The book I’m currently working on is “The Education of a Gardener” by Russel Page, first published in England in 1962. And when I say “working on,” that’s exactly what I mean.

The warm weather we had earlier this week was a welcome break from the winter temperatures, but it may have caused problems for some plants. During the winter, a couple of days in a row with abnormally warm temperatures, will cause dormant plants  to lose their tolerance to cold. If a warm spell is followed … Continue Reading →

I finally decided to tackle a job that I’ve been putting off for quite a while — sorting my old seeds. This is a good time  of the year to do it since things are on-hold out in the garden. There’s a large storage tub full of seed packs that I’ve been accumulating for years. At … Continue Reading →

I’ve been harvesting kale from the garden since fall and there is still plenty left to pick. Even after the those cold nights in December, when the temperature dipped down to the single digits, my kale still is green and fresh with no signs of freeze damage. I knew they were very cold tolerant, but … Continue Reading →

I picked the last of my radishes today — the first day of winter. Even though we saw some nighttime temperatures dip into the teens, we’ve had a mild fall season overall.  The radishes seemed to do quite well under those conditions. They grew slowly but did manage to reach harvest size.   Earlier this … Continue Reading →

Sometimes it feels like I’m still gardening even though the growing season is over. For example, I’ve been tending my batch of sauerkraut for nearly a month now.

This week I’m helping a friend decide where to plant some evergreens in his yard. Now is the perfect time to make those decisions because the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes in the yard.  Since evergreens keep their leaves or needles, their deep green color will stand out from the rest of … Continue Reading →

Last spring, I had a rosemary plant in a six inch pot that over-wintered in the garage.  It looked like it could use a vacation, so, I took it out of its pot and planted it directly into the garden. While in the garden, it suffered the regular abuse that you expect a rosemary plant … Continue Reading →

The weather people are predicting a string of nice days through the weekend and into next week.  Many of us will be looking for things to do out in the yard and garden. Since November is the ideal time to apply lime,  this weekend would be a good time to check the pH of your garden soil.  pH … Continue Reading →

Back in July I planted rutabaga seeds in anticipation of a fall crop. Well, fall has been here for a while and the rutabaga are ready to harvest. Even though we’ve had overnight temperatures in the low twenties the past couple of weeks. The rutabaga are still happily growing out in the garden. The leaves … Continue Reading →