Garden Design magazine gets the first look at new gardening books. Here's their new Top 10.

1. Plant-Driven Design: Creating Gardens That Honor Plants, Place, and Spirit by Scott Ogden & Lauren Springer Ogden (Timber Press)

The Ogdens put plants first when designing gardens and have assembled a photo-rich book filled with plant ideas, where they'd best flourish and in what kind of gardens. Their holistic approach embraces people, places and the natural world.

2. Sean Conway's Cultivating Life: 125 Projects for Backyard Living by Sean Conway & Lee Alan Buttala (Artisan Books)

Be warned: Flip open this book and you won't be able to resist beginning a new project. The step-by-step instructions, materials, tools lists and the full-color photos mean you'll likely finish the project too.

3. Organic Crops in Pots: How to Grow Your Own Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell (Cico Books)

If you think you don't have space to grow your own food, think again. This book debunks that notion with practical and beautiful ideas for growing organic crops in containers. Photos of lusty bunches of mint evoke a perfect mojito, and red lettuce and shiso grown in enamel tins translate to a lightly dressed summer salad dressed.

4. Organic Kitchen Garden by Juliet Roberts, photographs by Gavin Kingcome (Conran Octopus)

This book? Gorgeous, informative and totally enticing. Author Juliet Roberts teams up with gardening guru Mike Thurlow to present a definitive guide for all gardeners interested in the art of organic-vegetable growing. The book includes monthly lists to remind you of which jobs need doing, what to expect from your garden, and tips on assessing your plot and crop rotation.

5. The Family Kitchen Garden: How to Plant, Grow, and Cook Together by Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner and Annettte Wendland (Timber Press)

We love this book's approach to gardening as a family and including kids in the joys of planning, designing, growing and harvesting a garden, and then cooking and eating its bounty. Includes monthly task lists, harvesting, uses and recipes.

6. The Container Gardener's Bible: A Step-by-Step Guide to Growing in all Kinds of Containers, Conditions and Locations by Joanna K. Harrison and Miranda Smith (Rodale Books)

Whether you have a small-space garden or just love containers, you'll find everything you need to know to create plant combinations, mix the right soils, address the level of care you are willing (and able) to devote to your containers and determine the tools you'll need. 

7. The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening (Reader's Digest Trade Publishing)

This tome is big, color-coded by zone and filled with charts and pictures. Need we say more? Did we mention that this revised and updated edition is now all-organic?

8. Perennial Companions: 100 Dazzling Plant Combinations for Every Season by Tom Fischer, photographs by Richard Bloom & Adrian Bloom (Timber Press)

In this easy-to-tote garden companion, Tom Fisher not only shares his favorite combinations, but also offers the conditions and care required and indicates when the combination reaches its peak of beauty.

Modern garden design is all about repetition — that's why we love Calhoun's mission to combine six kinds of plants or fewer. The photos and organization of this book make for straightforward execution of ideas that appear complicated. Plant and repeat!

Here you'll find more than 4,000 color and planting combinations. This is the reference book your library can't do without. 

(The New York Times has also released its list of the best gardening books of the season.)

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Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment, can be confused with paradise. --  Henry Mitchell

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I feel silly mentioning this - considering all the rainfall we've had - but it is time to talk about watering your gardens.

The best way to do this is to imitate the rain we just had - gentle and soaking. Watering this way prevents soil erosion and it will also limit the runoff of fertilizers that you may have applied.

A watering wand, like these made by Dramm, is the best tool for watering. They sell for between $15 and $25.

Gardeners complain, however, that wands aren't very durable, so it pays to be as gentle with them as you are with your plants.

The other bad news? You wouldn't want to sleep in a puddle, and neither do your plants. You have time to water in the evening, after work, but the time you should be watering is in the morning, before work.

So, set your alarm.

 Photo courtesy of Dramm

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To have complete satisfaction from flowers you must have time to spend with them. There must be rapport. I talk to them and they talk to me. --  Princess Grace of Monaco

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Some advice from Charlotte Kidd of Radnor, Pa., who writes about Mid-Atlantic gardening for the National Gardening Association:

• Despite some residual winter chill, mosquitoes are starting to buzz around the gardens. We tend to think of emptying water from pots, buckets, and saucers. Some mosquito types that spread West Nile virus breed in the wet leaves in roof gutters. Clean your house gutters and encourage neighbors to do the same.
• There are several ways to stop wriggling mosquito larvae from infesting rainbarrel water. Some gardeners recommend keeping a layer of vegetable oil on top of the water. Others add the biological control Bt-israelensis (Bt-i), which is in mosquito dunks that last 30 days. One dunk treats 100 feet of water; it can be broken in half. Some rainbarrel plans include instructions to place a piece of wire mesh over open water.
• Your garden doesn't always need new mulch. Two or three inches are enough to suppress weeds and retain moisture. If last season's mulch is sufficient in your garden beds, fluff it up. By that I mean use a hoe or cultivator to break the mulch crust. Chop it and mix it, uprooting any small, sprouting weeds in the process. Fluffing will allow water to reach the soil and roots beneath the mulch layer.
• For broader, shorter plants, clip 2 or 3 inches off the tops of Phlox paniculata and Asters. Cut the stem just above the connection where leaf meets stem meets the node. For a longer blooming stand of summer Phlox, clip the front half of cluster lower than stems in the rear. Be sure to prune off the dead Phlox flowers to encourage more successive flowering.
• (I would add, cut back your sedum, too, and your cone flowers. This keeps the blooms from flopping over and, in the case of sedum, breaking off. You should also be pinching back your mums until at least the Fourth of July.)

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Old gardeners never die, they just spade away. -- James Shuford

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Lots of gardening news today....

The Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore Master Gardeners harvested 24 crates of greens from the new vegetable gardens around City Hall. The food will go to Our Daily Bread to feed the needy.

And Andrian Higgins writes about the remarkable gardens of Pierre and Nancy Moitrier of Annapolis. The husband-and-wife garden design team own Designs for Greener Gardens, and the gardens around their home will be open Saturday as part of The Glory of The Garden tour. (Nancy consulted with me on my most recent garden installation. She was wonderful!)

And let me not forget....I am writing about how to make good dirt in The Sun today.

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Photo credit: The Sun/Nanine Hartzenbusch

If you'd like to learn more about improving your soil, check out this new book from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens.

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Categories: Garden inspirations
        

I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself. -- Sir Peter Smithers

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Gardening is medicine that does not need a prescription ... And with no limit on dosage.--Author unknown

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Garden Variety readers are very patient people!

On a recent Sunday, I posted about Judy Barrett's book, What Can I Do With My Herbs and promised a copy of the book to a randomly selected commentor on Garden Variety.

I've been on vacation, but I am back at work, and my colleague Kate Shatzkin of Charm City Moms was kind enough to pick the name of the winner out of a hat!

And it is Dan and Deanna, faithful readers and posters here on Garden Variety.

The book is in the mail, guys!

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 EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.

After a week or so of neglect, I did some tending to my balcony garden yesterday, thinning my lettuces, spacing out my nasturtiums, and thinning out the parsley experiment I started weeks ago.

However, my most significant task was setting out my two tomato plants! I planted them outside -- after hardening them off for weeks, and planted basil in one pot and parsley in the other. It may be my only foray in companion planting this year (I attempted to plant nasturtiums and cucumbers together), and I'm eager to see the results.

Companion planting can be an organic solution to vegetable gardening, if you pair the right plants together. (Check out the combination of beans and marigolds at left.)  As one gardener points out, the right flowers and herbs can attract polinators, deter pests, encourage good insects, and generally make your garden much prettier.

I consulted Golden Harvest Organics' extensive list of companion plants when I was planning out my garden, but I'm sure you experienced gardeners have created your own lists by now. What are your favorite veggie combinations?

(Photo by KirrilyRobert @ flickr)

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 Photo credit: Susan Reimer

May, I think, represents the last of a flowering season that might begin in February in Southern California and is certainly underway in March. The flowers that you recognize from the East – foxgloves, lantana, roses, geraniums, straw flowers, petunias, day lilies, and gaillardia – are in full flush, a good month or more ahead of us in Maryland.

The climate in San Diego is so diverse that they give the weather reports in three parts – coastal, mountains and inland. And the differences can be striking. I am just guessing here, but the cool moist climate of the coast – my son and daughter –in-law living in a gated community with no air conditioning because it isn’t needed – means  that the flowers have a long bloom time and it is almost unfair.

I mean, I can’t grow foxglove and delphiniums. Why should someone 20 minutes from the Mexico border be able to grow them?

For pictures of the delphiniums, continue...

Photo credit: Susan Reimer

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 Photo credit: Susan Reimer

I have never thought of petunias as particularly fragrant flowers. But in San Diego, where they are planted everywhere in multi-colored mounds, they are.  It is an unfamiliar fragrance, not nearly as sweet as roses, but lovely nonetheless.  I don’t think we give petunias the appreciation they are due.

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 Photo credit: Susan Reimer

I am just back from a week in Southern California, in the foothills around San Diego, and it was a revelation.

Instead of the verdant landscape of Maryland in May, there were craggy, rocky and brown hills and mountains around us, often capped by the Sea Fog from the Pacific but, as often as not, baked by a bright sun.

 My husband has a theory that, considering the earthquakes, mudslides and brushfires, everyone in California should be required to evacuate and the entire state should be declared a national park – with free admission.

From the redwoods and wine country in the north to the avocado farms and palm trees of the south, the flora in California is about 12 different kinds of beautiful.

There will be lots more pictures. Stay tuned.

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Flowers grow in inches, but are destroyed by feet. -- author unknown

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Last Sunday in Gardening from the Couch, I wrote that there are three kinds of garden books: coffee table books with pictures of gardens you will never have; inspirational books filled with thoughts you never have and really useful books.

Julie Moir Messervy's Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love is one of those coffee table books with pictures of gardens you will never have.

The author makes the quite sensible point that we spend like crazy on the inside of our homes,  executing with confidence our ideas for what we want the rooms to look like.

But we don't give our outside spaces the same attention or the same resources. Our yards are "rooms," too, but we settle for a shade tree and some foundation plants.

She makes the point, correctly I think, that we don't have the same kind of confidence when it comes to "decorating" our yards. And she maps out for us a 6-step approach for overcoming that hesitation and creating a "home outside."

Nice try.

This is a great book to page through on a sunny Sunday afternoon. And if you are even an amateur landscape designer, you will learn a great deal.

But if you are a trial and error gardener like me - mostly error - you are never going to have the lush, lavish outdoor spaces in these pictures, and the book is likely to make you discontent.

That's the way it makes me feel, anyway.

I take away from these books what I can: a small idea here and there for plant combinations or garden accessories. Something I can actually get my head around and, maybe, do in my own garden.

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The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before. -- Vita Sackville-West

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We come from the earth, We return to the earth, And in between we garden. -- author unknown

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Well, apparently the World Wide Web isn't as worldly or as wide.

 I had the best of intentions when I left Maryland for vacation in California and a chance to see Joe and his wife, Brooke.

I was going to blog about all the flora and fauna out here and post lots of pictures.

But there was no Internet access in the foothills where our resort was located (Lawrence Welk Resort. Mandatory ballroom dancing after dinner.)

I found a bit of the Internet in my son's apartment in Carlsbad. Just enough to let you know I haven't abandoned you, or Garden Variety.

 I have about a million pictures of the flowers from here and tons to tell you. And I will start Monday when I return.

I hope it won't be as bad as sitting through somebody's vacation slide show!!

Talk to you Monday!

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Categories: Garden humor
        

Last week, we gave you half of P. Allen Smith's list of garden chores to do in May. Smith, of Garden Home, says he makes that list long so he has more time to spend in the garden.

The rest of us? Not so much. So here is the rest of Smith's list.

Before planting in clay pots, pre-soak them in a wheelbarrow of water for 5 or 10 minutes. If you plant in terra-cotta when it is dry, it wicks moisture from the soil and the new plantings.

Fertilize and deadhead your repeat blooming roses after the flowers fade to encourage a second round in early summer.

When applying granular fertilizer, avoid getting it on foliage to prevent fertilizer burn.

Photo courtesy of outbackpatio.com

 Are you battling powdery mildew on tall garden phlox? Try one of these fungus resistant varieties: Phlox ‘Miss Kelly’, Phlox ‘Katherine’, Phlox ‘Bright Eyes’, Phlox ‘David’, Phlox ‘Franz Schubert’.

Welcome toads to your garden by offering them a source of water and a place to stay. One toad can eat from ten to twenty thousand insects a year. You can make a toad house by partially burying a terra cotta pot on its side.

To help your garden mums maintain a more compact form, pinch them back after they are 6 to 8 inches tall. The idea is to reduce the height by about half. Repeat the process again in mid-July.

Fertilize your warm season lawn grass in June. If using a granular fertilizer, add flour to the spreader. This will help you see where you’ve been so you won’t over fertilize. For the least impact on the environment, choose an organic fertilizer blend.

Sow the seeds of summer annuals such as cosmos, celosia, sunflowers and globe amaranth. These can be sown directly in the garden after the last frost date has passed and the soil is warm.

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You know you are a gardener, if you find compost a fascinating subject.-- author unknown

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I will go root away the noisome weeds, that without profit suck the soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.--Shakespeare

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He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul. -- Celia Thaxter

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EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my cucumber seedlings did not make it. I bought all my seeds from Renee's Garden in early spring, including this bush slicer variety, a compact bush variety of cucumber that is recommended for container gardens. My dreams of cucumber vines climbing up my balcony railings were dashed, but my hopes of crisp juicy cucumbers were still high.

I planted in early May and thick cotyledon leaves quickly sprouted, but then the deluge -- our week of rain -- happened. I also fear the spurts of cold weather we've been having this year also contributed to their demise.

I'm going to try again, though. For future reference, here's some basics on cucumbers:

When should I plant?
According to The Southern Living Garden Book, seeds can be planted "at least 2 weeks after the last frost, or when soil and weather are warm." A little vague and a little difficult to pin down a particular time, but the OSU extension's recommendation of early to mid-May has already passed. (You can also plant in early July for a September harvest.)

How should I space my plants?
If planting in a garden, thin seedlings to 8 to 12 inches apart. If growing in containers, make sure the pot diameter is at least 12 inches, and thin the seedlings to the strongest two immediately after germination. (Aha! perhaps that was my mistake!) Grow one cucumber plant per container.

Other tips?
+ Even watering is key. Inconsistent watering can produce bitter fruit.
+ According to Southern Living, flowers may take a while to produce young cucumbers. Male flowers, which do not produce fruit, often appear first on cucumber vines. Be patient. The fruit-bearing ladies to show their faces.
+ Remove cucumbers as soon as they mature. Mature fruit left on the vine signals to the plant that it can stop producing.

(Photo by dydydada @ stock.xchng)

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EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.

I went on vacation last week, to the sunny and warm climes of the Caribbean. I arranged for someone to come by and water my plants and my cat, but I still couldn't help but worry from time to time: How are my plants doing?

We returned Sunday to see a thriving balcony garden, despite the fact that it appears my charge for watering while I was away shirked his duties. (Well, mostly thriving -- my cucumber seedlings have gone the way of the dodo, but they were fading before I left.)

Despite this success, I'm curious about what others' garden vacation strategies. Gardener's Supply recommends mulching container plant soil and setting up irrigation and watering systems on a timer. They also recommend placing watering cones in your soil as guides for those who come by to water while you're away.

These are nice suggestions, but most vegetables, especially in the summer, need a watchful eye, sometimes requiring more than the occasional watering. How do you ensure your vegetable garden stays on track when you go away for the week or weekend? Or do you just hold off on going away until the harvest?

(Photo by mikemedia @flickr; check out the veggies from his "urban geurilla gardening" project in Seattle through his pictures on flickr.)

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Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

There is life in the ground: When it is stirred up, it goes into the man who stirs it. --  author unknown

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For though we may be the earth's gardeners, we are also its weeds. -- Jack R. Harland

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Garden books come in a couple of different varieties.

Coffee table books filled with pictures of beautiful gardens that you will never have.

Inspirational books filled with garden thoughts and sentiments you never have.

And truly useful books.

Judy Barrett's What Can I Do With My Herbs is one of the truly useful garden books. Like it's title, is direct and uncomplicated.

The author introduces us to 40 herbs, from artemisia to vetiver grass with lovely drawings. Then, in text with helpful subheads, she describes not only how to grow it, eat it and cook with it, but what creatures the herb will attract and deter, plus its medicinal and decorative uses.

Barrett also offers warnings for herbs that are dangerous if eaten, such as tansy. And she tells which herbs are good for your pores when steamed and what herbs are good for controlling erosion.

A truly useful book.

And one that can be yours if your name is randomly chosen from among those posting comments here! Please include your e-mail so I can contact you for a mailing address. Don't worry. I won't share it.

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Categories: Garden books
        

To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch their renewal of life...this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do. -- author unknown

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 GardenHog and Garden Shark, courtesy of Amazon.com

When it comes to advice on the best garden tools, it pays to ask a gardener. Or, in this case, a garden blogger.

Two new rakes, the Garden Shark and it's half brother, the GardenHog, are getting good reviews from Genevieve Schmidt, author of the blog, North Coast Gardening, with a hearty second from Amy Stewart at Garden Rant.

The tines on the Garden Shark are curved, the better to hold onto material. It is recommended for dethatching your lawn and for smoothing mulch on garden beds.

The GardenHog has even longer tines and is recommended for raking wet leaves and small bits of brush.

Genevieve did some heavy duty testing of the second one spreading mulch and compost and liked it enough to say that it is going to replace her old iron bow rake because it is less tiring to use.

Here's part of what she had to say: "The rake head is also angled ergonomically and the handle’s lighter-weight, so I had to bend less and use less muscle when smoothing the mulch piles over the ground."

The rakes are made by Radius and go for about $28 on Amazon.

Thanks, ladies!

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I suppose when it comes right down to it, we garden because it's an old cold world, and sometimes the best a person can do is to give it children and some green things growing. -- Rebecca Rupp

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P. Allen Smith of Garden Home says that he makes a long list of garden chores for May because that's when the garden is at is peak and the chores give him an excuse to spend extra time outside.

Here's part of his list. We'll give you the rest next Friday so you don't try to get all this done in one weekend.

Enclose your veggie garden with a rabbit proof fence. A 30-inch tall chicken wire fence will keep rabbits out of your garden. To keep them from digging under the fence bury the wire about 1-foot deep and bend the top of the wire outward about a foot so they can't hop over.

Evergreen magnolias such a M. grandiflora should be planted in late spring when their roots are actively growing. If transplanted in late fall or winter their roots will not be able to grow quickly enough to become established.

Wrap tomato seedling stems with aluminum foil to deter cutworms. Once the plants mature the stem will thicken enough that these pests won’t be a problem and you can remove the foil.

 Deadhead rhododendron blooms. This will direct the plants energy toward producing flower buds for next year rather than seeds.

Repot houseplants that have outgrown their accommodations. Move them outdoors for their summer vacation when nighttime temperatures stay consistently above 60 degrees F.

Change the color of your old-fashioned hydrangea blooms. If you have a blue hydrangea, and would like it to have lavender to pink flowers, raise the alkalinity in your soil by adding 4 ounces of lime around the base of the shrub. Do this incrementally until you get the color you want. Depending on your soil, it could take a few growing seasons. To turn a pink hydrangea blue, add aluminum sulfate to the soil around the base of your plant. Follow the label directions carefully and don’t overdo it.

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Categories: Weekend Chores
        

There was grumbling among the readers of Garden Variety when I posted a list of tomato questions and answers earlier this week.

A lot of "non-answers," Eve said.

We are anxious to please here at Garden Variety, so I am recommending a new book I found called Tomato: A guide to the pleasures of choosing, growing and cooking.

Compiled by Gail Harland and Sofia Larrinua-Craxton for DK publishers, it is an exhaustive compendium of tomato information - from seedlings to canning. And there are pictures and details on more than 150 varieties.

And there are recipes, too, including one for tomato, peach and strawberry salad. It looks devine in the picture!

You can never have too many tomatoes. Hope this is enough information to go with them.

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Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

 Mayfair photo courtesy of Glen Arm Garden Club

Saturday, Mayfair, Keniworth Bazaar, Towson, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Several garden clubs in District III sponsor Mayfair and will be selling a variety of plants, including some unusual ones, at bargain prices.  

Saturday, Historic Havre De Grace Garden Tour and Tea, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eight private gardens as well as bayscaping by the promenade which borders the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum and Concord Point Lighthouse. Plus a garden show with presenters, vendors and crafters, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 for the tour and $6 for the tea and can be purchased at the Museum.

Sunday, Azalea sale, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallen Ave. Wheaton. For more information, contact Deb White at whiteaz@verizon.net

Sunday, Patapsco/Back River Wade-In, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. North Point State Park. A wade-in, picnic, benefit swim and public education activities.

Sunday, Carroll Park and Mt. Clare Mansion tour, 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Meet at 1:45 p.m. at the parking lot behind the Mansion off 1500 Washington Blvd. These grounds became a city park in 1890 and were part of the Olmsted Brothers' plan for a comprehensive city park system. $15 for reservations received 5 days before tour. $18 day of tour. For more information, email jbec423@comcast.net.

Saturday, Bonsai basics workshop, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. National Arboretum. All materials provided. Fee $129. To register, go to www.usna.usda.gov/ or call 202-245-4521.

Sunday, Bonsai exhibit and demonstration, National Arboretum, 1 p.m. Free.

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Categories: Garden events
        

Will is the root, knowledge is the stem and leaves, and feeling is the flower. -- Sterling

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There is something in my driveway that looks like a wooly mammoth sleeping on its side.

It is what is left of 4 cubic yards of mulch. And there is a lot left.

My husband and I leave Saturday to visit Joseph and his bride in San Diego, and I am much too compulsive to leave the mulch in the driveway until we get home.

So this week, I am mulching like mad. And taking a couple of vacation days to do it.

I could get someone else to do it. My friends all have "a guy" they call when it is time to mulch. But I can't bring myself to part with the $15 an hour most of them charge.

We'll see how I feel about that money on Friday, but right now I am determined to get this done myself.

It isn't that mulching is too hard. Mulching is boring. My colleague Jacques Kelly here at The Sun doesn't mulch at all. He says that's landscaping, not gardening.

But I like the finished look mulch gives a garden, so I mulch.

I waiting too long this year.

I stalled because I was hoping more rain would soak the soil before I sealed it with mulch. Then all it did was rain, and it was impossible to mulch.

Now the gardens have filled in to such a degree that there is no room left to mulch.

I don't think I am going to be able to use all of the mulch that is sleeping in my driveway right now.

So I made a deal with my neighbor, Bob.

I told him that I would finish my mulching this week, and he could have whatever was left. There will probably be a lot of it, I said. More than you need.

Just make sure it isn't there when I get home from San Diego.

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Categories: Your garden
        

The best stock a man can invest in, is the stock of a farm; the best shares are plow shares; and the best banks are the fertile banks of a rural stream; the more these are broken the better dividends they pay. -- H.W. Beecher

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EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday. 

I'm trying to grow all my veggies from seed this year. It's an emotional roller-coaster. The constant worry over whether the seeds will take, whether the seedlings will thrive and survive, and whether I'm giving them enough light, water and care is almost too much for my delicate constitution.

But with most of vegetables and flowers sprouted, I've come to another worry spot: thinning. My crop of beets was middling last year, likely because I didn't thin as I was supposed to. I stumbled upon an old New York Times piece last year describing the thinning process:

If all the sprouts were allowed to grow, they would be too crowded for roots to form. So the gardener thins beets, leaving an inch or so between plants, and eats the sacrificed seedlings mixed with other tender spring greens.

I ignored it -- What if I pick the wrong seedlings to discard? How can I play Roman Emperor, letting some sprouts live and others die? All of them should have a chance to prove themselves! -- and paid for it. By not making a decision, none of my beets performed well, because they didn't have the space to grow.

So, how do you thin your plants? I had a brief chat with Josue Lopez, Urban Agriculture Educator for the Baltimore Cooperative Extension. He only had time to talk about beets and lettuces, but he gave me these tips on sowing and thinning:

On Beets: If container gardening, start your seeds in a container separate from their final pot.

"You should do the thinning probably when they're very small, about a half an inch on each one," he said. When the seedlings are three inches tall, you can move them to a deeper container that will give them room to grow. Lopez recommends filling the pot with half potting soil and half compost (LeafGro is one of his favs, if you can't compost yourself.)

On Lettuces: "With lettuces, you have to have good soil. They need a lot of nitrogen," Lopez said. He recommends supplanting your soil with an organic fertilizer that has nitrogen as the largest amount in the fertilizer compound.

As for thinning, Lopez mentioned a method that eased my weak heart. If you're growing lettuces like arugula and mesclun greens (as I am), you don't have to worry about thinning so much, since they are "cut and come again" greens.

"With the mesclun, let them grow to the 3-4 inches, and cut them," he said. "Let them grow and cut them two or three more times after they get bigger." Because the lettuces tend to get bitter when they get too big, he said, you should cut them when they get to "about the size you see in the packaged bags you see in the supermarket."

Posted by Maryann James at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Urban Gardening, Vegetable gardening
        

Tomatoes are easily the number one home vegetable garden crop. But it isn't because they are super easy.

Our friends at Greenstreet Gardens in Lothian answer your questions about growing tomatoes. And just in time.

Q. What’s all the excitement about an heirloom tomato?

An heirloom is a variety, often an old one, that is “true from seed” or “open pollinated." Some are modern; others are hundreds of years old and have truly been handed down from one generation to the next and even in different parts of the world.

Some of the popular heirloom tomatoes are: Banana Legs, Camp Joy, Brandywine, Snow White. Banana Legs Heirloom Tomatoes

Q. What is a hybrid tomato?

A. A hybrid is a variety created to combine desirable qualities like color, taste, disease resistance. Some of the more common hybrid tomatoes are: Better Boy, Early Girl, Beefmaster.

Q. What does determinate mean?

 A. These tomato plants tend to be tidier and smaller in stature; often called bush tomatoes. Most of it will ripen at the same time. Attention canners: this is the kind for you. Only minor pruning needed. Some determinate tomatoes are: Black Sea Man, Window Box Roma. Black Sea Man Tomatoes

Q. So then, are indeterminate the opposite?

A. Pretty much – they are usually larger and keep growing and producing throughout the season (some are often mammoth plants). These guys should be staked, trellised or caged. Intensive pruning promotes continuous harvesting. The more common ones include Better Boy, Beefsteak and Big Boy. Most heirlooms are indeterminate. Some indeterminate heirloom tomatoes are: Black Cherry, Grape, Matina.

Q. What does a capital letter that follows the name mean? 

 A. Each letter stands for a particular disease or pest that the plant will be resistant to (but not 100% bullet proof). V=Verticillium wilt resistance, F=Fusarium wilt, N=Nematodes, T=Tomato mosaic virus, CC=Common Cold (just kidding).

 By the way, Heirlooms will not show these notations since we don’t always know their parentage. We carry several products that will help with disease prevention and pest control, such as Eight, and Rot Stop. You need to be on the alert as diseases can spread to other plants and ruin the entire crop.

Q. What does “75 Days” or “49 Days” mean?

A. There should be a notation/estimate of the time it will take for your young seedling to fruit after planting based on good planting practices, consistent care and good seasonal conditions. Tomatoes that fruit in less than 70 days are generally considered “early," 70-85 days are “mid-season” and any over that are “late season." Beefsteak tomatoes are late season whopper tomatoes and perfect for those August picnics.

Q. How should I plant my tomato?

A. Dig a hole to accommodate the plant up to the top 2-3 inches of foliage. It’s ok to bury them this way; they actually grow roots along their stems. Remove any flowers or buds. Use Bumper Crop to amend your soil. Place the plant in the hole and replace the soil. Now is a good time to add fertilizer; we recommend Tomato-tone to help your tomatoes grow abundantly and healthy.

Water real well at the base of the plant. It’s a good idea to go ahead and stake your tomato at the time of planting. Then mulch it.

Q. What can you tell me about Tomato-tone? My neighbor says it works great.

A. Tomato-tone is a complex blend of natural ingredients that provides all the nutrients your plants need. Tomato-tone has been formulated to provide plants with a slow, steady feeding of all 15 nutrients which are essential to plant health -- a claim no other plant food can make.

Q. I heard about planting tomatoes on their side? What?

A. Yes, you can dig a long, shallow trench and plant them on their side. The plant will “stand up”- pretty cool to watch them grow this way.

Q. Quick tips for container tomatoes? A. Start with a container with good drainage and fill with Gardeners Gold. Then go ahead and add Tomato-tone. Water and fertilize regularly; we recommend using liquid Miracle Gro tomato food. Some happy choices for containers include: Tiny Tim, Patio.

Q. What if I am not ready to eat my just picked tomatoes?

A. DO not put them in a sunny window. DO not refrigerate – they will lose their flavor. Got too many? Share with your neighbors, wonderful coworkers or your favorite garden center staff ?. Why not can or juice your tomatoes?

Q. What’s this Topsy Turvy planter all about?

A. Turn your tomato gardening upside down which means, no weeding, no staking. These are ideal if you have limited space. 

Q. Can I plant my tomatoes in the same spot as last year?

 A. It’s best to rotate your crop to help avoid disease. If you cannot rotate, we recommend using Lobster Compost to enrich your garden area.

Q. What about irrigation methods?

A. Ooze Tubes and soaker hoses and our favorite, rain barrels.

Q. What is a tomato Ooze Tube?

A. They are a heck of a watering system; may look a little different but can keep plants watered for up to 2 weeks between refills, when used with fertilizer can increase crop production up to 4 times, are very effective when used with other vegetables and the tubes can be used for up to 4 seasons.

Q. What should I do if my plant gets yellow leaves?

 A. Yellowing leaves can be caused by a variety of things, including under watering, lack of nitrogen and transplant shock. Tomatoes like rich, well-draining soil with lots of organic matter. Try Sea Mate for an organic source of nitrogen.

Q. What happens if the leaves curl?

A. Don’t worry – the plants should still produce fruit. The exact cause is not known. But we do know that the condition will get worse if the soil is kept too wet.

Q. What is the correct pronunciation of tomato?

A. You know that answer, some say “to-ma-to” some say “to-ma-ta”. Oh let’s call the whole thing off.

Q. When, what and how much pruning?

A. Only prune indeterminate tomato plants. Wait till the plant is about 3 feet tall to prune. Remove leaves below the first flower cluster. Pinch leaves that are sprouting from the corners of two branches (called “suckers”). Don’t go overboard as leaves add flavor to the tomatoes.

Q. I want to grow tomatoes but my yard does not get much sunlight. Help!

A. Try the very small sized tomatoes that can produce fruit with only 4 hours of sunlight, i.e. Sweet Million, Grape or Microtom.

Q. My friend told me about the Tomato Planter Bag. What is that?

A. They are great for decks, patios and balconies. These bags are 15 inches high and 12.5 inches wide and hold approximately 32 quarts of Gardeners Gold, a great planting mix. They have webbing handles to make it easy to move and they have porous seams which provide drainage. Made from woven polyethylene, these bags are re-usable and take up little storage space. 

Q. What is an EarthBox?

A. Earthboxes are a wonderful way to grow your produce. Each EarthBox is a garden system that guarantees success without weeding, hoeing or digging. They are a maintenance-free high-tech growing system that controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden- with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort. 

Q. How can I stop tomato Blossom End Rot?

 A. Rot-Stop is a great product. This all-natural formula that adds calcium to the plant when Blossom End Rot is visible.

Q. You have referred to Lobster Compost a couple times. What is that?

A. Lobster Compost is all natural product specifically designed for conditioning gardens, beds and borders, and re-conditioning poor or maintaining healthy soils. The compost is made entirely from composted crab, lobster, salmon and aspen bark with added composted cow manure for texture. Lobster Compost is an excellent source of calcium and tomato plants loves calcium

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.-- Rabindranath Tagore

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Man is by definition the first and primary weed under whose influence all other weeds have evolved. -- Jack R. Harland

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

Happy Mother's Day from everyone at Garden Variety to all mothers, whether you garden or not.

I don't know about you, but I don't expect to be bowled over by the gifts my children lay at my feet today.

Jessie will make me a lovely brunch, but it is possible nothing will arrive from Joseph until, like, Tuesday.

However my children decide to honor me (cough, cough), it better not be with plastic flowers.

Popflowershop.com is advertising a "budget-friendly alternative to fresh flowers this Mother's Day."

There is no alternative to fresh flowers as far as I'm concerned. And "fragrance-free" is not a selling point. Neither is "hypo-allergenic" or "reuseable."

Give me those "high-maintenance flowers that wilt, fade and smell over time."

Plastic flowers for Mother's Day. Might as well but a $5 bill in a card.

(This arrangement from popflowershop.com goes for about $60.)

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

There is a great pleasure in working in the soil, apart from the ownership of it. The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world. -- author unknown

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

I am getting ready to go out to the gardens for the first time this week. I know what to expect.

After all of this rain, there will be a remarkable, magical transformation. Everything will have exploded and grown as tall as anything in the Giant's garden in that folk tale of the Goose with the Golden Egg.

I am also heading out to pick up some flowers from Susan Iglehart in Glyndon. Every February, she plants seedlings of all sorts of annuals, perennials, herbs and vegetables and sends her "friends" a list of them. We choose what we think we want and she has them ready for us in May.

Of coarse this is another kind of Christmas morning. I can't remember what I ordered in February.

Photo courtesy of Susan Iglehart's Flowers

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden inspirations
        

Our national flower is the concrete clover leaf. -- Lewis Mumford

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 Photo credit: KAREN BLEIER AFP/Getty Images

Again, thanks to our friends at Dayton Nursery for their very complete garden chores list.

Here's what you will need to accomplish this month and, as you can see, a lot of it involves spraying to prevent damage and infestations.

However, we are all sensitive to using too many chemicals in the garden. I'd like to hear from organic gardeners out there. How do you control for these same pests? Or do you?

I will choose from among those who post a reply and send a wonderful new organic gardening book that came to me.

• Plant summer flowering bulbs such as Gladiolus and Cannas early in May and Dahlias towards the end of May. Divide the bulbs if you want (if over one year old), right at planting time.
• Fertilize trees, shrubs and perennials with Plant-tone or Holly-tone if you have not done this yet.
• Edge and clean up landscape beds, apply Preen weed preventer and then a light cover of new mulch to give beds that fresh look if you have not yet.
• Start a spray program for roses including teas, floribundas and grandifloras to prevent disease and insect damage.  Neem Oil and Bi-Carb are both excellent organic controls.
• Get ready to spray Dogwoods and large-leaved Rhododendron to prevent borer damage.  We recommend you spray Eight on the trunk and lower branches the week of May 1st, May 15th and May 30th.
• Take a walk through garden centers and nurseries at the end of April through mid-May especially to get an idea of what is available for your lawn or garden as this is the time of year that selection is greatest.
• Apply Bayer's Rhododendron & Azalea Insect & Disease Control insecticide as directed to Azaleas, small-leaved Rhododendron and Pieris to control lace bugs.  Apply again in six weeks.  Be sure to water in well.
• Spray Bonide Systemic Insect Control to clean up an existing infestation of lacebug.  Spray after blooms have dropped (about June 5) and repeat in 10 days.  Be sure to get under the leaves where the bugs are hiding.
• Plant tomato and pepper plants and most other annuals when the danger of frost has passed and the ground has warmed.  This is usually around the 3rd to 4th week of May.
• Apply a weed & feed as directed to your lawn the last week of May to control broadleaf weeds.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity. -- Thomas Jefferson

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

On Sunday, I posted about Ken Thompson's new book, The Book of Weeds, and it drew a lively response.

Among the comments was this one from Patricia: "My daughter recently bought a home whose yard had been professionally landscaped.  One of the first days I was there she wanted to start pulling what she thought were weeds.  I tried to help a little but found myself seeing plants that I was not sure were weeds at all.  She said yesterday that she fears she pulled plants out that weren't weeds and left in the ones the were! 

"Obviously, "you can't judge a book by its cover" when figuring out what are weeds and what aren't."

Imagine my surprise when I found this missive from Thompson himself in my e-mail box. I will let him take over from here:

"Hello, I'm the author of The Book of Weeds. Despite writing about weeds, I'm only just beginning to realize the confusion they cause to many gardeners, and I was moved by Patricia's plea on behalf of her daughter: is it a weed?

At this distance (the other side of the Atlantic) I can't really help, but here is some general advice: any plant that seems to be making itself too much at home, or even bent on world domination, is probably a weed.

 But if you really have no idea what it is, there's no harm in leaving just one until it flowers, or someone else turns up who can identify it. Then you can either finish it off (if it really is a weed), or keep it if it isn't (and if you like it).

Given its previous behavior, you will soon have plenty more if you want them!"

Thanks, author Thompson. Isn't that what they say about weeds? They are perennials you don't want.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden books
        

 Historic Annapolis Foundation hosts the annual William Paca Garden Plant Sale on Saturday, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Sunday, May 10, from noon - 4 p.m.

The sale features a variety of heirloom flowers, vegetables and herbs, native trees and shrubs, and some of the newest seeds offered in this year's seed catalogs.

All plants are grown by Historic Annapolis Foundation volunteers, and proceeds of the sale go to the maintenance of the reconstructed, 18th-century William Paca Garden.

There is no admission fee and reservations are not required. The sale is located in the William Paca Garden with a special event entrance at 1 Martin St. in Annapolis.

Children have an opportunity to make a garden-themed Mother's Day gift at the "Art in the Garden" workshop at 1 p.m. Sunday ($5 fee).

New additions to this year's sale include native plants like Echinacea 'Coconut Lime', a brand new selection of coneflower with frothy lime colored petals, and Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight', an unusual yellow perennial.

Fill your garden with the color of traditional favorites like hollyhocks, zinnias, and salvia.  Plant Sale Catalogs will be available on the Historic Annapolis Web site, www.annapolis.org, or at the Museum Store, 77 Main St., downtown Annapolis.

Photo courtesy of Historic Annapolis.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tomatomania. Greenstreet Gardens, 391 West Bay Front Road (Rt., 258), Lothian. More than 150 varieties of tomatoes, including classic and rare heirloom seedlings, sturdy hybrids, pots, planters and everything needed to grow tomatoes.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Herb and Garden Faire, Landis Valley Museum, Lancaster, Pa. Proceeds benefit the heirloom seed project at the museum, preserving Pennsylvania German argricultural heritage. One of the largest sales of heirloom herbs, vegetables and ornamentals on the East Coast. Admission: $8.

Sunday, 10 a.m. to noon, National Arboretum, Azalea Collection Tour. Registration required. Call 202-245-4521.

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Horticultural Society of Maryland meeting, Towson United Universalist Church, 1710 Dulaney Valley Road, Lutherville. Stephen Scanniello, author of A Year of Roses and Easy-Care Roses: Low Maintenance Climbers is the featured speaker. His topic is "Creating Landscapes With Roses." For more information, call 410-821-5561

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events
        

If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinthus, for they would feed my soul. --  The Koran

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

New York Times gardening and landscape writer Anne Raver, who gardens on her family farm in Carroll County, was on WYPR's Maryland in the Morning with Tom Hall Wednesday morning - her regular stop - and she contradicted advice I gave here last week: that it is probably safe to put your tomato plants in the ground.

I have the highest regard for Anne, and she said to wait. The ground is too wet and cold for tropicals like tomatoes and peppers.

Since I repeated the homespun advice - you can plant your tomatoes after the dogwood trees bloom - it has been unseasonably cold and rainy and the ground is particularly inhospitable to tomatoes and peppers right now.

Personally, I've always put mine in the ground on Mother's Day, but it doesn't look like the ground will be dry enough and warm enough this weekend either.

So perhaps the advice I saw elsewhere - don't even bother until Memorial Day because you gain nothing and could lose everything - might be right.

Thanks Anne.

Photo courtesy of the ASPCA

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Photo credits: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

My friend Betsy talks about the wisteria on her porch.

About 8 years ago my mom told me that I had to plant wisteria because one can't have a big, old front porch without wisteria. 

 What she didn't tell me, but what I have since learned, is that wisteria is an insidious, aggressive, parasitic, and a remorseless survivor. 

 It seems to grow during the night, stretching its tentacles in every direction until it finds something to latch onto, and when I come out in the morning, these stealthy creatures have wound their way around the porch railing, the potted plants, the porch chairs, the watering can, the dogwood tree, and even the broom leaning in the corner that I use to sweep up the falling cherry blossoms.

 During the growing season, my husband Ron has to climb to the porch roof every couple of weeks to hack the vines off the roof.  They resist his efforts by trying to squirm under the shingles.  But now, for the next couple of weeks, the wisteria is blooming, and the masses of lavender flowers, like clusters of grapes, take my breath away. 

 And when the blooms are gone, the blanket of leaves will shade the porch and create a private and peaceful living room. As Mother's Day approaches, I am again reminded of how my mom is always right!

See more pictures of Betsy's wisteria.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Your garden
        

Just living is not enough . . . One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. -- Hans Christian Anderson

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

Photo credits: Susan Reimer/Baltimore Sun

Whole Foods opened its new store in Annapolis Tuesday, and it was the scent of basil that greeted hundreds of customers on the store's first day.

Just inside the door of the 56,000-square-foot store - among the largest in the Mid-Atlantic region and more than twice as large as the store it replaced - was a wall of basil plants, deep green and fragrant. Whole Foods has created quite a reputation for its selection of plants, fresh flowers and its skill at creating arrangements for special events. After all, one of the floral department managers is named Rose and another floral employee is named Lily. But the new store gives the five floral department flower arrangers more than two-and-a-half times the space.

In the underground parking garage, there were shade plants (of course), tropicals and bags of compost greeting customers heading to the escalator. Inside the main entrance were hydrangeas, bromeliads, orchids, and cut flowers, including delicious grape-colored peonies. Outside the front door there were daylilies, hanging baskets, roses, impatiens, Gerber daisies, mandevilla and hibiscus.

Whole Foods will be marking its flowers with the distance they traveled so customers can make a "green" choice. While there are flowers from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there will also be flowers from growers as little as 8 miles from the store.

Whole Foods flower arrangers Julie and Rose have gained quite a reputation in Annapolis and they now do the flowers for at least one or two weddings a week. They can work with a budget as small as $300 or one as large as $5,000.

Jen Thompson, regional manager for flowers, said flower sales might make up about 3 percent of the grocery store's sales. Except this weekend. Mother's Day will push flower sales to 10 percent of the store's gross.

For more flower pictures from Whole Foods in Annapolis, keep reading.

 

 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden news
        

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.

Though I grew up in rural Virginia, playing in the rows of my grandfather's vegetable garden as a child, I didn't consider vegetable gardening until I was in Baltimore, living in an apartment with a concrete balcony and a no backyard.

Enter container gardening.

I grew tomatoes and beets last year; this time around I'm a little more ambitious, growing tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, parsley, lettuces and arugula, all from seed. I think I may be heading for a bumpy ride: My tomato seedlings (at left) are thriving, but my parsley is looking a little worse for wear. I'll soon be transplanting my tomato and basil plants outside, planting them in some old and new pots.

But reader Kristin Bailey has run into the same problem I ran into a few months ago: What do you do with old soil?

She writes:

What is the environmentally responsible thing for us container gardeners to do with the tired out and root-filled soil from last year's annuals when it's time to do this year's planting? I live in a Canton rowhouse with just a paved back courtyard, and I used to have the same problem when living in a condo and apartments. I'm sure other urban gardeners have the same dilemma. Trash bags full of soil and roots are horrifying -- why throw dirt in a landfill? ... (There are enough rats in the area already, so composting doesn't strike me as a good idea. Not to mention, what would someone without a yard do with all the compost?)

I reused it. It seems wasteful to throw away perfectly good -- OK, mostly good -- earth. I simply mixed it with some new potting soil and distributed it evenly among all my pots and went to town.

On their blog, Gardening and Yardening, writers Nancy Szerlag and Jeff Ball recommend emptying out the old soil, scrubbing your pots with a mild bleach solution, then filling your pots with two parts old soil to one part new potting soil or compost. They also recommend using a slow-release fertilizer, such as Dynamite Plant Food.

Editor Avis Weathersbee recommends a similar approach, using a little bit of of old, a little bit of new and some dry plant food.

Seasoned urban gardeners, what's your take? Do you reuse container soil? Do you have magic new-to-old ratios for your container plants?

P.S. -- Composting is an option, too, even in the city; there are composting options that are designed to keep away pests. (Just ask my garden blog pal Julie S.) And if you produce too much? The Whole Foods in Harbor East will gladly take surplus compost off your hands for you.

Posted by Maryann James at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Urban Gardening, Vegetable gardening
        

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Julie Scharper posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.

I live in a skinny, crumbling apartment above two nightclubs in Mt. Vernon.

It gets a little noisy at night (one side plays unse-unse, the other boom-chaka-laka), but the rent is cheap and I love the high ceilings and old-fashioned details.

The best part of my apartment is what lays outside my kitchen door: a long stretch of roof just for me.

 Last year, tired of not being able to see anything green from my windows, I planted my first garden here. I lugged bags of potting soil and stacks of pots up the stairs and planted flowers, herbs and some vegetables.

 As soon as the first shoots appeared, the roof was transformed. Butterflies, bees and birds arrived. Morning glory and moonflower vines wrapped around the bars on my windows.

 On rainy nights, the smell of rosemary and mint blew in my bedroom. The gray urban space became an oasis where friends joined me to drink wine and talk by candlelight until late in the night.

 This year, I'm planting twice as many flowers and herbs as I did last year, and experimenting with lots of new vegetables. My strawberries are on the brink of turning pink and the first moonflower shoots have muscled out of the soil.

I'm composting for the first time and, like a good recessionista, improvising planters out of everything around.

It brings me great comfort to know that despite all the turbulence and tribulations in the world, seeds still sprout and shoots still grow.

Posted by Julie Scharper at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

 Photo credit: Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun

Sadly, Carrie Lyle and Joannah Hill have left The Sun and Garden Variety, taking with them their good companionship in the garden, and their wonderful, bountiful, knowledge. Both are Master Gardeners. We will miss them for their friendship and their experience.

Today we at Garden Variety introduce a couple of new voices. Julie Scharper and Maryann James, colleagues at The Sun who will be blogging about vegetable gardening.

Maryann and Julie disprove a couple of common theories about gardening: It is something you do after the kids leave home,  and you have to have a yard to do it.

Maryann and Julie are both young women professionals with no kids - and no yard. Both are city dwellers, but like so many today, determined to grow at least some of their own food and herbs.

We will be following Maryann and Julie on Tuesdays this summer as they blog about their vegetable gardens. Both are beginning gardeners and both face special challenges in the city.

We will be learning along with them.

Welcome, Ladies. Let's get our hands dirty!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.---  Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

On Sunday, I blogged about a charming  new book about weeds titled, well, The Book of Weeds.

And I promised a copy of the book to a randomly selected person who commented on the post.

Well, my colleague Jill Rosen, the voice behind the blog Unleashed, randomly selected "Greg" out of the names I place in a hat.

Thanks Jill and congrats Greg.

And Ken Thompson, author of The Book of Weeds? You owe me a percentage if all the posters who said they wanted a copy of this book actually go out and buy one!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden contests
        

I've never been without a garden, It's a lifetime challenge: a thing of beauty and a 3-D puzzle. --  Beatrice J. Elye

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

Carrie Lyle and Joannah Hill take us on a video tour of the Sherwood Gardens of Guilford, a public space with a rich history that is greatly appreciated by its residence for its calm beauty.  

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden video tours
        

From the author of Compost, here is fascinating information and advice on handling weeds - how to recognize them, how to control them, and how to exploit them.

The first step is to know your enemy, so weeds are identified and the survival strategies of various types is explained to enable you to get rid of them more easily.

Finally, an explanation of what makes a plant a weed, and what makes it a useful or even critical part of the garden ecosystem.

Each entry is simple and easy to read, including an explanation of why the weed "succeeds" and what to do about it.

Contest alert! I will choose from among those who comment on this post and send them a copy of The Book of Weeds. Remember to include your email address so I can contact you for a mailing address. Don't worry. I won't share you email with anyone else.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Garden books
        

Much may be done with those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away. -- Charles Colton

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

This garden helper comes under the heading of pretty and practical. 

It is ideal for keeping potted plants watered when you’re away or when you’re just too busy to check on them. It holds 24 ounces of water, enough to keep a large pot hydrated for a week. Simply push the 7.5-inch “smart pottery” ceramic stake into the soil. The ceramic stake slowly releases water into the soil as plants need it.

The hand-blown clear fluted globe has a decorative blue finial that allows you to remove the globe from the stake for easy refilling.

It costs $24.95 and is available from Logee’s Tropical plants, www.logees.com, 1-888-330-8038.

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Categories: Garden tools
        

Will is the root, knowledge is the stem and leaves, and feeling is the flower. -- Sterling

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

For 92 years, they’ve called it Flowermart, but they might just as well call it Food Fest because everybody in Mount Vernon was eating Friday.

Including the plants.

As the Social Security Chorus sang old show tunes and ’70s television theme songs (Think Laverne and Shirley) on a stage nearby, the food booths’ lines grew steadily longer for Italian sausage, quesadillas, gyros and crab cake.

And just across the cobblestones, Michael and Pam Szesze’s carnivorous plants were snacking on the insects tossed their way by the brisk, noontime breeze.

Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, sundews and other hungry plants from their Carnivorous Plant Nursery in Derwood caught the attention of children and adults alike.

“I think it is fascinating,” said Laura Jeffers of Pasadena, who paid $8 for a glass jar of tadpoles swimming among the bladderwort, a plant that eats the microorganisms generated by the tadpole droppings. The tadpoles will eventually be toads in her garden.

“We have lots of pets,” she said as she carefully carried away the family’s newest additions.

Elsewhere, Flowermart traditions showed their sustaining strength: big hats, lemon sticks, face paint and Catholic school kids selling flowers.

Ascension School of Halethorpe won first place in the booth competition with the construction of a pond under their tent. Even Immaculate Heart of Mary, second-place winner, was impressed. “The pond should have won,” said an admiring Joanne McShalley of IHM in Towson. “We were just proud to be second.”

Bobbie McKinney, dressed in the peach and black colors of this year’s Flower mart, danced nearby with granddaughter Kaylah Hope, 5, whose face was brightly painted beneath her big hat and whose fingers were sticky with lemon juice and candy sticks.

“This is her first time, but I wait the whole year for Flowermart,” McKinney said.

Look here for more photos from Flowermart by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden events
        

 Baltimore Sun photo: Susan Reimer

Shawn Sexton and Jim Paulus were up at dawn Friday in Annapolis, delivering some of the May baskets that every year adorn the doors and doorsteps of houses and businesses all over town.

They work for Michael Designs, a florist, and every April 30 it is a mad scramble to get all the baskets done.

"I was up late last night and first thing this morning," said Paulus, who said the demand for May baskets was about the same as it has been in past years, despite the economy. The average price for one of his baskets is about $85, he said.

The businesses on Main Street in the historic area of Annapolis show a sense of humor on May Day. Mangia, an Italian eatery, has artichokes, peppers and mushrooms as part of its arrangement - and the trailing ribbons are red, green and white, the colors of the flag of Italy.

The Annapolis Running Store puts out rows of tennis shoes - with flowers peaking out of the shoe tops - all plastic!

Hats in the Belfry did its May Basket in a hat box and Chick & Ruth's Deli had bagels in its. Even the Naval Academy had May baskets on its rather forbidding main gates.

And the Annapolis Yacht Club? A flower arrangement in a little wooden boat.

The mild weather means all the May baskets will still be fresh this weekend. Take your camera and take a tour of downtown Annapolis this weekend. It's worth the trip.

Here's my photo gallery of the May baskets. Take a look.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events
        

 Photo credit: Real Simple magazine

Real Simple, one of my favorite magazines for its practical and semi-spiritual content, suggests in this month's issue (there is make-up on the cover) that getting organized isn't just something you do in closets. You do it in the garden, too.

The magazine published this wonderful picture of a very colorful, very clean, very organized potting table and lots of very perfect gardening tools and accessories.

It could make a gardener cry.

But here are the suggestions that go with the pretty picture in the May issue:

1. Shelf. Hang a galvanized-metal shelf ($129, Peddlers Home Design, 205-877-3030) on the back of the house or the side of a shed to store extra pots. Spray the unit with clear Rust-Oleum and it can stay outside year-round.

2. Potting bench. This indoor-outdoor garden center ($200, amazon.com) folds up and features two roomy shelves, plus a trellised back for hanging tools and twine. It’s made of fir, a hardy wood that withstands winter weather.

3. Bushel baskets. Keep them on hand for fresh-picked produce and weeds ($6 each, michaels.com for locations).

4. Pots. Bags of potting soil and fertilizer can tip over easily (and they’re not much to look at, either). Instead, pour the soil into rarely used pots, or try these blue Imusa enamel vessels ($28 each, amazon.com).

5. Hose organizer. You can’t attach a wall-mounted hose organizer to a brick house or one with fragile shingles. The steel Hose Butler ($35, merrifieldgardencenter.com) sticks in the ground and can be easily repositioned.

6. Buckets. These galvanized-metal English Keepers ($39 to $59 each, smithandhawken.com) have locking lids so squirrels can’t get at birdseed.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

In his garden every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation. --  Louise Beebe Wilder

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Categories: Garden quotations