One of the most important posts I’ve written was What Are You Doing With Finished Plants? Readers questions and comments were so good I started a series of posts addressing them.  The most recent one in the series was Cover Crops Planted in Crop Residue. IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION After reading Hope and Mary’s comments to that […] The post Energy is lost when residue is reduced to fine particles appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

In response to the post What Are You Doing With Finished Plants?  Mary asked “How can I plant cover crops in the mess of vines and plants when I cut down finished growth?” Giulia wrote saying that she struggled with that too. Bet my guess is correct that most gardeners have this concern because they’re […] The post Cover Crops Planted in Crop Residue appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

Susan has worms in the fruit of her squash. Since I’ve never had that situation in my 43 years of gardening  I had to do some searching for what the worms were.  From what I read pickleworms seem to be the culprits. Here’s what Susan wrote in her first comment about her situation on this […] The post I think Susan has Pickleworms. (Post #2 in a Series) appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

Part 1 of a series of Posts In my last post What are You Doing With Finished Plants? there were many great questions and comments that would add valuable information to the post.  Since many people don’t check comments, I’m doing a series of posts to answer questions, repeat reader’s input, and give my input […] The post Leave Plant Residue in the Garden if “diseased”? appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

I received an email recently from a reader telling me she’s taking down  plants of veggies that are finished. Immediately, I wondered what she was doing with the residue.  Hopefully she was leaving it in her garden. Why Leave it in the Garden? For as long as I’ve gardened (43 years) I’ve always cut and […] The post What are You Doing with Finished Plants? appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

In June of 2023 I received an email from a reader needing help. The subject line was “Dealing with Virginia’s concrete ground”. (That certainly got my attention.) She had moved to Virginia from “way up North–” in October of 2022. There she noted, it was “so easy to garden” and “the soil was wonderful”.  Mostly […] The post A Reader Transforms Her Garden appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

This morning I awakened excited and anxious to get to the task at hand. And filled with more energy than is normal. When you learn what that task was you’ll probably say, “She’s lost her mind! Why in the world would she find that exciting?!” Here’s the story: A few days ago we had a […] The post A Story I Had to Share! appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

Certain chemicals make it through the digestive tract of grazing animals and stay in their manure. Composting will not neutralize them as in days gone by. They’ll deform your plants and cause poor or non-existent yields. They remain in the soil for years. (Some sources say 4 to 10 years. And other sources say they’re […] The post Revisiting Residual Herbicides appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

July temperatures were in the 90’s and according to the weather guy they felt above 100. Last week’s temps fell into the 80’s and had I been up and about I would  have planted cucumbers for the end of summer and carrots for fall/and or winter. Experimenting with Several Varieties of Cucumbers I have several […] The post Reminder for Planting Late Season Cucumbers and Carrots appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more

Something happened today that gave me the incentive to write to you in spite of how painful this hard wood floor is – especially when trying to sit up to use the computer.  I’ve touched on it previously on TMG. It’s a seemingly small thing that can make a huge difference in any area of […] The post A Seemingly Small Thing Can Make a Huge Difference in Your Life appeared first on Tending My Garden ..read more