Gardeners who don’t keep bees? Seems odd to me. It’s like being a gardener who doesn’t compost, peanut butter without jelly, Laurel without Hardy, …… You get the idea. I am often asked: How much trouble is it to keep honey bees? Not much trouble at all I say. But just like being a good owner of any garden or livestock, we want to be the best steward we can of the life entrusted to our care. “Being a good beekeeper starts with having good stock.” If you start off with bad bees, you will have a lot of extra trouble. Bad bees are sickly, ornery, and don’t produce enough honey to share. Good bees are healthy, happy, and a pleasure to work with. “So where do I find these good bees?” you say. Well, you can collect a swarm in the spring. You could get your bees from some…
Category: Newsletters and Member Articles
Fall Vegetables
Being as hot as it is in July you might not think of fall vegetables while feeling like you are under a broiler every time you step outside. However, fall vegetables need time to grow to be able to set fruit which can be harvested in the fall and winter. Get out your gardening calendar and start writing down planting dates so that you have a bounty of vegetables to harvest once the weather does start cooling off. If you plan on having your own pumpkins for Halloween plant them in early July. Most varieties need 100 days of growth for a good sized pumpkin. If you do not have much space choose a variety that is labeled “short vine” or you can train the vine up on a sturdy trellis or deck. When your tomato plants start looking sad from disease or if you have determinate varieties which have…
Perennials For Beginning Gardeners In Georgia
Perennials are nature’s miracles. Look at a perennial garden in the dead of winter and what do you see? Nothing, most likely! Then, as the days get longer and the sun begins to warm the earth, little green things begin to emerge from the soil and soon there are bursts of foliage everywhere not long after complemented by blooms in all sorts of colors. My favorite flowering perennials, in a still young garden, are Sedum “Autumn Joy”, Shasta Daisy “Crazy Daisy”, Daylilies, Gaura “Siskiyou Pink” and Joe-Pye Weed. Let me add to that Baptisia, Asters, Phlox, Bearded Irises, and well enough. In my garden, plants have to love sun. For that reason I have only a few Hostas and Lenten Roses and other perennials that are not so thrilled about growing in full sun. Thus, my experiences and advice will benefit you if you have a sunny garden: by picking…