Way We Garden Now

Use an old colander for sprinkling ashes.

Add dry Epsom salts to your roses.

Self, natural herbicide is corn gluten meal, which works to prevent seed germination. Use it on lawns, walkways, and patios.

Another way to remove plants among stones is to use boiling water, vinegar on a hot day, overturn a pet on top of the weed.

Clematis has leaf petioles that work like rock climber's arms so they need skinny handholds.

Willow twigs release a natural rooting enhancer, you can add twigs to the hole when planting new plants.

Look for Shirley poppies; poppies in general like poor, dry soil.

When planting tomato plants, pick off the first set of leaves and plant the stem to that depth. Mulch the base of the plants to prevent splashing. When watering use aluminum foil to make a ring around the stem of each plant on the surface of the soil (to deter cutworms).

Plant bulbs as deep as 3 times their height.

Herbs that repel bugs

Basil, calendula, catnip, chives, flax, garlic, lavendar, marigold, mint, rosemary, wormwood.

Plants to try in my yard

Privet - can I grow it here? Apparently it can be transplanted easily (put cuttings in fertile, watered space to grow roots).

Baptista, pulmonaria, speedwell, monarda, coreopsis, verbascum, and autum joy.

Bird food plants: siberian iris, columbine, fuchsias, salvias, monarda, annual sunflowers, honeysuckle vines, viburnum, fruit trees, blueberry bush, elderberry, shadebush, biennial verbascum, rudbeka, trumpet vine, nandina, holly, ivy, asters, lilies, and ornamental grasses.

Comfrey - use fresh leaves steeped in a bucket of water as a natural plant fertilizer.

Asparagus foliage make a natural trellis for growing fragrant colorful sweet peas. After harveting the asparagus, plant sweet peas along the east side of your bed (to keep the roots shaded).

Early showing periennials: lungwort, virginia bluebells, violets, ferns, euphorbia, and bleeding hearts.

Early blooming shrubs: forsythia, corylopsis, abeliophyllum, pussy willow, witch hazel, forthergilla, bridal wreath spirea, and red-twig dogwood.

'The Rose Bible' - Rayford Redell

'Peter Schneider on Roses' - Peter Schneider

'The Quest for the Rose' - Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix

'Climbing Roses' - Stephen Scanniello and Tanya Bayard

'100 English Roses for the America Garden' - Clair Martin

Also checkout www.waysidegardens.com and www.jacksonandperkins.com and www.whiteflowerfarm.com

Dried herbs

Dried herbs on a fire will produce aromatics. Put the herbs in a flat basket to dry (dry them separately). Once dry, place them in a ziploc, squash out the air and store anywhere. To use, squeeze the bag to crush the contents. The herbs fall off the stems. Remove stems and discard.