By Christina VanGinkel
Some people garden because they like the bounty of vegetables that their efforts provide, some like the fresh flowers that color their yard or house when cut, some garden because they love the plants they care for. Most garden for all of these reasons, and it is often most evident when that gardener has reached the end of his or her life, and those still here carry on taking care of the inheritance left behind, their plants!
People who garden with the intent to share their love of all things green and growing often leave a lasting legacy when they pass away. Take my mother for example, who grew plants year round, even in her later years when she had moved from the large house we grew up in, complete with a room just for her plants, to a small apartment that had two big windows facing south. She could have chosen a slightly larger apartment on the other side of the building, but instead chose the one she lived the last ten years of her life because of its southerly position. She happily gardened away in that small apartment, sharing plants, and their offings such as cherry tomatoes right up until her last days. Her plants were distributed to family and friends, each of us knowing which plant to bring home, and how to care for it, because she had made sure of this early on in her illness, as if she were assuring herself that all her little green children would be taken care of and not left to wither away. She had lived a long, fruitful life and so would her plants!
My brother was another green thumb. Any plant he chose to grow did. He was forever starting clippings of this plant and that plant, for whoever would ask. Years after his passing, my sister-in-law continues to care for one of his personal favorites that he had asked her to take when he knew that he would not be with us much longer as he valiantly lost a long battle with a brain tumor. To this day, I cannot walk through a greenhouse in early spring, without sprouting a big smile, as I am reminded of his tender ways with plants as I wander amongst the new green babies waiting for homes.
This was all brought back into focus when I received an email from a dear friend yesterday. His life long partner passed away this past summer and to be sure that their two young granddaughters, and all of their friends, will remember how much both life and gardening meant to this person, he has decided to plant two trees in the local park, with permission from the city, for all to enjoy for many years to come.
Gardening is often so much more than just planting, pulling the occasional weed, and temporarily enjoying the bounty when it flowers or grows an edible plant. Gardening is an ingrained part of the person who participates in it. If you are looking for a hobby that will bring you joy, even define who you are, then gardening may be just the pastime you are in search of. Try it, as you never know, you may have a hidden green thumb just waiting for a plant to care for.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Spring Bulb Medley
Until buying this home a year and a half ago, I never was into any kind of gardening whatsoever. I did not know the terms, I did not plant anything, and frankly I wouldn't have known how to begin if I had wanted to grow things from the dirt.
So fast forward to fall and suddenly having spring flowers bursting forth into an artist's palette of colors seemed like a great idea. The thing that surprised me when I started to do a little research, having never been a gardener, was that to have tulips and daffodils bursting forth from anywhere, I would need to plant the bulbs in the fall before the ground became frozen.
Around the same time I found this out, stores started displaying spring bulbs and I found myself wondering why I had never seen them displayed in the fall before. I assume I just never paid attention. I decided that I wanted to line the side of the driveway with spring flowers of all different varieties and colors and blooming times.
I knew I could buy bulbs in the stores, even in the grocery store, but I'm not really one to be "typical" and thus I hope my decorating and home decor ideas aren't boring, so I started to look around online. I was surprised at the number of places that offered bulbs of all kinds, especially those with which I was not familiar. It was exciting seeing what kind of exotic and gorgeous flowers are grown from bulbs!
I ordered quite a few catalogs in early fall and hoped they would arrive soon and they did. Some came with discount coupons for new customers and all came with page after page of bulbs. Too many to choose from, actually, but I did my best and put some orders in. I bought some packs of "normal" bulbs to throw into the mix, too, so I will have daffodils and tulips and more of the customary spring flowers as well as the splashes of the unusual.
I prepared a "pathway" beside the driveway for planting and bought some mulch for it. When the time came, I sat down to plan the layout. I am a writer and not an artist, but I hoped that there would be enough creativity to plan a decent looking row of spring flowers.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans! The brainstorm hit rather early, before I had done any planning at all. Why not just put all the bulbs into a bucket and do a hodgepodge, a mix and match design? Then the exotic would be coming up next to the "plain" daffodils and the colors would be mixed into each other, not unlike what I imagine a tulip field in Holland to be like.
So that is what I did, and the bulbs were planted without knowing what was going where. Spring will be fun! Maybe "real" gardeners know reasons why this was not a good idea if it actually wasn't, I don't know, but if that's the case, I'm sure I will have to learn the hard way. But in the meantime I'm anxiously waiting to see what my driveway "garden walkway" will look like.
Two things to look for if you find that you want to try this method is to buy bulbs that will produce close to the same height in the flowers so some won't be dwarfed, and decide when you want them to bloom. Also when ordering from a catalog, be sure that the bulbs you are buying are zoned for your area of the country.
So fast forward to fall and suddenly having spring flowers bursting forth into an artist's palette of colors seemed like a great idea. The thing that surprised me when I started to do a little research, having never been a gardener, was that to have tulips and daffodils bursting forth from anywhere, I would need to plant the bulbs in the fall before the ground became frozen.
Around the same time I found this out, stores started displaying spring bulbs and I found myself wondering why I had never seen them displayed in the fall before. I assume I just never paid attention. I decided that I wanted to line the side of the driveway with spring flowers of all different varieties and colors and blooming times.
I knew I could buy bulbs in the stores, even in the grocery store, but I'm not really one to be "typical" and thus I hope my decorating and home decor ideas aren't boring, so I started to look around online. I was surprised at the number of places that offered bulbs of all kinds, especially those with which I was not familiar. It was exciting seeing what kind of exotic and gorgeous flowers are grown from bulbs!
I ordered quite a few catalogs in early fall and hoped they would arrive soon and they did. Some came with discount coupons for new customers and all came with page after page of bulbs. Too many to choose from, actually, but I did my best and put some orders in. I bought some packs of "normal" bulbs to throw into the mix, too, so I will have daffodils and tulips and more of the customary spring flowers as well as the splashes of the unusual.
I prepared a "pathway" beside the driveway for planting and bought some mulch for it. When the time came, I sat down to plan the layout. I am a writer and not an artist, but I hoped that there would be enough creativity to plan a decent looking row of spring flowers.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans! The brainstorm hit rather early, before I had done any planning at all. Why not just put all the bulbs into a bucket and do a hodgepodge, a mix and match design? Then the exotic would be coming up next to the "plain" daffodils and the colors would be mixed into each other, not unlike what I imagine a tulip field in Holland to be like.
So that is what I did, and the bulbs were planted without knowing what was going where. Spring will be fun! Maybe "real" gardeners know reasons why this was not a good idea if it actually wasn't, I don't know, but if that's the case, I'm sure I will have to learn the hard way. But in the meantime I'm anxiously waiting to see what my driveway "garden walkway" will look like.
Two things to look for if you find that you want to try this method is to buy bulbs that will produce close to the same height in the flowers so some won't be dwarfed, and decide when you want them to bloom. Also when ordering from a catalog, be sure that the bulbs you are buying are zoned for your area of the country.
Share with your Child the Gift of Gardening
By Christina VanGinkel
One of the greatest gifts you can share with a child is your love of gardening. It teaches them that a small amount of work can reap great rewards and that if you get a little dirty in the process, so what! I cannot think of a single task outdoors that will provide you with time to share, and that whether shared chatting or in total quiet, it is still time well spent.
If you have very young children, and you are worried that they may trample where you wish they had not, or pull something that need not be pulled, present them with their very own corner plot. Provide them with a watering can, a few simple gardening tools, some seeds or starter plants, and some of your time to help them learn how to nurture and grow. Before you know it, they will know a weed from a delphinium, though in my own experience this does not mean that they will choose to pull the weed. To this day, I cannot convince my thirteen year old that dandelions are the enemy. He thinks that they have as much of a right to grow as do my beloved bleeding hearts and moss roses.
If you happen to live in an area that hosts an annual fair, with entries for gardening through open insertion or via 4-H, this can be an added bonus with a slightly older child, by providing them with a focus for their plants. Tomato plants and giant sunflowers are both favorites among the youths at our county fair year after year, with prizes awarded for the largest overall size of a sunflower head, and judge's choice on tomato plants. It is always great fun year after year, and is a great way to remind both young and old alike that some of the simplest things in life are what bring us some of our greatest joys.
Elderly neighbors who can no longer get out into their own gardens, and who may be living on a tight budget always appreciate the shared bounty from a garden. When it comes via delivery from a young person who also helped plant, care for, and harvest those same vegetables and flowers, it means even more. This is an ideal way for your children to meet and interact with elderly neighbors, or any neighbor for that matter. In this hustle and bustle world, it is a nice way for your neighbors to know that the kid racing by their house on a skateboard has other interests, and a great way for your child to understand that they can make a difference in their community through something they actually helped create.
Teach a child to garden, and you will be teaching them skills that they can carry with them, and put to use, throughout their lives in a number of ways, including the physical aspect of gardening itself, and the mental advantages that they will gleam from the knowledge they pick up along the way.
One of the greatest gifts you can share with a child is your love of gardening. It teaches them that a small amount of work can reap great rewards and that if you get a little dirty in the process, so what! I cannot think of a single task outdoors that will provide you with time to share, and that whether shared chatting or in total quiet, it is still time well spent.
If you have very young children, and you are worried that they may trample where you wish they had not, or pull something that need not be pulled, present them with their very own corner plot. Provide them with a watering can, a few simple gardening tools, some seeds or starter plants, and some of your time to help them learn how to nurture and grow. Before you know it, they will know a weed from a delphinium, though in my own experience this does not mean that they will choose to pull the weed. To this day, I cannot convince my thirteen year old that dandelions are the enemy. He thinks that they have as much of a right to grow as do my beloved bleeding hearts and moss roses.
If you happen to live in an area that hosts an annual fair, with entries for gardening through open insertion or via 4-H, this can be an added bonus with a slightly older child, by providing them with a focus for their plants. Tomato plants and giant sunflowers are both favorites among the youths at our county fair year after year, with prizes awarded for the largest overall size of a sunflower head, and judge's choice on tomato plants. It is always great fun year after year, and is a great way to remind both young and old alike that some of the simplest things in life are what bring us some of our greatest joys.
Elderly neighbors who can no longer get out into their own gardens, and who may be living on a tight budget always appreciate the shared bounty from a garden. When it comes via delivery from a young person who also helped plant, care for, and harvest those same vegetables and flowers, it means even more. This is an ideal way for your children to meet and interact with elderly neighbors, or any neighbor for that matter. In this hustle and bustle world, it is a nice way for your neighbors to know that the kid racing by their house on a skateboard has other interests, and a great way for your child to understand that they can make a difference in their community through something they actually helped create.
Teach a child to garden, and you will be teaching them skills that they can carry with them, and put to use, throughout their lives in a number of ways, including the physical aspect of gardening itself, and the mental advantages that they will gleam from the knowledge they pick up along the way.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Raised Bed Gardening
There are a lot of good reasons to check into raised bed gardening! We began using this method several years ago, and couldn't be more pleased with it. The method is simple, and it works well for many vegetable and foliage plants. You'll want to check into it, too.
The concept behind raised bed gardening is simple. Instead of planting seeds and young plants in nice, neat rows after you till the soil, make raised beds. You do this after you've broken up the soil into fine particles. Mound the dirt up about twelve inches and make rectangular hills in your garden. During this process, we mix in a lot of mulch and rich humus from our compost heap and turn the soil together with this nutrient-rich dirt.
After your raised beds are built, make sure the soil is just as finely worked as you usually would for the type of plant that you will be raising. Hoe and rake and cultivate just as you generally would. Plant your seeds or young plants the way you usually do, as well. Plant them just as deep as recommended, and with the proper spacing. Water them as usual. Then stand back and watch the magic all summer long.
The raised beds offer several advantages over traditional gardening. The topsoil has greater depth, since you've mounded it up. This will give you, in many areas, twice or more of the usual amount of topsoil that you normally are working in. The extra rich soil that you've mixed in will only add nutrients to the ground where your plants are growing. In short, the plant has extra room to grow and extra nutrition from your raised bed. You've worked the soil carefully, so now the plant has that much more loose soil in which to push its roots down into, as well. It can grow a larger, stronger root system than it would otherwise.
The raised beds also hold moisture better than the rest of your garden. Your plants will need less frequent waterings, and when they do get watered, the soil will stay moist longer because the water is trapped in the loose soil. Your plants will be healthier in the long run because of this.
And raised beds have a practical advantage for the gardener, as well as the advantages for the plants. By making the surface a foot higher than the surrounding ground, the gardener does not have to bend quite so far to cultivate and weed the bed. Your back will thank you! If it is more comfortable to tend the garden, it will get tended more often.
So there you have it! Raised beds, built from surrounding soil and rich dirt from your compost heap offer lots of advantages over traditional gardening. The enriched soil will nourish your plants to a greater extent, and the loose soil will give them extra topsoil in which to develop strong and deep root systemes. The raised beds will catch and hold more moisture, and will help your plants to withstand the summer heat with greater health. And raised beds make working the garden more comfortable and less strenuous. Give it a try this spring! Once you have them set up, you can use them year after year just by mixing in more fertilizer. The plants seem healthier and the gardening seems easier. What a great combination!
The concept behind raised bed gardening is simple. Instead of planting seeds and young plants in nice, neat rows after you till the soil, make raised beds. You do this after you've broken up the soil into fine particles. Mound the dirt up about twelve inches and make rectangular hills in your garden. During this process, we mix in a lot of mulch and rich humus from our compost heap and turn the soil together with this nutrient-rich dirt.
After your raised beds are built, make sure the soil is just as finely worked as you usually would for the type of plant that you will be raising. Hoe and rake and cultivate just as you generally would. Plant your seeds or young plants the way you usually do, as well. Plant them just as deep as recommended, and with the proper spacing. Water them as usual. Then stand back and watch the magic all summer long.
The raised beds offer several advantages over traditional gardening. The topsoil has greater depth, since you've mounded it up. This will give you, in many areas, twice or more of the usual amount of topsoil that you normally are working in. The extra rich soil that you've mixed in will only add nutrients to the ground where your plants are growing. In short, the plant has extra room to grow and extra nutrition from your raised bed. You've worked the soil carefully, so now the plant has that much more loose soil in which to push its roots down into, as well. It can grow a larger, stronger root system than it would otherwise.
The raised beds also hold moisture better than the rest of your garden. Your plants will need less frequent waterings, and when they do get watered, the soil will stay moist longer because the water is trapped in the loose soil. Your plants will be healthier in the long run because of this.
And raised beds have a practical advantage for the gardener, as well as the advantages for the plants. By making the surface a foot higher than the surrounding ground, the gardener does not have to bend quite so far to cultivate and weed the bed. Your back will thank you! If it is more comfortable to tend the garden, it will get tended more often.
So there you have it! Raised beds, built from surrounding soil and rich dirt from your compost heap offer lots of advantages over traditional gardening. The enriched soil will nourish your plants to a greater extent, and the loose soil will give them extra topsoil in which to develop strong and deep root systemes. The raised beds will catch and hold more moisture, and will help your plants to withstand the summer heat with greater health. And raised beds make working the garden more comfortable and less strenuous. Give it a try this spring! Once you have them set up, you can use them year after year just by mixing in more fertilizer. The plants seem healthier and the gardening seems easier. What a great combination!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Favorite Gardening Quotes
Here are some of my personal favorite gardening quotes. Note that this list is far from exhaustive as their are many nice gardening quotes out there, as you might imagine. This small list consists of my favorites.
Here they are:
"It is good to know the truth, but it is better to speak of palm trees."
- Arab Proverb
"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow."
- Author Unknown
"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view."
- H. Fred Ale
"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."
- Lou Erickson
"Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it."
- Author Unknown
"Weather means more when you have a garden." There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans."
- Marcelene Cox
"God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."
- Author Unknown
"Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden."
- Orson Scott Card
"You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt."
- Author Unknown
"I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day."
- F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace
"There is no gardening without humility." Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder."
- Alfred Austin
Here they are:
"It is good to know the truth, but it is better to speak of palm trees."
- Arab Proverb
"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow."
- Author Unknown
"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view."
- H. Fred Ale
"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."
- Lou Erickson
"Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it."
- Author Unknown
"Weather means more when you have a garden." There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans."
- Marcelene Cox
"God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."
- Author Unknown
"Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden."
- Orson Scott Card
"You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt."
- Author Unknown
"I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day."
- F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace
"There is no gardening without humility." Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder."
- Alfred Austin
Creating a Garden Walkway
By Christina VanGinkel
Building a garden walkway can be as simple as trimming a path, and laying down a few found stones, to as comprehensive a project as drawing up blueprints with details of every plant, pot, and stone's placement. No matter which path you take, be it a finely detailed project from start to finish, or something you throw together one weekend when you have a few spare hours, a garden walkway should be a way for you or others to stroll into the garden, to enjoy without disturbing the beauty around.
In order for you to build it, you must first know what you want it to be. Consider if you want the walkway to be a feature all in its own glory, or if you want it to meld so seamlessly into the surrounding landscape, that it nearly does not exist. Consider next what materials you want to use to create it. This will in part be determined by the answer to the previous thought. For example, I have been witness to a walkway made of marble that was elegant enough to grace the most fastidious house, and there was no denying the beauty of it even though the flowers and plants along it were beautiful on their own, but the walkway was the shining glory of the space. Another garden I was privileged enough to enter, had a walkway made of recycled tree slabs. The walkway was defined, yet melded so perfectly with the plants that except for defining the way to walk through the garden, it did not stick out; it was more of a compliment to the space than anything was.
Where the walkway leads must also be taken into consideration. If your garden already holds some surprises, say a waterfall, a Koi pond, a statue, or a bench, consider how you could lead the path to these features, to bring out their enjoyment to the best of the garden's capability. A walkway that winds its way around, leading to a main feature is a good plan, one that bypasses these other features, or just cuts straight through to nowhere in particular, is not taking full advantage of the space.
If your garden has disadvantages, such as being on a steep slope, or having been built near an unsightly feature (a neighbor's old, tattered fence), a walkway can be the perfect opportunity to address these problems. A slope can be corrected with a walkway that winds back and forth, taking some of the edge off the overall slope, or it could be put in so that it winds away from the unsightly object, drawing the visitor's eye away from the negative.
Whichever reason you choose to put in a walkway, whatever materials you choose to build it from, wherever you let it wander too, all of these choices will ultimately be a reflection of how you perceive the garden itself. In addition, whether it ends up elegant, simple, or country, it will make it accessible, and that after all is the greatest thing about any garden walkway.
Building a garden walkway can be as simple as trimming a path, and laying down a few found stones, to as comprehensive a project as drawing up blueprints with details of every plant, pot, and stone's placement. No matter which path you take, be it a finely detailed project from start to finish, or something you throw together one weekend when you have a few spare hours, a garden walkway should be a way for you or others to stroll into the garden, to enjoy without disturbing the beauty around.
In order for you to build it, you must first know what you want it to be. Consider if you want the walkway to be a feature all in its own glory, or if you want it to meld so seamlessly into the surrounding landscape, that it nearly does not exist. Consider next what materials you want to use to create it. This will in part be determined by the answer to the previous thought. For example, I have been witness to a walkway made of marble that was elegant enough to grace the most fastidious house, and there was no denying the beauty of it even though the flowers and plants along it were beautiful on their own, but the walkway was the shining glory of the space. Another garden I was privileged enough to enter, had a walkway made of recycled tree slabs. The walkway was defined, yet melded so perfectly with the plants that except for defining the way to walk through the garden, it did not stick out; it was more of a compliment to the space than anything was.
Where the walkway leads must also be taken into consideration. If your garden already holds some surprises, say a waterfall, a Koi pond, a statue, or a bench, consider how you could lead the path to these features, to bring out their enjoyment to the best of the garden's capability. A walkway that winds its way around, leading to a main feature is a good plan, one that bypasses these other features, or just cuts straight through to nowhere in particular, is not taking full advantage of the space.
If your garden has disadvantages, such as being on a steep slope, or having been built near an unsightly feature (a neighbor's old, tattered fence), a walkway can be the perfect opportunity to address these problems. A slope can be corrected with a walkway that winds back and forth, taking some of the edge off the overall slope, or it could be put in so that it winds away from the unsightly object, drawing the visitor's eye away from the negative.
Whichever reason you choose to put in a walkway, whatever materials you choose to build it from, wherever you let it wander too, all of these choices will ultimately be a reflection of how you perceive the garden itself. In addition, whether it ends up elegant, simple, or country, it will make it accessible, and that after all is the greatest thing about any garden walkway.
Online Gardening Magazines & Other Useful Resources For Gardeners
There are a number of great online gardening magazines and other online gardening resources. In this article, we list a few of the better ones. This list, however, is far from comprehensive.
Gardening Magazines:
Better Homes & Garden
Carolina Gardener
Chicagoland Gardening
City Gardening
Country Living Gardener
Florida Gardening
Garden Asia
Garden Design
Garden gate
Gardens West
Global Garden
Homes & Gardens
Horticulture Magazine
House & Garden
Kitchen Garden
Organic Gardening
Reckless Gardener
Southern Living
Texas Gardener
Tropical Gardening
Your Garden
Of these, a few are based in or related to gardening in either the UK, Canada, or Australia, as follows:
Asia:
Garden Asia
UK:
Kitchen Garden
Reckless Gardener
Australia:
Your Garden
Canada:
Gardens West
Nevertheless, it should be noted that gardening is a global interest, so don't feel like a gardening magazine for a region other than yours or that is not specifically for your region is not useful. It likely is. Instead, one should concentrate on the environmental applicability.
Other Gardening Sites:
Martha Stewart
National Gardening Association
HGTV
Rebecca's Garden
Aquascape Designs
Gardening Magazines:
Better Homes & Garden
Carolina Gardener
Chicagoland Gardening
City Gardening
Country Living Gardener
Florida Gardening
Garden Asia
Garden Design
Garden gate
Gardens West
Global Garden
Homes & Gardens
Horticulture Magazine
House & Garden
Kitchen Garden
Organic Gardening
Reckless Gardener
Southern Living
Texas Gardener
Tropical Gardening
Your Garden
Of these, a few are based in or related to gardening in either the UK, Canada, or Australia, as follows:
Asia:
Garden Asia
UK:
Kitchen Garden
Reckless Gardener
Australia:
Your Garden
Canada:
Gardens West
Nevertheless, it should be noted that gardening is a global interest, so don't feel like a gardening magazine for a region other than yours or that is not specifically for your region is not useful. It likely is. Instead, one should concentrate on the environmental applicability.
Other Gardening Sites:
Martha Stewart
National Gardening Association
HGTV
Rebecca's Garden
Aquascape Designs
Garden Magazine Subscriptions Make Perfect Holiday Gifts
By Christina VanGinkel
My husband is the official gardener in the family, with myself not having much luck when it comes to growing things, yet I plod on year after year, as I love everything there is about gardening. I love digging in the dirt come spring, when the snow has barely gone, turning the earth over, letting it breathe is what I always tell anyone who would ask me what in the world I am doing in the garden so early. I am thrilled when the first shoots of green pop though the dirt, announcing they have survived yet another year. When the greenhouses open, we also know that spring has officially arrived, no matter what date the calendar says it is.
So what about in the winter, when it is too cold for anything green to exist outdoors, save for a pine tree with its branches covered in snow? How do I stay in the gardening mood even then? Well, I love walking down our long driveway to the mailbox in the middle of a snow covered winter day, to be greeted by a fresh supply of gardening catalogs and magazines. The everyday catalogs that land in my mailbox are treated with respect, read, even shopped from, but then discarded. Not so the garden catalogs. They have a shelf of their own in the house, and misery for any person who would dare toss one in the garbage before I have determined it has outlived its lifespan. People need to know that even when you cannot order from a garden catalog any longer, that a reader might still find something useful within it pages, such as a tip on when you can safely plant in a northern Zone, or to browse, to remind the reader that spring, and gardening, will come again. Garden magazines are even treated with more respect, and coveted year after year, as information in a magazine about cars or computers may go out of date, but not so the information in your favorite garden magazine. The information is most often as current a year later as it was the day it was printed, save for a few of the ads. This fact alone makes a subscription to a gardening magazine a good choice for a gift this holiday season.
At this time of year, when most people are thinking about the holidays and snow plowing, I am looking forward to getting my next issue of Horticulture Magazine, which arrives year round, and reading on the variety of plants and flowers, the anecdotes, even the ads for other magazines and catalogs. Garden magazines in general are a good source of plans for building projects that are geared for our gardens, and plant care for those that need care indoors during the cold months. They also are oftentimes filled with ideas for garden trails and water features such as ponds and fountains. Reading about these projects in the winter, gives us plenty of planning time to gear up for those we want to attempt in our own gardens come spring. Some of my favorite magazines on gardening, that are often filled with tips and inspiration for all aspects of the garden, and that might be the perfect gift for someone on your holiday list (maybe yourself!), include:
Horticulture
Garden Design
Better Homes and Gardens
The Practical Gardener
Fine Gardening
The American Gardener
A subscription to any one of these magazines would make a gardening enthusiast, or someone who wishes they were, an excellent gift this holiday season, and give them an opportunity to dream until spring.
My husband is the official gardener in the family, with myself not having much luck when it comes to growing things, yet I plod on year after year, as I love everything there is about gardening. I love digging in the dirt come spring, when the snow has barely gone, turning the earth over, letting it breathe is what I always tell anyone who would ask me what in the world I am doing in the garden so early. I am thrilled when the first shoots of green pop though the dirt, announcing they have survived yet another year. When the greenhouses open, we also know that spring has officially arrived, no matter what date the calendar says it is.
So what about in the winter, when it is too cold for anything green to exist outdoors, save for a pine tree with its branches covered in snow? How do I stay in the gardening mood even then? Well, I love walking down our long driveway to the mailbox in the middle of a snow covered winter day, to be greeted by a fresh supply of gardening catalogs and magazines. The everyday catalogs that land in my mailbox are treated with respect, read, even shopped from, but then discarded. Not so the garden catalogs. They have a shelf of their own in the house, and misery for any person who would dare toss one in the garbage before I have determined it has outlived its lifespan. People need to know that even when you cannot order from a garden catalog any longer, that a reader might still find something useful within it pages, such as a tip on when you can safely plant in a northern Zone, or to browse, to remind the reader that spring, and gardening, will come again. Garden magazines are even treated with more respect, and coveted year after year, as information in a magazine about cars or computers may go out of date, but not so the information in your favorite garden magazine. The information is most often as current a year later as it was the day it was printed, save for a few of the ads. This fact alone makes a subscription to a gardening magazine a good choice for a gift this holiday season.
At this time of year, when most people are thinking about the holidays and snow plowing, I am looking forward to getting my next issue of Horticulture Magazine, which arrives year round, and reading on the variety of plants and flowers, the anecdotes, even the ads for other magazines and catalogs. Garden magazines in general are a good source of plans for building projects that are geared for our gardens, and plant care for those that need care indoors during the cold months. They also are oftentimes filled with ideas for garden trails and water features such as ponds and fountains. Reading about these projects in the winter, gives us plenty of planning time to gear up for those we want to attempt in our own gardens come spring. Some of my favorite magazines on gardening, that are often filled with tips and inspiration for all aspects of the garden, and that might be the perfect gift for someone on your holiday list (maybe yourself!), include:
Horticulture
Garden Design
Better Homes and Gardens
The Practical Gardener
Fine Gardening
The American Gardener
A subscription to any one of these magazines would make a gardening enthusiast, or someone who wishes they were, an excellent gift this holiday season, and give them an opportunity to dream until spring.
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