Vermont Garden Journal

The frosts have come and the gardens are almost finished, but that doesn't mean you have to give up the taste of fresh herbs all winter. Many herbs can be grown indoors throughout the winter. These provide not only fresh ingredients for cooking, but emotional and psychological relief from the cold temperatures, short days, gray skies and eventual snow and ice. Here's what to grow and how.

It will be Halloween soon and kids, young and old, will be carving pumpkins for the big event. Halloween decorating almost rivals Christmas for the amount of money spent and the elaborate displays created.

It will be Halloween soon and kids, young and old, will be carving pumpkins for the big event. Halloween decorating almost rivals Christmas for the amount of money spent and the elaborate displays created.

With all the excitement of fall cleanup, planting and planning, one chore that's often overlooked is soil testing. Soil testing won't solve all your soil problems and may not even give you all the information you need for healthy soil, but it will give you a snap shot of your soil's mineral health. Also, if done every three to four years, it will show you how that health is changing.

What do aoli, pesto and a good Italian bread all have in common? Garlic. Garlic is healthful, delicious and a key ingredient in hundreds of recipes, and it's easy to grow in the garden and a container. So, let's talk garlic growing.

The days are getting shorter and cooler and it's time to start protecting your tender plants. Whether it be a favorite rosemary, a houseplant you moved outdoors for summer or a tender perennial in the ground, there are different ways to protect those plants from the cold.

As the Vermont Mandatory Recycling & Composting Law creeps closer to the 2020 deadline, it's time for all gardeners to think about food scrap composting. While waste haulers and composting operations are starting to take food scraps as part of their business models, home owners should get creative about food scrap composting, too.

It's officially autumn. While most of us are busy harvesting the last veggies, cutting back perennials and cleaning up the yard after a hot, dry summer, fall is also for planting.

It's been a good year for tomatoes in my garden. I've canned, frozen and juiced lots of fruits, so I'm all set for winter. But there's more to tomatoes than just the garden variety hybrids and heirlooms. One of the best tomato relatives to grow is the tomatillo.

With a switch to more seasonable weather, fall is starting to take hold. While drought and heat stress have some of our maples turning color already, the big show this time of year is the wildflowers in our meadows. Goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace and asters are blooming. These fall wildflowers are an essential food source for butterflies and insects. While you certainly can plant a wildflower meadow and enjoy the beauty of the annual and perennial flowers, managing your existing meadow is also

One practice I try to do in my garden is never let the soil stay bare. Each year as I remove vegetables such as garlic, beans, and lettuce, I cover crop those areas. Covering the soil with plant material prevents erosion and builds up the fertility and workability of your soil.

The naming of plants can be deceiving. Take the Rose of Sharon shrub that's blooming now around the state. This plant isn't in the rose family. Even the botanical name, Hibiscus Syriacus is only half correct. It has a hibiscus or mallow-shaped flower, but the shrub doesn't hail from Syria, more likely India or China.

We've waited a long time for peaches, pears, and apples to mature. The last thing we want to see on our daily fruit stroll is no fruit. Squirrels, birds, raccoons and opossums love the fruits hanging from our trees. What really bugs me is that often they will take a peck or bite, knock the fruits off the tree and leave it. What poor manners!

With all the talk about Russia in the news, it got me thinking about a plant that's actually a good thing. Russian sage is actually not Russian nor in the sage family. It hales from the steppes of Central Asia and it's in the mint family. Its botanical name comes from the Russian General Perovskia, who campaigned in this region in the 1800's. The plant does emit an odor when the leaves are crushed, but this sage isn't used for cooking. It does have a history of being used medicinally and as a

“The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower—suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.” Katherine Hepburn in the movie, "Stage Door," had one thing right about calla lilies - they are a versatile flower.