Your Backyard Garden Information Source
There are several ways in which garden rubbish can be disposed of. Waste material may be incorporated in the compost heap or it may be dug into the ground during the autumn and winter soil preparations. There are, however, many occasions when it is advisable to burn rubbish, and the garden bonfire has an important part to play in routine […]
Lime and liming Lime is strictly defined as a white caustic alkaline substance—quicklime; chemically, calcium oxide (CaO); made by heating chalk or limestone. But in gardening, lime means any calcium-containing material which is capable of correcting soil acidity. Why lime is used The main reason for using lime is to reduce the acidity of a soil that is acid or, […]
Aphids There are many kinds of aphids and they vary greatly in color and in general appearance, e.g., ‘greenfly’, ‘blackfly’, `woolly aphid’, etc. Often the pest is not noticed until large colonies have built up, which can happen very quickly in warm weather. By the time the damage is noticed, the aphids may have migrated, leaving only their cast skins. […]
There’s nothing better than walking in your garden and sifting through the beautiful plants. If you’ve always been a gardening enthusiast, we’re glad to have you here. Gardening is something that sounds simple on the ears but is a very complex process in reality. However, when you begin to carry on with this hobby after a certain age, your prior […]
By the time you read this, Christmas and the winter solstice will have come and gone. It will be hard to tell at first, but we will be gaining daylight every day. Despite what the calendar says about the start of true winter, we will be working our way to spring. The thought is especially pleasing to me, because this […]
I grew up with geraniums. So did everybody else. The plants of my childhood were, by and large, red, big-headed, and belonged to the genus Pelargonium. My father and thousands of like-minded people bought their geraniums every spring at the local nursery. They complained about the prices, then took home their flats of young plants and installed them in window […]
A previous owner of my house loved the color brown. The outside is painted two shades of mocha. The kitchen has brown print wallpaper and brindle-toned tiles on the counters. The upstairs study features walls strewn with brown paisleys. The TV room is engulfed by something that can only be described as cocoa-colored pseudo-Egyptian patterned wallpaper. I have nothing against […]
For years I have thought of poinsettias as a holiday cliché. Every bank, department store and building lobby displays them by the hundreds because they are a safe, appropriate choice for décor that is fast, festive and nonsectarian. Poinsettias are relatively inexpensive and offer lots of splashy color, but have the good taste to drop their bright red bracts after […]
A few weeks ago I finished Bill Bryson’s excellent book A Walk In the Woods. The author, an American who returned to this country several years ago after living twenty years in England, decided to walk the Appalachian Trail as a way of reconnecting with the land. Since Bryson is a professional travel writer, I assume that he was also […]
Late winter and early spring is a great time to start seedlings and get the gardening season underway. Growing your own seedlings from seed is highly rewarding and can open doors to even more species that are not often found in garden centers. However, a couple of problems can sometimes curb the indoor green thumb and seriously affect the success […]