It’s the nature of the beast:  Gardeners tend to be a forward-thinking group.  Add to this fact our giddy enthusiasm at this time of year for the fast-approaching spring and we are often negligent of the needs of our loyal, year-long indoor plants.  As in life, we too often neglect our tried and true loyal friends for the excitement of any Johnny-come-lately that crosses our paths. So every year in early spring, I try to pamper my houseplants a little.   I recruit that forward-thinking tendency for the sake of those same plants that I will indeed be relying upon again when our summer garden …

I am always trying to think of fun projects that kids might enjoy, hoping to get them as interested in and enthused about gardening as myself.  This passion, unfortunately never caught on with my own kids, but I keep plugging away with my grandchildren, neighborhood kids, my students - pretty much any kid who will listen (voluntarily or otherwise).  One project that I’ve never actually tried and always wanted to is growing  potatoes in a container (although I‘ve gone as far as growing the sprouts, both intentionally and not so intentionally).  Anyway, here in North Georgia this is the perfect…

Though spring is still several weeks away, seeds requiring roughly 12 weeks before planting outdoors (not many, but a few) can be started now. Once the medium is selected (I recommend plain, unopened peat moss), it is time to prepare the container(s). I use individual peat pots as opposed to one large container, as this prevents damage to fragile root systems when transplanting. If each seedling has its own peat pot, you simply prepare its hole outside and place the seeding, pot and all, into its permanent home. And don’t worry about the roots not having enough room to grow (I always do). …

Yay! Finally it is time to think about getting seedlings started for transplanting outside in a few weeks.  Most seeds require  6 - 12 weeks of indoor development before they are hardy enough to plant outside.  There is about 12 weeks left here in Dacula before we are considered safe from any surprise frosts (around the last of April).  So, start looking in the stores for some unusual annual flowers and/or vegetables that you would like to try.  The reason I like to start some of my own flower seeds is so I don’t have to rely solely on the same old garden annuals available year-in and year-…

Writing this column is one of the things I look forward to during my week.  But more importantly, it has proved to be an effective catalyst for working on some of my gardening goals and ideas that somehow previously never materialized.  As I discussed in last week’s column, I have finally committed to the project of  recycling my holiday poinsettia.  And this week, I created the gardening journal that I always intended to do “some day.” In the past, I started numerous journals, but they were really just spiral notebooks where I jotted down haphazard, random notes with no real organization.   …

As an original New Englander, I am much more familiar with winter damage to landscaping than most Georgia natives.  Some of my favorite shrubs fell victim to my lack of preparedness (call it what you want, I was just plain lazy!).  Because winter damage is so much more prevalent there, many of us learned our lessons over the years and prepared much of our landscape as part of our fall gardening chores.  More than just snow, however, both northerners and southerners, need to be mindful of the potential damage from winter’s cold, dry winds. To protect from the usually less destructive damage …

Did you know that poinsettias can grace our homes for more than one Christmas season? Being that one of my New Year's resolutions is to expand my habits of recycling, I am determined to invest the considerable commitment of time, effort and patience required to re-use my gorgeous poinsettia next year.  I have always intended to attempt this, but was intimidated by what seemed like the overly strict precision and timing necessary for success.  The financial benefits just never seemed to justify the effort involved (although the "green" ones do!).  Not that I don't enjoy these types of projects…

At this time of year, when the gardening life can be somewhat boring, I get one of my greatest gardening thrills when the cuttings that I've taken from my favorite annuals begin to take root.  Only a "manical botanical" as I sometimes refer to myself and likewise kindred spirits can appreciate the excitement of seeing those first roots appear.  My husband makes fun of the happy dance I do on that first discovery.  This year is particularly exciting for me, as I rooted my neighbor's gorgeous geranium that I was so envious of all summer.  It is the deep red/burgundy geranium that I fruitlessly …

For all of you gardeners who are inundated with green tomatoes this time of year, I want to share a unique recipe with you before it's too late.  "Mock Raspberry Jam" is a clever, problem-solving and incredibly simple recipe for those of us who invariably end up with many more green tomatoes in the fall than red ones in the summer.  I got it from a well-known gardening "celebrity" in New England, Paul Parent.  Among many of his ventures, he hosted a popular radio gardening show.  I looked forward to this show like most of my friends do to their favorite TV shows (should I be embarrassed to…

As a transplanted gardener from New England, I was thrilled and surprised to learn that almost everything I had in my garden "at home" would also thrive here. I lovingly chose my garden inhabitants, and I hated leaving them behind. I have learned a lot about gardening in the North Georgia area in the six years since we've been here, but perhaps the greatest joy was learning that many things I had always longed to grow in Boston would grow here. Plants like gardenia that are too fragile for the brutal New England winter, thrive here. In my mind, this area is a gardener's paradise. About the …