All the Dirt on Gardening

Growing ornamental grasses has always been pretty popular if you consider all the amaranths, purple millet, bird seed millet, pampas grass, broom, blue fescue, plume grass, fountain grass, blue oat grass, northern sea oats - well you get the idea. Purdue University's helpful information sheds additional light on millet. "Millet is a general term for a wide range of small seeded cereals. The millets of the Poaceae (Gramineae) are small seeded annual grasses, including a wide range of cereals, that may be used both as grain and for forage. Millets can be successfully grown in a wide range of environmental conditions, being better adapted than most crops to hot, dry regions. They are of potential value particularly in semiarid regions because of their short growing seasons. They can either tolerate drought and intense heat or avoid these conditions by growing to maturity very quickly. The millets can play an important role in the economy of many less-developed countries of th...

The roots of perennial plants live for several years. Herbaceous perennials such as daylilies die back to the ground every year. Deciduous, woody, perennials have branches and stems all winter but lose all their leaves. Evergreen perennials such as boxwood keep their stems and leaves during the winter. Perennials not only return year after year, giving our gardens reliable beauty, but they increase in size providing more backbone to our gardens with more stems and flowers. Perennials grow taller, larger and wider, taking up more room as the years go by. Spring is the ideal time to divide many of them. There are four reasons to go to the work of digging, dividing and replanting them, including:   Some perennial clumps die out in the middle with age, others stop blooming and need to be rejuvenated, some get invasive weeds and grass in their roots, and others have grown too large for their location. In general, the perennials to divide in spring are those that bloom in the summer ...

Chris McLaughlin is the author of three books for idiots: "Heirloom Vegetables", "Composting" and the newest addition, "Small-Space Gardening".  According to her website, A Suburban Farmer , McLaughlin lives in  northern California on 5- acres. This newest book covers all the topics you need to know/understand to succeed in small space gardening. Some of the reasons size matters: The space fills up quickly, small gardens can be re-invented in a weekend, vegetables are grown in containers or raised beds, and it is easy to do the work required to keep it up. New gardeners will appreciate McLaughlin’s approach. Defined for them: What is shade/sun in your garden and how to measure it so you can select the correct plants; microclimates and how they effect your garden; cold frames and hoops to extend the seasons; greenhouses; and, other basics. The author suggests that we think of a small space garden as being like a room to decorate. The floor consists of pat...

In searching seed listings for something blue for the part-shade flower beds, I ran across Geranium pratense and ordered seeds of splish splash. They are native from Ireland to Japan and may or may not appreciate our zone 7 summer. This blue beauty has so many names! Crowfoot Cranesbill, Bassinets, Loving Andrews, Grace of God, Mourning Widow and more. The seed fruit that forms after the flowers fade is shaped like a beak, leading to the common name Cranesbill. Geranium pratens seedlings According to the geranium website, Geranium Care , The Grace of God name comes from that clear blue flower color often associated with the Virgin Mary's veil. And, ‘Swearing a blue streak’, means to take God’s name in vain and is a common way of ‘policing up’, a curse word phrase." In addition to being a pretty, 1.5 foot tall garden plant, the flowers are used as blue dye. In our garden I hope they live up to their promise of providing nectar for bees. First Nature in Wales has lovely photo...

Verbena 'Seabrook's Lavender' It's time for garden and plant lovers to become restless. In our part of the world, the grass/weeds/lawn are becoming green, the daffodils are blooming and some of the trees have buds. So, we are impatient for real spring, when the threat of frost, freeze, ice and cold wind have passed. Entertain yourself for a few minutes with these new selections from Blooms of Bressingham - they should show up in garden centers this spring. Verbena 'Seabrook's Lavender' sprouts large flowers. A low-growing, spreading plant, its blooms put on a show from June until late September. Height is 3 inches , spread is 22 inches. A tender perennial discovered by UK gardening journalist and broadcaster Peter Seabrook in his garden.USDA Hardiness Zones 8 to10; AHS Heat Zones 12 to 1. Coreopsis Sweet Marmalade Coreopsis 'Sweet Marmalade' - I've written about this beauty before. The flowers open deep orange, then soften to ap...

Felder Rushing’s gardening talks are always delightful. Despite being in the U.S. Navy, and having a horticulturist position with U.S.D.A., in his talks he tells the audience to ignore the rules. Now Rushing lives in England half the year and travels the U.S. doing speaking engagements the other half of the year. He has written 16 successful gardening books filled with his opinions about gardens, plants, bird feeding, water gardening and garden art.  “Gestalt Gardener”, his call-in radio show, has been on air for 30-years. You can listen to several shows at http://mpbonline.org/gestaltgardener and podcasts are available for download.   “Garden writers, experts, and books make gardening sound complicated,” said Rushing in a telephone interview. “OK has had some horrible weather – heat, blizzard, ice – and yet there are tough plants doing perfectly well at cemeteries and old home sites. Ride around. You’ll see 150 to 200 plants doing fine. Plant those in your yard.” This w...

Most years we plant enough Castor Beans around our property to keep the moles away. They can smell the roots of the plants and move on to the neighbors' property. Last summer's drought kept the Castor Beans from maturing and oh, my, do we have tunnels. When walking from the house to the back of the property to the burn pile, it's like walking on a big sponge, with feet sinking a few inches every step of the way. Moles make tunnels underground where they live in order to seek and eat insects, including earthworms and grubs. They have long noses, webbed front feet, no ears, and are are gray to brown and 6-inches long. You can tell you have moles because you'll have mini mountain ranges and soil volcanoes in the yard. You can kill them with traps or baits. To use traps, tamp down the tunnel and watch to see where they return and put the traps in those spots.  Or, you can use Havahart cage/traps and relocate the moles to your neighbor's yard. Castor oil or Mole-...