When I opened my hives for their spring inspection, I couldn’t believe my eyes. My bees were dead. I had been visiting my hives every day to observe bee traffic through the hive entrance, and there were always bees coming and going. It turns out, they weren’t my bees.
Poison Ivy might be the most hated plant around. Although it is a difficult plant to love, this plant has some surprising virtues, and plays an important role in native landscapes. The thing is, this plant is not really here for human beings. It’s here for everybody else. Read the full article to learn more about native plant species Toxicodendron radicans, and its beneficial role for wildlife, insects, and soil.
The Common Blue Violet is a beautiful, edible, native “weed” that can be found in most unsprayed lawns in the Eastern United States. In this article, I show you how to use violet flower petals to make beautiful culinary creations, including Violet Salt, Violet Sugar, Violet-Rimmed Mocktails, and Violet Sugar Cookies. These recipes carry the joy of spring forward into the whole year. It is my hope that by raising awareness of the benefits of this native plant we can encourage more people to ditch the chemicals. Let’s let lawns go wild: for the violets, for the people, and for the pollinators.
When plants have been growing indoors under warm lights (or in windows), the great outdoors can come as quite a shock. The big bright sun can burn them, the wind can blow their leaves off, and the variable temperatures can stunt their growth. There’s a simple action you can take to prepare your seedlings for the real world. It’s called “hardening off”. Hardening off seedlings is pretty simple once you get the knack of it, but there are some tips that can help the process go much more smoothly. Read the full article to learn all my tips for giving your plants the best possible head start!
The American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) is an almost mythical native tree. Legend has it that prior to the 1900s, a squirrel could travel from Georgia to Maine just by hopping from chestnut branch to chestnut branch, without ever touching the ground. Now the American Chestnut Tree is blighted, but thanks to hybrid chestnut trees we can still enjoy chestnut harvests in our home orchards. Read the full article to learn more about the American Chestnut and for chestnut storage techniques and recipes!
Grow light kits from garden specialty brands are way too expensive. With a few basic parts from the hardware store (and no tools or special skills), you can build your own grow light stand and grow up to 720 beautiful transplants for this spring’s garden.
A strong tree is not afraid to bend when the wind compels it. It is secure in the strength of its roots. I dedicated my February to building a stronger foundation upon which to grow.
After spending many hours (and frankly, several years) searching for native plant information, seed sources, and plant sources, I created this document filled with book recommendations, tools, links to seed and plant providers, and more. I hope this resource will make it easy for you to jumpstart your own projects!
Nut butter is a staple in my house. It makes a quick snack when spread on fruit, blended into smoothies, or spooned straight out of the jar. It lends richness to soups and stews and contributes to sweet and savory sandwiches. Although you can buy nut butter in almost any grocery store, the homemade version is more affordable, fresher, and tastier.
Indiana has a native wild strawberry, but it’s not the one you think it is.
If you think you’ve had a wild strawberry, but it didn’t taste like a strawberry, you may have been fooled by an invasive lookalike plant! The true native strawberry is wildly delicious. Read the full article for the whole story.
