Crossroads Gardening

The Gardening-at-the-Crossroads blog is our way of keeping our readers informed about the ever changing seasons of the garden.

Feb 14, 2008, Happy Valentine's Day

One legend has it that during the Middle Ages, people in Europe believed that birds started looking for a springtime mate around the middle of February. The notion evolved and strengthened, particularly with lovers, so that during a holiday they celebrated on February 14, they began exchanging notes and giving small gifts like flowers.

Jan 4, 2008, Give your Narcissus a Nip

Those crafty researchers at Cornell University have come up with another use for alcohol (go figure!) It turns out that giving narcissus' a drink containing 5% alcohol will stunt their growth enough so that they don't get leggy when forcing them. The alcohol doesn't affect the flowers, just the stems, so you get the beautiful flowers without having them flop over. Click the link for the whole story.

Jan 1, 2008, Seed companies

Here's a list of seed companies for you to visit.

Jan 1, 2008, Indoor gardening allows you to bring nauture indoors

You can bring nauture indoors with indoor gardening. From the window sill pot to an advanced hydroponics system there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Dec 31, 2007, Low light plants

There are many plants with low light requirements that you can grow in your home or office

Dec 29, 2007, After Holiday Bargains

If you are out and about this weekend, check out the after holiday sales on bulbs. I was able to get some Alliums, Anemones, Ranunculus and Nectaroscordum at 75% off! You can still plant these out as long as the ground isn't frozen or you can plant them in pots for forcing in the next couple of months. I was able to get seventy bulbs that would have cost $22.00 for only $5.50!

It was the Nectaroscordum siculum also known as the Sicilian Honey Lily that caught my eye. This plant has umbels of large, bell-shaped creamy pink and green hanging flowers on top of tall erect stems with interesting seed pods.

So if you are able to take advantage of them, there are some great bargains out there.

Only 82 days till spring.

Dec 22, 2007, What's the temperature today?

Temperature is an important thing for gardeners to know and be aware of all year long.

Dec 15, 2007, Soil Improvement

Better gardens through soil improvement

Dec 1, 2007, A test of the Topsy-Turvy tomato planter vs. normal container grown tomatoes.

A test of the Topsy-Turvy tomato planter vs. normal container grown tomatoes.

Dec 1, 2007, Do it yourself plant markers

Do it yourself plant markers

Dec 1, 2007, Site Map

Site map for Gardening at the Crossroads

Nov 24, 2007, Thanksgiving weekend

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Sitting down with family and friends to thanksgiving dinner that includes bounty grown in your garden brings back memories of the gardening season.

Here in NE Ohio, Thanksgiving brought us our first measurable snowfall, a couple of inches here at the Crossroads Garden. But the sun came out yesterday and most of it is gone by now but we know it will be back.

Snow in our area is usually "lake effect" snow. The cold winds blow from Canada across a relatively warm Lake Erie and create bands of snow that can deposit large amounts of snow in a short period of time in one area while a mile or so away gets nothing. The bands can twist like a weather vane with the wind.

This week's mail brought the first seed catalog of the season from Stokes Seed this week. Seed catalogs are something gardeners look forward to, they signal the start of planning for next year's garden. It's fun to spend cold winter evenings looking through the catalogs dreaming of what the winter landscape will be transformed into when the warm weather of the spring arrives again.

Happy Gardening from Cathy & Neal

Nov 11, 2007, Winter Garden

The winter garden, it's not as bleak as it seems.

Nov 9, 2007, Compost

Put the magic of compost to work in your garden!

Nov 4, 2007, Annuals and Perennials

What is the difference between annuals and perennials anyway?

Nov 3, 2007, Pansies

Pansies bring early and late color to our garden

Oct 31, 2007, Winterizing your power tools

For most of us in the northern hemisphere the gardening season is over. Any power tools that we use are likely to not be used for the next four to six months. We have found that by using a fuel stabilizer in our fuel year around we have less problems with starting the equipment up in the spring, especially if we forget and don't run the tank dry as most recommend.

This is also a good time to take your summer equipment in for any repairs. The repair shop can then look at it over the winter and you will be ahead of the game next spring when everyone else is taking their equipment in and waiting.

Oct 29, 2007, Over wintering Pansys

Julie from Ontario writes and asks us-

"I have planted pansy's in a planter now being November some are blooming can I leave them in the pot and outside for the winter?? We have temp of -30's in January???? or do I bring them in."

Great question!

Pansy's are hardy in zones 4-8. They love the cooler weather and will withstand light freezes. Since you have planted them in a planter, we would bring them in when the temps start getting consistently below freezing at night. If you have an attached unheated garage, they will probably do OK if stored against an inside wall. You can bring them out again in late winter or early spring. Not sure if you are in southern or northern Ontario and as you know, there's a big difference between the two! If you had them in the ground, they might be OK with mulch applied to keep them from freezing too hard.

Pansy's like soil rich in organic material and do well with plenty of water and mulching.

They are usually grown as an annual, but they can, under favorable conditions, be grown as a perennial. They tend to start looking a bit scraggly after a few years, however.

We usually get some for our window boxes in late winter from the garden center and they do well until May or June when the hot weather knocks them back a bit. We are located in NE Ohio about 20 miles south of Lake Erie. We usually toss them in the compost pile in June and add the summer flowers to our window boxes. We are going to experiment with planting them in a shady, out of the way place once we remove them from the window boxes next summer and bringing them back in the fall.

When in doubt, check with your local garden center for advice, they know best about your local climate when it comes to plants.

Oct 20, 2007, Pumpkin carving tips

In a few weeks all the little ghosts and goblins will be coming around. We'll all be out looking for the perfect pumpkin to carve (unless of course, you grew your own!) Click the link below for our pumpkin carving tips.

Oct 15, 2007, Sad time of year

Even though fall is one of our favorite times of year with the cooler temperatures and low humidity, it's always a sad time of year when we finally bring ourselves to cleaning up the remains of the garden. We haven't had any frost yet at the crossroads garden, but the tomato plants, while still valiantly producing blossoms, will produce no more red tomatoes with the cooler nights and shorter days. We'll soon be planting the last of the daffodils in anticipation of next spring. We hope that you have had a good gardening year also.

If you haven't subscribed to our e-mail newsletter yet, do it today. The October issue has important information on what you should be doing now to prepare your garden for the winter.

Oct 3, 2007, Bulb Gardening

Bulb Gardening, planting flower bulbs for a spectacular spring start to your garden!

Oct 3, 2007, You can use a groundcover to take care of that shady area.

You can use a groundcover to take care of that shady area that is hard to grow other plants in.

Oct 3, 2007, Container Gardening

Container gardening