If you are a Wisconsin gardener with alkaline clay soil, growing blueberries is quite a challenge. My brother-in-law who lives in the northern Wisconsin had been trying for at least 10 years to grow blueberries with very limited success. He bought blueberry bushes that were hardy in Wisconsin, planted them carefully, then kept them watered […]
Garden Notes
It’s the Great Pumpkin!
On our vacation this year we stopped to visit my sister Milly and her husband Jim who live in Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Since I have been writing about gardens, they took us to their son Jim’s pumpkin patch to see his entry for the Giant Pumpkin Fest held in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. It was an amazing sight! […]
Rogue Potato family!
My “Rogue Potato” has been growing all summer in the compost bin and has shared the space with a couple of zucchini plants for most of that time. For the most part the potato and zucchini were good neighbors, but eventually the squash got really pushy and began to shade out the potato. Luckily the […]
Planting for Privacy
When we first purchased our home, I was very excited to have a yard with a large concrete patio space in the back and I could visualize having friends over for summer parties. However, when we hosted our first outdoor event, I realized that we were entertaining in a “fishbowl”. Our house was built on […]
Date Night for Beetles
I have a lot of Japanese beetles in my yard and I have been using the beetle traps to catch them. I am astounded at how many beetles there are in my neighborhood. Recently I read an article that said you could hand pick beetles and put them into soapy water to kill them. Since […]
Pennies for Deer
I love lilies – especially the fragrant ones. Unfortunately, they attract deer who love to eat the buds just as they are about to open. When we first moved to this house, I dug up all of the lilies scattered around the yard and planted them in 3 areas to make it easier to protect […]