This past week Susan over at Garden Rant asked me about a paper which she had recently read which “proved” that Round-up caused birth defects. This study was interesting because it took embryos of chickens, exposed them to glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round-up) and then looked at the problems which the embryos had. Indeed, … Continue reading The New Evidence Against Glyphosate
I’m a big Barbara Kingsolver fan. Just finished “Prodigal Summer” – her tall, lanky, introverted, 40-something forest ranger-heroine encounters handsome, mysterious, much younger guy in the woods; sparks fly, etc. Rowr! Ahem. I really enjoyed “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” when it came out a couple of years ago. It was the perfect dead-of-winter read as she … Continue reading Animal, Vegetable, Irritable
Sometimes I am not such a good garden professor. That’s because, when I get home, I sometimes (OK — often) don’t give my plants the attention they need. It’s also because, when we leave for vacation, I often forget to tell whoever is watching the animals to keep their eyes on the plants too. Now, … Continue reading My Long Suffering Basil
Small dog snout + normal-sized cucumber provided for scale. This problem is self-explanatory and probably not at all atypical for our readers. Pattypans became UFOs; grey zucchini, footballs. Note that it’s been very dry here in the Blue Ridge. I shudder to think what would have happened with normal rainfall. Beans amuck! Scared the hell … Continue reading The Importance of Not Leaving Your Veg Garden Unattended for a Week in July
These two Clematis are the same cultivar growing in my landscape about 15 feet apart. Both are growing on a fence facing north. Compare the leaves of the two: Normal, happy Clematis Not-so-happy or -normal Clematis What do you think is causing the leaf discoloration? Very large hint: this is not a biotic stressor. Another … Continue reading Friday quiz – a tale of two clematis
As Paul suspected, this is a Phalaenoposis flower. Here it is again, shown next to another flower on the same plant (but different stalk): As to the second question – why does it look this way – there could be a number of reasons. I’m leaning toward environmental. This particular flower stalk is an … Continue reading Flower demystification
As a member of the GWA (Garden Writers Association), I routinely get emails about new garden products. Here’s one I received this week: “I thought your readers or listeners might be interested in learning of a new way to protect their plants without using pesticides. Moisturin, which contains no toxic ingredients, is sprayed on plants … Continue reading Yet another fine product
Yesterday I got an interesting email about a new product – a Tomato Automator. Briefly, this square, red plastic disk slips around the stem of a tomato plant to suppress weeds and pests. Most intriguingly, we’re told that the color “triggers a natural plant protein that makes tomatoes mature faster and product more fruit.” Given … Continue reading You say tomato, I say phytochrome
File this under “short-sighted acts of government”. What, that cabinet is full to overflowing? In the wild world of U.S. Land Grant Universities, faculty appointments can consist of varying ratios of “the three missions”: Teaching, Research, and Outreach. The Cooperative Extension Service is the formalized version of outreach. Three of us Garden Professors (Linda, Jeff, … Continue reading A Public Service Announcement (of sorts)
Amicia zygomeris is a cute little herbaceous thing I picked up on a visit to Plant Delights nursery back in October. For $13, I wanted to be sure it survived the winter, so it’s been in our kitchen garden window, just waiting for spring. Soon after putting it in the window, I had an “oh no, … Continue reading All Right, Linda; I’ll See Your Paraheliotropism and Raise You a Nyctinasty