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Super Sow Sunday 2017 #SuperSowSunday
I was looking at which of my blog posts were getting visits this week, and “Super Sow Sunday” was getting some hits. I glanced at the date and realized, of course! The Super Bowl is next weekend. I don’t really get into football, and a few years ago the #Gardenchat Twitter community (started by Bren Haas) started the hashtag #SuperSowSunday to talk about starting seeds and gardening on Super Bowl Sunday. I haven’t heard any chatter about it this year, but in the past there have been giveaways such as seed packets and tools during the Twitter party. Granted early February is too early to start sowing seeds for some zones, but…
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Resolutions for 2017 – Homegrown Hospitatlity
When I was in Romania during the summer of 2002, we spent a week out in the country side of Șăulia, where I was so impressed that the homes grew fruit trees along the road side as a means of showing hospitality to travelers. Over the last few years of gardening, I’ve had a growing desire to make the garden more hospitable. I’ve moved a rosemary bush down to the curb, and grow a patch of sunflowers this summer to cheer up the neighbors. This fall we planted two apple trees down by the curb as well, and I’m hoping in time they will produce fruit to share. My second…
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Resolutions for 2017 – Native Plants
This year I’m trying something a little different for making a New Year’s resolution. I don’t want to have just one semi-ambiguous goal of bettering myself. I want to have a set of attainable, clearly defined goals to better the world around me. These should be a mix of fun, challenging, and maybe even uncomfortable goals. The first goal involves native plants. “Biologists and other scientists consider invasion by exotic plants to be one of the most serious problems facing native plant and wildlife populations in the United States. For example, multiflora rose, bicolor lespedeza, Japanese honeysuckle, and autumn olive are examples of exotic plants introduced into North Carolina— all…
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Grow Your Own Plants for Clay Imprints
In this post I’m going to share some of my favorite plants to use with clay — all of which grow well in my home garden, which is zone 7b and follow up with tips for making imprints with leaves. This blog space may come off as being scattered across multiple hobbies and interests, but it’s an accurate reflection of my life. My day to day time is split up between family and home routines, teaching online graduate classes in engineering, home gardening and making pottery. Those last two are hobbies that have begun a gradual marriage. I make planters for small jades, succulents and indoor mini-gardens, and I grow…
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Our Yard: Edible Tree and Shrub Catalogue
We are entering 2017 with a yard full of new trees. It’s time I made a list of exactly what we have out there in our vast landscape (just kidding, it’s 1/3 an acre). We took down the hairless peach because the brown rot has been out of control for years. We had tried sprays and pruning, but in the end I made the impulse decision to pick up two $7 trees and needed a good, sunny space. I was sad because of it’s history, but we planted two pears to replace it. Another tree we bid farewell to was an old dogwood that was dropping branches and appeared to…
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Fruit Trees
Our fruit trees are looking good this season. We finally have gotten to try cherries this year! The peach tree seems to have responded well to the heavy pruning at the beginning of spring. We tried to follow some extension guides, and while I think we did an okay job, there are still some branches drooping under the weight of the peaches. I have not been thinning out the fruit, but today I did take out a few skinny branches and new shoots. The peach tree has some sappy wounds on a few of its branches, and I’m not sure if that’s from the boys sword fights or from something…