In the world of giant-pumpkin growing, Steve Connolly is one of its stars. In 2000 he became the first New Englander to crack 1,000 pounds. At the 2010 Topsfield Fair he turned in a 1,674-pounder, the world’s third-largest pumpkin that year. We caught up with Connolly, a plastics engineer, at his backyard pumpkin patch in […]
plants
One of Vermont’s best hidden gems is Perennial Pleasures, an English tea garden in the Northeast Kingdom. There’s a certain subset of New Englander whose affection for Old England is almost counter-revolutionary. By osmosis or birth, they inherit a deferential Anglophilia that sets the U.K. as the standard for All Good Things and inspires a […]
When these entrepreneurs applied Yankee ingenuity to their canine dilemmas, the pet products they came up with created a whole new premium pet market. 1. In 1999, some clever folks at Jefferson Rubber Works–makers of molded rubber products for military and industry– reimagined a rubber disk originally intended for water-treatment plants and turned it into […]
Avid gardener and blogger Michael Gordon, who lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire, shares his secrets on how to create the perfect backyard garden.
The leaves on my lily plants are all tattered and chewed. I noticed small bright-orange/red beetles on them, and also gooey black insects under the leaves. What should I do? Both the grub (larva) and adult lily leaf beetle (also called the Asiatic lily beetle) feed on true lilies (not daylilies) in spring and summer. […]
Gardens
Weeding Tips
Learn about weeding tips that will save you time and keep your garden and landscape looking great.
Gardens
Container Gardens | Flower Power
Patrick Shellman from Fantastic Umbrella Factory Garden shares his best tips for creating dazzling container gardens that are equal parts true grit and pizzazz. Put your sunglasses on. Gardeners spend summers soaking in sun, buoyed by breezes. It’s one of the great pleasures of our work, but those conditions can be stressful for plants, especially when […]
Learning how to divide hostas is good for your landscape in terms of inexpensively expanding your garden areas using existing plants.
Gardens
Tomato Kite Creation
My husband Mike invented these tomato kites because he didn’t like any of the other alternative tomato supports like cages or stakes. Made from wood and string the supports are flexible and float in the breeze giving the plants a comfortable place to rest and grow. Here he is setting them up on each plant. […]
The relationship between cats and tulips may seem obscure, but gardeners who are cat lovers would instantly understand…
Gardens
Wildflower Gardening
One of the best reasons to grow native plants is that they’re relatively easy to raise, because they’re so well adapted to our region (which isn’t to say they are immune from their natural insect and animal predators, but that’s the trade-off in ecological gardening). Like all plants, native species have differing soil and water […]
Call it a fruit or call it a vegetable, rhubarb — an early bloomer — is the basis for cozy crumbles and delectable sauces. I have no quarrel with rhubarb. I love this plant.The tightly rolled green and pink leaves pushing out of the just-thawed ground, growing into firm stalks with little attention or care from me, […]