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what 1 million unique visitors liked best in 2013

'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
  1. Teri Chace says:

    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!

  2. Dahlink says:

    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!

  3. Barbara says:

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

  4. Debra Slagle says:

    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.

  5. Bette says:

    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.

  6. Linda Douville says:

    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 :)

  7. Robb from the old OGOLI club says:

    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

  8. nance says:

    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.

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