Do I need lime in my little garden? Nitrogen? Phosphorous? Formaldehyde? Viagra? How would I know? I am a writer not a chemist. But… Now I will know. My sweet wife gave me a HoldAll Soil Test Kit for Christmas. It’s so simple “Even Brewer Can Use It”, they advertise. I am the HoldAll Soil Test Kit poster child. First of all, no experience is needed to use this handy kit. … [Read more...]

On Feb. 1 our Lenten Rose was in full bloom. What a beautiful, wonderful plant. Several years ago, Nancy was trying to figure out what to do with the root-studded and mostly-shady space beneath our old maple tree in the back yard. She planted a few hostas and they did well, but she wanted some color and could find few colorful plants that could bloom without a lot of sun. My son, Jimmie, who … [Read more...]

  My little backyard garden called my name the other day as I walked to the rear to feed the birds. “Plant me,” it said. Not yet, little garden, not yet. One of the most enjoyable things I do – next to playing golf and penciling in a 3 on a par 4 hole, which seldom happens – is planting and tending to my garden. My garden is just the right size – any larger and it would be work, … [Read more...]

  Buying an edible cantaloupe is like playing the lottery, only with worse odds. I had just about given up any hope in purchasing a tasty cantaloupe this year, no matter the store. I think they all buy them from the same farm in Mexico where they toss out any ripe, juicy cantaloupes and put only the half green, hard-as-bricks and totally tasteless ‘lopes on the trucks. But lo’ and … [Read more...]

  They’re out there and they are falling. Leaves. What do we do with them? When I was a boy, Daddy would rake them to the edge of the curb and burn them. So did everybody else. October in Lewisburg carried the enchanting smell of burning leaves for much of the month. The question today is what to do with leaves. Namely, do you put them in a backyard garden – assuming you have a … [Read more...]

  Burpless 26. If you are a backyard gardener, remember that name. It’s the damnedest cucumber there is. Prolific, sweet and tender. Last spring I was at the Corner Garden Store at Ruckersville and said I wanted to plant some long cucumbers, like English cucumbers. Their knowledgeable  staff recommended a product call Burpless 26. I put four in the ground in Early May, but rabbits (I … [Read more...]

  I have four healthy cherry tomato vines and fully anticipated I would be plucking the tender beauties throughout the summer for garden salads. But the cherry tomatoes had other ideas. I have had very few to date, but in the next few weeks I will have them in spades. The vines are dragging the ground, they are so loaded. I don’t know why the cherry and grape tomatoes wait until so late … [Read more...]

  Pity the backyard gardener. If the deer don’t get you, the rabbits will. And if they leave you alone, the squirrels bite and dig up everything. Then there is too much or too little rain or stink bugs or Japanese beetles. In Chuck Strauss’s case, it’s a tomato hornworm. Chuck said that one day, the leaves were completely gone from two of his tomato plants. He thought at first it was deer, … [Read more...]

This spring I planted four hybrid cucumber vines I bought from the Corner Store Garden Center in Ruckersville. They are Sweet Success Hybrid Cucumbers which grow and resemble English cucumbers – long and straight. The damned rabbits nearly mowed down three on my young plants before I could put netting over them, but one vine is doing great and the others are making a comeback. About a week ago, … [Read more...]