I was impressed with the answers to the little gardening riddle that was posed last time. I was also told that I offered too many clues and that I made things too easy for you to solve… so I’ll have to remember that next time, and yes the answer to the riddle was a Chicken [...]

Yesterday Bob Guillow from the Garden Manuals website shared a list of common sense disease preventive practices for the backyard vegetable garden. Today Bob returns to identify a few of the major diseases that you may encounter, and also offers suggestions to keep them under control…
There are both chemical and non-chemical controls for solving disease [...]

Blights, wilts, and viruses, are just a few of the terms that many backyard gardeners have received a rude and unwanted introduction to this growing season. Bob Guillow publishes the site at Garden Manuals and stops by today to share the following information about plant diseases and tips for reducing their impact in your vegetable [...]

Kim emailed to share her frustrations over a recent growing season that was spoiled by one of the gardener’s biggest nightmares; the detestable Squash Bug.
Here’s a tale of gardening misery over Kim’s failed efforts to control and eliminate the squash bugs from her organic vegetable garden:
Massive Invasions of Destructive Squash Bugs
“I planted several squash, cucumber, [...]

In the previous article I shared my experiences foraging sea vegetables on Washington State’s San Juan Islands; today I wanted to examine some interesting uses that seaweeds can be put to back home in the kitchen and the organic garden.
I won’t list the many health claims associated with the use of sea vegetables, other than [...]

Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) has been a godsend in battles with destructive caterpillars out in the vegetable garden. One of the most impressive things about Bt (aka Thuricide or Dipel), is that it targets and eliminates bad bugs without harming the non-targeted beneficial insects and pollinators.
B.t. accomplishes this feat because it is based upon a naturally [...]

The previous article shared a few strategies and ideas for quickly trapping groundhogs that have become a nuisance in the backyard garden.
But trapping is only half of the battle, once the critter is caged you still have to determine what to do with it next? To begin with, resist that temptation to take out a little [...]

I’ve endured my share of groundhog conflicts, and at times they’ve even had me talking to myself, but I’ve learned a few things about the best way to trap a woodchuck from my unpleasant experiences. If you are up against a troublesome groundhog that is devouring your garden or creating unsightly holes throughout your landscape, the preferred method to solve the problem is to trap the critter and find a new home for it.