TheGardenLady received this question from Martha: How can I add acid around my hydrangeas? Because hydrangeas like an acidic soil – especially if you want the blue blooms- you can supplement the fertilizer and add acid.  Know that not all the hydrangeas will change color. Usually it is the pink and blue hydrangeas that can [...]

Sustainable Lawrence Presents: An Afternoon with WHYY Radio Host Mike McGrath “You Bet Your Garden” A Rare Sighting in the Greater Princeton Area Organic Gardening, composting, Organic Lawn, & Organic Tomato lovers Come to hear, see, and ask questions of Mike McGrath – Lecture and Demonstrations, Q &A, A Book Signing Organic Afternoon WHYY/NPR Radio [...]

                                              Alternaria TheGardenLady received this question from Helen. I just put in marigolds next to my tomatoes, as companion plants. I think I’ve overwatered them and it’s been rainy in Ithaca this year…White spots are forming on them. I don’t have a digital camera handy, or I’d show you what they look like. My daughter [...]

  TheGardenLady received this question from Steph. I am going away for 4 weeks from mid-July and I don’t know what will happen to my plants! I can’t get anyone else to water them and I am afraid they will die…I’ve been nurturing them for about 1-3 years now…I have a ficus/rubber plant (Ficus elastica [...]

I am sure that TheGardenLady is not alone in wanting to know the newest plants developed for the garden each year. Does TheGardenLady’s readers want to be the first in his/her area to have these new plants? Or is the gardener looking for just that special plant for just that special area in the garden [...]

  Acadia National Park – Photo taken by beforethecoffee TheGardenLady received this question from Clive: I am a UK citizen and live in England.  Recently I purchased some waterfront land looking out towards Acadia National Park, in Down-East Maine. In the next year I hope to have an all-year-round house built on the land, which I hope [...]

  TheGardenLady received this question from Maryjane: I summer in Maine under white and Norway pines.  The soil is acidic.  I want to plant flowers. What suggestions can you make for raised beds? How lovely to summer in Maine and create your own flower gardens. Your letter does not say whether you want to plant [...]

  It is January and though it is winter for many of us there are still a few outdoor gardening things we can do. If your ground is not frozen, you can still take soil tests  – take separate tests for lawns, vegetable and flower gardens or shrub borders. You can get your soil test [...]

  TheGardenLady received this question from Johnathan: My girlfriend just bought me a fern plant.  I never grew or even had plants, but I just got my  own apartment. I need to know how to take care of them and how to get them to grow up to 10ft. TheGardenLady wrote the Dec.3rd post How You [...]

  TheGardenLady received this question from Rachel: I’m at college studying floristry and I’m trying to find the seasonal availability for Aspidistra but can not find it anywhere.  I was wondering if you could help me on that one please. The Aspidistra is a plant that is a native of the Eastern Himalayas, Taiwan, China, [...]