Gardening Blog

Get inspired as Doreen G. Howard shares her backyard gardening tips. After all, she has grown more than 300 varieties of heirloom edibles and flowers the past two decades! Enjoy a nice mix of garden chat from news about exciting new vegetables to advice on container gardening to photos of unusual houseplants growing in her home! Doreen welcomes questions from everyone in the gardening community, from the expert to the enthusiast. This is your chance to ask all your puzzling plant care questions and just stay informed about the world of gardening. Check it out and tell us what you think!

Give your Valentine a flowering plant instead of flower, or ask your sweetheart for one.

February 1, 2011

My birthday is a week before Valentine’s Day and floral arrangements from either or both my husband and son were a given until I diplomatically cried, “No more cut flowers, please! I want a flowering plant that I can enjoy year-round.”

The instant flowers are cut, they begin their journey towards death. With a flowering plant, especially cold-loving cyclamen or hellebores, the gift is just the beginning.

January 21, 2011

As you flip through seed catalogs assembling your wish list, think about dirt. It's the most important element for success with fruit, flowers and landscape plants. Find out what type of soil is in your garden. It affects how and what will thrive for you.

January 18, 2011

NASA calls it Sick Building Syndrome. I know it as a stuffy house that needs a good airing, as my Mom put it. By the end of January, if it weren’t for the forest of houseplants in my home, I’d open the windows, despite the snow and freezing daytime temperatures. I did open them before I learned that tropical houseplants clean indoor air of pollution.

January 7, 2011

In 2009, most tomatoes grown in the eastern half of the country succumbed to late blight (Phytophthora) due to a cool, soggy June.

January 6, 2011

The holidays are history, seed catalogs are piled in a basket next to a comfortable chair by the fire and I’m looking for lettuce to grow indoors.