A Way To Garden

A Way To Garden

'horticultural how-to and woo-woo'
the source of organic gardening inspiration
margaret roach, head gardener

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what 1 million unique visitors liked best in 2013

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'German Extra Hardy' has few cloves, each very largeIN 2013, A MILLION DIFFERENT PEOPLE visited me and Jack and the frogboys here at A Way to Garden, and from the looks of things, statistics-wise, a lot of you treasure your homegrown garlic as much as I do. Yes, garlic was the top topic of the year, in which edible plants in general–from growing them from seed right through to tricks for putting up the harvest–dominated your top-50 favorite stories. See if you agree with what made the 2013 list:

the 2013 top-50

  1. the tricky matter of when to harvest garlic
  2. what to plant now for a fall vegetable garden
  3. how to freeze parsley, chives and other herbs
  4. farm-fresh peaches, frozen to perfection
  5. growing and storing a year of parsley
  6. growing potatoes organically: when and how to plant, hill and harvest
  7. what’s in pickling spice? some recipes
  8. when to start seed
  9. 10 thoughts on successful underplanting
  10. grow healthy tomatoes: staking and pruning
  11. garden prep: how to make a bed, with cardboard
  12. how to grow carrots, with dr. john navazio
  13. estimating viability: how long do seeds last?
  14. hot plant: stewartia, an ideal small tree
  15. there’s more than one way to ripen a tomato
  16. when to start what: vegetable-seed calculators
  17. why vegetable seedlings stretch and get spindly
  18. just saying no to deer, with fencing
  19. from the forums: pruning viburnums
  20. growing and storing a year of garlic
  21. fear not! how to prune clematis, with dan long
  22. dan koshansky’s refrigerator dill pickles
  23. the toughest groundcovers i rely on
  24. 7 fall-cleanup tasks you shouldn’t skip, with ken druse
  25. hugelkultur, nature’s raised garden beds
  26. cucumber-growing q&a, and the best pickles ever
  27. soil-saving tricks for planting big pots
  28. new! slideshow of my 54 top shade plants
  29. giveaway: andrew weil’s cookbook ‘true food,’ and his tuscan kale salad
  30. skins-on easy tomato sauce to freeze
  31. 6 lessons about hosta, with tony avent
  32. what weed is it? putting names to pesky plants
  33. 10 tips for growing blueberries in the backyard, with lee reich
  34. when to start seeds? some tools that can help
  35. impatiens downy mildew forecast: too soon to tell
  36. birdnote q&a: hummingbird migration, and flying in formation
  37. baked pears for breakfast, or maybe dessert
  38. garden faq’s
  39. tomato-growing faq’s
  40. radio podcasts: itunes, stream, or live
  41. roasted vegetables, a sunday tradition
  42. feed the soil: my experiment with mycorrhizae
  43. beloved conifers: weeping alaska cedar
  44. how to make compost, and use it, with lee reich
  45. caterpillar alert: who’s eating my cabbage and broccoli?
  46. say hello to my newborn book!
  47. giveaway: fighting weeds, with teri chace
  48. overwintering rosemary, indoors and out
  49. my top conifers for year-round garden beauty
  50. garlic harvest and curing: i did something right

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19 comments
December 20, 2013

comments

  1. Teri Chace says

    December 20, 2013 at 8:47 am

    It doesn’t matter how busy I am–outdoors in gardening weather (define that, Teri, ha!) or indoors baking Christmas cookies and wrapping packages–I always stop to read your blog posts. You are the best–the top of my list!

    Reply
  2. Linda says

    December 20, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    will Jack be blogging about ,his holidays and adventures? The frogboys must have some stories to tell also

    Reply
    • margaret says

      December 21, 2013 at 8:13 am

      Jack has big plans for 2014, Linda. Last year he only wrote ONE story, the lazy bum. It was this one.

      Reply
  3. Blake says

    December 21, 2013 at 8:43 am

    Congratulations on a million! Here’s to your continued success in 2014.

    Reply
    • margaret says

      December 21, 2013 at 9:00 am

      Thank you, Blake. And same to you.

      Reply
  4. Ann L says

    December 21, 2013 at 10:06 am

    I LOVE your website , photos, and advice. I also love the fact that you don’t had “sponsors” and ads on your site. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Dahlink says

    December 21, 2013 at 11:45 am

    My Max (on my lap) sends his best to you and Jack. Our frogboys and girls would send greetings if they weren’t settling down for winter. Happy holidays, one and all, and thanks for all you do all year long!

    Reply
  6. The Other Tom says

    December 21, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    Here’s a million thanks for your garden wit and wisdom! You have planted many a seed of joy in my garden. ;-)

    Reply
    • margaret says

      December 21, 2013 at 6:01 pm

      Dear The Other Tom: Happy to be sowing joy. Things could be worse than that, for certain!

      Reply
  7. emily says

    December 21, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    I, too, love your blog. And because of you, I planted garlic for the first time this fall.

    Reply
  8. Barbara says

    December 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    Thank you for all the timely information . Congratulations on reaching 1 million ! I so look forward to your blog each month happy holidays

    Reply
  9. Debra Slagle says

    December 21, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    I have learned a lot from your site and always look forward to reading it and learning more. I really did enjoy the garlic post and how to freeze herbs post. Congrats on one million. To think, I am one tiny part of that. lol. Happy Holidays to you and yours. A fan from Ohio.

    Reply
  10. Julie Kinnear says

    December 28, 2013 at 11:31 am

    I just discovered your site and this list is a fresh start, now I have a lot to read throughout the holidays!

    Reply
  11. Bette says

    December 29, 2013 at 10:50 am

    Kudos Margaret for your sense of humor, insights, straight forward info & observations. I missed your blog posts these last several weeks. Glad that you have reappeared on my machine. Looking forward to gardening 2014 with you as inspiration.

    Reply
  12. Linda Douville says

    December 31, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    Here I am in the Florida Keys – a dry zone 10- on a rocky island where what dirt we have disappears (or is it that we grow rocks?)Thank you for your podcast and site. i learn lots from it even tho our growing season etc is so very different from yours. I planted my tomatoes and vegies a month ago and am hoping we have enough cool weather to set. I really enjoy your books especially ..”peace”..Have you any plans to make it an audible? Have a great New Year. LSD
    PS I forgot to mention that another reason I love your show is it serves as a reminder of why I left Minnesota and the frozen north 25 years ago :)

    Reply
    • margaret says

      January 1, 2014 at 5:36 am

      Thanks, Linda, for the very sweet message! Minnesota to Florida is QUITE the shift of season/weather/etc. Wow. Brave you!
      There is an audiobook of “The Backyard Parables,” the recent book, but not of “Peace.”

      Reply
  13. Robb from the old OGOLI club says

    January 1, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    Margaret….A Happy and Healthy New Year to you and yours and as always, thank you for your knowledge, spirit and sharing of same…Robby

    Reply
    • margaret says

      January 1, 2014 at 2:58 pm

      Thanks, Robb. You are welcome, and I am glad for the encouragement.

      Reply
  14. nance says

    January 10, 2014 at 10:39 am

    Margaret, I just watched In the Garden With Margaret Roach on Growing a Greener World and am so glad I now have seen you in person so to speak. I DVR that show. Your place is lovely. I agree with you about never using the chemicals. We do some gardening where we live (New Mexico) and of course it isn’t green here like where you live so we pick what we want to have green. My husband’s vegetable garden is great so we use our water mainly there. One thing I would like to say is that we have decided to not grow summer squash or zucchini because of the horrible squash bug infestations and we refuse to use any chemicals or poisons to try to control them. Nothing we have tried has helped so although squash is one of my favorite things, we have to at least for a few years give up growing squash. Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of squash bugs? Or preventing them? The more I pick them, the more come around. Last year, I tried putting fingernail polish on the eggs to prevent them from hatching (didn’t help at all, they just laid twice as many eggs), we planted radishes and nasturtiums around the squash plants which I read on the internet (had absolutely no effect other than maybe the squash bugs love those things!). Anyway, if you have any ideas, I would love to hear from you. I love your blog and your books. Such a pleasure.

    Reply

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Podcast: Soups, Soups & More Soups

I’VE FOLLOWED a vegetarian diet for decades, but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I mastered a really good vegetable soup. Now I’m learning variations on vegetable-based soups, plus ones with beans and even ideas for mushroom soups, too–all thanks to Alexandra Stafford and these recipes. (Stream it below, read the transcript or subscribe free.)

https://robinhoodradioondemand.com/podcast-player/6211/vegetable-soup-ideas-with-ali-stafford-november-5-a-way-to-garden-with-margaret-roach.mp3

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awaytogarden

mad gardener, nature addict, award-winning writer & podcaster, rural resident, corporate dropout, creator of awaytogarden dot com and matching book.

Instagram post 2190297402408409324_444552553 Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytogarden #wavehillchairs
Instagram post 2177779417009402040_444552553 No matter that it was 11F and 17F on mornings this week; my lifelong companions and I are all tucked in, each in our respective offseason spots. Three giant pots of #cliviaminiata that are actually pieces of my long-gone grandmother’s original plant from many, many decades ago, love the offseason bright cold of the mudroom, and get no water till around the new year or so. They need a chill (under 50 but above 35) for about 40 days to trigger timely bloom in late winter/early spring (without it they will bloom whenever, later, like June or even summer). The #alocasia reacts to the cold of the mudroom by shutting down and going dormant and leafless, and then I’ll let it sleep till late winter, when I give it a drink to see if it awakens. That one sleeps and wakes on its own timetable because I do not have a proper spot for it (ideally warm, like 60 or 65 at least, and humid and bright...no can do the humid part here). We have been together probably 10 years anyhow, despite my shortcomings as a #plantparent . #alocasiaamazonica #clivias #houseplantsofinstagram #houseplants #awaytogarden
Instagram post 2172580656557749859_444552553 Gardener: “I raked all the leaves!” Nature: “Oh, really?” (Cue sound of demonic laughter from on high.)
Instagram post 2170506606641504178_444552553 I wanna tell you how it’s gonna be You’re gonna give your love to me I wanna love you night and day You know my love will not fade away Not fade away Nope. Not this #cotinus leaf’s fiery hot love at least. Like the 1957 #buddyholly song I first heard by #therollingstones in 1964, it keeps going. #awaytogarden #fallfoliage2019 #cotinusgrace #notfadeaway
Instagram post 2168987273989949378_444552553 “Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...” And here it comes.
Instagram post 2166837817953503284_444552553 Constant companions: If you want to keep good company all winter, grow some good keepers. My house is stuffed with piles of #cucurbita awaiting their time in the oven or soup kettle. Each one is a character, distinctive. On one chair in the mudroom two close cousins in #cucurbitamoschata — the horse collar-shaped one called ‘Tromboncino’ or ‘Tromboncino Rampicante’ snuggles with some ‘Butternut.’ The ‘Tromboncino’ are better eaten green and small as #zucchini but I can’t resist their eventual mad size and shape, big enough to wear around your neck. I use their meat for enriching vegetable stock; the ‘Butternut’ are far more rich and delicious. Seed respectively from sandhillpreservation.com #sandhillpreservationcenter and @turtle_tree_seed (whose ‘Butternut,’ selected for “lastingness” for decades, will keep and keep into next spring or more). #wintersquash #awaytogarden #goodkeeper #cucurbitaceae
Instagram post 2162565040882902064_444552553 Furry fall friend: I look forward to crossing paths with this woolly caterpillar of the #giantleopardmoth this time of year, when its fiery intersegmental bands and plush coat seem to be just the right autumn-into-winter look. Miraculously this tiny animal will overwinter in a woodpile or in the leaf litter, even here in the North, building up a concentration of antifreeze (glycerol I think?) in its cells before the worst weather begins to avoid disaster. (Reminds me of the super-hardy #woodfrog who does similarly. Such heroes.) Swipe to see a beat-up pic of the adult moth, tattered with scales missing at its wing margins, but still dramatic. Unlike various spine-covered caterpillars that can sting you, this one’s hairs (or setae) won’t, but he will roll up tight if touched, in self-defense. I am in awe of such complex strategies of survival, I am. #mothsofinstagram #caterpillars #awaytogarden #hypercompescribonia #hypercompe
Instagram post 2161992098629435854_444552553 Beans are life. I mean, not only do I live on them daily (as I have as a vegetarian for 40+ years) but each one is a seed, a living embryo, a distinct and gorgeous little DNA miracle. I have been inspired by the hashtag #31daysofbeans by @lukasvolger lately, loving watching someone unknown to me (um, who shares my oatmeal thing too apparently...also see his #28daysofoatmeal) dish up the #phaseolus. We both admire bean ambassador Steve Sando @rancho_gordo and this photo might be my fave bean of all that I “met” via Steve years back, big and flat and chestnutty ‘Christmas Lima.’ My advice: don’t wait till Dec. 25 to dig in.
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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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