by Connie Oswald Stofko If you’re a gardener who has complained about deer eating your plants, you’ve probably had someone respond with “Well, the deer were here first.” But gardeners who have been in their house for a few decades insist they were there before the deer. They’re right. While many people think that we are encroaching on the deer’s long-established habitat when we build new developments, suburban sprawl is actually creating refuges for deer, said Paul D. Curtis, associate…
What’s not to like about sunchokes? They grow dramatically in one season, reaching heights of 10 feet. In September, when other plants are losing steam, sunchokes are just starting to flower. They add a lot of interest to your garden. Plus you can eat them! Find out more about sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes) here. I have to admit there is one drawback with sunchokes– The roots do spread a lot. The root is the part you eat, and even…
by Connie Oswald Stofko A lot us of keep a container in the kitchen so we can collect potato peels, orange rinds, tea bags and other scraps for our compost pile. I use an old plastic container that has a cracked lid. Your container might be as simple as a used coffee can. You don’t need anything fancy. Here’s my big confession: I don’t like to wash out the container. I mean, you’re basically using it to collect garbage. It’s…
by Connie Oswald Stofko You may have noticed black circles on the maple leaves in your neighborhood. That’s called tar spot because it looks like drops of tar were dripped onto the leaves. Tar spot is caused by a fungus and attacks mostly sugar maples, but can affect other maples as well, said Carol Ann Harlos, Master Gardener coordinator for the Erie County Cornell Cooperative Extension. There isn’t a lot you can do about tar spot, but the disease isn’t as…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Do you know that there are people who essentially throw their leaves away? They rake them out to the curb and wait for someone to haul them away. I find that amazing because those autumn leaves are a valuable commodity for your garden– yet they’re free! Here are five tips on making the most of autumn leaves. Tip #1: Use leaves as mulch around your perennials to help them survive the winter. If we have a…
by Connie Oswald Stofko It’s autumn, and here’s an outside project you can do today: create a lasagna garden. Lasagna gardening is a method where you apply material to your garden bed in layers, like in a lasagna. Lasagna gardening has several advantages: You don’t have to till or dig your garden bed. The technique works with clay or other poor soil. You can create a new bed over lawn. It’s not labor intensive. It’s organic. You don’t have to…
Here’s a question from a reader: Hi! I have another hydrangea tree question. My H. Paniculata Limelight is now three years old. The first two years I had large blooms that started out slightly green, changed to a bright white, then turned pink. (See the bright white blooms here.) This year there were many smaller blooms. Some stayed green from August to the present (Oct. 7), and a few went from green to white and back to green. I missed…
It’s officially autumn in Western New York, but that doesn’t mean we’re done working in our gardens. We’ve had a lovely stretch of warm and sunny weather, so it’s been a pleasure to work outside, and that pleasant weather should continue for a few more days. Whether you want to be productive or are just looking for an excuse to get outdoors, here are some things you can do in your garden now. Water your plants It has been sunny…
by Connie Oswald Stofko We don’t live the way people did at the turn of the last century, and that’s reflected in our landscapes, said Laura L. S. Burchfield, co-author of American Home Landscapes: A Design Guide to Creating Period Garden Styles. Back then, people had outhouses. They needed a space for livestock. An area called the drying yard was set aside for hanging laundry. By the 1920s and ’30s, there were garages for cars, large lawns and even stone…
by Connie Oswald Stofko A combination of gardening problems faces Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, the 35-acre historical interpretive center in Amherst that showcases 19th century buildings set up like a village. Much of the landscape is boggy, so gardens can be wet early in the season. In addition, there’s no irrigation system, and hoses can’t reach all the gardens, so there’s no easy way to water plants during the dry summer months. To deal with these conditions, Buffalo Niagara Heritage…
© 2014 Buffalo-Niagara Gardening. All rights reserved.