A bunch of Deadhead Flowers

Most of us, male and female, know what it is like to be overdue for a haircut. One day you wake up and your hair is going in all kinds of new directions. Old cowlicks return like bad checks, curls straggle over earlobes or shoulders. Waves are in the wrong places, and creating the usual arrangement, which is as automatic […]

Miniature or Small gardens

The growing scarcity of building land, particularly in towns and suburbs, with the accompanying shrinkage in the size of plots as prices continue to rise, poses difficult problems. Making a worthwhile garden in such restricted areas requires a` good deal of careful forethought. In fact, the proverbial pocket-handkerchief plot has almost become a reality, and this at a time when […]

Hill side gardening, How to build

Hill Side Gardening Dealing with steep slopes can be one of the hardest tasks when it comes to garden design. Mowing a lawn on a slope can be treacherous, and plant borders a real nightmare to weed. The Challenge The original garden had no terracing and the slope of the lawn was proving too difficult to maintain. When the client […]

Lawn Edging tools

A lawn is only as neat as its edges so the purchase of an efficient edging tool is an important investment. The choice of tool must depend on the amount of lawn which has to be dealt with. For the more extensive ones, a mechanically propelled type will be necessary to reduce time and labor. This does not mean to […]

SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY – Gardening

  The world is full of odors, and some of them are not good. Then again, “good” is a relative term. The source of one person’s aromatherapy is the cause of another person’s allergy attack. The human nose is a complicated thing, and the human brain is even more so. Still, most gardeners are fond of fragrant plants, a fact […]

THE VITALITY OF VITA

It is both irritating and encouraging to have a string of rainy days during the busiest season of the gardening year. Irritating because there is so much to do outside, and so little time to get all the planting, weeding, mulching and other chores done. Encouraging because the rain is needed, and, frankly, so is the respite. I like to […]

Competitive Grower Atlantic Giant Pumpkins 1990- 1995

DILLS ATLANTIC GIANT PUMPKIN 500+ SITES-TOP TEN AVERAGES   It is just as interesting to track the top sites as the top pumpkins. I believe the best way to do this is use the top ten average weight. In 1995 those in the top half of this table were Ottawa, Clackamas, Port Elgin, Sarnia, Windsor, Topsfield, and Oconomowoc. There is […]

All-America Selections Flower Winners – 2017

Each year the best of the new annual flowers (those that only live for one year) are judged, and the winners given the All-America Selections (AAS) designation.   In the past these have all been grown from seeds, but starting in 2015 those grown “vegetative” from cuttings were included as well.  This year’s annual flower winners, grown from seeds, include a […]