The Weekly Gardener Volume 17: January to December 2023

By Francis Rosenfeld

Collected articles from The Weekly Gardener - January through December 2021; for current articles visit The Weekly Gardener website.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Francis Rosenfeld
• Release date: Jan 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215879276

Francis Rosenfeld

I started learning about gardening from my grandfather, at the age of four. Despite his forty years' experience as a natural sciences teacher, mine wasn't a structured instruction, I just followed him around, constantly asking questions, and he built up on the concepts with each answer.As I grew older I applied this knowledge, experimented with new plants and learned a few things from my mistakes. That was fifteen years ago, and since then I was blessed with a thriving perennial garden. Half way through the journey, the micro-farm concept developed, a yearly challenge to figure out how much produce twenty square feet of dirt can yield.I started blogging in 2010, to share the joy of growing all things green and the beauty of the garden through the seasons. Two garden blogs were born this way: allyeargarden.com and theweeklygardener.com, a periodical that followed it one year later. I wanted to assemble an informal compendium of the things I learned from my grandfather, wonderful books, educational websites, and my own experience, in the hope that other people might find it useful it in their own gardening practice.The blogs contain many stories (I am a writer and couldn't help myself), but also practical information about plant propagation, garden maintenance, working with your site, making preserves and keeping the yard welcoming for beneficial insects and local wildlife.

Book preview

THE WEEKLY GARDENER 2023

by Francis Rosenfeld

© 2023 Francis Rosenfeld

Smashwords Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Week 1 - January 2nd - Another Trip Around the Sun

Week 2 - January 9th - How to Grow a Garden

Week 3 - January 16th - The Scented Garden

Week 4 - January 23rd - Before the Season Starts

Week 5 - January 30th - Cool Season Gardens

Week 6 - February 5th - The Kitchen Garden

Week 7 - February 13th - About the Weather

Week 8 - February 20th - Growing Herbs

Week 9 - February 27th - Sustainable Farming

Week 10 - March 6th - Cottage Garden Style

Week 11 - March 13th - Spring Start

Week 12 - March 20th - Special White Flower Gardens

Week 13 - March 27th - It's Spring

Week 14 - April 3rd - Bright Green

Week 15 - April 10th - Ground Covers for Shade

Week 16 - April 17th - The Small Kitchen Garden

Week 17 - April 24th - Wildflowers

Week 18 - May 1st - The Garden in May

Week 19 - May 8th - Garden Accents

Week 20 - May 15th - Scented Spring

Week 21 - May 22nd - Sensory Gardens

Week 22 - May 29th - Garden Magic

Week 23 - June 5th - Understanding Your Site

Week 24 - June 12th - The Woodland Path

Week 25 - June 19th - Solstice

Week 26 - June 26th - The Bright Days of Summer

Week 27 - July 3rd - Veggies in Bloom

Week 28 - July 10th - The Home Apothecary

Week 29 - July 17th - Summer Gardens

Week 30 - July24th - The Height of Summer

Week 31 - July 31st - Herbal Preparations

Week 32 - August 7th - Hot

Week 33 - August 14th - The Green Pharmacy

Week 34 - August 21st - Changing With the Seasons

Week 35 - August 28th - Stepping into Fall

Week 36 - September 4th - Garden Structures

Week 37 - September 11th - Fall Color

Week 38 - September 18th - Preserves

Week 39 - September 25th - About Pumpkins

Week 40 - October 2nd - Late Season

Week 41 - October 9th - Spice

Week 42 - October 16th - The Soul of Autumn

Week 43 - October 23rd - At the Pumpkin Patch

Week 44 - October 30th - Lovely November

Week 45 - November 6th - Dream Gardens

Week 46 - November 13th - The Perennial Garden

Week 47 - November 20th - Stories Strange and Wonderful

Week 48 - November 27th - Winter

Week 49 - December 4th - Growing Conditions

Week 50 - December 11th - Sweet Memories

Week 51 - December 18th - Herbs

Week 52 - December 25th - Your Plant Family

WEEK ONE

January 2nd - Another Trip Around The Sun

Creature Comforts

Winter is very hard on the living things that have to be outdoors. Plants can’t help being exposed to single digit temperatures that trap their tender roots in frozen ground. There is no food and hardly any shelter for the animals.

Birds and critters need calorie-rich foods and little nooks to hide in, protected from frigid temperatures, harsh winds and precipitation.

Frost tender perennials need the protection of cones and cloches, or at least three inches of dirt mounded around their base.

Pond plants and fish need relief from extreme cold and ways for oxygen to reach them when the pond freezes.

Young trees and vines need stakes and ties, and pruning while they’re dormant, so they don’t waste their precious energy sprouting leaves that end up in the compost pile.

Put off the flower bed cleaning until spring.

I know the sight of dead foliage is not endearing, but it protects the plants’ roots during extreme winter conditions and provides some food and ample building material for nests and burrows.

Thoughts At The Beginning Of The Year

I can’t imagine any gardener in the Northern hemisphere liking winter. We usually retreat in comfort, to enjoy thick blankets and hot beverages in front of a fire, and refuse to look out the window until the trees leaf out, brooding about adding another year on top of the ever-growing pile behind us.

To the natural world, the passing of time means nothing. Individual plants grow old and die like any living thing, but their collective being remains ageless.

It just occurred to me I’ve tended to my garden for almost twenty years, and I feel it hasn’t changed at all. It’s a strange vicarious experience of immortality, a bittersweet understanding living forever is always a blessing, never a curse.

One looks at life differently when the horizon is so far into the distance, and one both squanders and enjoys life more.

There will always be another chance, which one has the luxury to wait for, another perfect moment, circumstance, development. That’s what gardens do and they never have to rush. I’m jealous.

Colorful Skies

The landscape may not inspire, but winter brings the gift of painted skies. We are not talking soft pastels, but wild orange, bright purple, chartreuse green and fiery reds.

No matter how many times I’ve seen these surreal sunsets, they still fill me with awe.

Winter Fog

The end of December arrived shrouded in soft milky fog, a quirky metaphor for wrapping up the year.

The first day of January brought warmth and sunshine, and clear blue skies, like the mist was never there. I wonder if I should read into that.

WEEK TWO

January 9th - How To Grow A Garden

Cuttings

Vegetative propagation, or cloning, is the method most frequently used by professional growers to breed shrubs and woody perennials in large volume.

Hardwood cuttings are taken from the older parts of the plant, which are woody all the way through. This is the method used to propagate most decorative shrubs, including roses, forsythiasazaleas, currantsblueberries, spirea, and mock orange. Hardwood cuttings can be taken in both spring and fall, but they benefit from overwintering in the ground, under a jar.

Stem cuttings are taken from young flexible parts of the plant, still sappy and green. Herbs like rosemary, sagemint and lavender, and tender perennials like verbena, fuchsia, and mums are propagated this way. Place the stems in water on a sunny windowsill, change the water every day and they will start growing roots in about a week. Stem cuttings can be taken any time during the growing season; avoid excessive heat.

Leaf cuttings are used to propagate hydrangeas, succulents, and African violets. Hard to believe, but sticking a leaf stem in the ground will trigger it to grow roots and start a new plant. Take leaf cuttings during the growing season of the plant, keeping in mind that for some house plants that means winter.

Brambles, crab-applesfigs, lilacspoppies, primroses and rugosas can be propagated by cutting up a 4-inch piece of fleshy root close to the crown and planting it so that the top is barely covered. Root cuttings should be taken during the dormant time of the plant, in late fall or early spring. They too benefit from spending the winter in the ground.

Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes And Tubers

The main difference between bulbs and the other three is bulbs grow scales, layers, around a core, whereas corms, rhizomes and tubers are solid all the way through, but all of them serve the same function: they store starch so the plants can use it for energy.

Bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers are the easiest and fastest way to populate a