Garlic is normally planted in the fall. Planting at that time of the year allows the garlic bulb to be exposed to several weeks of cold temperatures, which stimulates bulb production. Missing the fall date can be disappointing, it means waiting an entire year before planting a crop. If you are the type of person … Continue Reading →
The Detroit News Blogs
Home of The Detroit News Weblogs
An intensive method to build garden soil
In my last post I discussed a hands-off style of flower gardening that works some in established gardens. In those cases the soil is usually in pretty good shape after having had plants growing in the same spot for many years. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have such a garden space. Sometimes the soil in … Continue Reading →
A flower garden that plants itself
A friend of mine once told me his method of flower gardening was to see what comes up then just pull out the weeds. That actually is a viable way to approach it, especially if you have a personality type that doesn’t mind a bit of disorder. For a while my friend was moving into … Continue Reading →
Early spring is a good time to divide perennials
The best time of year to divide perennial flowers is just as their new shoots begin to peek up through the soil. That time is right now. Gardeners have different reasons why they might want to divide their perennials. Maybe the plant is getting too old or too big for the space they’ve been growing … Continue Reading →
Wood ashes for the garden
If you enjoy regularly using your fireplace or wood stove, you know that a fair amount of wood ashes can be accumulated over a heating season. Under the right circumstances, those ashes can be an excellent fertilizer for your garden. Wood ashes contain about 10 percent potassium, one of the three major elements needed by plants … Continue Reading →
Prune fruit trees in two stages to avoid ice storm damage
It’s tempting to prune fruit trees in early March especially on warm, sunny days when were out in the yard looking for some thing to do. Usually it’s fine to do so, but I like to wait to prune until after the chance of freezing rain has past. A heavy accumulation of ice during an … Continue Reading →
Force shrub and tree branches for early spring in your home
We still have plenty of winter left to go until spring arrives. In the meantime you can bring a little bit of spring early into your home by forcing shrub and tree branches into budding out of season. The shrub everyone thinks of first is pussy willows with their irresistible silver, fuzzy buds. There are … Continue Reading →
Checking if your old seeds are still usable
After taking inventory of our seeds last week, we had to decide which seeds we were going to keep and which we needed to throw out. Each year we write the date on the seed containers, that gives us a starting point. Some seed packs slipped through our system though and had no date on … Continue Reading →
Try, try again
Friends: We have chosen a new day and time to pray at 13600 Van Dyke for wisdom and guidance. We’ll meet at the front of the church Sunday at 2 p.m. Immediately afterward, we’ll convene elsewhere (directions will be given at the church) to discuss our thoughts and feelings in the aftermath of our group … Continue Reading →
Snowed out
Friends: It looks like the weather WILL NOT cooperate with Friday’s plan to meet at the church at 4 p.m. to pray. For now, please — wherever you’re at tomorrow at 4, even if you’re out shoveling snow — spend a few minutes asking the Lord for wisdom and guidance on what the future holds … Continue Reading →
