APRIL IS THE MONTH that gardeners in much of the country wait for, and then we freak out when it arrives. Cleanup! Pruning! Seed-sowing! Division! Transplanting! Fertilizing! Chaos! (In 2010, my April even included “Mow!” for the first time in 25 years here; the same was true in 2011. This year, who knows, after 80 and 22F in the last week of March. Maybe I’ll be mowing by April 15 instead of April 25?) Oy! The lowdown: [read more…]
my april 2012 garden chores
April 1, 2012 at 12:01 am
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giveaway: ‘making more plants’ with ken druse (and how to avoid damping off)
March 31, 2012 at 7:52 am
I AM SOWING MY FIRST SEEDS other than onions about now—Brussels sprouts and broccoli today, with tomato-sowing time just ahead here at mid-month—with a comforting, luscious copy of Ken Druse’s just-released paperback edition of “Making More Plants” by my side. Maybe you’d like a copy, too, so I bought two to give away, and meantime, I’m sharing some of Ken’s advice on preventing that most dreaded of seed-starting mishaps: the fungal killer called damping off. [read more…]
out-of-synch spring after a non-winter: a recap
March 29, 2012 at 8:28 am
I KEEP PANICKING to hurry up and get my chores done, because the scenery outside looks like late April, or at least it did before Monday night’s 22ish-degree siege, which took lots of prisoners. Before it gets any farther out of control here—or erased, if that’s what nature has in mind instead—a look at what’s bloomed so far in the earliest spring I’ve ever seen (following the winter I never saw at all). [read more…]
17 degrees? coping with spring frost in a garden
March 26, 2012 at 3:38 pm
IAM NOT EVEN SURE WHAT TO SAY ABOUT THIS: Weather that in less than a week goes from near 80 to more like 18 (other estimates say 17, even, for tonight, with winds up to 40 miles per hour as the icing on the ice-cream cake). In March. A March that looks more like late April, or maybe May. I dared last week to pot up giant bowls of pansies and violas, all of which are now taking shelter under upturned wheelbarrows and garden carts, like the one above. What else is there to do about a hard freeze that’s threatening a big swath of the northern and eastern section of the nation? [read more…]
the frogs of march: hot and heavy from the start
March 25, 2012 at 11:32 am
SWIMSUIT SEASON got under way last week in near-80 degree weather, but I hope the wide-awake amphibian darlings out back didn’t pack away their winter coats, since 16 degrees is forecast Monday night. As usual, the wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) got the party started, quacking madly and even doing you-know-what right out in plain view. How immodest! A little slideshow of the bawdy bunch–the frogs of March. [read more…]
daffodils not blooming well? reasons why
March 22, 2012 at 8:01 am
TOO THIRSTY, HUNGRY FOR NUTRIENTS, not allowed to “ripen” last year long enough, overcrowded–these are just a few of the reasons that Narcissus (and other bulbs) may be putting on a less-than-spectacular performance this spring, like the clump above with lots of leaves but only a single bloom. This quick FAQ gives all the reasons (or find out what to do about poorly flowering bulbs along with all kinds of other bulb answers on my bigger Flower-Bulb FAQs page).
doodle by andre: horny birds
March 20, 2012 at 2:58 pm
AS I HAVE MENTIONED: Forget about Angry Birds, my yard is full of Horny Birds this too-early spring. And when I told that to the Mad Doodler of South-Dakota-via-Britain, dear transplanted Andre Jordan, apparently I hit a chord. I know there are offcolor jokes in this vein involving words like woody and suffixes like -pecker, but I’m no dirty-minded trash mouth, you know. It’s the birds who have spring fever; not my fault, really. (Not buying the bird excuse? Then blame Andre that this woodpecker’s covering Salt-N-Pepa’s hit; he has adapted other hits into slightly “off” doodles in his “Songs for Ex-Lovers.” But me? I didn’t do it.)
pruning time (in print or on the podcast)
March 19, 2012 at 11:59 am
LAST WEEK, BETWEEN edits on my next book, I gathered some friends and the proper tools and pruned–trying to erase more damage from last October’s snowstorm, and also the general stuff one needs to do late winter here each year. Lots more to go, but we’re off to a good start–which got me thinking you might be wondering what to prune when and how. That’s the topic of this week’s radio podcast–and also of some useful stories in the A Way to Garden archives: [read more…]
how to grow carrots, with dr. john navazio
March 15, 2012 at 8:10 am
WHEN THE MOST COMMON CHALLENGE readers confessed in a recent story on vegetable gardening was “I can’t grow carrots,” I knew whom to call: John Navazio, Ph.D. to the rescue. John, who these days serves in a joint role as Senior Scientist for the Organic Seed Alliance and the Washington State University Extension specialist for organic seed for his home state, has grown—and bred—more than a few carrots in his time. John, whose dramatic and delicious purple ‘Dragon’ carrot is bright orange inside, was reassuring as ever. First, don’t feel bad, he said. “Carrots are one of the harder vegetables to grow,” confirms John (with flowering carrots in an OSA photo, above), and for a few reasons: [read more…]
