Share my passion for all things gardening!
I think I’m going to have to eat crow… or something along those lines! Last June, I wrote about pillbugs in a blog post. In it, I talked about their reputation for munching on the stems of young Cucurbits (melons, cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins). This occurs while they’re at their most tender stage. Pillbugs also have a benign role of helping […]
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Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects. Published by the Xerces Society (Timber Press, 2016, 287 pp., $24.95) Don’t you just love learning new things? I know I do. I’ve been wanting to find out more about attracting butterflies to our garden. And I just found an ideal guide for that exact purpose. Gardening for […]
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I know I’ve talked about this before but crop rotation is a big deal! It’s the best tool vegetable gardeners have to cut down on insect and disease problems. And it’s free, too. Crop rotation involves keeping records of where you grew each crop in the previous 3 to 4 years. That way, you can grow them in different locations […]
Read moreWhen I talk about attracting insects to the garden, this is a common reaction: “Why would I do that?! I don’t want more insects in my garden!” Attracting beneficial insects, as well as pollinators, is exactly what we need to do. That way, we’ll keep damaging insects in check and create a balanced ecosystem within our gardens. When I think of […]
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How do you feel about slugs? If you just shuddered and if your blood pressure just went up a few notches, we’re on the same page! I despise slugs. Why? They seem to want to eat the very same veggies that I love to grow and eat. Yet they can be tricky to control, especially organically. That said, I’m willing […]
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One of the nicest things about being a garden columnist is that I get to meet and learn from awesome gardeners. In my column today, I introduce you to Master Gardener/Master Composter Ryan Herring and learn about permaculture. Here’s a link to it in The Spokesman-Review: Permaculture goes beyond the garden to daily life. Or you can read my column […]
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Even though I recently wrote a column about the top 5 damaging insects and how to deal with them organically, I decided to write today’s column about the importance of insect ID. Here’s a link to it in The Spokesman-Review: Season’s pests may surprise you. (or you can read my column lower in this post) If you want to successfully […]
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As you know, one of my favorite gardening topics is attracting beneficial insects. My husband Bill and I recently discovered a whole bunch of ladybugs on our hops vines. And boy, were they busily dispatching aphids. It brought an important point to mind: I love Jessica Walliser’s excellent book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden. She mentioned how she used […]
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I love learning new things, but I’m not so happy to learn the following tidbit. Pillbugs aren’t quite as benevolent as they’d like us to believe. Darn. For years, I’ve known that pillbugs are benign critters that primarily feed on decomposing organic matter. So they play a useful role in building soil fertility. However, I now know there’s a Dr. […]
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I recently wrote a post on Growing apples organically, but wanted to do a follow-up today. I get a lot of questions from readers about how to do this, so this post should help. Last week, we decided it was high time we thinned and covered our young apples. The covers help protect them from the apple codling moth, which […]
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