HOE, HOE, HOE
/0 Comments/in Gardening/by Lee Reich“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
/0 Comments/in Tools/by Lee ReichWith 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 Read more
RAINY WEATHER: WHY WATER?
/0 Comments/in Gardening/by Lee ReichPrognastication, Nope
Who can predict the weather? If it happens to be raining cats and dogs as you read this, my words might make you want to pelt me with ripe tomatoes — if you had them yet. Still, I’ll say it again: Timely watering is the way too get the best plant growth from any plot of ground in any season.
Watering usually helps even in wet seasons because all the water that falls in such seasons is not available to plants. Roots need air to function, and a cat and dog rain temporarily drives all the air out of the ground. Roots start to breathe and function well again only after gravity has pulled excess water deeper into the ground. A timely watering will spur plant growth in drier periods between rains.
I’m not making a case for setting up elaborate irrigation systems to water every maple, marigold, lettuce, and lawngrass. (My blueberry bushes and my vegetables are the only plants that are watered regularly, here — as described in my book Weedless Gardening — with drip irrigation on a timer.) Read more