Allium for the win!


Fri. Sep. 2, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Allium for the win!

Allium are members of the onion family and as such, they are not a preferred snack for deer and rabbits!

Their flowers are mostly in the round pom-pom form, but they can be star-shaped, cup-shaped, semi-circular, or pendulous. Their color can be white, yellow, pink, purple or blue. Heights vary as do bloom times. 

Best grown in full sun, they will tolerate some light shade. They are also drought tolerant, something MY area could  … [Continue reading]

Adaptive gardening 2022


Thu. Sep. 1, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Adaptive gardening 2022

I had hip replacement surgery in October of 2021. I highly recommend it! The gardening season last year was quite painful. But I’m back, only in a slightly different way. I use some of the Adaptive gardening methods I point out today.  

Gardeners don’t retire, we adapt!

I’ve talked before on enabling gardens, today is about adapting our way of gardening to match our abilities as we get older, since what we could do  … [Continue reading]

Annuals for Fall


Wed. Aug. 31, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Annuals for Fall

Flowering kale, grass, millet and mums! A perennial for good measure

Fall flowers thrive in cooler temperatures with blooms that sometimes last well after the first frost.

There are two kinds of mums for those of us in cold climates. Annuals and perennials hardy to zone 4. The University of Minnesota came out with the Mammoth mum series. They’re lovely. There is also a zone 5 hardy mum, that series is named Igloo. Be  … [Continue reading]

Planting garlic – time to order


Tue. Aug. 30, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Planting garlic – time to order

If you want to plant garlic, you’d better start ordering your bulbs or finding them at local nursery centers now to get what you want.

For those of us in cold climates, we plant our garlic in October…

and look forward to our harvesting in late July/early August. That does NOT mean we eat it then. The cloves need to be cured. 

I planted garlic for the first time in 2020 and  … [Continue reading]

Fall is for planting trees/shrubs


Mon. Aug. 29, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Fall is for planting trees/shrubs

Fall is a great time to plant trees and shrubs. The air is cooler but the soil is still warm and there’s plenty of time for roots to establish themselves before the bitter cold comes in.

When choosing your trees, don’t focus on planting bigger trees unless you really want that height immediately.

It’s easier on the plants (and your back) to purchase smaller ones. Think about what you want from that tree  … [Continue reading]

Porcelain Berry – August weed of the month


Fri. Aug. 26, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Porcelain Berry – August weed of the month

It’s really quite pretty, as many weeds are.

August Weed of the Month from the MN Dept. of Agriculture. Another vine, this one is named Porcelain Berry. 

A member of the grape family, porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) is a fast-growing,  deciduous, woody vine growing upwards of 25 feet long. In Minnesota, it is listed as a Restricted Noxious Weed meaning it cannot be sold, propagated, transported, or  … [Continue reading]

Wild Cucumber is back – 2022 style


Thu. Aug. 25, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Wild cucumber is back – 2022 style

Wild Cucumber is back…

although not as abundantly as last year. Which seems to be the case for many of our plants.

This vine is usually covering fields, trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers along nearly every rural road through Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts east, west and south!

Wild cucumber is generally overlooked until it has overtaken the  plants it is growing on.

This vining annual in the cucumber or gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)  … [Continue reading]

Trees and shrubs for pollinators


Wed. Aug. 24, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Trees and shrubs for pollinators

We generally think of annual and perennial flowers when we consider pollinators.

Trees and shrubs are a huge component of pollinator habitat.

The University of Minnesota Extension notes their seasonal interest as well as providing food AND shelter.

Shrubs can be planted in groups or alone, with fruit or without. I have 3 carpet roses or pavement roses that are loaded each year with bees. They’re easy care and provide pollen abundantly earlier  … [Continue reading]

Lamenting my Resurrection lilies – the non-rising 2022


Tue. Aug. 23, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Lamenting my Resurrection lilies – the non-rising 2022

Two years ago I talked about my Resurrection Lilies, calling the episode “The Rising”. 

I came by this plant in July of 2012 when I moved into my current home.

The previous owner told me that I wouldn’t see this flower coming and I didn’t.

It has lush foliage early in the season, then the whole thing dies back.

BUT then, all of a sudden these stalks holding these  … [Continue reading]

Pollinators and mowing roadways


Mon. Aug. 22, 2022

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Pollinators and mowing roadways

There was great discussion a couple of weeks ago on my Garden Bite Facebook page regarding pollinators and mowing along roadways. It was in the comment section of my August 8th Garden Bite on how the heat affected our vegetable garden. 

The questions are how much footage beyond the roadway to mow and then how often.

I never really found that question fully answered but I did find that a lot of organizations  … [Continue reading]