Podcast

June 21, 2019 The Best Time in the Garden, Abraham Mignon, Cyrus McCormick, Frederick Law Olmsted, Summer Solstice, Donald Culross Peattie, Flowering Earth, National Selfie Day, and Advice on Weeding from 1843

When is the best time to divide? To prune? To transplant? In general, the answer I most often give is that the best time to do anything is when you’re standing there with a shovel, or a knife, or a spade in your hand. We are all so busy. Our gardens can get away from us. Our good intentions of getting to things at a later date can evaporate faster than water on a hot July day. Thus the saying,…

June 20, 2019 The Zip Slicer, John Bartram, Meriwether Lewis, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, Isabella Abbott, Alice Mackenzie Swaim, The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs, the Chelsea Chop, and Coe Finch Austin

There is nothing that can beat eating fresh food from the garden. It seems every meal around here has fresh basil lettuce from the garden and little cherry tomatoes. Today, I was at my favorite olive oil store, and they sell this little gizmo called the Zip Slicer. You load it up with your cherry tomatoes or grapes, and then you slice them all in one quick motion. It’s fantastic if you eat tomatoes and grapes a lot. It…

June 19, 2019 Iris, Joseph Banks, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Theodore Payne, Elbert Green Hubbard, James Matthew Barrie, Reader’s Digest New Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, and New Work Gloves

Irises are in full bloom right now. Although there are around 300 species of iris, Bearded Iris and Siberian Iris are two of the most common types of irises grown. Iris takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow. During the Middle Ages, irises were linked to the French monarchy, and the fleur-de-lis is now a national symbol of France. Brevities #OTD It was on this day in 1820, that the botanist Joseph Banks died in…

June 18, 2019 Little Free Herbary, Karl Theodor Hartweg, Edgar Shannon Anderson, Professor H.Y. Mohan Ram, Carol Klein, Great British Gardens, Vita Sackville-West, The Names of Plants by David Gledhill, Doyle’s Thornless Blackberry, and Jumpin Jack Flash

Have you heard of the Little Free Library that some thoughtful people put up out by their sidewalks? Well, a few weeks ago, I saw a post by Hylton Jolliffe about his Little Free Herbary… It takes obvious inspiration from the little free library movement, and it aims to help us share and connect with neighbors and others who might need herbs for cooking medicinal remedies fragrances, etc. The idea takes obvious inspiration from the wonderful Little Free Library movement,…

June 17, 2019 Reusing Potting Soil, Edwin Hunt, James Weldon Johnson, Alexander Braun, Nellie McClung, the University of Wisconsin’s Arboretum, Emily Dickinson, Joanne Shaw, The Plant Hunters by Carolyn Fry, Geranium Care, and Lajos Kossuth

Do you change the oil in your window boxes and containers every spring? You really don’t need to – I don’t. Here’s what I do: I remove about a quarter to a third of the soil in my containers, and I put it in my potting soil bin. Then, I add a little perlite and compost to the original container, and that’s it. Any extra potting soil that I have leftover in my bin, I use for new containers. …