“I loved your article on growing garlic. I have only used the grocery store kind with some success. I have already put in an order for next year. My question is how much garlic would a family of 5 that uses a decent amount of garlic need (to plant)? If you have any rules of thumb, I would appreciate it.”

There’s another gardening show on tap this weekend in the Central Pennsylvania area. This time it’s the 9th Annual PA Herb Festival. The fest begins on Friday and is being held at the York Expo Center. The thing that I like best about the gardening shows that are scheduled in late spring is that you can purchase plants, herbs, and seeds and usually the weather has settled enough to begin planting them right out into the garden.

Yesterday I mentioned some of the benefits of growing cherry tomato plants; today I thought I’d share some of the interesting, colorful, and tasty varieties of cherry tomatoes that are available to the home gardener. For the backyard gardener there’s a wealth of variety, diversity, and unique flavors available when it comes to growing different varieties of cherry tomatoes.

If you’re still deciding on your heirloom tomato plant varieties for the upcoming growing season, consider adding a cherry tomato to the mix.
I wouldn’t grow cherry sized tomato varieties exclusively, but I also wouldn’t grow a garden without at least one cherry tomato plant to enjoy.
Cherry tomatoes are sometimes shunned for not offering the rich [...]

I received an e-mail today from a gardener in North Carolina who shared some concerns that many of us may have regarding the cold weather that is forecast to strike our gardens over the next few days:

Chickweed is one of the common weeds that you may notice taking over sections of lawn and the fringes of your garden beds. If you’ve read any of the entries on my favorite edible weeds such as Nettles and Lambs Quarters, then you probably expect that my take on Chickweed will focus more on the positive aspects of this unpopular plant than on how to wipe it off of the face of the earth with poisons.

I finally spent some time in the vegetable garden this weekend and there are signs of spring all over. From the green lawn, where a neighbor was actually out mowing the grass; to the trees, which look like they are ready to just explode with blossoms, leaves, and seed pods.