Annuals

AnnualsPerennialsPodcast

How to Grow: Poppies

Learn how to select, plant and grow poppies in your garden. Listen to Podcast:   podcast transcript Papaver spp   Other Name Many different types   Sun Requirements full sun   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Summer and periodically again to fall in colors such as red, orange, white, yellow, purple, and pink.   Mature Height x Spread 8 inches to 3 feet inches x 1 foot   Added Benefits attracts beneficials, drought tolerant, edible, deer resistant   Poppies are like splashes of delight across a meadow, garden or field. There are...

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AnnualsGarden Design & CareVegetable

How to Grow: Raised Beds

How to Grow raised beds Raised beds have become a popular way to garden. They have many advantages to regular, in-ground beds. Raised beds warm up faster in spring, drain water better, and allow you to plant more intensively. They are easier to weed, fertilize, and water and you get more production from your vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Here some simple steps to making a raised bed. Mow it Down- Mow or cut down the grass or weeds in this area. The reason you won't be stripping the sod or digging out weeds is there is a natural layer of...

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Annuals

How to Grow: Salvia

Salvia splendens   Other Name scarlet sage   Sun Requirements full sun, part sun   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Mid summer to fall in colors such as red, pink, salmon, blue, purple and white   Mature Height x Spread 1 to 3 feet x 1 to 2 feet   Added Benefits attracts beneficials, attracts hummingbirds   I used to think of annual salvias as those over used flowers with spiky stems and fire engine red blooms. However, with newer varieties featuring blue, purple, salmon, white, burgundy and pink colored flowers, I'm giving them a...

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AnnualsVegetable

How to Grow: Saving Seeds

Learn how to save your own seeds and the best ones to save. Listen to podcast: Leo Aikman once said, “a good gardener always plants 3 seeds - one for the bugs, one for the weather and one for himself." I'd like to add and one to save as well. Saving seeds isn't for every gardener but there are great reasons to do it. Saving seeds saves you money, preserves unusual heirloom varieties and helps you develop varieties adapted to your yard. With concerns about plant extinction and rare home varieties becoming unavailable, the best way to ensure...

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AnnualsPodcastVegetable

How to Grow: Seed & Plant Catalogs

Learn about seed and plant catalogs including how to select the best varieties for your garden. Listen to Podcast: It used to be New Years meant a slew of seed and plant catalogs filling my mailbox. Now the catalogs start arriving in November, but I still never get around to perusing them until after the holidays. Seed and plant catalogs are a good place to shop. They offer unique varieties at an affordable price. Where else can you find a plum-shaped Green Zebra tomato or a non self-sowing cleome flower. And now most catalogs are on-line...

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AnnualsPerennialsVegetable

How to Grow: Seed Starting

Learn about ways to start your flower and vegetable seed indoors successfully Listen to Podcast: I tend to get a little seedy this time of year. I'm itching to get into the garden, but snow, cold and mud stops me in my tracks. So, I turn my attention to seed starting and get seed crazy. I want to grow everything too soon. We all know what happens if we start out tomatoes now. It's a tomato jungle by mid-April, a good month before we can put them outdoors. So, here are some seed starting tips for you and me to remember to help contain...

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AnnualsVegetable

How to Grow: Seed Swapping

Learn about seed swapping including information on heirloom seeds and seed libraries Listen to Podcast: On a cold, snowy night in February, I was invited to the Jericho Town Library to talk about seed saving. But this wasn't your regular home gardener audience. These gardeners have created a seed library. The premise of the seed library is quite simple. Like with books, you go in and “take out” some seeds. However, at the end of the season you deposit seed of that variety back into the library for others to try. There are more than 400...

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Annuals

How to Grow: Snapdragons

Antirrhinum majus   Other Name common snapdragon   Sun Requirements Full sun, part sun   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color spring through fall in colors such as pink, red, orange, yellow and bi-colors.   Mature Height x Spread 1 to 3 feet x 12 to 18 inches   Added Benefits attracts beneficials, attracts hummingbirds, deer resistant   Snapdragons are fun annuals. Individual flowers look like mouths. It's fun to use snapdragon flowers to play with your kids. Just squeeze the bottom of the flowers and watch the "jaws" open and close....

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AnnualsPodcastVegetable

How to Grow: Solving Seed Starting Problems

Listen to this podcast on common seed starting problems and how to solve them. The days are getting longer, the sun is stronger and with warm weather this week, gardeners are thinking about sowing seeds. Of course, it's still too early to sow outdoors, but if you're an indoor seed starter you may already have seedlings popping up. But sometimes your little seedlings don't look very happy. This could be due to a number of factors. So, let's do some seed starting problem solving. If your seedlings all of sudden fall over and die, you may...

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AnnualsPerennialsVegetable Weeds

How to Grow: Spring Weeding

Listen to this podcast on how to identify and control spring weeds organically. With all the rain, it's been a good year for weeds. Weeds are smart and can give you clues as to what's happening in your soil. For example, plantain thrives on compacted soils, shepherd's purse on acidic soils, horsetail in poorly drained soils and chickweed in high nitrogen soils. Sometimes simply correcting the soil condition will help get rid of the weeds. Check out the book, Weeds and What They Tell. However, even with great soil conditions, you'll still...

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