With winter comes the potential for deicing salt damage to garden plants. Passing cars and snow plows spray salt-laden slush onto garden beds, winter buds of deciduous plants, and the needles of conifers. Salts slowly spread from driveways, sidewalks, and … Continue reading →

(Author’s Note: While growing your own vegetable garden transplants from seed begins in early spring, the gardener needs time to accumulate all of the necessary supplies. With this need in mind, I offer the following advice on growing your own.) … Continue reading →

Most gardeners are delighted to see a butterfly sipping nectar from a flower in their garden, a delight that may be accompanied by a sense of accomplishment: “My garden is a butterfly garden!” Yet many of these same gardeners become … Continue reading →

What would be the perfect gift for each of the gardeners on your list this year? I mean true gardeners, people with a passion for cultivating and nourishing the soil, gardeners who do their own digging and planting. What would … Continue reading →

Garden Biodiversity: The total number of species living in the garden ecosystem. Of course, garden biodiversity cannot be empirically measured as there are many thousands of microscopic species in both the soil and on the garden’s plants. The gardener can, … Continue reading →

(Author’s Note: Many of my columns for the coming winter months will be devoted to sustaining biodiversity in our gardens, both in the soil and above ground. Winter is the season to dream of next year’s garden, and this week’s … Continue reading →

The ravages of a Maine winter play havoc with the garden’s trees and shrubs. Winter sun, wind, and cold temperatures can bleach and desiccate evergreen foliage, damage bark, and injure or kill branches, flowerbuds, and roots. Hungry mice burrow beneath … Continue reading →