CURE ALL OR SNAKE OIL?
Many Uses for Marigold
Gardeners who visit here frequently comment, upon seeing marigold plants growing in and at the foot of my vegetable beds, that I must have planted them for pest control. After all, marigolds are supposed to be one of the workhorses of biological pest control. Plant them and plant pests will be killed or — if they are lucky — merely repelled.
It’s an appealing concept: sunny plants that thwart pestilence and blight even as they brighten the garden with their blossoms. Marigolds greatest claim to pest control fame is their effect on nematodes, an effect documented in numerous scientific studies. Read more
HOE, HOE, HOE
“Cultivate”??
If I told you that I was stepping outside to “cultivate” my tomatoes, you’d perhaps think I was going out to pull off suckers and tie stems to their stakes. If I told you I was stepping outside to “cultivate” my garden, you’d perhaps imagine that I was going to attend to my tomatoes, perhaps also thin out excess corn plants, prune back my early blooming clematis, and . . . you get the picture. I’m going to take care of miscellaneous things in my garden.
I wouldn’t say I’m stepping outside to “cultivate” my meadow because a meadow doesn’t involve the intimate care needed by a vegetable, a flower garden, or fruit trees or shrubs.
But “cultivate,” when it comes to gardening, is rife with meanings. Read more
A BAKER’S DOZEN OF ESSENTIAL GARDENING TOOLS
With 40+ years of gardening under my belt, many gardening tools have come and gone around here. Or not gone; they may still be sitting in a dark corner of my garage. Some of those tools, while hardly essential, I’ve consciously kept because they are useful every once in a while, perhaps every few years. A pickaxe, for example. If I didn’t happen to own one, I could borrow one when needed.
Then there are those tools that get constant use, tools that it would be very hard to do without on an almost daily basis. What follows is my baker’s dozen of essential tools. True, each gardener might tweak such a list to suit his or her specific situation or need, but give each of these tools consideration. You might decide to add or subtract from your own list.
From the Ground Up
Good gardens begin at ground level. I pay close attention to my soil and a few of this Baker’s Dozen list relate to the soil.
It’s been 35 years since I purchased a garden cart, essentially a sturdy, 3-sided wooden box that rolls on 
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