with Teri Knight
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Peat-free options
A couple of weeks ago I talked about the depletion of peat bogs and a growing movement to stop using so much of a resource that is not instantly renewable.
It is the fiber between the husk and outer shell of a coconut and a waste product of the coconut industry.
Coco coir can hold up to 10 … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Tiptoe into 2023 spring garden cleanup
Normally we’re tiptoeing into spring garden cleanup and I remind my listeners to be gentle in their gardens. While Monday was the “official first day so spring”, THIS year, 2023, has most of the listening area with still abundant snow/rain/slush and temps that are not conducive to gardening.
Soggy, muddy soil compacts much easier. A situation none of us wants. Frost depths vary widely. Check out NOAA where you can put … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Crop rotation in the vegetable garden
We’re SLOWLY creeping into planting season and I wanted to get you thinking about crop rotation as we consider our vegetable garden. While there are many more disease resistant vegetable cultivars, crop rotation is still something to think about for a couple of reasons.
It’s really the single easiest thing we can do to keep soil nutrients working FOR us and to help prevent disease. But what crops do you rotate with? … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Gardening in a changing climate
As mentioned yesterday I was at a Horticulture Day and was really looking forward to the main speaker, Meg McAndrews Cowden. She, sadly, had laryngitis and wasn’t able to give her talk on Gardening in a New Climate.
Her notes were in our material and I am sharing some of them with you today along with my own information over the years I’ve been doing Garden Bite. Meg has a book, “Plant, Grow, … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: How NOT to kill your trees
I just spent last weekend at our local County Master Gardener Horticulture Day and one of the speakers was a University of MN Extension Educator, Katie Drewitz. Her talk was titled How Not to Kill Your Tree.
She told one story of a woman who called and wanted to … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: 2023 Spring Equinox – where are you?
Hello, Spring? Where are you? Today is YOUR big day and I haven’t heard a peep out of you. Seriously we’re all getting a big concerned! 2022/23 Winter will go down in history if you have been reading social media platforms.
Our LONG, very wet/snowy winter has started to wear on all of us.
Ahh, but spring is here, maybe, hopefully. We look forward to the freshness of it, the hope … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Is Shamrock a real plant?
“Top of the mornin’ to ya!” and Happy St. Patty’s Day! I may be slightly Irish but I am all American, as those phrases really are! But it IS St. Patrick’s day and that makes me think of Shamrocks and all things green.
It was the Celtic druids who started the shamrock on its path to Irish glory! They believed the number 3 to be a perfect number and, as such, to have … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Rhododendrons vs Azaleas
Are rhododenrons the same as azaleas? Kinda. From the American Rhododendron Society comes this: All azaleas are rhododendrons but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. Azaleas have been reclassified and are now in the genus Rhododendron. There are no clear cut lines for distinguishing all azaleas from all rhododendrons WHAT? Check out this past Garden Bite on Rhodos & Azaleas for the North.
Very generally, Azaleas tend to be smaller with more pointed, narrow leaves … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: A 2023 AAS winner that’s an Angel
All America Selections judges have chosen an Angel for a 2023 winner. Leucanthemum ‘Carpet Angel’. The first-ever groundcover Shasta Daisy as well as the first-ever AAS Winner from this breeder! Green Fuse Botanicals’ First Light Perennials.
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Oh for Peats sake
It’s been a staple in potting mixes for something like forever. It’s water retaining qualities, ability to hold nutrients in the soil and leave space for oxygen make it valuable to gardeners. And we’re depleting this carbon sponge we so desperately need.
Another article in Northern Gardener magazine shares that peat creates ideal growing conditions for plants.
Peat moss comes from bogs, a kind of wetland that’s home to unique flora and fauna. It … [Continue reading]