One of the popular arguments against mulching landscape and garden soils is that mulch delays soil warming and thus retards plant growth. Given that a well-chosen mulch will moderate temperature extremes – both hot and cold – is this an argument supported with evidence? In today’s post, I’m reporting the data I collected in visiting … Continue reading To mulch or not to mulch? It shouldn’t even be a question.
This is the last part of our discussion on gardening in soils that contain heavy metals (you can catch up on part 1 and part 2 if you need to). Today we’ll focus on the strategies you can use in your gardens and landscapes to reduce your exposure to soil-borne heavy metals. Test your soil! … Continue reading The complicated issue of heavy metals in residential soils. Part 3: How can we garden safely in the presence of heavy metals?
Regular blog readers will remember that we moved to my childhood home a few years ago. With an acre or so of landscape I finally have enough room to put in a vegetable garden. My husband built a wonderful raised bed system, complete with critter fencing, and we’ve been enjoying the fresh greens and the … Continue reading Why soil tests matter: lessons from my vegetable garden
Along with the trends of buying local food, buying organic, etc., there seems to be an increasing interest in the ultimate local food source – a garden. This includes in urban areas. Urban gardening is a great way to save money on food, a great source for fresh vegetables – especially in “food deserts”, and … Continue reading Urban Gardening Considerations
“Why don’t you just plant it up against the house,” piped my mother-in-law. She was talking about a run-of-the-mill “old fashioned lilac” that we had received in the mail for our donation to Arbor Day. While I don’t necessarily think of the organized tn as a source of high-quality or novel plants, I felt beholden … Continue reading Plant Control to Major Tom(ato): The Art of Spacing Out Your Plants
You may think of spring as the time for seed sowing, but I do a lot of seed planting now, in the fall. The reason is that most of the cold hardy perennials, trees and shrubs that I like to grow produce seeds that require cold stratification. This simply means that they require a period exposed … Continue reading Cold Stratification for seeds
Shawn Banks: Extension Blog Contributor Johnston County Extension Agent/Educator North Carolina State University shawn_banks@ncsu.edu As an extension agent one question I often get asked by new gardeners is, “Where do I put a vegetable garden in my yard?” That leads to a lot more questions, but let’s answer the where question first. There are four … Continue reading Garden Site Selection
(I know this one will get me into trouble…but hey, if I don’t tick someone off I’m not doing my job.) I have mixed feelings about the increased popularity of urban farming. On one hand, I love the idea that people are becoming more involved in producing their own food. But on the other hand, … Continue reading A rant about urban farming
“Put rocks in the bottom of pots for drainage” is one of the most pervasive gardening myths, because it makes intuitive sense (as discussed in this earlier post). Understanding the science behind capillary barriers (what gardeners call perched water tables) is not only more mentally satisfying than the faulty belief but it can help you … Continue reading Hitting rock bottom
So many of us are growing our own vegetables – either as experienced home gardeners or as COVID19-isolated novices. There is a lot of effort in figuring out garden beds, vegetable choices, and growing medium – but one of the issues rarely considered is whether there are heavy metals present in the local soil and/or … Continue reading The complicated issue of heavy metals in residential soils, part 1: What are toxic heavy metals, and where do they come from?
