Category Archives: Garden Prep

Moving Day. Again.

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

As I settle into the house, I’m already thinking about what to do out of doors. If full-on gardening is limited (which it certainly will be, thank you Bambi), I can still have some of the more compact Rugosa roses, as well as hardy herbs like rosemary, sage, lavender, and thyme. I can see stinging nettle rising from soggy patches of ground, and I recall that their long, snaky roots are ripped up most readily in spring, so I’ll put on long gauntlet gloves and go after them before the grandkids get stung. We can make tea with the nettles, then replace them; blueberries might be happy, as well as hydrangeas (though some deer eat both sometimes). Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Prep, Gardening With Children, Pets & Pests In The Garden, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Weed Control | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Rocking A Party

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Celebrating The Small I recently attended a delightful party for a friend who was celebrating both her birthday and retirement from the workforce. For gifts, she requested that each person bring a special rock that she might incorporate into her … Continue reading →

Posted in Drainage, Garden Prep, Health & Wellbeing, Recipes, Soil, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Bluest Of The Blues

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

So far, anyway, deer have ignored my delphiniums, along with the foxgloves, the sea hollies, the globe thistles, the agastaches, the penstemons and the cone flowers (Echinacea). Perhaps best of all, these new hybrids can stand up for themselves, so no unsightly cages or stakes are needed. In borders on flat ground, such props can usually be more or less hidden but in mounded or sloping beds, they are all too visible, even when the metals is carefully wound about with willow switches or raffia. The old delphiniums had strong stems but tended to blow over, and when they were staked, they’d snap right at the top of the stakes or cages. Happily, these new ones are cage-free and take windy days in stride. Continue reading →

Posted in Drainage, Easy Care Perennials, Garden Prep, Pollinators, Soil, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Saving All the Bees

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Nectar is not the only attraction in a well stocked garden, so don’t get bugged by bugs. Having a haze of insects hovering over your beds will just about guarantee you a host of birds (even hummers need protein as well as sweet desserts) as well as butterflies. Housing helps too; many grasses (especially stipas) are butterfly friendly host plants, while roses offer building material to leaf cutter bees along with their pollen and nectar. That’s a large part of why I tidy now, in late winter and early spring instead of in autumn; putting off the work protect and supports native pollinators and when I finally get around to it, there’s a lot less to do, since so much as self-composted in place. Continue reading →

Posted in composting, Early Crops, Easy Care Perennials, fall/winter crops, Garden Prep, Pollinators | Tagged , | Leave a comment