Nancy Jordan grows and serves vegetables year round on her island home in Maine. She shares her top tips for cultivating a successful vegetable garden. Protect Plants with Netting Lay plastic netting on bedded plants (tulips, bush beans) or make net tepees around tall crops (fenced peas, pole beans) to keep the deer away. Welcome […]
plants
Gardens
Grow an Indoor Herb Garden
Herbs are easily grown inside and make lovely kitchen centerpieces and windowsill plants. Small herb container gardens and topiaries are fun ways to showcase your edible plants, and you can’t beat the fragrance of fresh herbs growing inside during the dreary winter months. Instructions to Grow an Indoor Herb Garden 1. Choose herbs you use […]
Flowers are the perfect holiday gift for the person who has everything, but nobody wants to give a present that’s going to die after a few days. Follow these tips to make flower arrangements last longer. 1. Purchase the freshest flowers possible. Avoid flowers that are weeping, have discolored petals or are fully open with […]
Gardens
Force Amaryllis Bulbs to Bloom
Add a little color and beauty to your surroundings this winter by forcing amaryllis bulbs to bloom.
Our first question to Mark and Betty Garrison, owners of Rocky Point Blueberry Farm in Warwick, Rhode Island, was: “What inspired you to turn this beautiful residential property into a farm?” We were having coffee in the living room of the three-bedroom (plus “in-law apartment”) house designed by Mark and built in 1984, while admiring […]
Photo/Art by Scott & Zoe/Botanical/Getty Images If the holidays mean leaving your houseplant collection alone while you visit your family in far places, water each plant well, move it out of direct sun, encase it loosely in a clear plastic bag with a few air holes punched in it, turn the thermostat down to 60 […]
I realize my posts of late have been entirely apple-centric, but such is the focus of my life these days as I get out to promote my book. I promise that once November rolls around, I’ll turn my eyes to the wider world of food. For now, I want to take you to a very […]
A few weeks ago while taking a quick after-work tour of my vegetable garden I made an important conclusion: I was about to drown in tomatoes. This was a bit of a sea change for me. At the height of gardening season I start thinking of my plants like they’re my own children. And like the kid […]
Gardens
Start Composting with Worms
Vermicomposting is a self-contained and modified alternative or addition to traditional outdoor composting. It consists of using small worms and basic vegetarian kitchen waste such as: banana peels, wilted lettuce, potato clippings, apple cores, melon rinds etc. as “food” for the worms to break down into compost. Worm composting can be done year round inside […]
If you picked up the July/August issue of Yankee Magazine, I hope you took time to peruse the photo essay, “Summer on the Lake,” in which Richard Schultz captured the essence of lakeside living in a stunning array of photographs. I certainly did and was intrigued not only by the images, but also the description […]
What induces a man to retrieve old cat litter from the garbage and then wander outside under a darkening sky in his bare feet to stuff the mix in a hole in the ground? Garden rage, my friends. Plain and simple. Allow me to back up. When my wife and I returned to New Hampshire […]
Harry Harper grew perennials from the 1940s until 1965 in a windy spot in Eden, New York, where the climate can be tough on new transplants. His rules for transplanting perennials—shared by his granddaughter, garden writer Sally Cunningham, of East Aurora, New York—These three rules for transplanting perennials can help you grow a beautiful garden […]