A Visit to Poultryville

Moss Mountain Farm and the House that P Allen Smith Built

May 31, 2013

I recently traveled to Arkansas to visit Moss Mountain Farm, the home of P Allen Smith and the set for his television shows that include the Garden Home and Garden to Table. A group of two dozen garden writers and eight business sponsors gathered together with P Allen and staff for a few days of [...]

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Beekeeping Workshop

Perfect Weather for a Weekend in the Vegetable Garden

May 20, 2013

Rain, drizzle, high temps in the 60′s, and not a peek of sunshine; but it was still a perfect weekend to spend time out in the vegetable garden! Sure, the sun would have felt great, it’s nice to stay dry, and no one likes wearing rain gear when working in the garden… but there are times when drizzly, cloudy, and [...]

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Garden Frost Protection

Flirting with a Late Spring Frost in Pennsylvania

May 13, 2013

May 15th is my unofficial frost free date here in Central Pennsylvania, but I never really expect to see a killing frost that late during spring… well things might turn out differently this year with the possibility of frost in the forecast for tomorrow morning. That’s just why I never rush setting out frost-tender vegetable [...]

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Pomegranate Leaves

Highlights from the Spring Vegetable Garden

May 6, 2013

It’s still early in the spring vegetable garden and the majority of the planting is still ahead of me but I wanted to share some highlights and a couple of disappointments from this stage of the growing season. Starting out with the old reliable crops that I can always depend on; the fall planted garlic, [...]

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Rodale Plant Sale

It’s the Season for Plant Sales and Herb Festivals

April 26, 2013

Mid-spring is a perfect time to explore the local plant sales, herb fairs, and even local nurseries to locate transplants for the backyard garden. It isn’t safe here in Central PA to set out frost sensitive plants just yet, but the frost-free date is quickly approaching. Even for those of us who like to raise [...]

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Kale Plants

Getting a Jump on the Spring Gardening Season

April 24, 2013

The garden is off and growing with a good start to the early spring season. It’s obvious that the plants are anxious to get going and you can watch them swell, bud, uncurl, and flex before they finally burst open with new leaf growth or flower blooms! Gardeners can be the same way, whether it’s the rush to [...]

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Heirloom Apples

The Backyard Fruit Growers Host another Grafting Workshop

March 26, 2013

Over the weekend the Pennsylvania Backyard Fruit Growers hosted their annual fruit tree grafting workshop at the Landis Valley Museum near Lancaster, PA. There was a great turnout of regular members, as well as new faces in the crowd lining up to obtain rootstocks and select their favorite scion wood from several long rows of tables loaded [...]

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No GMO Banner

Resistance is Futile; Here Comes the “Monsanto Protection Act”

March 22, 2013

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder; why do we even bother talking about GMO’s, organize events like the Right to Know month, report on Monsanto’s setbacks in other countries, or promote efforts here to require the labeling of GMO’s? When it’s obvious that the opposing interests don’t operate by the same set of rules as we do… they simply [...]

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Composting Workshop

Warming Up to a New Growing Season

March 21, 2013

The weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating, with more cold and snow in the forecast, but the arrival of March still marked the beginning of a new growing season for me. I kicked things off by attending a seed starting workshop, planted my first few flats of vegetable seeds, attended a PASA fruit tree pruning event, and [...]

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