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Who are you, and WHY are you eating my corn?
Just the other day I was wondering how to tell when the corn was ready to pick. Well this morning, the ear pictured below looked ready, and when I started shucking it, this juicy caterpillar verified that indeed, it was ready. I pondered whether I should toss him to the birds or smash him. I’d already shaken him off onto a brick, so having the execution block prepared, it seemed that smashing was the proper choice. I held up a…
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Upcyled Tomato Stakes to Fan Trellis
Earlier in the summer I purchased several packs of 5′ wood tomato stakes from a home improvement store. There were four stakes leftover, which were set aside in the garage. I have a bean/squash/cucumber tunnel that is rapidly outgrowing itself, so I decided to convert the stakes into a fan trellis. This took no more than 10 minutes. I used a handsaw to cut one stake into 3 segments approximately 2.5′, 1.5′ and 0.5′ in length. I then arranged my…
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Simple Technique for Saving Seeds from Tomatoes
Saving seeds from tomatoes is super easy. Last year I had a friend give me tomatoes from her garden that were delicious. I didn’t know what kind they were, so instead of asking and worrying about finding them this spring, I just saved the seeds and planted them this year! In the long run, saving seeds translates to saving cash and acclimating tomatoes to your land and climate. 1. Pick a healthy, vine ripe tomato. While you are slicing up…
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I’ll show you my weeds …
On THE Internet you get all kinds of requests. Pleas Madam, if you could jus send me 2,140$ I would be most gratful. Yesterday I got the best one EVER from a fellow garden tweeter asking to see my weeds. I spent all Sunday afternoon pulling out this pile below and was asking if weeds need special treatment in composting. She wanted to make sure none of my weeds were of potential medicinal value. So, weed aficionados, here are my…
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Beauty Confessions of an Avid Gardener
This is a different direction than I normally take on this blog, however, I am a woman (hopefully there was no surprise there) and I do care about my appearance. I take a little pride in being comfortable in dirt, and I like the way some of my male friends not yet fully acquainted with my type seem taken aback by my confidence in my casual approach to dress, talk, and sometimes parenting. For instance we had guests over for…
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Wings and Things
Bird. Names, anyone? Birdhouse gourd blossom Goldfinch and Hummingbird on Tunnel Black and Blue Salvia Bug. Hummingbird Corn in the morn’
