I planted some creasy green seeds last spring and they mostly sat in the finely tilled soil and sulked. Nancy had received a big pack of seeds from her cousin, Billy, and I spread the extras at the top end of my garden where not much grows anyway. Not enough sun. I also remember scattering them just about the time we had a little dry spell, so they didn’t do anything. But I didn’t … [Read more...]

  Like the Lorax, I speak for the trees, and this Lorax says don’t waste your Christmas tree – recycle it! Christmas is over. It’s time to un-decorate the tree, drag it out to the curb and let the trash guys do their thing. But not so fast! A Christmas tree has many uses after the holiday season is over. For one, it makes ideal cover for small birds as they face the coming winter. On … [Read more...]

My Daddy always said that it didn’t matter when you planted tomatoes in your garden, they all came in at the same time. Meaning….. for a few short weeks in the summer, you’ll have tomatoes coming out of the wazoo, and then it’s back to eating plastic tomatoes from the grocery store. But I believe I’ve solved the tomato glut problem, This spring, my Nancy started a patio garden at the top of … [Read more...]

I don’t have okra plants. I have okra trees. Several are over 8 feet tall. I have to pull them over and stand on tiptoes to snip off any ripe pods. But I’m not complaining. I have had a bumper crop of okra this summer, and they are still producing! Okra and peppers, I have discovered, are two vegetables that don’t like cool weather. The later you can wait to plant the okra, the better they do. … [Read more...]

We had such a successful garden this spring that we decided to extend our growing season with a few beets. Nancy scattered some in her patio boxes and they sprouted immediately. We are now in the process of thinning. Beets prefer cool weather to brutally hot summers, yet if you plant too early in the spring, they just sit there and sulk. Some years, I have sewn beet seeds with phenomenal luck … [Read more...]

In early spring, I get antsy about growing things. For the past few years, while working and typing articles at my Lights Out office in Ruckersville, I have been starting seeds in small Jiffy pots. I put them in the bathroom window with lots of afternoon sun. Later, I transplant them to my garden in the back yard, sometimes with success, sometimes not. This past spring, I started some yellow … [Read more...]

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row.   I remember that from my first book of nursery rhymes. I didn’t have much of a cockleshell crop this year, but my squash, cukes, tomatoes and okra have kicked ass. Several of my backyard gardener friends also admit to having one of their most productive gardens … [Read more...]

We have not had a deer in our yard this year (extreme hard knocking on wood), but we have had plenty of squirrels. Squirrels can inflict almost as much damage to a garden and plants as deer and nothing seems to stop them - except a product from Messinas called Squirrel Stopper. This stuff really works. We had some beautiful red tomatoes ripening on the vines on our patio and the very day we … [Read more...]

My timing as a back yard gardener is not the best. I usually plant too early. I get excited with the coming spring and plant in early March, which is fine for things like greens, onion sets and lettuce. But the rest of the stuff lies in state, like little seed coffins. Then I have to replant and often that’s too late. Still, I enjoy gardening. Watching stuff grow, watching anything sprout and … [Read more...]

Don’t have space for a garden, you say? Do you have a patio or driveway that gets some sun? Then you have space for a great garden. This spring, my wife Nancy decided to plant a patio garden. She had a number of large wooden and pottery planters, and filled them with garden soil, added a little fertilizer and we have already been enjoying the fruits of her labor while my in-ground garden is … [Read more...]