- Author: Lanie Keystone
Every year, just a few days before Thanksgiving, each of our five grandchildren invited us to “Grandparents Day” at their schools. One year, when our oldest granddaughter, Suzanna, was in Kindergarten, the class serenaded us with a beautiful song that touched us all to tears. I loved it so much that I made a copy of it and posted it on our garden gate. Today that little girl is a senior in high school ready to go off to college. But I can still hear her tiny voice singing that wonderful song as we planted our garden together and then reaped its wondrous bounty. And so, dear gardeners, I share it with you today and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
THE GARDEN SONG
Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow--
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, please bless these seeds we sow
Please keep them safe below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down.
Pulling weeds, picking stones, we are made of dreams and bones—
Need a place to call my own, ‘cause the time is close at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature's chain
Tune my body and my brain to the music of the land.
Plant your rows straight and long, season with hope and song—
Mother Earth will make you strong if you give her loving care.
Old crow watchin' from a tree, he's got his hungry eye on me
In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there.
Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow—
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, please bless these seeds we sow—
Please keep them safe below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down.
- Author: Mike Gunther
Nature's bounty has passed
Winter rains and dormant plants
Nature is at rest
- Author: Launa Herrmann
It's not too late to purchase what is commonly known as an “Amaryllis bulb” for the holiday season. Within days it will sprout, then flower — brightening your home with spectacular blooms. This simple-to-grow plant is also a popular Christmas gift, offering another option besides the all too familiar Poinsettia.
But do you know that this particular plant is not an Amaryllis at all. Instead, this indoor flowering bulb is actually a frost-intolerant tropical plant from South America that was placed into the same genus as the South African Amaryllis belladonna that grows outdoors. Its real name is Hippeastrum.
The Hippeastrum is available in a color pallet from orange, salmon, red, pink to white with hybrids available in solid pale greens and yellows, multicolors with mottling, stripes and colored edges. They feature single or double flowers, dwarf or mammoth sizes, and various petal shapes such as thin spider-like flowers or trumpets with flared tube-shaped flowers.
You can find bulbs in many big-box stores. Simple growing tips include the following:
-Plant bulb in a pot slightly larger than the bulb itself.
-Use well-drained organic potting mix.
-Bury only one-third of the bulb. Leave the remaining two-thirds visible above soil line.
-Place pot in well-lit location; next to a window is ideal.
-Maintain consistent moisture.
- Author: Karen Metz
A good friend of mine is passionate about sweet peas, so passionate that she wears a pin in fall that reminds people to plant them. Despite her gentle reminders, life had swamped me and many weeks passed before I remembered to plant the seeds. I put some in my raised beds, some in a container and then some in a container that already had a tomato in it. I figured the tomato would die soon and I wasn't sure if seeds would sprout now or in spring, but even if they sprouted now I didn't think they would get to any size.
Well this November has been very strange with very warm weather. The seeds sprouted all right and are growing tall. I talked to someone out at the college who said theirs were blooming. Of course sweet peas aren't the only things affected. My blueberries are flowering. My cymbidiums started blooming late October. It's all very odd, but that is one thing I love about gardening, it's a little bit different every year. This year though it's a whole lot different. It will be interesting to see what happens once it gets colder.