by Sandy Swegel Today I’ve been thinking about how the tools I use have made me a better gardener. I have spent a lot of money over the years on tools that break or tools that seemed clever but end up unused. I garden at least twenty hours a week for other people, so my […]
by Sandy Swegel The old adages say cleanliness and hard work are virtues. That may be true in your kitchen, but in the garden, a little sloth can save many lives and make your life a little easier. Mother Nature isn’t just messy when she clutters up the Fall garden with leaves and debris….she’s making […]
By Sandy Swegel Tulips & Pansies Bulbs are a favorite of mine because their beauty is so intense in the garden. But bulbs can be made even more striking by planting them with beautiful pansies or violas. Tulips & Pansies, I think of it as beauty now….with little pansy plants bringing color all Fall amid fallen […]
by Sandy Swegel That’s the kind of questions I’m hearing these days. Why won’t my plant bloom? Why aren’t my tomatoes red? Why does my garden look so bad? Why is my tree dying? Let’s tackle a few of these questions so you can figure out why it seems your garden is disobedient? Why won’t […]
by Sandy Swegel Straw bales are one of my favorite garden tools. They are useful to the gardener in so many ways. All nicely tied up, straw bales are like giant Lego blocks that can be stacked to make so many things. I’m using the term “straw” bale, but old “hay” bales have the same […]
by Sandy Swegel My basic remedy for hot July days is to bend over and run the hose over my head, but a more attractive and effective way to cool off is to make an Agua Fresca (refreshing water), the great fruit or vegetable drink of Mexico and other southern regions. I’ve been making Agua Frescas […]
by Sandy Swegel My tomatoes are only a few inches tall and still indoors, but this is the ideal time to start thinking about how to trellis them. For years I fiddled with the dinky round tomato cages sold everywhere that just fall over when faced with a large indeterminate tomato. One year I even tried […]
by Sandy Swegel Spring Equinox is officially upon us. All the joys of the season abound. Birds singing, Crocuses blooming, Baby lambs gamboling in the fields outside of town. Yet one of the dearest and most fleeting of Spring delights is the annual blooming of the spring ephemeral wildflowers. This is a great season to walk through […]
by Sandy Swegel Nothing like the first deeply freezing temperatures followed by a warm day to get people in Zone 5 areas asking if the gardening season is really over if they can still tackle their garden to do lists even though Thanksgiving is around the corner. We have two conflicting impulses…the really good bulbs […]
by Sandy Swegel I’m a big fan of multi-tasking so it’s natural that whenever there’s a garden chore to be done, I think about whether it might solve some other task that needs doing. In the Spring I schedule perennial weed digging so the roots can be thrown to the chickens for yummy spring greens. […]
