One of the roles I’ve evolved into over the past decade as an extension specialist at MSU is that of ‘the Conifer Guy’. Conifers are great and fascinating plants. The oldest trees in the world are conifers, the largest trees in the world are conifers, and some of the most interesting (at least to me) … Continue reading Blue Spruce Blues
Linda, Jeff, Bert, and Holly are taking a break. We shall return full-force January 4th. Note that there MAY be sporadic, interim postings if one of us gets significantly riled up. Subscribers to our RSS feed will be duly alerted. My “greeting card” below was inspired by Jeff’s post on the insulating powers of snow. We here in the … Continue reading The Garden Professors Take a Holiday Break
Twas the blog before Christmas… My last chance to post about Christmas trees for another year. I’m always surprised when I troll around the web or do interviews how many myths about Christmas trees still abound. So in the spirit of the season, a little Christmas tree myth-busting. “Good grief. I’ve killed it.” Using a … Continue reading O Tannenbaum!
It’s days like this that I am so grateful to have this blog at my disposal! It’s 7 am on Sunday and I’m just finishing the paper, drinking Earl Grey tea, and listening to NPR. Liane Hansen just finished an interview with Martha Stewart, who among other things was discussing healthy eating for the new … Continue reading Sunday rant – the evils of chemicals
Just had to get your attention there. We’ve had a great discussion over native and nonnative plants over the last few weeks. I’m going to completely switch gears and move on to another topic – biodynamics. If you’re not familiar with this term, let me refer you to my online column here. Biodynamics is a set … Continue reading Invasives! Natives! No, wait, biodynamics
Linda sent me a link to This Comic the other day. Funny stuff — and not a little bit analagous to our friends who think that compost tea is the cats meow!
Greetings, all! I am not a tree-care expert, having invested most of my mental capital into herbaceous plant stuff. But I know enough to be dangerous: spiraling/strangling roots and narrow crotch angles are bad news. But at what point do they become “unfixable”? So I’m asking my illustrious colleagues and diligent readers (a.k.a “all y’all) for advice. We have … Continue reading Advice Requested!
Short post today — Linda appears to have transmitted her illness electronically over a couple of thousand miles — Thanks Linda! I was reminded yesterday that it’s almost time for gardeners to start worrying about winter deer damage. With that in mind I thought I’d share with you my favorite research article on the subject. … Continue reading Soap and Deer
So back in September my department head (who is, for all intents and purposes, my boss) handed me a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/garden/24garden.html) about the grass at Harvard which is now being managed organically. We share the opinion that many organic techniques, such as compost tea, are “Voodoo Science” (that’s a term I stole … Continue reading If Harvard Says That It Works Then It Works Dammit!
I just had a long conversation with Michele Owens (of Garden Rant fame) about vegetable gardening. This isn’t one of my strong areas, either professionally or personally (I do have containers of herbs, but that’s as far as it goes). But what piqued my curiosity was her revelation that the vegetable gardening is just as … Continue reading Veggie gardening science – whaddya know?