Green Living Home

I have a big garden so I am frequently overwhelmed by it.  But I reminded myself recently just how much can be done in tiny spurts of time. (I re-seeded my front lawn in the time it took my kindergartner to get his shoes on and get in the car to go to school).   It had me thinking.what else can I do in mere minutes.

Here are 5 more ideas (besides re-seeding and over-seeding grassy ares) that you can do very quickly.

1) Clean out a container, a raised bed, or anything you didnt quite get to last year.  Its all dead it comes away with the quickest of swipes.  Leave your garden gloves by the door so you are ready to go and you wont have to wash up afterwards.

2) Turn the compost heap I like to do this when I am just back from a walk with the dog, or yogaI am already needing a little shower, I am all warmed up why not add 5 more minutes of physical exercise.

3) Prune something pick the thing that most recently finished blooming, odds are it is a good time to prune it.

4) Pick a Bouquet You know whatever is blooming.

5) Clean the ashes out of the firepit or fire bowl.and if you only have a grill.clean the grill.  It

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One of the great things about the vegetable garden is that no matter how long you’ve been into it there’s always something new and interesting to try out.

Whether your interest lies in ornamental plants or edibles, heirlooms or modern varieties, fruits or veggies, you will never run out of new opportunities to test your skills and your creativity.

Here are some of the latest additions finding their way into my vegetable garden for the first time this season:

Turmeric – You may know turmeric as the bright yellow powder that sits on the spice rack, but it’s been making news lately due to recent discoveries regarding the health benefits of this plant that is also related to ginger.

I was gifted some fresh tubers, sprouted them indoors, and later transferred them into the vegetable garden as the ground warmed up. I also

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Growing baby ginger in the home garden sure sounds interesting; but isn’t ginger a tropical plant that’s not suitable for the climates here in the U.S.? Well not exactly, farmers and gardeners across the country are discovering that they can raise a crop of fresh ginger under a wide range of conditions and climates!

I first gave the idea of growing ginger in the vegetable garden serious thought a year ago when I met Susan Anderson of East Branch Ginger at a PASA Farm Conference. The thing that immediately caught my eye was the gigantic, plump clusters of seed ginger on display at her booth.

Pre-Sprouting to Get a Good Start with Growing Baby Ginger

Of course my immediate question was “Can you really grow ginger here in PA?” Susan spent the following twenty minutes telling me all about cultivating baby ginger and the potential that this crop has for production here in the U.S. I was s

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The mild temps continue here in Central PA with yesterday’s high reaching into the 70’s. These are great times to enjoy a fall vegetable garden and to complete those final fall clean-up tasks before colder weather arrives.

My garlic, shallots, and potato onions are all in the ground, the last seeds have been planted, and the cold frames and low tunnels are in place and ready to grow. Not much left to do in the garden besides harvest the crops as they mature, and to enjoy the scenery.

Enjoying the Fall Garden as the Growing Season Lingers

There are carrots, beets, parsnips, gobo, and other root crops biding their time underground but there is no rush to harvest these just yet. The

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I can spot a garden designers garden a mile off.   Its the experiments that generally give it away.  Designers gardens (in my experience) dont tend to be the perfect havens that we create for our clients.  Rather they are the try out zones for the latest of ideas.  My own garden is mish mash of things that are in various proving stages of scientific theory postulation doesnt always cut it.

Last year, I set out to prove that I could have a soft mossy look in a high sun area.   Miniature stonecrop (Sedum requieni) was planted between the cobblestones of a new path and I have been awaiting fresh green mounds mixed with stone ever since.   But its not happening.turns out the Stonecrop doesnt spread very fast and more importantly it doesnt choke out weeds. Crab g

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