This coming Saturday, April 22nd, is Earth Day! Earth Day was established in 1969 at a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) conference in San Francisco, California. In March of 1970, a sanctioned Proclamation was signed at the U.N. A U.S. senator from Wisconsin organized a national demonstration about environmental issues, and the … Read more
Elephant ears have been cultivated for more than 10,000 years as a food crop—making it one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world. The botanical name is Colocasia esculenta—esculenta comes from the Latin word for edible. It’s toxic when raw due to calcium oxalate crystals but edible when cooked. In Polynesia, elephant ears are … Read more
It’s National Walk Around Things Day – Let’s Take a Walk Around My Garden Did you know that tomorrow (Tuesday, the 4th) is National Walk Around Things Day? The National Day Calendar is uncertain of the origin of this, so let’s just “run” with it. I’m a gardener, so maybe I’ll celebrate by walking around … Read more
I get many people asking about making their yards more bee and butterfly friendly, but what can we do to make our whole yard a wildlife-friendly place? A New Way of Thinking Maybe we should reprioritize what we want. If we want a yard that’s wildlife friendly, then why sweat the patch of clover in … Read more
Today is the first official day of spring—in the northern hemisphere, anyway. On the other hand, the Celtic tradition has spring beginning on February 2nd (Candlemas) and continuing until May 1st (Beltane). In the southern hemisphere, spring begins on September 1st and ends on November 30th. Meteorologists consider spring the whole months of March, April, … Read more
What is tastier than asparagus straight from the garden—or strawberries still warm from the sun; spring onions so fresh that soil is still clinging to them? There are many edibles that are grown from packaged roots. They are easy, inexpensive, and fun to grow. Some are even perennial and will provide delicious vegetables for many … Read more
Annual—An annual is a plant that grows and blooms in one season, then dies with the frost. Yes, you’ll have to plant it again next year—but it makes up for it by usually blooming the entire summer, all the way to frost. Acidic—When applied to soil, the soil has a pH between 0 and 7. … Read more
Today, February 27th is National Strawberry Day. Of course, for me, every day is Strawberry Day because I LOVE them. Fun Facts About Strawberries! Here are a few interesting facts about Strawberries for National Strawberry Day: Their botanical name is Fragaria—after the Latin Fragra meaning fragrant. Nobody is exactly sure how they got the name … Read more
Every year, about this time, I get hit with many questions from people who have started seeds indoors. Here are some of the most common questions I get asked: “Why are my seedlings long and floppy?” Long, weak stems resulting from inadequate light is called etiolation. There is only one fix for this condition—more light. … Read more
That beautiful hellebore (aka Lenten Rose) that grace my garden in winter has a long, somewhat violent history. In one of the first recorded instances of biological warfare, the Grecian army used massive quantities of hellebores to poison the water supply of the city of Kirrha in 585 B.C. The townspeople were so overcome with … Read more
