A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? TREASURE HUNTING IN THE GARDEN, WITH KEN DRUSE Margaret: No, it’s so hard to throw things away.That’s part of the problem. That’s part of the tension in this exercise we’re talking about, in this treasure hunting. Because even if you find maybe not that onesie of that Acer, of that Japanese maple, that precious thing, but you might find a 100 hellebore seedlings when you’re cutting back the old leaves of mama plant. SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY That raises the issue of spacing. Putting the seedlings out to 1-1/2 or even 2 inches apart once they have the first leaf will keep them shorter. Bigger distances tend to stunt the small vegetable seedlings. Overplanting and then thinning is just asking them to stretch. WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. HOW TO DRY BEANS (HINT: DON'T RUSH THEM!) Margaret's weekly public-radio show, from Robin Hood Radio in Sharon, CT, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen live at 8:30 AM EDT Mondays, to the replay Saturday morning, or stream the podcast

anytime.

WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY M AYBE YOU’RE WONDERING this about now: Why do vegetable seedlings stretch and grow spindly sometimes, and how can you prevent such leggy seedlings? That was how I began a note to Dr. Thomas Bjorkman, Professor of Crop Physiology at Cornell, seeking an answer to a question I’m asked a lot.. He’s a botanist whose research focuses on the effects of environmental stimuli on plant growth

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. FOR LASTING GOLD, MALUS 'BOB WHITE' I grow my yellow-fruited crabs just beyond a stand of yellow-twig dogwood, Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold,’ so that my distant view of the whole gleaming area right now is quite nice: linear gold beneath a haze of golden baubles. The photo shows a small section of the combination. The birds will be back, I’m sure, for ‘Bob White,’ but offcolor fruits (read: other than red) seem to THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider OCTOBER GARDEN CHORES REPLANT THE BIGGEST CLOVES from your best heads of harvested garlic, or hurry and order a supply and plant this month (about a month before frost is in the ground). How to plant garlic: Prepare a sunny spot, and plant each clove 2 or so inches deep and 6 inches apart in the row, with about 12 inches between rows. NECTAROSCORDUM: THE CURIOUS BULB THAT TIES A BED TOGETHER C ALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE, but plant it. Whether labeled as Nectaroscordum siculum or Allium siculum, it’s a wonderful oddball of a flowering bulb that always elicits inquiries from visitors at my June garden events, and for good reason—though some of its assets are not as obvious as its lovely dangling mauve and green bells.. Nectar-garlic (according to “The Names of Plants” fourth THE TRICKY MATTER OF WHEN TO HARVEST GARLIC because hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) is better-adapted to Northern winters (its long roots hold it in the heave-and-thaw ground especially well), and frankly I just hate all those tiny inner cloves of softneck at peeling time.Nor does comparatively puny softneck make as nice a roasted head of garlic as the bigger-cloved kind. IS THE PERFECT BAMBOO LEAF RAKE EXTINCT? W ANTED: Bamboo leaf rake that doesn’t lose teeth or handle for at least one season. Preferably with a padded sleeve to grip, rather than just a skimpy, plain wood rod. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so; I fear my ideal of the bamboo rake—a tool I have always loved for its light weight, easy on the raker and the residents of the bed being raked—has gone extinct. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. TREASURE HUNTING IN THE GARDEN, WITH KEN DRUSE Margaret: No, it’s so hard to throw things away.That’s part of the problem. That’s part of the tension in this exercise we’re talking about, in this treasure hunting. Because even if you find maybe not that onesie of that Acer, of that Japanese maple, that precious thing, but you might find a 100 hellebore seedlings when you’re cutting back the old leaves of mama plant. OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. FEED THE SOIL: MY EXPERIMENT WITH MYCORRHIZAE I’d often read about inoculating the soil with mycorrhizae–myco means fungus and the suffix means root, so literally root fungi, a word used to indicate a symbiotic relationship between the two. Until last fall, at garlic-planting time, when I purchased $49.50 worth (enough for the garlic, plus my whole vegetable garden) I’d never HOW TO DRY BEANS (HINT: DON'T RUSH THEM!) Margaret's weekly public-radio show, from Robin Hood Radio in Sharon, CT, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen live at 8:30 AM EDT Mondays, to the replay Saturday morning, or stream the podcast

anytime.

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. FOR LASTING GOLD, MALUS 'BOB WHITE' I grow my yellow-fruited crabs just beyond a stand of yellow-twig dogwood, Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold,’ so that my distant view of the whole gleaming area right now is quite nice: linear gold beneath a haze of golden baubles. The photo shows a small section of the combination. The birds will be back, I’m sure, for ‘Bob White,’ but offcolor fruits (read: other than red) seem to WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY M AYBE YOU’RE WONDERING this about now: Why do vegetable seedlings stretch and grow spindly sometimes, and how can you prevent such leggy seedlings? That was how I began a note to Dr. Thomas Bjorkman, Professor of Crop Physiology at Cornell, seeking an answer to a question I’m asked a lot.. He’s a botanist whose research focuses on the effects of environmental stimuli on plant growth 2 BECOMES 200: HOW TO DIVIDE TRILLIUM Each division from your garden needs to have at least an eye or growing point, but neither of us cuts them up into tiny bits—in fact, I just gently tease apart the clumps descended from those two native Trillium erectum, or wake-robin, and replant each rhizome. I count 10 divisions in that shovelful, above, each of which will become

an entire

THE TRICKY MATTER OF WHEN TO HARVEST GARLIC because hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) is better-adapted to Northern winters (its long roots hold it in the heave-and-thaw ground especially well), and frankly I just hate all those tiny inner cloves of softneck at peeling time.Nor does comparatively puny softneck make as nice a roasted head of garlic as the bigger-cloved kind. IS THE PERFECT BAMBOO LEAF RAKE EXTINCT? W ANTED: Bamboo leaf rake that doesn’t lose teeth or handle for at least one season. Preferably with a padded sleeve to grip, rather than just a skimpy, plain wood rod. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so; I fear my ideal of the bamboo rake—a tool I have always loved for its light weight, easy on the raker and the residents of the bed being raked—has gone extinct. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app WHEN THE NORMALLY TOUGH PEONY FAILS TO BLOOM F INALLY, A CONFESSION: I don’t grow any of the big, blowsy peonies in the garden beds here; I reserve them for a row in the out-of-the-way cutting area, which is where the ones in the photos came from. In my garden beds I prefer the scale and delicacy of species peonies, which also tend to accept a bit more shade. But then I’ve already told you that, haven’t I? OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHEN INNER CONIFER NEEDLES TURN YELLOW OR BROWN The browning I noticed in late July on my Eastern red cedar in the front yard (Juniperus virginiana) is suddenly showing up as gold or rusty-brown or a progression from one to the other on many other conifer species.The Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), above, with their long needles, are always the most dramatic, turning what looks like mostly gold at first. TREASURE HUNTING IN THE GARDEN, WITH KEN DRUSE Margaret: No, it’s so hard to throw things away.That’s part of the problem. That’s part of the tension in this exercise we’re talking about, in this treasure hunting. Because even if you find maybe not that onesie of that Acer, of that Japanese maple, that precious thing, but you might find a 100 hellebore seedlings when you’re cutting back the old leaves of mama plant. OAKS: THE MOST POWERFUL PLANT OF ALL, WITH DOUG TALLAMY Margaret: Right. And that was the case with so many things in the book. In fact, you end a lot of the sections by saying, “And like I’ve said, it could be all of these things, because it’s interconnected.” Doug: We humans like to make it black and white, very simple. It’s this or that, but it’s often a lot of things happening together. FEED THE SOIL: MY EXPERIMENT WITH MYCORRHIZAE I’d often read about inoculating the soil with mycorrhizae–myco means fungus and the suffix means root, so literally root fungi, a word used to indicate a symbiotic relationship between the two. Until last fall, at garlic-planting time, when I purchased $49.50 worth (enough for the garlic, plus my whole vegetable garden) I’d never HOW TO DRY BEANS (HINT: DON'T RUSH THEM!) Margaret's weekly public-radio show, from Robin Hood Radio in Sharon, CT, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen live at 8:30 AM EDT Mondays, to the replay Saturday morning, or stream the podcast

anytime.

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. FOR LASTING GOLD, MALUS 'BOB WHITE' I grow my yellow-fruited crabs just beyond a stand of yellow-twig dogwood, Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold,’ so that my distant view of the whole gleaming area right now is quite nice: linear gold beneath a haze of golden baubles. The photo shows a small section of the combination. The birds will be back, I’m sure, for ‘Bob White,’ but offcolor fruits (read: other than red) seem to WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY M AYBE YOU’RE WONDERING this about now: Why do vegetable seedlings stretch and grow spindly sometimes, and how can you prevent such leggy seedlings? That was how I began a note to Dr. Thomas Bjorkman, Professor of Crop Physiology at Cornell, seeking an answer to a question I’m asked a lot.. He’s a botanist whose research focuses on the effects of environmental stimuli on plant growth 2 BECOMES 200: HOW TO DIVIDE TRILLIUM Each division from your garden needs to have at least an eye or growing point, but neither of us cuts them up into tiny bits—in fact, I just gently tease apart the clumps descended from those two native Trillium erectum, or wake-robin, and replant each rhizome. I count 10 divisions in that shovelful, above, each of which will become

an entire

THE TRICKY MATTER OF WHEN TO HARVEST GARLIC because hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) is better-adapted to Northern winters (its long roots hold it in the heave-and-thaw ground especially well), and frankly I just hate all those tiny inner cloves of softneck at peeling time.Nor does comparatively puny softneck make as nice a roasted head of garlic as the bigger-cloved kind. IS THE PERFECT BAMBOO LEAF RAKE EXTINCT? W ANTED: Bamboo leaf rake that doesn’t lose teeth or handle for at least one season. Preferably with a padded sleeve to grip, rather than just a skimpy, plain wood rod. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so; I fear my ideal of the bamboo rake—a tool I have always loved for its light weight, easy on the raker and the residents of the bed being raked—has gone extinct. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. HIGH-SPEED, HIT-AND-RUN COMPOSTING high-speed, hit-and-run composting. by Ken Smith. April 29, 2009. January 3, 2014. F OR YEARS MY FRIEND ANDREW, a better gardener than I by far, has been telling me the secret, but I just wouldn’t listen. Like I do, Andrew creates a lot of debris from his giant garden and nursery. “Run it over,” he said, whenever I’d complain about the SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

GARDENING ON UNEVEN GROUND: LEVELING RAISED BEDS More raised-bed details: I use whatever rot-resistant, untreated lumber is locally available as 2-by-10s for a good price (here that’s locust). I like my beds between 4 and 5 feet wide (wider is hard to reach across; even 5 is stretching it) and try to waste little lumber by using multiples or halves of common lengths like 8- and

10-footers

EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. HIGH-SPEED, HIT-AND-RUN COMPOSTING high-speed, hit-and-run composting. by Ken Smith. April 29, 2009. January 3, 2014. F OR YEARS MY FRIEND ANDREW, a better gardener than I by far, has been telling me the secret, but I just wouldn’t listen. Like I do, Andrew creates a lot of debris from his giant garden and nursery. “Run it over,” he said, whenever I’d complain about the SOIL-SAVING TRICKS FOR PLANTING BIG POTS February 20, 2014 at 2:42 pm. To decrease amount of soil used in large pots, I put packing peanuts in old nylons, than into the bottom of the pot. The peanuts don’t get tangled in the roots and you can remove them and reuse them if you chose. Reply. margaret says: February 21,

2014 at 10:21 am.

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

GARDENING ON UNEVEN GROUND: LEVELING RAISED BEDS More raised-bed details: I use whatever rot-resistant, untreated lumber is locally available as 2-by-10s for a good price (here that’s locust). I like my beds between 4 and 5 feet wide (wider is hard to reach across; even 5 is stretching it) and try to waste little lumber by using multiples or halves of common lengths like 8- and

10-footers

EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the HIGH-SPEED, HIT-AND-RUN COMPOSTING high-speed, hit-and-run composting. by Ken Smith. April 29, 2009. January 3, 2014. F OR YEARS MY FRIEND ANDREW, a better gardener than I by far, has been telling me the secret, but I just wouldn’t listen. Like I do, Andrew creates a lot of debris from his giant garden and nursery. “Run it over,” he said, whenever I’d complain about the THE TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS I RELY ON Epimediums, or barrenworts: Thanks in large part to the passion of Darrell Probst, the esteemed Epimedium collector and founder of Garden Vision Epimediums nursery in Massachusetts, a dizzying selection of the charming barrenworts is now in the marketplace. I have some choice ones, but two of the less rarified (and therefore less expensive) varieties have served me particularly well for THE MAY GARDEN CHORES T HE ORGANIC-GARDENING approach and the how-to tips I offer apply most anywhere–pruning a rose or sowing a tomato seed is similar, wherever the rose or tomato may grow. But the when is not the same. To adjust timing: My garden is in Zone 5B, in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA) area, where frost can persist well into May and return in HOW TO GROW BEETS, WITH BRIAN CAMPBELL Instead, direct sow about ¼ inch deep, placing six to eight seeds per foot in rows about a foot apart. We sow every three weeks or so to ensure a steady supply, with our last planting (for the fall harvest) a week or two into July. You could still harvest baby beets from sowings made into the first week of August around here. ASPARAGUS: AN ALL-MALE CAST Space the crowns about 18 inches apart within the row, and leave a few feet between parallel rows. When they are in place, backfill an inch or two of soil onto the plants and firm, then water. Once the crowns send up green shoots, shovel in another thin layer of soil (don’t cover the tips completely), and repeat this step through the summer HOW-TO SLIDESHOW: WAKE UP, CANNAS, WAKE UP O UT OF THE BASEMENT THEY CAME YESTERDAY, the cannas I’d stored after frost last fall. It’s easy to keep these prolific rhizomes year to year and even have plenty to give away. All they ask is a little trimming of the dead bits in early spring, and for a headstart, perhaps potting up now while you wait for the weather to settle. FALLEN HERO: BOTTLEBRUSH BUCKEYE T HE SAYING GOES THAT A THING OF BEAUTY is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count a week ago, or at least half of it did, and there’s nothing beautiful about the aftermath of its demise.The bottlebrush buckeye, one of four around the yard, had grown to a hummock-shaped LET THERE BE SWEET POTATOES: HOW TO PLANT THEM B ETWEEN A ROW OF CUTTING TULIPS AND ANOTHER OF ALLIUMS, on a mounded “ridge” of soil created for the purpose, the sweet potatoes were tucked in here a week ago. You have to love a seed or plant that comes in the mail complete with recipes: how optimistic, how confidence-inspiring. My box of “slips” included all the details on planting, sure, but also on making sweet-potato fries and BLUEBIRD BOXES: BE A GOOD LANDLORD q&a: deb’s bluebird rules and regulations. Q. Where did you learn to be a good bluebird landlord? A. I rely heavily on Bet Zimmerman’s website Sialis.org and a wonderful little pamphlet called “Enjoying Bluebirds More” by Julie Zickefoose, and I always urge (implore, really) people interested in putting up nestboxes to read Bet’s page of bottom-line advice for new bluebirders. LICHEN MOTHS: BRIGHT, BEAUTIFUL, BIZARRE A: You’ll notice that the lichen moths, those that are colored, are mostly yellow/orange/red and black. Typically in the insect kingdom this combination of flame-family colors with black is an indication of distastefulness–a visual warning to potential predators not to waste their time. Such coloration is termed “aposematic.”. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY That raises the issue of spacing. Putting the seedlings out to 1-1/2 or even 2 inches apart once they have the first leaf will keep them shorter. Bigger distances tend to stunt the small vegetable seedlings. Overplanting and then thinning is just asking them to stretch. ASPARAGUS: AN ALL-MALE CAST Space the crowns about 18 inches apart within the row, and leave a few feet between parallel rows. When they are in place, backfill an inch or two of soil onto the plants and firm, then water. Once the crowns send up green shoots, shovel in another thin layer of soil (don’t cover the tips completely), and repeat this step through the summer BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY That raises the issue of spacing. Putting the seedlings out to 1-1/2 or even 2 inches apart once they have the first leaf will keep them shorter. Bigger distances tend to stunt the small vegetable seedlings. Overplanting and then thinning is just asking them to stretch. ASPARAGUS: AN ALL-MALE CAST Space the crowns about 18 inches apart within the row, and leave a few feet between parallel rows. When they are in place, backfill an inch or two of soil onto the plants and firm, then water. Once the crowns send up green shoots, shovel in another thin layer of soil (don’t cover the tips completely), and repeat this step through the summer BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app ABOUT MARGARET AND THIS WEBSITE The website is named for a book I wrote early in my garden career, and in the life of my garden. “A Way to Garden,” named best book of 1998 by the Garden Writers of America, became a collector’s item, so a fully updated 21st anniversary edition was released April 2019; above.. People always think it is “Away” to Garden, because I left my fast-lane city career to live in a small rural GARDEN-SIZED TREES AND HOW TO USE THEM, WITH BRUCE L OOKING AROUND the garden as some of spring’s showoff shrubs and perennials fade, I realized how glad I am that I made room for some gardens-sized trees, too—not too big and not too small, and the best of them offering more than a single season of interest. Choice trees for the garden, and also some unexpected ways to use them, was the topic of my recent discussion with Bruce Crawford. GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD T HERE ARE VARIOUS more backbreaking ways to make a new garden bed, but in recent years I’ve often relied upon the magic of recyclables: newspaper and cardboard. It’s not all about being lazy, or getting older and less inclined toward heroic digging, either. Prepping a bed without turning or tilling may actually help reduce the number of weed seeds that sprout, so in many situations, it TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 THE TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS I RELY ON Epimediums, or barrenworts: Thanks in large part to the passion of Darrell Probst, the esteemed Epimedium collector and founder of Garden Vision Epimediums nursery in Massachusetts, a dizzying selection of the charming barrenworts is now in the marketplace. I have some choice ones, but two of the less rarified (and therefore less expensive) varieties have served me particularly well for

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. FEED THE SOIL: MY EXPERIMENT WITH MYCORRHIZAE I’d often read about inoculating the soil with mycorrhizae–myco means fungus and the suffix means root, so literally root fungi, a word used to indicate a symbiotic relationship between the two. Until last fall, at garlic-planting time, when I purchased $49.50 worth (enough for the garlic, plus my whole vegetable garden) I’d never MY ‘SECRET’ TO OVERWINTERING JAPANESE MAPLES my ‘secret’ to overwintering japanese maples. by Ken Smith. October 31, 2010. February 14, 2014. N OT YET, BUT SOON. That’s when my Japanese maples will go back into hiding for the winter, to protect their tender twigs and beautiful bark from winter winds and ice and sunburn (and mice and voles and who knows what else rampages around HOW TO GROW BEETS, WITH BRIAN CAMPBELL Instead, direct sow about ¼ inch deep, placing six to eight seeds per foot in rows about a foot apart. We sow every three weeks or so to ensure a steady supply, with our last planting (for the fall harvest) a week or two into July. You could still harvest baby beets from sowings made into the first week of August around here. A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY That raises the issue of spacing. Putting the seedlings out to 1-1/2 or even 2 inches apart once they have the first leaf will keep them shorter. Bigger distances tend to stunt the small vegetable seedlings. Overplanting and then thinning is just asking them to stretch. ASPARAGUS: AN ALL-MALE CAST Space the crowns about 18 inches apart within the row, and leave a few feet between parallel rows. When they are in place, backfill an inch or two of soil onto the plants and firm, then water. Once the crowns send up green shoots, shovel in another thin layer of soil (don’t cover the tips completely), and repeat this step through the summer BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider A WAY TO GARDEN HOMEABOUTRESOURCESPODCASTPLANTSRECIPESHOW-TO Organic gardening how-to and inspiration about nature from award-winning author and podcaster Margaret Roach. Plus: garden-to-table recipes and more. BLOG - A WAY TO GARDEN Since April 2020, I have been the garden columnist for “The New York Times,” where I began my journalism career decades ago. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden in “normal” years, MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 EXTEND YOUR CLEMATIS BLOOM SEASON TO SPRING THROUGH FALL By selecting the right varieties and also knowing how to care for one that can be coaxed into longer, more robust bloom, it’s possible. When I’m plant shopping, I try to discipline myself by reciting a little mantra: “early, middle, late.”. As in: It’s a long season of possibilities, if you plan correctly. Early, middle, late is the WHY VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS STRETCH AND GET SPINDLY That raises the issue of spacing. Putting the seedlings out to 1-1/2 or even 2 inches apart once they have the first leaf will keep them shorter. Bigger distances tend to stunt the small vegetable seedlings. Overplanting and then thinning is just asking them to stretch. ASPARAGUS: AN ALL-MALE CAST Space the crowns about 18 inches apart within the row, and leave a few feet between parallel rows. When they are in place, backfill an inch or two of soil onto the plants and firm, then water. Once the crowns send up green shoots, shovel in another thin layer of soil (don’t cover the tips completely), and repeat this step through the summer BATTLING MICE AND VOLES (BUT NEVER WITH MOTHBALLS) battling mice and voles (but never with mothballs) T HE SNOW MELTS, revealing the horror: Mice and voles have had at it in your garden, coldframe or greenhouse. As fall approaches, maybe they’re scurrying for a nesting spot in your house or garage or shed. Whatever the havoc, mothballs are no t the answer—and are in fact highly toxic,

and

THE OTHER CLEMATIS: CHARMING NON-VINING TYPES W HEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider MY WEEKLY RADIO SHOW & PODCAST 🎧 S INCE SPRING 2010, I’ve been taping a 25ish-minute weekly public-radio gardening program with my neighbors down the road in Sharon, Connecticut, at Robin Hood Radio, “the smallest NPR station in the nation.”. The show, called “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” (how original!), is available free as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify and most every other podcast app ABOUT MARGARET AND THIS WEBSITE The website is named for a book I wrote early in my garden career, and in the life of my garden. “A Way to Garden,” named best book of 1998 by the Garden Writers of America, became a collector’s item, so a fully updated 21st anniversary edition was released April 2019; above.. People always think it is “Away” to Garden, because I left my fast-lane city career to live in a small rural GARDEN-SIZED TREES AND HOW TO USE THEM, WITH BRUCE L OOKING AROUND the garden as some of spring’s showoff shrubs and perennials fade, I realized how glad I am that I made room for some gardens-sized trees, too—not too big and not too small, and the best of them offering more than a single season of interest. Choice trees for the garden, and also some unexpected ways to use them, was the topic of my recent discussion with Bruce Crawford. GARDEN PREP: HOW TO MAKE A BED, WITH CARDBOARD T HERE ARE VARIOUS more backbreaking ways to make a new garden bed, but in recent years I’ve often relied upon the magic of recyclables: newspaper and cardboard. It’s not all about being lazy, or getting older and less inclined toward heroic digging, either. Prepping a bed without turning or tilling may actually help reduce the number of weed seeds that sprout, so in many situations, it TIPS FOR GROWING BETTER TOMATOES FROM SEED the top tomato tips: Work from your final frost date to determine when to sow (mine’s late May-early June).Use my seed-starting calculator to get your start date (and a link to figure out your frost date if you don’t know it).; Count back from 5 or 6 to as much as 8 THE TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS I RELY ON Epimediums, or barrenworts: Thanks in large part to the passion of Darrell Probst, the esteemed Epimedium collector and founder of Garden Vision Epimediums nursery in Massachusetts, a dizzying selection of the charming barrenworts is now in the marketplace. I have some choice ones, but two of the less rarified (and therefore less expensive) varieties have served me particularly well for

MOVING BULBS

alliums (background) and their cousin nectaroscordum W HEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MOVE BULBS that are simply in the wrong place, or have grown overcrowded? Elizabethsflowers asked specifically about her ornamental onions today on the forums, and it got me thinking. “I planted 3 A. giganteum bulbs in an area where a large spruce had recently been removed,” Elizabethsflowers wrote. FEED THE SOIL: MY EXPERIMENT WITH MYCORRHIZAE I’d often read about inoculating the soil with mycorrhizae–myco means fungus and the suffix means root, so literally root fungi, a word used to indicate a symbiotic relationship between the two. Until last fall, at garlic-planting time, when I purchased $49.50 worth (enough for the garlic, plus my whole vegetable garden) I’d never MY ‘SECRET’ TO OVERWINTERING JAPANESE MAPLES my ‘secret’ to overwintering japanese maples. by Ken Smith. October 31, 2010. February 14, 2014. N OT YET, BUT SOON. That’s when my Japanese maples will go back into hiding for the winter, to protect their tender twigs and beautiful bark from winter winds and ice and sunburn (and mice and voles and who knows what else rampages around HOW TO GROW BEETS, WITH BRIAN CAMPBELL Instead, direct sow about ¼ inch deep, placing six to eight seeds per foot in rows about a foot apart. We sow every three weeks or so to ensure a steady supply, with our last planting (for the fall harvest) a week or two into July. You could still harvest baby beets from sowings made into the first week of August around here.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT SUMMER WILDFLOWERS, WITH CAROL GRACIE THE BELOVED WILDFLOWERS of springtime—the trilliums, mayapples, Virginia bluebells—are probably gone till next year, but don’t despair. Here comes the REMEMBERING PLANTS WE’VE LOVED (AND LOST), WITH KEN DRUSE I WAS CRAWLING around weeding the other day and there it was: yet another turquoise-colored plastic label I knew was ‘WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BIRD:’ A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID SIBLEY IF YOU’RE A BIRD PERSON, as I am, you may feel as if you know this week’s podcast guest, because ‘INSTANT’ WATER GARDEN: TRY SEASONAL TROUGHS NOTHING ADDS MORE TO A GARDEN THAN WATER. Just ask the birds, frogs, and insects—oh, and human visitors, too. It’s TOMATO SUCCESS, FROM TRANSPLANT TO HARVEST, WITH CRAIG LEHOULLIER EVERY GARDENER has his or her own tomato secrets, tips, and tricks they’re sure will bring earliest fruit or the REALLY? A MAY 9 SNOW ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE THIS SPRING? WE OLDER HUMAN TYPES sometimes kid that we are 29 (as in years old), but I’ll tell you what: 29 IT’S TIME TO LEARN SOME BOTANICAL LATIN (AND WHY), WITH ROSS BAYTON I’M GRATEFUL that when I began gardening, I fell in with a bunch of plant nerds who spoke not in CUTBACKS AND MORE: KEEP THE GARDEN LOOKING GREAT WHEN SPRING FADES,

WITH KEN DRUSE

A FAMOUS GARDENER Ken Druse and I know often says this one-liner: “Anyone can do spring.” What he means is: MIRACULOUS BIRD NESTS (VS. WILY NEST PREDATORS), WITH BRETT DEGREGORIO I AM MAD FOR birds, so much so that I’ve been looking expectantly lately at the interactive migration maps on 3 VARIATIONS ON BAKED BEANS: SWEET, SMOKY, SPICY THE FREEZERS WERE too tightly packed till now to do anything but choose the forward-facing foods. (Sound familiar?) But I’ve COOKING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE: ‘START SIMPLE,’ WITH LUKAS VOLGER JUST BEFORE THINGS SHIFTED in our world, I bought a new vegetarian cookbook called “Start Simple,” by Lukas Volger. Little DIVIDING PERENNIALS (AND SOME SHRUBS): WHEN, WHY AND HOW-TO, WITH KEN

DRUSE

ONE OF MY favorite books by our friend Ken Druse is called “Making More Plants,” and though it’s about all MUST-GROW CUTTING FLOWERS, PLUS DAHLIA HOW-TO, WITH JENNY ELLIOTT YES, YES, I KNOW; you plan to grow the usual rows of zinnias, but what other among organic flower farmer HOPE IS THE THING WITH COTYLEDONS, AND OTHER SPRING 2020 INSTAGRAM

THOUGHTS

IT FEELS LIKE 100 YEARS, but it has “only” been about a month. I know because I checked in my THE POWER OF SEEDS, AND OF SUNFLOWERS, WITH KEN GREENE BEFORE THE WEEKS got darker, Ken Greene and I had planned a chat about a sunny subject: sunflowers. Ken is

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The road to enlightenment, the path to peace? Uphi Sound the alarm....Euphorbia on 🔥🔥🔥. I lo Memorial Day Parade: A 6-inch section of the 6-foo My instructions about social distancing were met w No, not a lobster tail. It’s a friend I usually We older human types sometimes kid that we are 29 Favorite bawdy primrose. Primula kisoana is a scre Tough stuff. Tiny female seed cones the size of an Load More... Follow on Instagram FROM THE PODCAST: DOUG TALLAMY’S ‘NATURE’S BEST HOPE’ “Nature’s Best Hope” is the title of University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy’s newest book, and the subtitle reads like this: “A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.” In other words, _you and I_ are nature’s best hope. Our actions count, and they add up to counteract a fragmented landscape and other challenges to the survival of so many critically important native creatures and the greater environment we all share. (Stream our conversation below, READ THE ILLUSTRATED TRANSCRIPT

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