While those of us in the northern parts of the world are battening down the hatches in anticipation of a harsh winter (UK and Ireland readers, have you been hearing about that, too? Horrible predictions from some American scientists studying the sun) we have many friends smelling the first scents of spring. Lucky you, Aussies and Aucklanders and Argentines! Another… Read more »
Hello, am interested in the easiest possible planting for this time of year. My neighbour advises shallots, and my wife is excited as she likes to cook with them. Is it too late, and do you have any advice? Gareth, Plymouth, UK I should say not, Gareth, in fact you might even be a bit early. But maybe this weekend… Read more »
My poor little daughter has been home sick from school, recovering from a nasty case of the flu. Don’t you love it when people you know, when hearing of a person suffering from such an illness, instantly say, “yes, there is something going around, isn’t there?” Well if that was ever true, it certainly wasn’t on this occasion. My unfortunate… Read more »
We take for granted the simple potato, and if you have been buying them from the local market or grocery store for your entire life, you might think they arrive in bushels from a magic place (Denmark? Ireland?) and never start off as chunks of seed potatoes with potential to rot. In fact, rot and bugs and under the ground… Read more »
It is time to retrieve those potatoes you planted so long ago! For those of you that didn’t take some “new potatoes” from the ground months ago, it is the peak time, or depending where you live, the last weeks, to dig up your potato bounty. The calendar might say one thing, but check the vines – their yellowing demise… Read more »
Hi there, This addresses two things: you asked readers to send in questions and tips on growing tomatoes, and then I saw your latest posting about growing plants in containers, well, this is real interesting because I have had no luck at all growing tomatoes, in containers, on my decent sized apartment balcony. I follow all of the instructions, they… Read more »
About fourteen months ago we moved into a new house, and a work colleague of my husband’s gave us, as a housewarming gift, a money tree. No, not a tree full of money, sadly, a potted plant of about 14 inches height. He mentioned it was also called a “good luck plant”, and puffing out his chest, decreed we’d certainly… Read more »
Dear Top Gardening Friends Quite naturally, when you first start your organic garden, you will want to see results as quickly as possible, and as easily as possible as well. So, once you have worked with your soil to make sure that it is in prime condition to start growing, I have listed a few different types of vegetables that… Read more »
And I do love to serve asparagus for dinner guests. I have found that the most joy I get, as a hostess, is the bacon-wrapped asparagus that comes fresh off of the grill. Our guests are always in rapture over this, and also my slightly more involved asparagus filo pastry puffs, which I’ll confess I am sometimes too lazy to… Read more »
Dear Top Gardening Friends There are several considerations that you need to take into account when you are planning your organic gardening area, and using paper and a pencil can be a huge help here. If you have access to standard graph paper, this is ideal because the first thing you need to draw is a plan of the area… Read more »