Tomato Problem Solving by Sandy Swegel OK so only gardeners think of their tomato gardens as paradise, but what a grand time of year this is. In some places, tomato growers are boasting about having ripe tomatoes before the 4th of July. Here in Colorado after a long cool spring, we’re just happy to see […]
Protect Your Dill and Parsley by Sandy Swegel I’m very proud of my mama. At 80+ and on oxygen 24 hours a day, she’s still making valiant efforts to keep her brain functioning. She led a busy life, but now that’s she’s older and can’t get around easily without oxygen tanks, she is learning to […]
Saving the Pollinators by Sandy Swegel You know the basics for saving bees and other pollinators: - Create a native plant wildflower habitat that provides season-long sources of pollen and nectar. – Provide a water source if a natural one is not available. – Stop your own use of pesticides that affect bees. Just doing those […]
Do It For The Pollinators I’m always in search of how to do things more easily and efficiently in the garden. Once again today I was at the garden center eavesdropping and heard a typical customer question: ”What should I plant to get pollinators to my yard?” The answer the garden center owner gave surprised […]
Get Out and Take a Hike by Sandy Swegel Our gardens are grand places to be. Assuming we don’t worry too much about weeds. Here are our favorite flowers to make us happy. And over there our favorite tomatoes are thinking about ripening. We may cultivate some wildness by planting a pollinator meadow but for […]
Gardening Self Care by Sandy Swegel Being in the garden is lots of fun…the time with nature, the growing, even the weeding are all a joy to the gardener. Less fun is how dirty we get and how irritating nature can be to our bodies, especially in the form of excess sun and pollen. Here […]
Preparing Your Plants for the Coming Frost by Sandy Swegel Frost? Are you crazy some might say? We’re finally hitting 90 degrees and the tomatoes are starting to grow. And you’re thinking about frost? But this isn’t about the last frost in the Spring…it’s about the first frost in the Fall. Knowing when the first […]
Gardens Name Themselves by Sandy Swegel A friend told me years ago that everything should have a name, even inanimate objects. She was helping me garden one year and within just a couple of weeks, everything we might ever have a need to refer to had a name. The big orange wheelbarrow, of course, was […]
Give Your Current Plants The Love They Deserves by Sandy Swegel One of my favorite things to do is spend other people’s money. Or better said, to go shopping with them and encourage them to buy the cool things they want to buy. I always covet plants and yet I know I don’t have the […]
Creative Ways to Help Your Garden by Sandy Swegel One of the problems with gardening is that you just can’t rush Mother Nature. If you don’t get those tomato seeds planted early enough, there’s just no way to trick the plants into growing overnight. Compost is the same…you can’t just mix everything up today and […]