Gardening Tips

What are Fairy Gardens and Why Should I Care?

A Fairy Garden is a miniature garden complete with structures and actual living plants. It is designed to lure fairies and with them, good luck, to your home. It’s a tiny space created and tended with love. The design and components are limited only by your imagination and the fairies encourage you to be extra-creative in crafting the perfect abode

The Back Story

Once upon a time, hiding in the grass, in the woods, and anywhere there was space, there lived these magical beings called fairies. Unfortunately, as enchanting as these diminutive creatures were, they lacked certain skills. Fairies were not known to be competent builders. So instead of living in elaborate, well-constructed houses, they made due with whatever dwelling they could find.

Created on 30 August 2012.

Little known (fun) gardening facts

Mrs. Obama on David Letterman

On June 5th Michelle Obama read the "Top 10 List" on the David Letterman Show. Sometimes his humor is a little strange, but here is her "tongue in cheek" list:

No. 10: Gardening was invented in 1822 by Albert Gardener.
No. 9: Plant avocados, tomatoes, onions and cilantro together and grow a guacamole tree.
No. 8: Eggplants were originally cultivated for use as doorstops.
No. 7: In his lifetime, the average American will eat half a radish.
No. 6: The largest zucchini ever grown contained a Starbucks.
No. 5: Later this year the Supreme Court will finally rule on "tomato" vs. "tomahto."
No. 4: If you have an actual green thumb, it might be scurvy.
No. 3: Lettuce is 96 percent water and 4 percent lettuce.
No. 2: The White House tool shed contains shovels, trowels and Weed Whacker One.
No. 1: "With enough care and effort you can grow your own Barack-oli."

To see the taped version, click here

Created on 01 July 2012.

Growing tips and uses for herbs

Spice up your garden.

Growing your own herbs doesn't need to be a major chore, and it can have decided advantages over buying herbs, especially in the quality of the product and the amount of money you can save by growing your own.

Let's face it, store bought dried herbs are not only extremely expensive, but they are often not very fresh. You have probably already determined the reasons for growing the herbs; otherwise you might not be reading this.

The first consideration when contemplating the herb garden is the use to which the herbs are going to be put. This is helpful especially for choosing which herbs you wish to grow.

The main ways that herbs are used are in cooking, medicine, aroma and crafts.

Each will have a direct bearing on which herbs are grown, and even on which varieties of herbs are grown. Some varieties may be better for cooking but won't be especially high in medicinal qualities, while others may have more aroma, and so on.

Created on 01 March 2012.

Gardening trends for the New Year

Coming attractions for your yard

With each new year we all try to look into the future and find the next big thing. Here is the prediction from the Garden Writers Association Foundation.

More front yard gardens

The number of front yard gardens is also on a steady rise (29 percent in 2011, compared to 27 percent in 2010 and 25 percent in 2009), according to the Garden Trends Research Report's Early Spring 2011 survey (conducted for the Garden Writers Association Foundation). Meanwhile, the number of backyard gardens has taken a 3-percent hit, down from 50 percent in 2009 and 2010.

Smaller water features

More and more people are moving away from large ponds and toward smaller water features, the study indicates. "Now people prefer a cut piece of stone, a boulder or a beautiful glazed urn with water bubbling out of the top."

Created on 01 January 2012.