Greek Honey Bee Garden

It’s no secret that world-wide, honey bees are in trouble.  I’ve written a good bit about honey bees elsewhere on the Internet in the past, mostly because saving the honeybee is important to me and should be to everyone else — unless you plan on starving. They are in danger and need our help. One way to help them is for each of us to do our part in providing plants and a proper environment for honey bees, by planting a honey bee garden, no matter how small or space may be.

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Why Plants Struggle In Nature

For the last few weeks we’ve been quite proud of the heirloom plants that are growing in upside down containers on our front porch.  It seemed like every morning we’d awake to new evidence of their growth and vitality.  However, this morning, quite the opposite has occurred.  For whatever reason, they are now showing signs of stress and struggle.

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Weren't All Flowers Once Wild? - Wild Flowers

Certainly all flowers did once grow wild — and all animals, too. There are certain kinds of flowers and animals which men have developed by choosing the kind of thing they wanted and leaving the rest, and so gradually getting such things as the garden rose, the different breeds of dogs, and so on. 

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Pretty In Pink - What's Become Of The Old Man's Whiskers

As someone who once dyed my then blonde hair pink on a dare, it occurs to me that while I’ve seen Old Man’s Whiskers outside in nature, I’ve never seen a man (old or young) brave enough to sport a pink beard (although I’m sure some have).  For a long time, this wildflower of the west and northwest, has been on its way to becoming the passenger pigeon of plant life.

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Daffy About Daffodils

Of all the flowers that grace our planet, there are none which excite more admiration, year after year, than daffodils.  I think we love them simply because year after year, no other flowering bulb requires less attention — a fact which is surprising to the uninitiated.  My experience with these special flowers is by no means exceptional.  Anyone can grow daffodils.

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There's Got To Be A Better Way! - Lasagna In The Garden

With ever rising costs at the grocery store and many communities experiencing the closing of well-known grocery chains and additionally being “down-sided” to very limited selections in fresh produce — I think it’s time to return to the prudence of having home grown organic gardens as just one way of fighting back inflationary times.  There’s got to be a better way and that is found by growing your own fruits and vegetables in a layering (lasagna style) garden.

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Time To Discover - The Patterns Found In Trees

However, none of us trump Mother Nature who is the greatest creative artist of all. It is she who builds the beauty of her loveliest trees upon a structure of trunk and brand and twig, whose perfection of weight and line is as amazing, even if it is mostly under appreciated and under studied.

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From The Garden To The Kitchen - Pompions

Two weeks from now there will be none available, unless you buy pureed in-the-can pumpkin or a pre-made pie, pumpkins will not be served on your table if your shopping is limited to the local stores. That wasn’t always the case, for pumpkins or “pompions” (as the Pilgrims actually called them) were a favorite in and out of the garden.

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From the Garden Into The Kitchen - Pickled Peppers

While interviewing Pepper Joe, I got to thinking about Peter Pipers Pickled Peppers. Now, as far as we know, Peter Piper, is the only person of fact of fiction, who every managed to pick his peppers ready pickled. The rest of us poor mortals must pick first and pickle later.

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BALANCE BY MOTHER NATURE

Our friend’s evident horror at this slight theft is evidence of what, for want of a better term, may be called the “garden jitters” — worrying about too many things which, if given a chance, may right themselves.  Seems to me, it’s one of the many things that are wrong today — people stressing over details that will take care of themselves. Perhaps we are taking far too seriously the normal ups and downs, or at least the downs, not only in life — but also in gardening operations. Nature is a great balancer — if you but give her a little more time!

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FOR INQUISITIVE GARDENERS QUESTION -- DO YOU KNOW YOUR BERRIES?

Things are seldom what they seem,
Skim milk masquerades as cream;
Highlows pass as patent leathers;
Jackdaws strut in peacock’s feathers.


—— W. S. Gilbert, in H. M. S. Pinafore

Some of the fruits popularly known as berries are, to the botanist, something entirely different. Below are listed twenty well-known fruits. Ten of them are true berries, ten are not.


The trick is to tell which is which. Give yourself ten points for every real berry you can pick. When you are through, go to Inquisitive Gardeners Answer - Do You Know Your Berries?  Some of the answers that a real botanist gives may surprise you.


Avocado
Banana
Blackberry
Blueberry
Cherry
Chokeberry
Coconut
Cranberry
Currant
Date
Fig
Gooseberry
Grape
Guava
Loganberry
Mulberry
Orange
Raspberry
Strawberry
Tomato

Out In The Garden With Bob Ewing

This week we are out in the garden with Bob Ewing.  Bob’s not just any ordinary gardener, but a gardener who prolifically writes about his gardening, someone who is active in his garden community and the schools in promoting this passion, and no doubt a wonderful cook.    Avid gardeners like Bob, are a wonderful example to all of us in how gardeners can inspire other gardeners their whole life long.  Let’s take a peak into Bob Ewing’s garden world:

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