hopefully not to stay. [read more…]
pests & diseases
My adventures, and tactics, for dealing with garden pests (as big as a woodchuck or as small as a Viburnum leaf beetle larvae) as an organic gardener.
tomato health check: blossom end rot, anyone?
August 2, 2010 at 5:59 pm
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gardening links: japanese beetle help, rain barrels
July 18, 2010 at 10:34 am
THIS HAS NOT BEEN MY FAVORITE GARDEN SEASON SO FAR, I’ll confess. Too many bouts of heat, far too little rain. One side benefit: It has been too hot to even be outside some days, let alone work outside, so I’ve been inside reading about topics ranging from Japanese beetle-control advances to setting up a water-collection system with rain barrels and more. My latest links worth browsing on the next day the weather finds you inside: [read more…]
early customers at my pick-your-own farm
June 28, 2010 at 5:30 pm
APPARENTLY I AM OPERATING A PICK-YOUR-OWN blueberry farm, but my customers arrive early, before the fruit is even ripe; skip the baskets altogether, and leave without paying. I knew I should have kept my steady job.
3 links worth a busy gardener’s browsing time
June 16, 2010 at 8:20 pm
WHAT’S THIS GARDENER READING ONLINE these days? Some tough news about increasing obstacles to growing basil, an optimistic outlook on weeds, and word of the cable-television antics of two old friends…just to name a few worthwhile recent links. [read more…]
tomato-troubles faq’s
May 24, 2010 at 6:58 am
Q. I am worried about another outbreak of late blight, after 2009’s epidemic. Can I do anything to prevent tomato disease?
A. Some surprising late-blight facts and tactics to try: [read more…]
why i pull out every self-sown tomato, or else
May 11, 2010 at 4:05 pm
AFTER PULLING THE FIRST FEW VOLUNTEER TOMATO seedlings just now, I thought I’d better come indoors and remind you to do the same as they occur in your garden. I know, it’s always hard to uproot “free” babies like this. I feel the pain, too. But self-sown tomatoes can carry with them the stuff of certain diseases. Out, out, damn tomato! Here’s the whole scoop, remember? (Or browse my whole topic archive about tomatoes, if you need another kind of advice.)
what weed is it? putting names to pesky plants
April 21, 2010 at 6:22 am
I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS BY THEIR PROPER NAMES, but when it comes to “weeds,” as we term unwanted garden visitors that seem to just come with the territory, my knowledge really pales. So lately, on days not conducive to outdoor work, I’ve been studying up a bit from some great weed-identification websites, so that I can finally address Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard, above) with the proper (dis)respect. [read more…]
toasting relocated ‘chucks on groundhog day
February 2, 2010 at 12:01 am
LET’S RAISE A GLASS TODAY TO RELOCATED GROUNDHOGS, toasting the ones we managed somehow to outsmart. That’s one such captive in the garbage can, above—remember?—about to be literally driven away from the garden, a highlight of my year in 2009. Happy Groundhog Day. It will be another “Just Say No to Woodchucks” year here at A Way to Garden, but I won’t try this naive approach to ridding myself of them ever again. You can’t fool Mother Nature, you know.
another hit: my accident-prone lacebark pine
December 13, 2009 at 7:10 pm
CAN A TREE BE ACCIDENT-PRONE? I fear my Pinus bungeana, or lacebark pine, is just that, always finding itself in harm’s way. And here we go again: [read more…]
