GOLDFINCH ON CONEFLOWER, PHOTO BY JESSICA KIRSTE/PROJECT FEEDERWATCH Your yard can be a feast for songbirds, even if it’s just a small urban plot! Choose your plants well, and don’t be too quick to tidy up after the blooms have faded. You’ll be helping to sustain...
We had a positive response to Seed Buying 101—A Gardener’s Glossary. Here are more answers from our expert seed breeders and marketers. What is an heirloom seed variety?The definition: Simply put, an heirloom is an Open Pollinated (see explanation of OP) variety that...
Beans, Beets, Cucumbers, Kale, Peas, Radishes, Salad Greens, Squash, Swiss Chard Most of the vegetables typically grown in a home garden can be sown directly in the garden soil. These include salad greens of all kinds—lettuces, mizuna, arugula, spinach, and...
Bachelor’s Buttons, Calendula, California Poppy, Cleome, Cosmos, Love-in-a-Mist, Marigold, Morning Glory, Nasturtium, Sunflower, Tithonia, Zinnia Some flowers are not just easy to grow from seed, they actually perform better when sown directly in the garden. They will...
You’ll Have Many More Choices Cornell’s Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners, a citizen science program, describes 562 pepper varieties, 365 lettuces, and an astonishing 853 types of tomatoes. Only a fraction of these can be bought as seedlings. You’ll have a hard time...
Even if you don’t have access to a greenhouse, you can create conditions that will allow seedlings to thrive. Tops on the list of essentials are: a good source of light, air that circulates, adequate heat, and soil that holds water without becoming waterlogged. And it...