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My Northern Garden

Quick Tips for Seed Starting Success

How to

Ready to get started with growing from seed? Now is the time! Here are my 10 best tips for seed starting success, gleaned over years of seed starting and many failures! 1) Don’t start too soon. It is soooo tempting to start seeds in February, when you are bored, indoors and eager to garden. Unless you have a greenhouse or…
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green leaves of lemon balm

Easy Herbs for Beginning Gardeners

Plants

Susan Betz, who is the author of Herbal Houseplants (Cool Springs Press, 2021), has a great attitude about herbs. Her basic approach is to understand your herbs and what they need to grow, pay attention to them and let them go when the time comes. When I interviewed her for the Grow it, Minnesota podcast, Susan explained that not all…
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native plant garden

Prairie Garden Advice You Can Use

Books/Writing· How to· Why We Garden

Prairies are complicated spaces, filled with plants, insects, mammals and microbial life, all competing and collaborating. Perhaps that is why so many books that I’ve read about creating prairie-style spaces (often called natural garden design or matrix planting) leave my head spinning. Benjamin Vogt’s soon-to-be-released book, Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design, offers prairie garden design and installation…
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jar of serviceberry syrup

Serviceberry Syrup: A Seasonal Treat

Plants· Recipes

Serviceberries are my new favorite fruit for cold-climate gardeners to grow. They are easy to grow, tasty and don’t seem to be bothered by insects or disease—though birds will fight you for the harvest. Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) can be grown as a multi-stemmed, tall shrub or a single-stemmed tree. Several species are native to Minnesota and all of them offer…
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Playing with Light in the Winter Garden

Climate· How to

Winter in Minnesota may be cold, but at least it’s sunny. That’s something gardeners can take comfort in and use to create a more interesting winter garden. As I am writing this, the temperature is hovering around 0 degrees F but the sun is bright as can be, reflecting off the snow. Cathy Rees, who I interviewed for the latest…
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Garden News for Northerners

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My Northern Garden book

Top Posts & Pages

  • How to Pollinate a Meyer Lemon Tree
  • Growing Lilies in Containers
  • Jams, Jellies, Preserves: What's the Difference?
  • Amaryllis Blooms in Spring
  • Four Peony Problems and Solutions
  • Easy Herbs for Beginning Gardeners
  • 7 Easy Annuals to Grow from Seed
  • Can You Eat a Sweet Potato Vine Tuber?
  • Mushrooms Growing in Straw Bales
  • How to Build a Garden Low Tunnel (for Free)

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