Pumpkin Harvest

Gardening can be a lot of work. The payoff is good healthy food to eat. Gardening can be a lot of fun too, though. Especially when my grandson is helping me in the garden.

Lady Slippers

I went for a walk in the rain yesterday looking for the elusive lady's slippers. I heard the seed heads can be found in the fall. I would like to try to propagate them, though I've been told it may be difficult due to unique soil needs. But first, I need to find the seed!

Chemicals!

I can't stand chemicals. But like a bad habit they can be hard to quit. I used a 2-4D product yesterday to get a leg up on weeds in a lawn. Bad idea! My nose ran and head ached. How can anyone use this crap over a long period of time if I can't even tolerate a single application? I've been reading up on natural lawn care and believe I've got the idea of how this works. Takes more time up front, but no chemical expenditures or exposure problems down the road. I'm going "drug" free from now on.

Blotanist

Just signed up with Blotanist. Be the first one to post a comment to my blog! I'll have some interesting stuff/pics, etc. from years of gardening experience and pure joy of gardening. I garden in the cold climate here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we manage to get tomatoes and corn to ripen with a few short season gardening tips and tricks. Roses for the north? You betcha! My Christian Dior red long stem roses from Gurney's are so pretty right now. How about you? What are you up to? Need some tips? I don't know everything but I've got plenty of years of teaching horticulture and gardening here in the north. Plus, I like to hear from folks.

It's a beautiful day!

Great day to be outside! I opened the doors on the greenhouse, planted a few trees and did a little raking. Garden too wet to till yet. I ordered some fraser fir Christmas trees. We'll see how they do. They've got a natural Christmas tree shape and a nice aroma when the leaves are crushed.

Frazer Fir

I just ordered 25 3" fraser firs today from Musser Forests. They're the Cadillac of Christmas trees. A very natural shape needing little pruning. They are also quite fragrant, especially when the leaves are crushed. We'll see how they'll do in the rugged north.

Blizzard

It's a good day to write about gardening. At times I can't see the line of spruce trees by the road, less than one hundred feet away.

Last weekend I got a taste for gardening as a group of us got together for good food and a seed cleaning session. We were cleaning seeds we collected in the wild this past fall. We cleaned coreopsis, rudbeckia and sweet grass, among others.

I am currently working on a book on collecting, propagating and enjoying wildflowers in the upper midwest. I welcome any suggestions for what people might want to see in such a book.

Stay warm,

Neil