As we brace ourselves for the second snowstorm of the week on top of last week’s record-setting cold, I’ve been wondering about how my plants (especially two newly planted trees) will do during the winter of 2018-2019. This has not been the perfect winter for plants — not even close. As an experienced gardener once told me, the perfect winter…
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It’s that strange time of the year when every day seems like a Sunday, and there’s plenty of time to think about what you’ll change for the year ahead. For gardeners, the failures of the previous season have faded enough and it’s time to stiffen our backs, page through the seed catalogs arriving daily and make some garden resolutions. Here…
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A few years ago (gosh, it was 10!), I did a list of best books for beginning gardeners, with a focus on vegetable gardening. Those books are still good options, but several more recent books are really worth adding to your collection. And, any of them would make a wonderful gift for a young gardener just starting out. The Homegrown…
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Tis the season for lists of gifts for gardeners. There are lots of tools and books that make great gifts, but for cold-climate gardeners, you have some special choices. Here are three any northern gardener would love. A Mosquito-Proof Jumpsuit I was the lucky winner of this mosquito-proof jumpsuit from Meshed at the Garden Bloggers Fling in Austin, Texas, in…
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I’ve been watching this sweet little Meyer lemon tree for months — and it’s finally ready to harvest. Yes, you can grow lemons in cold climates (even here in Minnesota), if you have a sunny window and give them some outdoor time each summer. I got this lemon tree sometime in late 2016 or early 2017. It was just a…
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