Archive Posts

The never-ending, heart-rending sight of the Gulf oil spill and its devastating effect on human and wild residents alike has us all horrified. While there may be little we New Englanders can do for the fish, turtles, mammals and birds of the Gulf of Mexico, there's much we can do to protect our own regional wildlife.

We can start by getting our backyards certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a safe habitat for our fellow Connecticut creatures. To earn certification, a backyard must supply four essentials: 1. Food: Since native flora and fauna evolved concurrently, indigenous plants feed our resident wildlife best and are often the easiest to grow because they're adapted to our climate and topology.

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The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society annually polls aquatic-plant experts around the world to build a list of candidates in the running for its pond plants of the year.

These plants  in three categories including tropical waterlilies, hardy waterlilies and marginal plants  are suitable for ponds, backyard water gardens and koi habitats.

Aquatic plants are typically planted in plastic containers and submerged in backyard ponds. Vendors provide recommended depths.

For different plants, as well as sun requirements. Aquatic plants are fertilized with tablets inserted into the pots' soil.

The other day I was weeding my asparagus patch. Asparagus takes three years to get going enough for you to start eating it. The first year you plant asparagus, it takes its good old time getting going, and you have to fight the weeds and mulch like crazy. The second year, the asparagus gets a little bigger, but you still can't eat it, and you have to fight the weeds and mulch like crazy. Apparently, after the third year, you can start to eat it. But I'm not quite sure because mine is only two years old.

No matter how old my asparagus patch is I think I will have to fight the weeds and mulch like crazy. BUT, I'll have my own in-season, local, organic asparagus. For two to three weeks in early spring we will eat asparagus day and night, broiled and in omelets and in salads, and get slightly sick of it and the smell of our asparagus pee, and then we will have to wait. Again. For another year.

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There are plants that I never get questions about. Nothing ever troubles these sturdy specimens and gardeners never need to coax them along. If you are a new gardener or are starting a new garden in challenging conditions (such as any new subdivision), include these proven hardies. These five made the list because they are like good friends -- easy, nice to have around, but never demanding or aggressive. You'll also find these five plus five more tough, fabulous plants online at calgaryherald.com/garden.

1. Auricula primrose (Primula auricula). It may seem unlikely that a plant would dare to bloom as early as April, but this rubbery-leaved beauty is unafraid of the worst of our weather. This primrose is just one of many hardy primroses that have no trouble with our difficult springs.

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At the start of gardening season, I was confident this year would be no different than any other in regard to tomato blight. I made a point to calm fears about a return of the late blight epidemic that plagued gardeners last season.

But all this rain has changed my tune. Late blight has been confirmed in Beaver, Indiana, Somerset, Cambria, Blair and Westmoreland counties. It might also be in Allegheny County. It's not time to panic, but for the first time in years I've sprayed my plants just to be safe.

The key to battling any fungal disease is prevention; plants need to be treated with a fungicide before any signs of damage. As an organic gardener, I reach for two products.

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City kids learn a lot of valuable tools for survival, like how to ride subways and push the buttons on elevators. But a lot of city kids think that green is just the color of a streetlight. Not Annie and Veda, two 5-year-old girls living in Washington, D.C., who now know that fresh vegetables don't just come from the market.

They've written a book called We Grew It, Let's Eat It by Annie and Veda as told to their mother, who happens to be Justine Kenin. Her name might be familiar to you from the production credits of our show. Annie and Veda's garden welcomes visitors with a Gerber daisy gateway. Buds dot the raspberry bushes, and the broccoli is just coming into season. Annie bites into a freshly plucked stalk. "It's good," she confirms.

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Any gardener has seen it happen. One plant in the backyard thrives, while its neighbor of the same species is plagued with infection. Why? One reason may be genetic.

Researchers have discovered that more resistant mouse ear cress plants have a variant of a gene known as ACD6. Plants with this variant produce more quantities of a chemical that battles pathogens.

But there is a trade-off. Plants with the variant gene also tend to grow more slowly and have fewer and smaller leaves than those that that are less resistant to pathogens. The results of the study are published in the June 3 issue of the journal Nature.

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While lecturing on low-cost planting ideas, I referred to the succulent jewel-box garden. I was told afterward that many in the audience had no idea what this means. This unique design style was made famous by Thomas Hobbs' 2004 book, "The Jewel Box Garden," in which he describes creating a garden by combining exquisite artistic elements with succulent plants and other exotics.

His compositions were so densely planted, they resembled the delicate beauty of a woman's jewelry box filled with glittering precious stones, cameos, gold filigree and coral.The signature feature of jewel-box gardens is the incredible diversity in a small space.

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Gardening is one of the ways through which property owners can transform their homes into tranquil spaces that can be nice to relax in and they require basic skills to achieve this. With simple do it yourself know how, householders can give their gardens new life and in turn make their surroundings aesthetically appealing and even boost the value of the home.

People looking at a how to guide in a bid to get ideas on the best way to go about sprucing up their back yards will be glad to hear that being in the garden actually has some health benefits. Spending time in natural environments, such as gardens and parks, can help lower stress levels and make people more positive, says Professor Geoff Beattie from Manchester University.

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Sitemap taxonomy is a way to classify the tremendous amount of information available on the World Wide Web. Organizing web content is a lot of work that requires manpower and money. But creating sitemap taxonomy is a process that must be done in order to make information readily available to users.

Often times the information is there but users are unable to access it. With the sitemap taxonomy, web content is arranged in such a way that the user will be able to use it effectively. As it is more and more users are flooded with information that is useless to them thus creating frustration.

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