There’s a new1 blog on the social media block—The Big Blog of Gardening (BBoG). Already it’s a heavy hitter in the gardening social media world. The question is: How may foul balls are hit?
My wife came to me recently saying “Hey! Did you know that your friend Linda Chalker-Scott changed her institution?”
“What?” I said.
“Yeah, she moved to University of Washington. It says right here on this MSNBC article.”
“It’s from the Big Blog of Gardening?
Here in the Southeast we were surprised last week by a much earlier than usual freeze, putting an end to many gardens full of tender plants, although the cold was not deep enough to kill more cold-hardy species. In many parts of the region the frost came earlier than the 10% probability of frost indicating that early freezing conditions like this will come in fewer than one in ten years. Of course many of you in more northern interior parts of the United States have already seen your first frost this year, but here we never seem to be ready for it.… Continue reading this article “Frosts and freezes: As cold as ice…”
I’d intended to write the column earlier in the year, but it’s as relevant now as it was in the spring. This post will familiarize you with how unseasonable weather can affect your plants. Though I’ll be focusing on my own location in Tacoma, the phenomena are global. You just have to pay attention to what happened last week, last month, last year in your own location.
Our spring started out wet and cool, which is nothing new.… Continue reading this article “Understanding how weird weather affects our plants”
Spring bulb planting time is on across North America! Many types of bulbs do well in desert and xeric gardens: hyacinths, ranunculus, iris, narcissus, crocus, alliums can all be happy. One bulb that’s often left off the list are tulips. Why is that?
The tall flashy hybrid or Darwinian tulips that fill the catalog photos are usually considered an annual in most desert gardens. They require more chilling than the our desert winters can usually provide and can be a little fussy about soil and water.… Continue reading this article “Tulips for the desert?”
In my last blog post in late August, the Atlantic tropical season was just beginning to wake from a long nap, with several areas of interest appearing on the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) map. Since that time, the season has become incredibly active, with Hurricanes Fiona and Ian causing tremendous damage in North America. Other parts of the world have also seen damaging storms, including Hurricane Kay in the Eastern Pacific, post-typhoon Merbok in Alaska, and Typhoons Hinnamnor in South Korea, Nanmadol in Japan, and Noru in the Philippines.… Continue reading this article “Predicting hurricane tracks and what they leave behind”
Irrigation bags, often called “tree gators,” are durable plastic bags used for irrigating newly planted trees. These projects have been discussed here and here and I still don’t like them as they don’t consistently benefit trees and often create conditions conducive to pests and disease. Plus, as the blog title suggests, their aesthetic attributes are nonexistent.
This article was originally published (surprisingly?) by the Mother Earth News Blog.
What do the words on your food (or garden supplies) labels mean? Do you know the difference between organic, natural, and sustainable? Are there rules about who can use which labels? When you are shopping at the farmers market or grocery store, or when you’re buying seeds or plants at the garden center, it is important to know what the words used to describe the product mean.… Continue reading this article “What the words on the seed packet or food label mean…”
In my last blog post in early August, I noted how quiet the Atlantic tropical season has been so far this year. In fact, the period from early July through this week has been one of the quietest on record, with no named storms since the short-lived Tropical Storm Colin formed along the South Carolina coast and dissipated less than 24 hours later on July 3 in eastern North Carolina. The last time we had so few named storms was 40 years ago, so while it is not unprecedented, it is certainly unusual.… Continue reading this article “The 2022 Tropical Season: It’s Alive!”
In this episode of P&P we’ll take a look at the life and career of the aptly named Nehemiah Grew, the “Father of Plant Anatomy”.
Nehemiah Grew was born on September 26, 1641 in Warwickshire, UK. He graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1661 and ten years later was awarded a MD degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
His interest in plant anatomy began to bud in 1664. In 1670 his essay, The Anatomy of Vegetables begun, was shared with the Royal Society and resulted in his election to the membership.… Continue reading this article “People and Plants”
In the Southeast, almost nothing gets more press than the Atlantic Tropical Season, including the outlooks, real-time events, and post-storm analyses. If you live in another part of the United States or the world, you may not be as directly affected as the Southeast is, but you might be surprised at how far and wide tropical moisture is spread, either directly by tropical storms and hurricanes or by the remnant moisture which can be carried with the winds for long distances away from their original sources.… Continue reading this article “The 2022 Tropical Season: What are Tropical Systems?”
