We needed to create a long trellis for the raspberries this year, and we decided to DIY it, learn a little lashing technique, and use some handy leftover branches from last year’s prunings. This was especially cool, since we’re trying to spend as little money as possible during this pandemic recession! After we finished, though,…
Here’s a great article from Fast Company about farmers in the UK testing the use of flowers to attract beneficial insects instead of using pesticides. They’re testing using new technology to make it easier to plant rows of flowers among the crops. This attracts beneficial insects, like parasitic wasps that eat aphids. Pretty cool! And…
I recently read Plenitude, a book by Juliet Schor. She came highly recommended by a fun financial blog I sometimes read – Mr. Money Mustache. Anyway, Schor is a leader of the Center for the New American Dream, and Plenitude is about living a more sustainable life, leaving behind the typical American consumerism, and basically…
Here’s something cool, shared with me by a coworker. Did you know that trees make you happy? A study from the University of Wisconsin showed that people who live among more trees are more happy. I know that I am! The researchers examined survey data in Wisconsin about mental health and well being, and they…
A friend on GardenWeb found an interesting website about Utah wildflowers (and weeds). It has quite a bit of information. Take a look at: www.rootcellar.us/wildflowers/index.html
I just have to make quick mention of this; I’ve seen this before and meant to post about it, but someone’s comment about planting a tree on their neighbor’s lot made me think about it again. It’s called guerrilla gardening, and there’s a great website about it from England at www.guerrillagardening.org. Especially read the post…
Hey, I just found a good resource on raspberry pruning in response to a conversation with a friend about his berries. I think it provides a good description of how to prune the different types (once-bearing versus “everbearing” types), because the two types require significantly different treatment. Here’s the link. It seems a little complicated…
A friend asked a question on a forum about what I’m pruning these days, and I thought I’d share the answer here. This is based on what I have in my yard: It’s good to prune any shrubs now EXCEPT those that are spring flowering shrubs. Things like forsythia, flowering cherry, or others that will…