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Pollinator Gardens Made Simple

The past few years have seen a tremendous increase in interest in pollinator gardening.  This interest is fueled by the disease and health issues of our honey bees, the known declines in Monarch butterfly populations, and the apparent trouble our other native pollinators are in, all of which are becoming national concerns. Thankfully, the media has done an excellent job in educating the public on the important role pollinators play not only in our food system, but also in overall ecosystem health, and have brought attention to the worrisome declines.

To show native plants available at Prairie Moon
Showy goldenrod with monarchs, available at Prairie Moon

The serious loss of pollinators has increased the desire of many gardeners to help reverse this decline and see what they can do to help maintain and improve habitats for pollinators. This is where the interest in developing pollinator gardens comes into play. But where does the average gardener gain the necessary knowledge to design a successful pollinator garden? There are many questions to answer: Which flowering plants are best for pollinators? What plants can diversify and extend the nectar available throughout the growing season? Should only native plants be used? Do some of our commonly planted annual and perennial flowers do the job? Walking into a big box store or nursery can leave you as confused as ever with so many choices, but only sparse information.

I was musing about all these issues the other day when a catalog arrived in the mail from Prairie Moon Nursery located in Winona, Minnesota. Prairie Moon Nursery specializes in native seeds and plants for gardening and environmental restoration.  Read more Pollinator Gardens Made Simple

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Seed germination testing: easy and thrifty!

It’s a question gardeners are faced with every year around this time: Do I throw away leftover seeds from last year or should I keep them for replanting this upcoming gardening season? With the high price of garden seeds (I see some new varieties of tomatoes are costing nearly 1 dollar per seed!), it would seem prudent to keep any leftover seeds for future use, but it feels risky to forgo a seed order and depend on older seeds, which may fail to germinate adequately, or germinate so poorly that I lose out on the crop I was planning to grow.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve never been one for holding on to old seeds. Despite all the training and years of gardening under my belt, I admit I have been known to throw away seeds each winter that had been sitting in their original packaging in the basement since the summer before. This year it seems that I have more than the usual number of seed packets left over from last summer, particularly many varieties of lettuce and spinach, so I decided it’s time to take on this question of whether I can depend on old seeds despite the fact that I didn’t exactly store them properly.

I started by doing some reading on the topic. Turns out the only way to know what proportion of your old seeds remain viable is to perform a seed germination test. After reading a blog post on the High Mowing Organic Seeds website entitled “How to do a quick germination test at home,” I decided to give it a try. Read more Seed germination testing: easy and thrifty!

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Time to plant your garlic!

For most gardeners, things have quieted down in the garden. It’s a time to clean and to review our successes and failures from the past growing season… but don’t put up your spade forks, shovels, and trowels just yet! It’s time to plant one of the easiest, healthiest, and tastiest of all garden vegetables: Garlic.

Garlic is grown on a different schedule from other vegetables. Late summer is the time to source seed garlic, choose a site and start preparing a garden bed. Mid-late October provides the window to divide bulbs, plant cloves, and mulch heavily before the cold weather sets in for good. Spring will see garlic emerging early along with spring flower bulbs. Some watering and side dressing will ensure a good harvest in July.

What makes garlic so easy to grow? Heavy mulching at planting time greatly reduces weed growth the following spring and summer, so weeding is usually not a problem.  Not only are garlic pests and diseases uncommon, but they can actually deter garden pests. A well-balanced soil high in organic matter and some occasional watering provide all your garlic will need. Let’s dig into the details of growing garlic successfully. Read more Time to plant your garlic!