They've Cancelled the Gardener Guy and We're Not Going to Take it Any More!

About a year ago, I wrote how annoyed I was that there were no real gardening shows on the air except "Gardening by the Yard". Well, it seems there...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Japanese Irises are Better than Bearded Irises

There can be no discussion, the Japanese iris is superior, in fact, I think I hate bearded irises now, and they used to be my favorite flower.
Bearded Irises, Falling Down on the Job
So, seriously, what kind of slob falls down on the job? The bearded iris, thats who! These beautiful flowers used to be my [...]

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[Source: Backyard Gardening Blog]

Gardening Question of the Week: Is Lime Good for Tomatoes?

Someone on the About Gardening Forum was discussing using lime in her vegetable garden to improve her tomatoes. This led to a discussion on blossom end rot. Blossom...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Featured Plant - Pulmonaria (Lungwort)Far More Charming that its Name Would Imply

Long before most perennial plants can be bothered putting in an appearance in the spring, Pulmonaria is putting on a show. Pulmonaria are low growers and they love shade,...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Tomato Plant Problems

Growing tomatoes are subject to a lot of diseases. Many tomato problems don't show themselves until the fruit starts to ripen? With blossom end rot, green shoulders and tomato cracking, what can be done to save the ripening tomatoes? How can these problems be reduced with future tomatoes?

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

The Money Garden

Starting a home vegetable garden can be a great way to save money. Home grown vegetables cost a fraction of what you would pay in a grocery store. By choosing vegetables that are easy to grow, you�ll have fresh vegetable flavor and save money.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Kudos to Stark Bros

My first plant of the year has arrived, a ‘Goldcot’ Apricot Dwarf from Stark Bros, and I need to sing their praises.
I’ve talked up Stark Bros before, mentioning them as my favorite place to get fruit trees, but they beat themselves in quality this time. This dwarf apricot was around 4 feet tall, and nicely [...]

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[Source: Backyard Gardening Blog]

Asparagus Feature

Asparagus is one of the few perennial vegetable crops for the home garden. Plant it once and it keeps on gorwing. There is some up front work to be done, before you can enjoy the harvest, but a well-established asparagus bed can produce for decades. Here�s how to grow great asparagus.


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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Pumonaria

Pulmonaria, or Lungwort, is far more charming than its name would imply. Blooming when few other perennials have even emerged after winter, Pulmoniaria offers distintive speckled and splashed foliage and small, but profuse and vivid flowers in blues, pinks, corals and whites. There is a Pulmonaria for almost any garden and they are profiled here.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

When to Plant Summer Bulbs

Summer flowering bulbs need to be replanted each spring, once the ground warms. Caring for summer blooming bulbs is very easy and they will reward you with color and texture all summer long.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Eggplant

Eggplants are sun and heat loving vegetables, in the same family as tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. Eggplant actually does come in a small, white egg-shaped variety. Most Americans have never seen one, so the name seems inappropriate. There is actually a great variety of eggplants, many much easier to grow in the home vegetable garden than the large, oblong, purple varieties we are used to.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Raised Garden Beds

Raised beds are a good gardening technique for areas that have soil problems like poor drainage, too many rocks or plain old poor soil. Gardening in a raised bed allows you to bring in the best gardening soil. You can create raised beds simply by piling soil. However if you want something more permanent and sturdy, you’ll want to frame your raised beds. Here are several options for creating raised beds, from building it yourself to having it delivered to your yard.


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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Save Paul James, Gardening by the Yard Cancelled, HGTV == Bad

I’m angry.
Scripps Networks, owners of HGTV, are canning Gardening by the Yard and other gardening shows.
I want to swear and curse them out, I consider myself sailor quality in those activities, but this is a family blog so I’ll leave it to your imagination.
HGTV has forgotten the second letter in their name. As [...]

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[Source: Backyard Gardening Blog]

Petunia Varieties

Petunias have done a 180 in recent years. They are much more tolerant of rain and many don't need any deadheading at all. They mound, they trail and they bloom their hearts out. How do you know what type of petunia to buy? Here's a petunia 101 on which types of petunias are best for your garden, hanging baskets and groundcovers.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Epsom Salts and Plants

Gardeners have been using Epsom salts as a plant fertilizer for generations. There is little research to prove conclusively that Epsom salts have any effect on plants, but many seasoned gardeners cite their own gardens as proof that Epsom salts help certain plants grow stronger and produce better. If you�d like to try experimenting on your own, here are some tips for using Epsom salts in your gardens.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

April in the Garden

A regional �To Do� list of jobs to get done in the garden. Spring in the garden is full of tasks that need doing early, to have a great garden later in the season. Here�s a breakdown of what you can get done in the garden in April, throughout the U.S.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Companion Plants for Tomatoes

Companion planting for tomatoes can improve the tomatoes growth and flavor and repel insects and diseases. Choosing companion plants for your tomatoes should be easy because companion plants for tomatoes include many of these popular garden vegetables.



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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Newsletter Alert!

If you subscribe to the About Gardening newsletter, or some of my fellow Guides' newsletters, you may have recently received spam that appeared to come from About.com. These messages...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Blossom End Rot

Ripening tomatoes that turn black and soft on their side not attached to the stem are affected with blossom end rot. As with so many tomato problems, water is a key factor here. Is there any saving the rotting tomatoes?

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Dividing Perennial Plants

The idea of dividing perennials can scare new gardeners. Division of perennials is an easily mastered gardening technique that is good for the plants and your garden. Most perennial flowers will need to be divided to remain vigorous and continue blooming season after season.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

"April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go."

~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

I'm dedicating this entry to my blogging friend Sylvia. When she talks about flowers that she loves, it seems that hydrangeas rank the highest.

Please check out her blog,"Sylvia Cook Photography" for some of the most gorgeous floral images you will ever see. If you click the title, you will taken directly to her blog, or you can cut and paste this blog address.

http://sylviacookphotography.blogspot.com/

These photos were taken at Roger's Garden, in Orange County, California. This store is a gardener's dream. and it feels like Disneyland for gardeners. They have displays like no one else. Their spring arrangements were stunning, as they included gorgeous birds nests with colorful eggs.

And of course, their fuchsia hanging baskets were simply irresistible.

Enjoy springtime. Everything is certainly blooming in Southern California now.

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[Source: Simply Flowers]

Time to Plant Summer Bulbs?

I was pulling my canna bulbs out of storage the other day and I found a bag of paperwhites I had bought last winter. Oops. I completely forgot...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Why do tomatoes crack

A common tomato growing problem is fruit that cracks or splits open as the tomato ripens. How can you prevent future tomatoes from cracking and is the cracked fruit still edible?

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Lilies - Keeping Your Easter Lily Blooming and Planting a Garden of these Fragrant Charmers

Easter season means potted lily season. All lilies are beautiful, but the simple purity of the white Easter Lily is captivating. Choose a lily plant that will bloom...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Growing Bamboo: Fear and Longing

Bamboo. We see it in all the garden design magazines. Bamboo looks so elegant and graceful, how harmful can it be? Can bamboo be safely grown in home gardens? Yes...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

How to Harden Off Plants

Young, pampered seedlings will need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden. This transition period is called "hardening off". Hardening off plants gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up. There are 3 approaches to hardening off plants.

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]

Tough Love Time to Harden Off Your Seedlings

It's getting to be time to start moving your pampered seedlings outdoors. These seedlings are used to all the luxuries of life under lights or in a greenhouse: ...

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[Source: About.com Gardening]

Companion Planting Vegetables

Companion Planing in the Vegetable Garden

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[Source: About.com Gardening: Most Popular Articles]