Are you ready for an early season gardening adventure? Seed displays are prevalent right now in stores from garden shops to supermarkets. Grab a pack of seeds (or two or three) to start indoors. With a few basic supplies, by the time the weather is suitable for planting outside, you’ll have some hom...

For a stunning display of blooms in early spring, most New England gardens would benefit from the addition of a remarkable perennial: the hellebore. Among the first plants to herald spring, hellebores have gained huge popularity due to their many laudable qualities. Hellebores are non-invasive everg...

It’s that time of year to start thinking about backyard picnics and patio drinking. What do you have in your garden that could make a fresh cocktail? While we think about the cocktails we’re going to sip, we should also think about what we could plant in our gardens or have growing around us to add ...

Popular species of perennial flowering plants vary widely in their attractiveness to pollinators, but homeowners and landscape managers who select certain perennial cultivars can support a diverse community of pollinators in their own backyards, according to a new study from a team of Penn State res...

Watching the first flowering bulbs appear from the thawing ground in spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Luckily we don’t have to wait all winter to have spring blooms. A great way to do this at home is by forcing bulbs. Forcing bulbs means tricking the plants into thinking it is time to...

National Seed Swap Day was made official in 2006 and falls on the last Saturday in January. According to Seed Savers Exchange ( www.seedsavers.org ), humans have been swapping seeds for over 10,000 years. During 2020, as more people were staying at home, many turned to gardening and now many new gar...

Forsythia in February? Impossible, you say! Not so. A vase full of flowers from the garden won’t take much more effort than harvesting some branches to force them to bloom. A good time to take cuttings for forcing is when you’re doing your annual winter pruning. If pruning isn’t on your winter to-do...

New year, new habits – that’s the idea behind National Hobby Month. Every January, we’re encouraged to try something new and, more importantly, stick with it. As a regular rural resident or a new one, there are countless ways to try something new in 2022. If you’re a regular gardener, try expanding ...

While rosemary is not a perennial in Vermont, you can still grow and enjoy fresh rosemary all year. Just plant it in a container. Bring it outside in warmer weather and inside before the first frost. Why rosemary? It is attractive, resembling a small pine tree, and has a pleasant scent, is easy to g...

Green, red, kidney, lima or soy are just a few of the different kinds of beans recognized on National Bean Day – Jan. 6. This day celebrates the bean in all sizes, shapes and colors. Humans have been cultivating beans (legumes) since the early seventh millennium BCE. And today, just as throughout th...

As we head through winter, you may find yourself thinking about the warmth of summer and getting back into the garden again. This daydreaming is a good opportunity to reflect on the past growing season and set goals for next year’s garden by making some new year’s resolutions. Making New Year’s reso...

National Kale Day, which is celebrated the on the first Wednesday of October, takes place to highlight kale’s health benefits and its culinary versatility, and it promotes eating,growing and sharing kale throughout the United States. Kale is one of those lauded “superfoods” as it is among the most n...

This is a wide-open topic, since so many vegetables and fruits require so many different things to be harvested efficiently and safely. It could be as simple as your hands and a basket or box; it could require specialized tools; it might even be useful to have a tractor. It really depends on your cr...