Michigan Gardening To-Do List: July
Here’s a quick list of what needs to get done in your garden in July: Herb/Vegetable Garden Keep watering and weeding. Harvest regularly to keep plants producing well. Deadhead herbs such as basil regularly to keep them productive. Check plants regularly for signs of pest or diseases. At least once this month, feed your vegetable...
How to Fertilize Tomato Plants, Organically
Tomato plants grow with such speed and vigor that it’s easy to be tempted to keep feeding them, thinking that we need to add nutrients for all of that new growth our plant has put on. But the truth is that over-fertilizing tomato plants is just as bad as under-fertilizing them. Over-fertilized tomatoes develop lots...
Eating Seasonally: Recipes for Rapini (A.K.A. Broccoli Rabe)
Rapini (also called “broccoli rabe”) has been prevalent in farmer’s markets for a few weeks now, and the rapini we sowed in our garden in late April is nearly ready to harvest. Now, what to do with it? What is Rapini? Rapini is a leafy green that is a member of the broccoli family. In...
Ten Things About . . . Viburnums
1. There are over 150 named species of viburnums, and multitudes of named cultivars as well. 2. There are deciduous, semi-evergreen, and evergreen viburnums. 3. Viburnums can grow anywhere from two to thirty feet tall, depending on the variety. 4. Viburnum blossoms can be sweetly scented, unscented, or terribly stinky, depending, again, upon variety. 5....
Great Plants for Michigan Gardens: Bearded Iris
Bearded irises are the stars of my perennial garden in May. Their tall, frilly blooms and strap-like foliage add a perfect upright element to the garden, and they come in such a huge variety of colors that you are unlikely to ever get bored growing them. Where to Plant Bearded Irises When planting bearded irises,...
How to Transplant Borage
Borage is one of those plants I just NEED to have in my garden. The perfect blue-ness of its blooms (unless you get the occasional errant pink bloom, which happens sometimes, usually after very wet weather, I’ve noticed) and the cucumber-y flavor of the leaves and blossoms makes this a must-grow plant for me. I...
Wordless Wednesday: Lily of the Valley
I am amazed every year at how fragrant these tiny flowers are!
Spring-Blooming Plants in Our Garden
Michigan winters are long, gray, and (I’ll say it again) long. We need the riot of color that spring brings with it, starved as we are for color and life by the time April rolls around. I haven’t put a ton of effort into my spring garden (being a vegetable garden snob) but I do...
Michigan Gardening Events: Week of April 22nd – April 28th, 2012
Here are the gardening-related events for this week. If you have an event you’d like to add to the calendar, please email me at colleen [at] inthegardenonline [dot] com. Events for Sunday, April 22nd Container Gardening Workshop 1:00 P.M. Location: Bogie Lake Greenhouses, 1525 Bogie Lake Rd., White Lake, MI 48383 Milford Earth Day Festival...
