by Connie Oswald Stofko You may have heard that using bark as mulch is good because it provides nutrition for your plants, or that it’s bad because it eats up nitrogen making the nitrogen unavailable to your plants. The article Woof! No, Bark! clears up the confusion on using bark as mulch. This article is in WNY Gardening Matters, produced by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners in Erie County….
by Connie Oswald Stofko You can plant seeds indoors now for cool-weather vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage, said Julie Emerling, a grower at Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg. Cool-weather crops are ones that you’re going to plant outside around mid-April, depending on the weather. (Tender crops such as tomatoes and peppers are planted outside after the danger of frost has passed, which is usually Memorial Day or the end of May. It’s too soon to…...
by Dana Santasiero There’s a new bug in Western New York and there are two main things you need to know about it. First, the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is called a stink bug because when you step on it, it smells. Second, it could eat the plants in your garden. The good news is even though it is big and ugly, it won’t hurt you. You might find it in your house over the winter but it’ll just be…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko If you are using a straw bale in your autumn decorations, don’t throw it away! You can grow tomatoes and other vegetables in it next spring. I saw photos of the technique called straw bale gardening on the Vegetable Gardeners of WNY Facebook page. I was delighted that Gina and Tony Kruzel allowed me to visit their Kenmore home early in October to see what they had done. They decided to try straw bale gardening because…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Is it safe to use cinder blocks in a raised bed, or might chemicals from the concrete blocks leach out of the blocks to contaminate your soil and food plants you grow there? Can you use pressure treated lumber? Can you grow food plants in the hellstrip, the area between the street and sidewalk? John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County, responded to my questions on soil safety. Cinder blocks in raised…...
When we first told you about Sochi tea plants— the kind of plants you can use to make a cup of tea– they were so popular, they sold out. Well, Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg, has them back in stock. You can keep these plants outside in the summer, but bring them inside in the fall. What makes this plant even more attractive is that in the fall it gets white flowers that are fragrant. See more about caring…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko A reader sent me this gardening question that I can’t answer, but I hope one of my readers can. Can we use concrete reinforcing wire in our gardens? If you can answer his question, please leave a comment below. Here’s the whole question: Hi Connie. I have a question for you or one of your readers. I’ve read a lot about using concrete reinforcing wire to make sturdy tomato cages. All I’ve ever seen about that wire is…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko People often tell me they have no room to garden, but if you have room for a pot or hanging basket, you have room to garden. Gardening in containers counts as gardening! Today the folks at Lockwood’s Greenhouses tell us about a smaller, compact version of eggplant that’s well suited to containers, as well as a cascading cherry tomato that you can grow in a hanging basket. Then they tell us about bhut jolokia, the hottest…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko As I sat outside yesterday in shorts and bare feet, it felt as if summer was here to stay. But that’s how it feels every spring in Western New York, and every year our spring weather takes us on a roller coaster ride. The high was in the 70s yesterday, yet you know we’re still going to get freezing temperatures before summer really arrives. Some years we’ve had flakes of snow flying around in the air in May. I know…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The Springville Center for the Arts is seeking volunteers to start seedlings for its green roof project. You’ll get seeds that you are asked to start in containers and nurture until they’re ready to be transplanted onto the green roof. You don’t have to live in Springville to participate. In addition to the seedling program, volunteers are needed for the installation of the green roof on the building that the arts center is rehabilitating at 5 East Main…...
© 2016 Buffalo-Niagara Gardening. All rights reserved.