Lots to do in March!

 Happy Spring everyone! I'm so excited. It's just a great time of year. There is sooooo much to do in the garden. Everyone is always wondering what to do when in the garden and if it's too early or too late to do something. SO, here is a list of what I have done and what I will be doing this month. 

My daughter at a Spring Garden Show

1. Plant out Spring vegetables. This I do around St. Patrick's Day. Here in York County, PA I planted onion sets, broccoli plants and the following seeds: lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, carrots, radishes and turnips. Yum!

2. Pull the mulch off of strawberries and other perennials. It's now warm enough the perennials don't need the mulch but they do need sunlight so uncover them soon. 

3. Do any winter pruning you never got to. I still need to prune my rose bush but I'm mostly done. Once your plants have budded out, forget it. You've missed your chance. 

4. General clean up. It's not fun but winter winds blow trash and garden refuse around and now's a great time to clean it up. 

5. Speaking of refuse, now is a great time to start minding your compost pile again. Ideally, it should be mixed once a week during the growing season. 

6. I'll be giving my fruit trees their first spray. More info on this in my next post. 

7. Start any warm weather seeds that you want to start indoors. I don't do much of this but I am trying with some alpine strawberries. So far I've discovered why people usually buy strawberries as plants. Sigh. 

8. Pull winter weeds. Yes, there are weeds that grow well in cold weather. You've probably got them in your garden. Go pull them out. 

Well, that should be enough to keep you busy for a while! I've been busy and loving it. Do you have other projects going on? Feel free to share in the comments below. 

Worthwhile Goals for the Garden in 2022

 So much fuss is made about new years eve resolutions and honestly, does anyone EVER keep them? Anyone? So, lets do away with them for now and instead look at a few smaller, doable goals for you and your garden. You don't have to give up junk food to have a great year, here are some goals that you will actually enjoy. 

Not a looker but this is a free and functional compost pile.

1. Visit at least one public garden. Longwood Gardens is my happy place. I usually visit there with my good friend Liz Chen so its a double dose of happy. But there are public gardens all over the place and visiting a quiet area to enjoy the beauty of nature is good for you on so many levels. 

2. Help someone with their garden. Gardening is an awesome hobby in and of itself but it's even better when it's shared. Perhaps a neighbor or friend is interested or in over their heads. If nothing else, volunteer at a local community garden. It's also very good for you!

3. Start a compost pile, or start feeding your compost more. Composting is the most brilliant way to help the earth by keeping stuff out of landfills and helping yourself by creating awesome soil amendments for free. My husband made my compost bin with some old pallets we got for free but there are options for any living arrangements.  Click here for some ideas. For me, this year I'd like to be more mindful of composting stuff that normally gets thrown out, like paper and cardboard. More goodies for my garden and less trash for the garbage truck. 

4. Learn to grow a new plant. No one is too young or too old to learn something new. Continuing education is a great way to keep your brain young and there are always new things to learn in the garden. This year, I want to grow turnips and pop corn for the first time. Pick something new and read up on it before Spring. You can also do this with your kids to make it a family project. 

My very own gardening notebook. 

5. Cut back on your use of chemicals in the garden. Most of us who garden for personal reasons (i.e. not farmers) really don't need to use pesticides or artificial fertilizers. Take stock of what you normally use and look into either organic alternatives or just doing away with them. Even small steps in the right direction will benefit the ecosystem of your yard. 

6. Start keeping a garden journal. Taking notes about what works and what doesn't, what happens in your yard and when, and ideas for the future is definitely a great idea! You can do this electronically or in an old fashioned notebook. You can make entries when you want to. But it's good to look back on it. 

Do any of these sound like a good goal for you? What are your garden plans for the new year? Be sure to comment below!

Yes! You Can Still Enjoy Your Garden!

 I've had several people ask me if I was still gardening this year. Of course, my answer is yes! Fall days are glorious and it seems a travesty to stay in doors when winter's chill will truly limit our outdoor time so soon. Gardening has been shown to have a multitude of benefits for your physical and mental well being. You don't have to give that up just because your tomato plants succumbed to disease or even if a light frost has taken out a lot of your plants. Here are some great ways to enjoy your garden in October. 

I just got these two beds cleaned up and mulched 
last weekend.

First, there is nothing wrong with just sitting and relaxing in your garden. Every garden should have some seating, even if it's just a bench. Or, you can bring out a blanket with your favorite book and some hot tea. So relaxing!

Second, if you fancy doing some work out there, not is a great time to clean up your vegetable beds and mulch them for winter. Be sure to especially get rid of anything with diseased material. I'm doing a mix of cover crops and mulching with my compost and then straw or leaves. Bare soil over winter will be leached of it's nutrients and beneficial organisms. Always cover your dirt. 

Third, if you planted some fall crops last summer like I said too, then you should still have plenty of veggies to be picking. I've got lettuce, kale, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots and peas all going at it.  Yum!

Fourthly, now is a great time to plant your garlic for next year. You can learn how to do that here.  You can also plant your bulbs for spring flowers in November. This

Peas love the cooler, Fall weather.

includes crocus, hyacinth, tulips, alliums and daffodils. 

Fifth, there are a multitude of flowers that bloom in the fall that make for lovely displays as well as cut bouquets inside. I still have zinnias, nasturtiums, yarrow, cup and saucer vine, solidaster, toad lilies, Iris, and lavender in flower in my yard. If you don't have any flowers now, look around your neighborhood to see what looks good and be sure to add it somewhere next year. 

Finally, be sure to rake up your leaves this fall. Leaving your leaves on the lawn will smother it and piles of leaves are also a haven for ticks. Put the leaves where they belong - on your vegetable bed. 

See, there is no reason you can't still be enjoying your garden this month. So, get out and enjoy it! 

Gardening in Late Winter/Early Spring

As I write this, there are a few inches of snow on the ground but in two days the temps are supposed to hit 70 degrees. Central Pennsylvania in late Winter I suppose. It's on those random, unusually warm days that you really want to get out of the house and do something but it's way too early to be planting a garden. (Here, near Harrisburg, PA, I don't plant anything till St. Patrick's Day, if you want to know.) However, that doesn't mean there's nothing to do outside! Here are some great ways to make use of a warm February afternoon.

1> Pick Up Trash. I know, I know, it's not fun but it needs to be done. Winter winds will blow around trash and it will land in your yard. March can be an ugly time of year, not because of the mud, but because of all the garbage lying around that the melting snow revealed. So go pick it up. In your own yard at least.

2> Turn Your Compost Pile. You can be adding kitchen scraps and other compost to your bin all winter so when the pile thaws out, give it a good mixing to encourage it along. What? You don't have a compost bin? Get one (or build one)! Composting is a no-brainer way to turn garbage into useful garden soil.


3>Clean our your bird houses. It's nice to leave them up during the winter to provide shelter for birds but now is a great time to clean them out to start fresh this Spring. No need to scrub, just empty them out.

4>Rake up any leaves you left from last fall. In fact, if you can, shred them with your mower and then put them on your compost pile, or you can use them as mulch in some of your garden beds. 

5>While your at it, give your lawn mower any annual maintenance it requires so it's ready to go when the grass is long.

6> Start preparing any garden beds for Spring planting. My vegetable garden was well manured and mulched last fall so I'm not worried about it now. However, I have a shipment of plants coming this week so I've been getting the beds ready for them. (Digging up sod, fertilizing, laying down cardboard and mulching over that if you want to know.)

7>Cleaning out your garden shed. Yeah, I'm a hypocrite about this right now as you can barely get in ours but hey, you can organize your garden shed!

8>Hurry up and do any pruning you haven't gotten to yet. It's best to prune most trees and bushes  while they're still dormant. Once you see fresh buds coming out, it's really too late. However, many different shrubs have unique pruning needs so be sure to look up guidelines for your specific plant.

So, there are my suggestions for how to best utilize warm, late winter days. What do you do when the snow melts? Feel free to post in the comments below.

Make The Most Of Your Grass Clippings

If you've been following this blog, then you know I love a bargain and there isn't any better bargain than free and readily available. If you have  a lawn, then you have an abundance of grass clippings. For heavens sake, don't just throw them away - you can put them to good use around the garden.

First, be sure to leave some on the lawn as decomposing grass clippings will put nutrients back in the soil which will keep your lawn looking better. At least once a month, don't bag your clippings but let them lie on the lawn. Maybe it's not as manicured that way but your lawn will be healthier for it.

Second, put them in your compost bin. What? You don't have a compost bin? You need to have a compost bin. American's in general throw away tons of food every year and then we gardeners go and buy bagged compost to put on our gardens. It just doesn't make any sense. If you have your own compost bin, it will cut way down on your garbage and will provide free compost for your gardens. Just be sure to keep out any animal by-products so your compost pile won't stink.

Third, use it as mulch in your vegetable gardens. Mulch like straw and wood chips is too heavy to use around fragile seedlings but grass clippings are a great way to retain moisture in the soil, keep weeds down and provide nutrients to the new plants. Win-win-win.

Finally, if you're getting into lasagna gardening, and you should at least consider it, grass clippings make a great free layer of bio mass to include. It's really a no brainer.

What do you do with your grass clippings? I've heard they also make a great feed for chickens and rabbits. Feel free to post your ideas in the comments below.