Perennials Which Require Cold Stratification
SPRING IS COMING, FOLKS! Consequently, if you haven't winter-sown your flowering perennials yet, you really need to get hopping. For certain seeds (like the cranesbill geranium 'Rozanne,' above)...
View ArticleKevin’s 2013 Events Schedule
MY EVENTS SCHEDULE for 2013 is slowly filling up, with a lecture, a workshop, and two garden tours (to benefit The Garden Conservancy). Live in or around New York's Hudson Valley? Stop by and say...
View ArticleGarden Chores for March
SOUND FAMILIAR? In March, the winter aconites (above) emerge in Monday’s warmth…and disappear in Tuesday’s snow. Consequently it pays to proceed with caution these final weeks of winter. Here are the...
View ArticleHow to Separate and Pot African Violet Babies
I CAN ASSURE YOU that African violets are very easy to propagate. Just stick a stem in damp soil, provide abundant humidity, and in eight weeks time you'll be greeted with numerous new plants. What the...
View ArticleForced Bulbs: What to Keep, What to Toss
HERE'S A DILEMMA YOU MIGHT BE FACING -- What to do with the hyacinths, tulips, and other bulbs you forced for indoor winter-bloom. In truth, some of these bulbs are worth keeping for future enjoyment...
View ArticleYour March Winter-Sowing Update
THIS WEEK, reader Sheila sent me the following note: Hi Kevin, I tried winter-sowing this year after reading all of your inspiring articles. So far, I have 21 gallon containers that have sprouted. I am...
View ArticleTransplanting Winter-Sown Seedlings
I wrote this article in April, 2011. So please forgive the awful photography. I'm repeating the piece on the front page because several readers have asked me to. Enjoy! GOT MILK-JUGS? I certainly do!...
View ArticleApril Garden Chores
YESTERDAY, while photographing the 'Grand Maitre' crocuses in my Serpentine Garden, I discovered I wasn't alone. Meet the helpful garden-guest I encountered, and then -- when you've finished screaming...
View ArticleMid-April Garden Tour
CAN YOU JOIN ME ON A BRIEF TOUR TODAY? I certainly hope so, because I'd love to show you the work I'm accomplishing in the Rose Garden (above). I'd also like you to smell the earliest of the April...
View ArticleGarden Chores for May
TAKE A TIP FROM THE NESTING ROBINS -- May isn't the month to snooze! Indeed, garden-work we accomplish now will determine the success we'll have for the rest of the growing season. Need a little...
View ArticleYour Winter-Sowing Updates
THE PERENNIALS AND HARDY ANNUALS I planted in milk-jug greenhouses last winter have finally sprouted -- and how! Probably I could furnish my entire neighborhood -- if not my whole county -- with...
View ArticleHow I Plant and Grow Leeks
I LOVE LEEKS. They bring a unique, onion-y flavor to soups, stews and risottos. I find them devastatingly-delicious when braised in chicken stock and vermouth. Fortunately these Alliums are very easy...
View ArticleHow to Smother Weeds with Newspaper
WHEN WEEDS INVADE MY PERENNIAL BEDS, I don't get mad -- I get newspaper. Newspaper-mulching, as we have discussed before, makes weeds disappear instantly. And it prevents them from re-emerging for an...
View ArticleGarden Chores for June, 2013
IN JUNE, I like to stop and smell the roses (pictured above is climbing 'New Dawn'). Then I get down and dirty. After all, there are tomato vines to train. And weeds to smother. And spent flowers to...
View ArticleWaging War on the Lily Leaf Beetle
I HOPE YOUR LILIES ARE SAFE AND SOUND. Mine, alas, are not. They've been ravaged by Lilioceris lilii -- the scarlet-topped insect you see pictured above. More about this "Lily Leaf Beetle," and the...
View ArticleEasy Lavender Shortbread Cookies
YESTERDAY, I clipped several blossoms from my lavender plants. Then I added the perfumed petals to a standard, three-ingredient shortbread dough. The result of this mad experiment? Pure deliciousness!...
View ArticleGarden Chores for July, 2013
TRUE CONFESSION: I wish we could spend the month of July sipping cocktails by the pool. But alas, the garden beckons. There are weeds to pull, Japanese beetles to battle, veggies to preserve, and…well,...
View ArticleA Walk in the Kitchen Garden, July 2013
THANKS to a spring that brought terrible, no good, very bad weather to New York's Hudson Valley, my Kitchen Garden got off to a poor start. But now that some summer heat has arrived (along with...
View ArticleYour July Tomato Report…& Mine
HOW ARE YOUR TOMATO PLANTS PROGRESSING? Are they producing the fruit of your dreams -- or are they fighting the effects of foul weather? My tomato report, followed (I hope) by yours: My poor tomatoes...
View ArticleHow I Propagate Petunias for Winter-Bloom
LOVE PETUNIAS? Me too. And that's why I hope you'll propagate your plants in August, just as I do. Three stem cuttings in a 6-inch pot will quickly form roots. Brought indoors well before frost, and...
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