The green movement goes to the dogs!

Thanks to Kerry Michaels of Maine, aka containergarden, for posting this fun picture on Twitpics. Notice to topiary puppy!

Kerry writes about container gardening at About.com.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

Margaret Roach thinks August - not April - is the cruelest month. At least in the garden.

The writer behind the blog A Way to Garden writes about the garden chores of August this week, and she sounds tired already.

"Hazy, hot and humid ... and plum tuckered out. But give up we must not," she writes.

At the top of her list of chores are weeding and watering.

Whatever you do, don't let those weeds go to seed or they will multiply like, well, weeds, she advises. Make a pass through each bed each week if for no other reason that the weeds steal the moisture that is in short supply in August.

Speaking of moisture. Roach advises us not to bother watering the lawn. It will bounce back. Focus on new plantings.

That's just the beginning of her list of August chores. If you have the energy, read more on A Way to Garden.

Photo credit: Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

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Categories: Weekend Chores
        

Gardening: a leisure-time activity involving lots of time and little leisure. --  author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Check out this article at Dave's Garden, one of the best Internet sites out there for gardening info.

Sally G. Miller writes about installing an old mailbox in her garden. It not only looks cool, it holds stuff you might need while gardening, including:

• Pruners
• A trowel
• Gloves
• Pencils, markers, paper to make notes
• String or garden wire, measuring tape
• Plant labels, a produce bag for harvesting and a paper bag for seed heads.
• And maybe a bandana or a hat     

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

 Photo credit: Robert Hamilton/Baltimore Sun

Garden Variety is now a refrigerator magnet!

That's the rough equivalent of being a household name, I think. 

I have a box of these things, and I'd love to share.

Send me mailing address, and I will send you a Garden Variety refrigerator magnet by return mail. If you want some for your friends, let me know. Don't worry, I won't share your address.

Garden Variety on the refrigerator is almost like having me to dinner. Only you don't have to cook.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden humor
        

Photo credit: Bill Gordon

I mentioned in yesterday's post that the island of Hilton Head looks like one great big perfectly manicured garden, and indeed that's what the town fathers have in mind. Approximately 70 percent of the island is located inside gated communities, and the grounds around them are gorgeously maintained.

Hilton Head is also well known for its "eco-friendly" development. The height of buildings and their placement is strictly governed to minimize their impact on trees. As a result, the island enjoys an unusual amount of tree cover.

Among the trees are these live oaks, which have grown to enormous size over hundreds of years of undisturbed living.

The first picture shows a live oak that was felled during a storm but managed to re-root itself to become the centerpiece of a public playground.

The second is a live oak in its more traditional shape.

Live oaks do not lose their leaves and thus provide a year-round canopy for this beautiful jewel of an island.

 

 

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

Photo credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

In today's column in The Sun, I write about fall vegetable crops you can plant now and harvest in time for a wonderfully fresh Thanksgiving.

But there are some fall crops that require a little more patience.

Think about planting garlic, shallots and onions sets in September or October. Let them over-winter and you can harvest them in the spring.

My neighbor Ron does this, and his onions are as big as softballs and his garlic is wonderful.

Carrots can also benefit from a little patience. You should be able to harvest them deep into the winter here in the Mid-Atlantic. Cover the leeks you planted in spring with some straw or a floating row cover and you should be able to harvest them all winter as well.

Burpee Home Gardens is reporting a keener than usual interest in fall crops this year - because of the enthusiasm of first-time gardeners. But the company has also noticed a demand for herbs as well; many of which can be brought indoors when the weather turns.

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Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Where you tend a rose, my lad, A thistle cannot grow. --  Frances Hodgson Burnett

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 Photo credit: Kate Shatzkin/Baltimore Sun

I am a total tomato freak, and this is the happiest time of the gardening season for me. I'd dice them on my breakfast cereal if I thought I could get away with it.

Kate Shatzkin, the blogger behind Charm City Moms, has posted a wonderful recipe today. I have to say, tomatoes and beef are a terrific combination.

Kate doesn't think it has been a great season for tomatoes so far. Let me know how your tomato season is going. Mine are slow to ripen and the ones from the farmers' market are tasting kind of mealy. Not that it stops me....

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Nobody cares as much about somebody else's vacation as they do about their own. But I saw a couple of things on my travels in the Carolinas that I thought I would share.

The first is pine needle mulch.

Southern gardeners seem to prefer it to the pine bark mulch we use, and it makes sense...there are pine trees everywhere and they drop a lot of needles. You use what is at hand.

I guess I thought this mulch just fell from sky and gardeners raked it into place around their beds. Not so. It actually comes bundled like straw. I saw stacks of it waiting to be distributed in the many incredibly manicured beds of Hilton Head Island...which looks like one big landscaped garden, by the way. Not a bloom out of place anywhere. It must be zoned that way.

But that does not account for the pine needles that DO fall from the sky, landing on top of shrubs and flowers like a snowfall. Not to mention driveways and walkways. The result is, you hear a lot of leaf-blower noise around these gardens.

Of course, pine needles will increase the acidity of your soil, and certain plants love it: azaleas, rhododendron, chrysanthemum and roses, plus hydrangeas, oaks, hickorys, dogwood and holly. Onions, garlic, mint and tomatoes are just a few of the plants in the vegetable and herb garden which will also enjoy the acid boost. But the acidity might damage grass. If you are worried, sprinkle some lime over top.

Pine needle mulch is incredibly attractive, I think, and I have read that it contains certain retardants that stall weed germination. But that also means they can retard germination of the seeds and plants that you like. The answer is to use your nose. If the needles still smell very "piney," they contain the terpenes that you might not want.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden travel
        

 Photo credit: Matthew Appleby

The White House has one.

Buckingham Palace has one.

Now, 10 Downing St., home of Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown, has one, too.

A vegetable garden, that is.

America's First Lady, Michelle Obama, visited with the PM's wife, Sarah Brown, in April and reportedly encouraged her to plant a vegetable garden around her official residence.

She took the advice and built a couple of modest raised beds around the residence, planting beatroot, tomatoes, parsnips and peppers.

The Brown's sons, John, 5, and Fraser, 3, have been busy in the garden, too. And the word, via Mrs. Brown's Twitter, is they especially like the strawberries.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Mrs. Brown told guests during a tour of her garden, "The Downing Streeet garden is one of the secret pleasures of life at No. 10, and I thoroughly enjoy spending time among the beautiful shribs and flowers."

She said her vegetable garden was so abundant that it supplies lettuces to the No. 10 cafe where staff members eat.

The British press is calling vegetable gardens "the latest must-have accessor for official residences."

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

A man should never plant a garden larger than his wife can take care of. --  T.H. Everett

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Don't be shy! I know you've got some great photos out there ...

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Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

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

Drawing inspiration from Dahlink's beautiful pond, and last week's post about Earth Boxes and cheaper solutions, I dug up some other DIY projects for your vegetable garden.

The Nebraska Cooperative extension has a series of videos from someone they call the Backyard Farmer. Along with all sorts of other how-tos on container gardening and yard maintenance, the Backyard Farmer shows how to make your own containers. (The video's above.) By making your own mix and forming them in makeshift molds, you can find cheaper, custom solutions to all your container needs. Seems like a worthwhile Saturday afternoon project.

Other beginner ideas:
+ This project seems better suited for spring, but could be helpful for starting your fall plantings: GrowIndie shares downloadable seed markers and a mini greenhouse and seed starter from a plastic egg carton.

+ Don't have a place to store your garden hose? Make and Takes has a quick and easy solution for that.

+ Organic Gardening has a great simple idea for a trellis -- all you need is twine, bamboo and a zip tie.

For the intermediate DIY-er:
+ The DIY Network has video on how to create your own vertical vegetable trellis, particularly for viney plants like your cukes, melons and beans.

And for those who are feeling pretty awesome about themselves:
+ The DIY Network shows how to create a flood-and-drain hydroponic system. It doesn't look too involved, but it's way over my head. If anyone tries it out and shows me their results, I'll gladly scrounge up a prize.

+ And lastly, Organic Gardening has a step-by-step how-to for a tomato tower -- it requires a trip to your local hardware store for some wood and power tools though. (Thanks Urban Garden Project!)

Posted by Maryann James at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth. --  Kahlil Gibran

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Today's guest post is from "Lazy Gardens," a garden blogger from Phoenix, who used to live in our area. The only thing she misses, she says, is the lilacs. In today's post, she talks about kitchen gardening when it is 105 in the shade. Read her post - she doesn't sound lazy to me. And visit her blog, where she is describing the process of turning her yard into drought-tolerant buffalo grass.

Photos courtesy of Lazy Gardens

Look at the pictures - it's 105° in my Phoenix garden and the
first year kitchen garden is thriving in the hottest part of the
yard. Most of my gardening time is spent harvesting vegetables. My
housemate is taking about 20 pounds of vegetables to work each week
for the ravening hordes at his office, and we're eating all the
fresh produce we can stand.

I don't use a secret sauce of organic supplements, don't practice
double-digging, use no pesticides, and use almost no fertilizer.
My Internet nickname is Lazy Gardens for good reason.

1 - Most important is the garden's regular, reliable water supply.
There is a drip irrigation on a timer under all that mulch,
watering three times a day by drip tubing running along the rows of
plants.

I have a moisture meter and I'm not afraid to use it to make sure
the vegetable garden area stays moist. The rest of the landscaping
is desert native shrubbery that gets watered every couple of weeks.

2 - Mulch, mulch and more mulch to keep the precious water from
evaporating. My mulch is mostly shredded tree prunings, because
they are free and last several seasons. The mulch also keeps weeds
under control and gives the quail something to scratch in.

I piled mulch 4-6 inches thick over a thick layer of home-made
compost, and used a pick to dig holes just big enough for the
transplants. Yes, a pick.

3 - I used cheap supplements to counteract the alkalinity of desert
dirt. A liberal sprinkling of soluble "soil sulfur" over the bed
area decreases the pH, which in turn frees up iron and other
minerals. I sprinkled a small amount of ammonium phosphate on the
beds to make up for the small amount of soil nitrogen the first
year. Next year the compost will have been scratched into the dirt
by the birds and provide some nitrogen.

4 - No wimpy cool-climate vegetables will be planted until autumn.
The summer line-up is squash, okra, eggplant, tomatillos, chilis,
tomatoes, and herbs. In the fall, I'll try lettuce, spinach and
maybe beans.

5 - Pest control is provided by the birds. Something is eating
holes in the eggplant leaves, but the leaves are growing faster
than whatever it is can eat, so I'm not worried.

6 - It's a wildlife habitat as well as a food source. Quail nested
in my tomatoes, doves sleep in the mulch, and lizards scamper all
over.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Spade! ...Thou art a tool of honor in my hands; I press thee, through a yielding soil, with pride. -- William Wordsworth

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Today's guest post is from Gary Mihoces, loyal husband and sometime reader of Garden Variety. Gary, who covers the National Football League and just about every other sport for USA Today, offers his top 10 ten ways to know your vacation has ended.

10. You notice the grandmas and the grandpas at the beach are snapping at the grandkids.

9. You see an ad for a rib joint and think, "Nah. I've had enough of those."

8. You sign on and notice that your backlog of office e-mails has hit the 500 mark, while the number of half-drunk water bottles around you outnumber the full bottles by a 5-to-1 ratio.

7. You only have two rolls of toilet paper left out of a 24-pack.

6. You crave a simple glass of ice water instead of a those coconut-pineapple-five-kinds-of-rum drinks.

5. You have more sand in your car than they have at Normandy.

4. You walk around humming Jimmy Buffet's greatest hits, and find out all of your mail has been forwarded to Margueritaville.

3. You see it has been raining in Maryland and you know your grass will be a half-foot high. And you are happy to know you are needed.

2. You can't wait to get home to read the book you brought to the beach.

1. You are delighted to learn that NFL training camps are opening.

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Categories: Garden humor
        

Gardeners have to be a combined chemist, botanist and meteorologist to carry all such information in one's head and be able to send it forth when visitors pose embarrassing questions. --  Dr E.J. Salisbury

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 Photos courtesy of Mary Felter

Today's guest post is from Mary Felter, a friend and long-time Annapolis journalist. The description of the conversion of her back yard, and her pictures, remind us that gardens are not all about work, they are about creating a space outdoors where you can relax and enjoy life.

Then I hired Waltnut Hill, a landscape company in St. Margaret’s, which does really large projects (one includes a $100,000-plus landscaping job on a new house out on Bay Head Road!) But they didn’t mind putting in a dry-laid slatelike patio for us, and then doing the landscaping for us.  

We already have nandina in the yard, so the woman landscape architect incorporated that into the plan, and since I love camellias from living in the South as a child, she picked out six WINTER camellia plants, which will bloom in the fall and we won’t have to worry about spring frosts killing off delicate buds.

(I’m suggesting that if people love camellias, they think about this variety. Lovely dark green leaves, which contrast nicely with the lacy nandina.)

She added blue hydrangeas next to the patio which also added to the new and happy location! Finally she put in "Plantain Lily" hostas and "Midnight Rose" heuchera and a few other plants I can’t find the names for – little spider like plants. We’re very happy with the results.

 

 

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

So much is written of the gardener's role in the creation and enjoyment of flowering beauty and so little said of the relish of honest labor that gardening requires. -- author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Those Garden Variety readers who are young and go out a lot at night must know my friend and co-worker, Sam Sessa, he of the Midnight Sun blog, recently named Best Blog by Baltimore magazine.

Garden writers get lots of free plants...more than we can use. And when these petunias arrived, I happily shared some with Sam, hoping against hope that he would share with me - I don't know - a round of drinks.

Well, Sam proves what the demographers think. Gardening is most often pursued by women of a certain age. And is most successfully pursued by those who actually water their plants.

Take it away, Sam!!

Photos courtesy of Sam Sessa

My family has always been good with plants.

Pop pop was a spinach farmer. Pops was a spinach farmer. And before becoming a nimbly pimbly, yellow-bellied writer-type, I was a spinach farmer, too.

But I am also a man, which makes me inherently lazy.

So when the lovely Susan Reimer offered me four pretty purple-and-white petunias, I couldn't help but say yes. I took them home, intent on getting some dirt from the nearby hardware store and going hog wild. I've had flower pot gardens for the past couple years, so I kinda know what I'm doing.

That's when the laziness kicked in. Those pretty purple-and-white petunias sat on a window sill and withered. I didn't plant them. Heck, I barely watered them. I got married. My wife and I went on our honeymoon, and believe me, the last thing on my mind were petunias. 

When we got back, my petunias were almost kaput. One was certifiably dead. The other three were in critical condition. Something needed to be done.

Finally, I got the necessarily potting supplies and put those babies in some Miracle-Gro soil, next to a leftover Mexican rose. At least that's what I think that other plant is.

 The point is, I wrote off those petunias. I even put the pot up on the roof deck, where no passersby could see them. I was kind of embarassed at my scraggly petunias.

But I didn't stop watering them. And, lo and behold, a week later, they went from brownish green to bright green. A week after that, they started to flower.

 This first photo was taken about two-and-a-half weeks after I planted my petunias. I know, I know, I should have taken a photo of the petunias before I planted them. But I was too lazy to plant the petunias in the first place, let alone snap a photo of them.

After about four weeks, the petunias just exploded. I was so proud of them I took them downstairs and set them on the front step. They swarmed over the Mexican rose plant, which is now almost smothered in purple-and-white trumpet-shaped bossoms. 

And look at them now. Aren't they pretty?

Thanks again for giving me thepetunias, Susan. Sorry I killed one. But the other three look good, don't they? 

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Categories: Your garden
        

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. --  Frank Lloyd Wright

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 Photos courtesy of Reggie Greenberg

Today’s guest post is from Reggie Greenberg, another of our loyal readers here at Garden Variety. Reggie is a very spiritual gardener. And she isn’t too shabby with a camera, either. I think speak for everyone here at Garden Variety --We'd love to see a picture of the herb-flavored doghouse! 

My two year old Doberman/shepherd loves to dig and eat plants, grass and shrubs, making planting a garden in the backyard a bit of a challenge. I installed lily beds outside her fence, but I decided to plant my herb garden in the sun and out of her reach on the roof of her dog house, out of harms way, but close to the kitchen. 
 Every morning, I give her fresh water and  drench the herbs with the old water from her bowl.
The fragrances of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary waft up as I brush past the leaves.   I close my eyes breathing in the aromas as the warm air ruffles through my hair and caresses my skin.  
I am transported by the sound of the breeze rustling through millions of leaves overhead in the tulip poplars.  The wind whispers a melody as it moves along the branches like the bow on the strings of a violin.  My breathing rises and falls with the rhythm of the music as it swirls through the trees, teasing me to surf in the forest canopy.   I long to rise with the gusts to heights where only the red tailed hawk soars, leaving present day crises behind me.
 
 When I open my eyes the symphony has ended.  The fragrance of the basil and the feel of the cold steel dog bowl still in my hand bring me back to reality.  The newspaper lies open on the deck.  Somehow the cold realities of life are easier to digest now that I have been refreshed by the unexpected delights of the garden.  I can face the bad news when I know I can return to sanctuary of unimaginable treasures awaiting me in the garden. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Your garden
        

Any garden demands as much of its maker as he has to give, but no other undertaking will give as great a return for the amount of effort put into it. --  Elizabeth Lawrence

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

You don’t go to your beach house to garden. You go to your beach house to go to the beach.

Still, there is a pride of ownership that might inspire those who have oceanfront homes in the Carolinas to give them some curb appeal.

On my vacation on Emerald Isle in North Carolina, I noticed that some homeowners gave over their property to drought or desiccation. My guess is, these were homes used primarily as rental property.

Other, more lavish homes had built-in irrigation systems and neat, modest designs that draw on the native, highly drought-tolerant vegetation, including palms and beach pines.

Still others homes were planted with annuals and decorated with planters, a dead giveaway that these were season-long or year-round residences. Annuals and planters take too much water and too much attention to leave them for even a day in the climate of the Carolinas.

And finally, as this homeowner has decided to do, you simply give in to nature and to the nature of vacation…and you turn your front yard into a volleyball court.

Photo credit: Jill Mihoces

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Your garden
        

The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world. --  author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Photo by Sugar Pond @ Flickr

I have garden envy. One of my friends, overwhelmed by the idea of gardening, decided to forge ahead and plant her own garden this year. I went with her to the garden store -- where I bought a cucumber and pepper plant for the Veggie Challenge -- and coached her as she picked her plants and herbs, a pot or two, and an EarthBox.

Months later, my plants are struggling along as i try to keep them hydrated and healthy, and her plants -- cantaloupe, Lima beans and cucumbers -- are EXPLODING! It's amazing!

I'm happy for her, but yeah, I'm a little jealous. OK, a lot jealous.

The EarthBox is basically a pre-fab self-watering system. It comes with fertilizer and all the tools you need to build it. All you have to add is water, potting mix and your seedlings. But it's a little pricey. It's not too bad -- my friend bought hers for about $60 -- but at that point in the season, when I'd already bought oodles of pots, it was just too much me.

Flickr apparently has an EarthBox group -- feel free to check it out for yourself. If you're too frugal to buy a box, some kind folks have published instructions on how to build your own. (The photo above is one person's tomatoes from a DIY box. She has a photo set detailing what she did.) I may make my own before I leave on vacation in a few weeks to make my watering solution more manageable.

Anyone had success with EarthBox or made their own? I'm curious.

Posted by Maryann James at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Garden Variety readers: meet my co-worker Stephanie. She of the giant zucchini and the tomato-eating squrrels. Can anyone help her?

I thought it would be fun to grow a few veggies in the backyard -- tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, the stuff my kids love.

I had these visions of the kids helping me weed and water while learning about how things grow and where their food comes from.

So I bought my seedlings at the farmer’s market downtown and planted them on Mother’s Day.

The tomato plants are taller than the fence already and we picked an enormous zucchini last week.

But I fear we will never eat a single tomato from our garden.

I knew about rabbits and bugs, but it seems the squirrels are our enemy.

We have watched in horror from the kitchen window as squirrels pick the green tomatoes from the vine and nibble at them as if they are nuts.

Help! How do I keep the squirrels from eating my tomatoes?

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

How often it is that a garden, beautiful though it be, will seem sad and dreary and lacking in one of its most gracious features, if it has no water. -- Pierre Husson

Faithful Garden Variety reader Dahlink sends this photo in response to today's garden quotation. And it is a perfect response, I think.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden quotations
        

Meet my friend, Bev Jones, a woman I have known for more than 30 years and who was my mentor before there was such a term. Bev has a sprawling, ambitious, breathtaking garden on her farm, Buckeye Farm, in the Shenandoah Mountains, and her gardens have been featured in a number of shelter magazines. You must see it to believe it. Here she shares just a tiny bit of her gardening wisdom and just a few views from her garden. Enjoy!

I’ve always loved abundance in the garden.  When I plant a new bed, my heart thrills at the vision of tumbling masses of color and sweeping patterns of foliage.
 
Recently, however, I’ve been learning about value of clear space in the garden.  Paths and resting spots provide vantage points for appreciating all that abundant planting.  So this year I'm methodically extending the paths within my garden design. I find that newly opened spaces allow access to features and views that had been hidden. I'm whittling down the size of my beds, and yet at the same time I'm increasing their impact.
 
I think that the paths also can enrich the experience of exploring the garden. I hope that it’s intriguing to spot an opening in the hedge, and then follow a winding path through trees and shrubs until you come upon the gazebo at the edge of a pond.

Photos courtesy of Bev Jones

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Your garden
        

The hum of bees is the voice of the garden. -- Elizabeth Lawrence

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

By the time you find greener pastures, you can't climb over the fence… --  author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

So great is the economy of Nature, that most flowers which are fertilized by nocturnal insects emit their odor chiefly or exculsively in the evening. --Charles Darwin

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

The gardening season officially begins on January 1st and ends on December 31. --  Marie Huston

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

This weekend is the annual Crepemyrtle Festival at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville.

Customers can spend their "myrtle money," collected on purchases throughout the season.

Here's the schedule of events:

Friday

8:30am: Myrtle Mania Anticipation Complimentary Coffee Service

9am: Doors open for the 17th Annual Crapemyrtle Festival

8-10pm: Ladies Night: Enjoy an evening of shopping and pampering as part of Homestead Gardens annual customer appreciation event, Crapemyrtle Festival. Ladies in attendance will receive $20 in Myrtle Money, good for one night only! The first 250 women in attendance will receive a complimentary Crapemyrtle tree in a one-gallon pot.

 Saturday 

 Music 1-3pm: Sweet Lime and Passion, Caribbean Duo

Seminars & Workshops

10am: “All About Crapemyrtles” Dr. Margaret Pooler Research Geneticist, USDA/ARS, U.S. National Arboretum examines all aspects of these beautiful trees, and discusses their cultivation.

12pm: “Common Diagnoses for Your Ornamental Trees” with Bartlett Tree Experts.

2pm: “Hydrangeas: The Reemergence of a Summer Classic” with Gene Sumi. It’s easy to see why these graceful shrubs have become a garden staple, now find out the best way to care for these beauties.

Sunday

Music 1-3pm: Live music with Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition

Seminars & Workshops

11am: “Crapemyrtle cultivars for Health, Beauty & Success” Jody Fetzer, Garden Supervisor for the Hillwood Estate will guide you past pest-prone cultivars and help you successfully select disease resistant varieties of crapemyrtles in your favorite color, shape and size.

 2pm: Maryland Crabs 101: Cantler’s Riverside Inn: What says “Maryland summer” more than an outdoor crab-picking session? Our friend, Molly of Cantler’s Riverside Inn is back to demonstrate the delicious art of crab picking.

Monday

Myrtle Monday 11am-4pm: Free fresh-grilled hot dogs and drinks.

Photo credit: Melanie McCabe/Homestead Gardens

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Categories: Garden events
        

The watering of a garden requires as much judgement as the seasoning of a soup. --  Helena Rutherford Ely

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 Today's guest blogger is Eve, one of Garden Variety's most faithful readers. Thanks, Eve!

About 35 years ago, I started to read descriptions of hummingbird gardens.  Trumpet Vine was always mentioned.  The claim was that hummingbirds love the large, red, trumpet-shaped flowers.  Sounded like the plant for me.

At the time, I was in the New Jersey house.  Two tiny kids and an ancient house with an overgrown yard.  (We could afford it, that’s why.)  It was all I could do to keep a path beaten through the jungle-yard. 

The stockade fence of my bright, shiny, new Houston house was the perfect spot for Trumpet Vine.  Ordered it through a catalog and planted it in the gumbo.  Never saw hide nor hair of the little bugger again.   Well, it was Texas and things are different there.

On to the next state and the next house: 

I thought I’d identified Trumpet Vine growing in the farthest rear corner of the lot, near the electric fence.  One morning bright and early, however, the sheep from across the road were chowing down in that corner.  Nothing Trumpet Vine-like ever reappeared.  (Note to kindergarten teacher:  Boy is late today because we had to herd six sheep back down the road.  Sheep are not cooperative.  Beagles are not herding dogs.  If I’d realized I was going to be doing this sort of thing, I would have gotten a more appropriate robe.)

We were in Maryland for only a few weeks when I read in the Sunday Sun (back then, so big that you couldn’t send the littlest kid to carry it in from the end of the driveway) about a nature drive in Anne Arundel County.  Could have been at Blackwater.  (Typical of almost-30 years ago, it was a self-guided car tour instead of a walk or bike ride.)  There was some magnificent Trumpet Vine growing around the trees. 

Inspired, I spent the next 15 years trying to get TV to grow around a tree – any tree! – in my back yard.  I have no idea what the problem was – OK, so maybe I can guess why it didn’t grow so well under the tree with the basketball hoop attached – but I’ve decided to blame the squirrels.

During these many years in all of these states, I also put out hummingbird feeders - we’re talkin’ decades of mixing sugar water! - and, frankly, I never saw any evidence of hummingbird presence.  (The only birds I saw near the Houston house were Golden Eagles.  I can’t imagine a feeder strong enough for an eagle to land on it.  I can’t imagine what I’d have done if one had landed in my yard.  The eagles seemed to be feeding themselves pretty well from the field across the road.)

When I moved to this little house and, what at the time I was regarding as the beginning of the quiet, Miss Marple (got the knitting needles back out) phase of my life, I decided to give Trumpet Vine one more chance.  I saw myself as this sweet, little old lady, with birds feeding out of the palm of my hand while I sang a song and they trilled harmony. 

I also thought it would “soften” the corner of the shed. 

Yahoo!  The plant took!  And then I found out that Trumpet Vine is considered “invasive”.  Nowhere – nowhere at all – had I read that previously!  I will understand that catalogs are not going to blurt out the flaws in a potential sale, but gardening books and Web sites don’t exactly warn that this monster will try to crawl under the shed’s roofing shingles and up through the floor boards. 

One Web site does say that it “covers dead branches on the ground and creates a secret hiding place for migrating birds and locals.”  That just doesn’t seem to describe the situation.  It tries to sneak up on the rosebushes and strangle them.  Nary a word about roots running out into the furthest parts of my little yard to throw out branches everywhere, especially under my low-lying deck where they keep coming up through the boards while I can’t reach the suckers to dig them out. 

Now it’s trying to take over the basketball hoop!

Since I am averse to poisoning my earth, I’ve been pouring white vinegar through the board onto them.  More akin to salting the earth than I’d like, but GrandBoys can chase baseballs and basketballs and GrandGirl, with her little face so close to the ground may be offended by the smell but she won’t be poisoned.

The only plants that Trumpet Vine has not chosen to start up with are the Tiger Lilies.  The Lilies’ story – perhaps another time.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Today the art of gardening is practised much more often than any other, in ignorant, impulsive ways, by people who never stop to think that it is an art at all. --  M.G. Van Rensselaer

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

 

Photo from Chicago Garden

Mr. Brown Thumb over at Chicago Garden offers this tip for saving soil, water and cash by filling up extra space in your containers with your recyclables:

I filled the bottom half of the pot with empty plastic soda bottles. In total there are six 2 liter bottles acting as a false bottom in each pot. Then I covered the top of the empty soda bottles with newspaper, but you can also use landscaping fabric or something like cheese cloth.

At first, I scoffed -- wouldn't you just buy the right sized pot in the first place? (I won't even complain about using But then I reread his post -- he's using a wider pot for his pepper garden. In other words, they need width, not depth. So, fine. It's a nice idea -- for some plants. Others -- tomatoes come  to mind -- need as much space as they can for roots to grow and stretch out.

Anybody else tried this before? Do you have a better solution?

Posted by Maryann James at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Urban Gardening
        

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

Remember when I said I had no buds? Well, the balcony garden is finally blossoming. The hot peppers (above) are blooming all over the place -- despite what Rodale's warned about already blooming plants -- and the cucumber blooms (left) are looking a little fragile but determined to hold on. My sunflowers (below), a dwarf variety great for containers, have brightened up the balcony.

Posted by Maryann James at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. --  Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Today's guest post is from Sarah Kickler Kelber. You know her from Reality Check.

Let me start by telling you this: I am not a gardener. I have killed nearly every plant I've ever laid a finger on; this despite my farm-girl genes. So I steer clear of my husband's garden and let him tend to its needs and wants, unless he's out of town for a stretch, at which point I can be trusted to water, at least.

But he toils hard on our townhouse's little patches of green, and I am protective of his work.

Picture this, then: One morning, a couple of weeks ago, I left for work and noticed that the first dahlia of the season had bloomed in the garden just outside our front gate. It was gorgeous, vivid purple and white, and a sign that summer really was on its way. My husband noticed, too, and took the photo above that afternoon. The next evening, I got home and noticed the dahlia was gone. Huh?

"Did you trim the flower and take it to work or something?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I was hoping you had."

Nope, it turned out we'd been the victims of a garden thief.

Even though I hadn't done a thing to help that dahlia grow, except maybe help carry a bag of mulch at Home Depot, I was outraged on my husband's behalf. Here it was, the first flower of the year, and when he came home hoping to shoot it again, to document how it had continued to bloom, it was gone.

Worse, someone snatched the second blossom a few days later, too.

I wanted to put up a sign. Or a nanny-cam. Or at least a sign claiming that there was a nanny-cam. But I was afraid that might just lead to retribution, and I didn't want to see more damage done.

What kind of person would do that, I wondered? And then I thought ... maybe a little girl who believed the dahlia would look perfect in her hair. Or a boy trying to impress his girlfriend -- or give a gift to his mother.

If it was kids, they probably won't realize what they did until they start growing gardens of their own.

And if it wasn't ... well, a sign probably wouldn't deter the thief anyway, right? But I still keep contemplating that camera ...

(Photo by Judah Kelber)

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

The lily was created on the third day, early in the morning when the Almighty was especially full of good ideas. --  Michael Jefferson-Brown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here on Garden Variety about a fascinating new book by Amy Stewart titled, Wicked Plants: The weed that killed Lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities.

It is a fun read and the contest I ran offering five free books from the publisher was a big hit.

Amy just got back from a month-long book tour, and her fans filled her in on more wicked plants. She writes about what she learned on her blog, Garden Rant.

Read about the plant that can blind you.... Ok maybe not completely blind...and the unpronounceable disease you can get from rose thorns.

Have fun!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden books
        

If it's rare, we want it. If it's tiny and impossible to grow, we've got to have it. It it's brown, looks dead, and has black flowers, we'll kill for it. --  Ken Druse

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

It doesn't take much imagination to say that a gardener's hands are his most important tools.

Even with the finest gloves and the fanciest hand tools, our hands still take a beating. By the time I am done in the garden on a weekend day, it looks like I have been digging for my food.

Short nails and a good nail brush are a good first step.

But I am also a big fan of Crabtree and Evelyn's Gardener's Hand Therapy Cream. It is a thick and rich shea butter mix with a distinct herbal fragrance, and it sells for about $14 a tube.

C&E also has a hand scrub with pumice. It is a liquid version that replaces an earlier dry version which seemed almost like shaking sawdust on your hands. Nevertheless, it was a quick and effective cleaner.

The new version sells for about $15.

And while we are talking skin care for gardeners....don't forget to soak in a warm bath with 1 to 2 cups of epsom salts. It will take the itch and sting out of your skin and the pain out of your muscles.

Remember to rest for 20 minutes after you finish bathing, and you will feel like a new person.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden tips
        

Don't wear perfume in the garden-unless you want to be pollinated by bees. --  Anne Raver

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Smith & Hawken, the symbol of high-end gardening for more than 30 years, is going out of business. 

Founded in Marin County, Calif., as a garden tool importer, it was purchased in 2004 by Scotts Miracle-Gro.

"With the economy and the markets the way they are, this is just something we needed to do for the overall business," said Scotts Miracle-Gro spokesman Su Lok from company headquarters in Ohio.

There are no more on-line sales, but some 56 retail outlets - there is one in Chevy Chase - will be open until they finish liquidation.

Its two founders told reporters they are relieved because the business had long since become detached from its original values.

 While the original Smith & Hawken focused on high-end English gardening tools with a lifetime guarantee, the company branched into outdoor living products such as furniture, fire pits, lighting and garden decor.

"Scotts couldn't have been a worse corporate owner," said Paul Hawken. "Smith & Hawken had become just a ghost of itself."

Dave Smith, who lives in Mendocino County and owns Mulligan Books in Ukiah, said he had gone so far as to ask friends to boycott the company bearing his name.

"When Scotts bought it and Smith & Hawken was owned by the largest pesticide seller in the U.S., I suggested people boycott it," he said. "It had completely lost its roots."

Hawken, now head of engineering firm Pax Group, used the occasion of the closure to host a party Wednesday night.

"I couldn't be happier to see my name come down," he said

There is a lovely tribute to the company on Garden Rant. Check it out. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Garden news
        

We are heading into the hot part of the summer -- the time when you wish you had listened when they told you to plant natives.

It is the time of year when the best we can do is maintain - keep the gardens neat and watered in between thunderstorms.

P. Allen Smith of Garden Home is busier than most in the garden in July. Here is his list of chores.

• If the weather turns dry, avoid fertilizing your plants. It will further stress your plants to put energy into new growth during periods of drought.
• Raise the blade on your lawn mower. The tall grass will keep the roots cool and conserve moisture – a must during the hot, dry weather typical of July.
• Order Colchicum autumnale bulbs for planting in August and September. Also known as autumn crocus, these petite pale pink to lavender blooms will appear in fall. 
• If you’ve been pinching back your garden mums to encourage a more compact shape, it’s time to stop and allow them to set flower buds.
• Now is a good time to make rose cuttings. Choose stems that are just under the diameter of a pencil. Make your cut at an angle just above a leaf node. Be sure the cutting is at least 4 to 5 inches long and has a couple sets of leaves. 
• Tomato horn worms are large with green and white stripes and a red “horn” near the end. Hand picking is the best method of control. However, if you see one covered in tiny, upright eggs leave it be. These are cocoons of the braconid wasp, a predator of the tomato horn worm.
• Some potted plants may need daily watering. Small pots, hanging baskets and window boxes in sunny locations may even need to be watered twice a day. If the top few inches of the soil are dry or the stems are wilting, it’s time to water.
• It’s time to start planning for your fall vegetable garden. For plants grown from seed, make sure they have enough time to mature before the first autumn freeze. Check the back of the seed packet to find the number of days until harvest to determine when you should plant.
• Keep those weeds pulled - especially those that spread by reseeding. If you can get rid of them before they go to seed you’ll have less work next year.
• Morning glories don't like soil that's too rich. In fact, if it's too rich they will produce lots of vine and not many flowers, so be easy on the fertilizer.
• As gourds begin to form use a nail to scratch a pattern into the shell. The pattern will expand as the gourd matures.
• Provide a source of clean water to attract birds to your garden. Bird baths should be shallow with a rough surface for the birds to stand on. Place the bath at least 4 to 5 feet away from feeders to prevent droppings and seed debris from contaminating the water.
• Use an old phone book as a flower press to preserve late summer blossoms. Choose flowers with flat or small centers so they will compress easily. Arrange the flowers on a piece of cardboard and hold them in place with a little clear tape. Label each one and write something about where it was growing, put it in the phone book and add a weight on top. Check after a couple of days. Once dried, the flowers can be glued onto cards to make pictures, or to embellish photos and letters.

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

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. --  Mahatma Gandhi

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

I knew it.

My colleague Laura Vozzella has a story in The Sun detailing the facts behind the "local" produce grocery stories tout. Like it came from the Eastern Shore, or something.

I have suspected for a while that the produce wasn't very local. When it seems to jump ahead of what's available from the local farmers' markets, I have suspected it came instead from the Carolinas.

But South America? New Zealand?

This is another reason why county-sponsored farmers' markets are such a good idea. The food they sell must come from the county.

Or, in the case of the Annapolis downtown market on Sunday mornings, the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden news
        

Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than Emperors. --  Mary Cantwell

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

First the rain.

Now the diseases.

It was a cool, wet spring here in the Mid-Atlantic. And, for the most part, the plants have loved it.

But so have the bugs and the diseases. I am going to try to tackle a few of them in the days ahead.

First up, blossom-end rot. The scourge of tomato-lovers.

Take a look at the underside of your little green tomatoes. Is there a dark spot that is getting bigger each day, until it consumes half of the tomato?

That's blossom-end rot, and it is the result of too much rain and a sudden growth spurt. Or both.

My tomatoes are in containers on the deck. I am pretty sure the heavy rains not only caused the tomatoes to grow very fast, but it also essentially washed the calcium out of the soil.

It isn't contagious. It doesn't move from plant to plant. It has to do with the soil conditions under each plant. It is likely to stop appearing later in the growing season.

But it is unsightly and wasteful.

One answer is a foliar spray designed to return calcium to the plant. Spray the leaves or the fruit every week or so, but not more often. It won't hurt you if consumed.

The other answer is to take eggshells, crush them and sprinkle them around the plant. I got that advice from James at Bowens Farm Market in Annapolis. That, too, will increase the calcium in the plant.

Me? I'm doing both.

Photo courtesy of Purdue University

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

Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you. --  Richard Brinsley Sheridan

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

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

Months ago, when I first started buying pots, soil and seeds for my balcony garden, I also picked up fertilizers. I bought a box of your run-of-the-mill Miracle Grow and a bottle of fish emulsion, which had been a recommended fertilizer by my particular seed seller, Renee's Garden.

As I brought my purchase up to the counter, the friendly clerk gave me a warning: "Be careful with fish emulsion. You don't want to burn your seedlings."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but it scared me away from all fertilizers for months, until, in June, I finally decided to give my plants a bit of a perk. Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening recommends using a sprayer for your plants, but I used my own bootleg version: My watering can. I mixed up the appropriate proportions, plopped it in, and watered all my plants. Even those that didn't need a nitrogen boost. (Fish emulsion's prime benefit.)

I'm still feeling my way with all this gardening stuff. I'm still not on the level of Rodale's, which goes so far as to suggest mix-and-match fertilizer combinations and print an exhaustive list of organic fertilizers. One thing I have learned? Fish emulsion is stinky. "Don't use fish emulsion indoors, though, because of its strong odor," the Organic Gardening guide advises. "Save it for your outdoor containers and garden plants." I agree.

I'm considering using the Miracle Grow from now on, as it is a more general fertilizer, but I'm fearful of using non-organics on my edibles. Any suggestions?

(Photo by hilari @ flickr)

Posted by Maryann James at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

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

A Garden Variety reader, Deborah in Annapolis, caught wind of the Veggie Challenge and decided to share one of her garden successes, a head of lettuce she said was "almost too pretty to eat."

(Don't worry -- she did eat it; after taking this photo, it went straight to the salad bowl.)

"Don't ask what kind of lettuce it is," she wrote. "It was in a summer lettuce mix." After some preliminary research, I would guess salad bowl, but I could be wrong. (Any more educated guesses?)

Anyone else have some lovely veggie garden photos and/or stories they're willing to share? I'll share some of my own later today.

Posted by Maryann James at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A garden without a fence is like a dog without a tail. --  Moroccan Proverb

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Love of flowers and vegetables is not enough to make a good gardener. He must also hate weeds. --  Eugene P. Bertin

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Summer has now thrown open her emerald doors. Every part of the landscape is profuse in leaves and flowers, and "green-robed senators of mighty woods" are clothed in their most elegant array. --  author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

For most of us who are intimidated by theories of garden design, the cottage garden provides immediate appeal, since it is a horticultural rather than an architectural solution to a limited area. --  Patricia Thorpe

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

The New York Times is reporting on its political blog that lead has been found in the White House kitchen garden.

Garden Variety reported that fact previously, noting that the lead level found in the ground was 93 parts per million, far below the level of 400 parts per million, which requires remediation.

Lead is not unusual in urban soil. And the lead found in the White House dirt is far below the lead levels that can reach several thousand parts per million in cities.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Susan's garden/Photo by Susan Reimer

Just when my tomatoes are about to ripen, I am leaving on vacation. Happens every time. I swear, I could vacation in May, and my tomatoes would come and go while I was gone.

I will be away for two weeks, beginning July 12, and I am looking for someone to harvest my tomatoes and water the plants on my deck while I am gone.

I am also looking for guest bloggers here on Garden Variety.

Sometime in the next week, write to me at susan.reimer@baltsun.com and tell me about your garden. If you can, e-mail me a picture, too. I will put them together and schedule them to appear on Garden Variety while I am gone.

It will be like Christmas. You will have to check every morning to see if your post is up!

Write and tell me what you like about gardening, what you hate. Your successes and your failures. The tricks and shortcuts you have learned over the years. About the garden your grandmother had or the one you left behind when you moved.

If you have been reading Garden Variety, you know this isn't brain surgery. So relax, and jump into this blogging adventure.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

Garden centers and the big box stores are going to be putting their plant material on sale soon -- perhaps as soon as this holiday weekend.

It is a great time for bargains, especially if you choose wisely and have a little patience.

Don't expect much out of this plants this season. Just try to keep them going through this summer and they will have a chance to shine next season.

The folks at Better Homes and Gardens offer this advice when choosing among the bargain basement plants:

• Reject any plants with foliage that is mushy, withered or with disease-spotted leaves.
• Gently slip the plant out of the pot and check the roots. If they are soft or black and slimy, put the pot down and walk away.
• Smooth, white roots are a good sign.
• Dense, tangled roots that fill the pot can mean the plant is root-bound, but you can rejuvenate it by slicing through the roots in the shape of an X at the bottom of the clump before you plant.

Photo credit: Chicago Tribune/Warren Skalski

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Categories: Garden tips
        

The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. --   Galileo

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

A number of readers of my column in The Sun on Steppables have called or e-mailed to ask where they can be purchased.

These small perennials, which can tolerate foot traffic, are on sale at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville. Buy two, get one free.

 For a garden center near you, simply go to the Steppable Web site and find the drop-down menu, click on your state and a list of garden centers will appear.

Have fun stepping, everybody.

Photo credit: Melanie McCabe/Homestead Gardens

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Plant Wish List
        

In Thursday's gardening column in The Sun, I write about Steppables, a low-growing perennial that can handle foot traffic and is good between pavers, under fences or groundcover where grass refuses to grow.

But Steppables are also perfect for miniature dish gardens, too. Their are drought tolerant and can take a beating from the sun, so that makes them ideal for a spot on the deck.

Here's a look at some ideas for Steppables from Homestead Gardens and photographer Melanie McCabe.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Plant Wish List
        

One of the worst mistakes you can make as a gardener is to think you're in charge. --  Janet Gillespie

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Categories: Garden quotations
        

Baltimore's Eleanor Justice is the winner of Burpee's first-ever garden makeover essay contest.

The "Dream a Little Green" contest, advertised here on Garden Variety, had its trial run in Baltimore this season before going national next year. 

Justice's tribute to a neighbor earned her the design help, installation, fertilizer and tools she will need for her garden next spring.

Here is her winning essay:

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden contests
        

Who says gardeners are humorless.?

Elizabeth Large, my colleague over at Dining@Large, shares this gardening joke with us. It comes from Bucky, one of her readers.

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,

I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.

Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Pop,

Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.

Love,

Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Pop,

Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love you,

Vinnie

I am reposting this today. There was a time stamp error.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden humor
        

So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. -- author unknown

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Categories: Garden quotations