Home & Garden category, Page 12
How to use cover crops in a home garden
Cover crops are a useful (and inexpensive!) way for vegetable gardeners to manage weeds, improve the soil, and help control erosion. Not intended for harvest, cover crops are planted either before or after the harvest of a vegetable crop, or in fallow gardens. Many gardeners think cover crops only have...
All-green woodland gardens can provide serenity
All-green gardens are becoming popular again as the centerpieces of monochromatic landscaping. The designs are appealing and restive, driven as they are by massed ferns, moss, leaves, bark, berries, rock and foliage combinations. They serve some practical purposes, too. “Cool, mossy and damp, small space woodland gardens bring a welcome...
Purge the peach trees of pests
Question: We have two peach trees in our backyard and we have two different issues going on that keep us from seeing any ripe fruit. Can you advise us on what’s going on and how to handle it? First, there are holes in the growing peaches. When you crack one...
Beauty grows in shadow of Carrie Furnace
Rick Darke sees beauty where others don’t. He’s a renowned garden personality, author, photographer, designer and, maybe most importantly, something called a landscape ethicist. He’s spent much of his career obsessed with converting industrial sites into amazing public landscapes. It was more than a decade ago when he was flying...
4 common fungal diseases and how to manage them
We’ve certainly had our share of rain this spring, and as a result, I’ve been hearing from gardeners about various fungal issues appearing in their landscapes. Fungal diseases tend to be exacerbated in wet weather due to the spores easily germinating on wet plant foliage. While there are dozens of...
Connellsville tour sites highlight art, history and gardens
The Connellsville Area Garden Club will share the city’s highlights with visitors during its Connellsville Art, History and Garden Tour. Suitable for driving or cycling, the go-at-your-own-pace tour is set for 9 a.m.-2 p.m. June 29. The tour will feature five public art spaces, such as Coke to Spokes, the...
Plant those pollinators: Gardeners urged to think big, start with trees
Peggy Anne Montgomery has spent a lifetime in the garden, and for the last 15 years she’s tried hard to create a pollinator-friendly landscape. The horticulturist and account executive for the Garden Media Group is championing the cause by informing gardeners about the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge and Pollinator Week,...
How crevice gardens can act as models of urban sustainability
Ecologically minded gardens are in vogue, which is all to the good. One of the hallmarks of a successful landscape is that it is in harmony with its place, in its flora, planting aesthetic and general mood. But it is worth knowing that the contemporary broad interest in plant naturalism...
Michelle Wright, fellow beekeeper tend to hives high atop Pittsburgh
Jim Fitzroy is attempting to give away his recipe for something called hot honey as his friend Michelle Wright tries hard (with a wink) to keep the ingredients a closely guarded secret. Wright is a WTAE-TV news anchor, as well as a beekeeper who shares a love of all things...
Greensburg Garden Center offers ‘inspirational’ garden tour
Going on a garden tour is a little bit like picking from Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. Or, more accurately, what you’ll see when you pull up at a featured home. That’s part of the fun, says Mary Ann Artman, chairwoman of...
How to handle poor cucumber pollination
Question: Last year we had trouble with our cucumber plants. They didn’t really form many cucumbers. We had a lot of flowers and the vines were quite large and seemed healthy, but we only had two or three cucumbers from each plant. We’ve never had this problem before. Was it...
Flavor of hot peppers makes them worth the heat (usually)
May 31 was the last day I would be working with KDKA-TV personality Jon Burnett. We spent the past 16 years on television together, and that day I would be saying goodbye on the air. Over the years, some of our most memorable segments revolved around hot peppers. Jon is...
Save the bees (and time and money) by creating a bee lawn
Flowering “bee lawns” that attract pollinators are a compromise between fastidious turf management and the more casual yard approach. They add biodiversity to the landscape and need less maintenance. That makes them cost-effective, too. Bee lawns are turf grasses blended with low-growing perennials that bloom again after mowing. They’re cared...
Doug Oster shares his favorite annuals
Long tables covered with healthy, deep green plants filled the Belmont Sports Complex in Kittanning for the Armstrong County Penn State Master Gardener’s Plant Sale. I was the speaker that day and had about 15 minutes before starting to quickly peruse the offerings. I was blown away at the quality...
Pittsburgh Rose Society offers help to wannabe growers
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s soil does not offer the kindest reception to rose growers. “This is a tough area to grow (roses),” says Ann Kubik, a Pittsburgh Rose Society member. “There is so much clay in the area. You have to amend the soil with peat moss, compost, mushroom manure, anything to...
Succession planting will diversify the garden, extend harvest times
The temptation to plant early is an urge that seduces all gardeners. It fools the most knowledgeable and thoughtful growers and turns them into careless dreamers who throw caution to the wind in the quest to see the first bloom or harvest the earliest fruit. In March, while visiting Chapon’s...
Hosta show and sale planned at Soergel Orchards in Wexford
The annual juried Hosta Show, presented by the Daffodil and Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania, is set for 1-4 p.m. June 1 at Soergel Orchards Farm Market, 2573 Brandt School Road, Wexford. Entries for the juried show of cut leaf and potted hostas/arrangements will be accepted from 5-8 p.m. May...
Annual hosta show, plant sale coming up at Soergel Orchards
The annual hosta show and plant sale presented by the Daffodil & Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania is set for Saturday June 1 at Soergel Orchards Farm Market in Franklin Park. The plant sale begins at 10 a.m. followed by the hosta show from 1 to 4 p.m. The free...
New shrub rose hybrids are easy to care for, easy to love
Roses are among the oldest flowers in cultivation, although many have earned a reputation as fussy or difficult to grow. Some of the newer shrub rose hybrids, however, are disease-resistant, carefree and repeat-blooming — just the qualities novice gardeners love. “They are generally much healthier, more free-flowering, easier to prune...
Vatican Gardens filled with holy history
Twelve years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Rome with my wife, celebrating our 25th anniversary. We had never traveled internationally before, so the mysteries of a different country and language were both thrilling and daunting. I knew there were gardens at the Vatican and wanted desperately to see...
In a labyrinth garden, every path is the right one
A labyrinth garden should not be puzzling — that’s a maze. A labyrinth and a maze were once the same, but the labyrinth has recently grown to become a totally different animal. Enter a labyrinth and every turn you make is the correct one, leading you to the center. The...
How to grow cucamelons
If you’re looking to try something new in your vegetable garden this season, perhaps the tiny but mighty cucamelon would be a good fit. Cucamelons ( Melothria scabra) are also called Mexican sour gherkins or mouse melons. They’re closely related to cucumbers and other cucurbits. They’ve been grown as a...
Landreth Seeds brings back old varieties for the modern gardener
When David and Cuthbert Landreth founded the D. Landreth Seed Co. in 1784, they never could have imagined the ups and downs the company would see over the centuries — sold during World War II, changing hands over the years several times and even fading away until recently being purchased...
Doug Oster to offer gardening tips at Kittanning plant sale
Noted home and garden editor Doug Oster will share favorite home gardening tips during Armstrong County Penn State Master Gardeners’ annual plant sale on May 18. The sale is set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Belmont Complex, 415 Butler Road, Kittanning. The talk by Oster, manager and editor for...
‘Van Gogh in Bloom’ is summer show at Phipps Conservatory
Artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) once said, “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” The Dutch post-impressionist painter’s own love of nature expressed in his vibrant landscapes and still-life paintings is interpreted in a series of botanical vignettes in the summer flower show, “Van Gogh in Bloom,”...
