Melanie Mathieson – Gardening Guru

With the unusual warm weather, all of the snow gone, and the lake ice starting to break up, many people are itching to get outside and start gardening. I also share the enthusiasm for the extraordinary weather, but you have to be careful not to get ahead of yourself with […]

When people hear the word peony, they most often think back to the garden of their grandmother or great-grandmother. Peonies have been around for generations because they are reliable, winter-hardy, quick-growing perennials with one of the most favoured flowers. These easy care perennials provide a garden with a sweet scented […]

Have you ever thought about adding a vine to your landscape or garden? Vines—whether annual or perennial—may be just what you need to add a focal point with some height, cover an unsightly object, grow fruit, or just add a special plant to your landscape. The first step is to […]

Fungus gnats are those little hopping bugs you see when you water your indoor plants. They are small, with black or gray bodies and clear wings, and look like a cross between a black fly and a fruit fly. Although not very strong fliers, they do fly around the house […]

Is the daylily the perfect perennial? They can grow in a wide range of soil and light conditions, have few insect problems, can tolerate drier conditions, and come in hundreds of varieties. Daylilies can be planted in a variety of landscape settings—positioned to make wonderful background plantings, naturalized in ditches, […]

The radish is a cool-season, fast-maturing, easy-to-grow vegetable and one of the first crops from the vegetable garden each year. Radishes grow well in almost any soil that is prepared well, fertilized before planting, and has adequate moisture maintained throughout the growing season. Slow development, usually caused by hot, dry […]

The cyclamenis offered to us as a houseplant often are found in the fall and winter at our local florists. Because of this, greenhouse-grown cyclamen usually are forced to bloom sometime around the Christmas holiday season and into the late winter. Cyclamen have sweet-scented, small flowers (half-inch to three-quarters of […]

Walnut is unquestionably one of the finest woods in the world as it finishes beautifully, is easy to work, shrinks and swells less than any other wood, and is durable, which is why our forefathers used it lavishly in homes, barns, and fences. The trees from the hickory and pecans […]

  Gardening doesn’t need a lot of fancy equipment and often gardeners make do with what they have. But having some proper tools can make all the difference in the making the job easier and more efficient. Here are some of the best garden tools I’ve invested in over the […]

  Some say that those who grow plants indoors are not gardeners. Well, I strongly disagree. I started growing houseplants when I was about five years old. I had houseplants long before I ever had my own property, where I could plant flowerbeds and a vegetable garden. I have vast […]

Here we are in the autumn of the year again. And that means, among other things, pumpkins. Pumpkin faces—either real or cardboard—spring up all over the place in late October. Along with witches, goblins, and ghosts, the pumpkin has come to be a symbol of Hallowe’en. The pumpkin that is […]

  For a gardener, it can be very rewarding to fool Mother Nature! When you force bulbs, you are, indeed, putting her to the test by forcing them to grow and flower indoors so you can enjoy blooming hyacinths, daffodil and narcissus species, tulips, and other as early as the […]