New Jersey food forest with edible perennials, native flowers, fruit trees, berry bushes and ground covers. It’s June 2022 and the gardens are filling in just the way I dreamed they would. When we moved onto this patch of sand, I was surprised how new plants would get swallowed up, despite the mulch that should have protected and nourished them. I realized over time that wood chip mulch, even simply layered on top of the ground and not tilled in, was protective and encouraging to the perennials, trees and shrubs at my previous property… but was something to be overcome by my plants here. Yes ..read more

Originally written for and published in the Winter 2022 Master Naturalist Newsletter for Ocean County, NJ Master Naturalists. When it comes to gardening for wildlife and being good stewards of the land, we generally advise those who will listen, to “leave the leaves”. Leaves are a wonderful natural mulch, decompose into a rich food source for the soil food web and help well draining soils to retain water and nutrients. While performing these herculean tasks, leaves also provide shelter and habitat for over-wintering moths and other insects.  In the suburban landscapes of Ocean County, e ..read more

content The post This is the new post appeared first on Permaculture Gardener, Soil Health Grower and Light Farmer ..read more

This is a Chinese praying mantis nest – This egg case is also called an ootheca. Adult praying mantis create these in the late fall, right before winter and each nest contains as many as 400 baby praying mantis eggs.  I have lots of these in my yard right now.  I have an unpopular opinion about these guys – I leave them alone and I don’t destroy them.  These are Chinese praying mantis – not the native Carolina mantis. They are considered invasive by many and are bigger and tend to out compete our native mantis.  People also get bent out of shape because praying mantis a ..read more

For the first summer in a decade, rather than blogging throughout the growing season, I’ve been consistently updating the YouTube channel of mynjgarden.com with garden tours, featured plant videos and garden happenings. The audience has grown over the past few months to 468 subscribers as of today and it’s exciting to engage with gardeners in the comments of the channel. I’ve even met a few new local gardeners through the channel and I like that I’m expanding my network of likeminded growers in the area. The most recent video posted… Please Subscribe! This week I did add a new raspberry va ..read more

These are the first signs that the yard wants to wake up for the season. The dafodils are just starting to poke up through the mulch. Time to clean up and make way for all the new growth that’s about to start happening. First thing to do was to clean up the still standing perennial seed stalks and brush that was left from last fall. I leave most of the perrenials standing through the winter to let the birds feast on and spread the seeds about. Now that it’s warming up again and most of the seeds are gone, I gathered up all the sticks and branches left standing from the asters, hyssop (cut the ..read more

It’s Valentine’s Day 2021 – and I’m about to start some cold weather crop seeds indoors to move out into the greenhouse. But first, I had to unbox and setup the Click & Grow Smart Garden 3 that husband got me for my birthday back in September. I feel foolish for not opening and setting it up sooner – big mistake! It sends the message that I don’t enjoy getting fun garden projects as gifts and it couldn’t be further from the truth! With three + inches of snow melting into a slushy and icy mess all over the yard, I had to pull the trigger and get it started. This Smart Garden 3 is a counter ..read more

Months ago, on the way into the Walmart in Lacey, NJ, I noticed a sign that was posted in front of the store. The protective covering was in disrepair and I can’t imagine many local residents take notice of it, but since agriculture is dear to me, I wanted to save this text so I could refer back to it when I need to. It seems the area where the Walmart stands today used to be a local farm. I’m so glad they posted this info. Enjoy! The earliest European settlers in what would become Ocean County were drawn by the ocean rather than the land. They came to engage in whaling, fishing and harvesti ..read more

For me, gardening isn’t much different during the corona virus pandemic than the seasons before it. There are plenty of new gardeners online asking questions and struggling to find supplies, seeds, plants and tools they want to get started with the smart effort to grow their own food. I have my infrastructure set up already and though many of my spring seedlings struggled, I find myself in a yard in mid July lush with growth and a ripening harvest hanging from the vine, bush and tree. Did you know that Rattlesnake Plant is also known as Calathea lancifolia? There are so many beautiful plants y ..read more

On May 6th, I’m usually ignoring a chilly forecast (to my eventual dismay) and planting out small seedlings into the garden. I say a prayer and wish them luck and glance nervously at the sky, hoping the frost doesn’t come. This year, after having mixed success with the seedlings I’ve been babying for the last couple of months, I’m not taking any more chances. I have already planted out a few tomatoes and peppers that had close neighbors in the flats who perished to dampening off. blooming beach plum in the middle. highbush cranberry behind it on the right. iris in front on the left. left t ..read more