Even though we don't live in the land of the wonderful, sweet Vidalia onion farms, a good garden will yield you a bounty of onions, just about ready for their final harvest about this time of year. A couple of readers have asked me to tell them how to store them. It's really not that difficult. And stored properly they will last for about six months. When are they ready to harvest? My parents could look at the onion tops and tell exactly when they were ready to harvest.  The "tell" is that the onion tops will shrink down and look like the plants are dying. If you see flowers starting to grow …

A number of friends have told me that they had the worst ants this year and have asked for some guidance on what to do about it. This seems strange to me as it seems like my local ant colonies are smaller and more localized than I can remember. I don’t mind ants in the garden and in the woods but draw the line at sharing my home with them. If they keep that in mind I’ll live in peace and let them be. If they come into the house I deal with it swiftly and permanently. Since we don’t have ants year-round like some other parts of the country, we forget that they are part of our ecosystem, and …

Often gardeners plant wonderful beds of flowers but find it painful to think of cutting them and bringing the beauty of their garden indoors. The solution for this problem is the traditional cutting garden, which always looks like it’s been hacked up and is usually the better for it. The cutting garden, located in a sunny but not prominent location, is for the very utilitarian purpose of providing a succession of seasonal blooms for floral arrangements to decorate the rooms of the house. Our cutting garden is an area about 3 feet wide x 12 feet long (about two rototiller widths) and is …

One day I saw an unusual garden ornament so I got my trusty camera and took a picture. This started a collection of wonderful, whimsical photos. Here are some of them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. If you get inspired to find an unusual ornament for your garden I highly recommend you stop by New England Garden Ornaments on Union Avenue in Sudbury. They have an incredible assortment of wonderful garden art.

Do yourself a favor and plant some sweet, crunchy winter carrots this year. When is it time to get the seeds into the ground? Now. There's also still time to get seeds of fast-maturing, warm-season vegetables going, such as snap beans, cucumbers and summer squash, cilantro, lettuce and radishes. And every fall garden should also include some beets, carrots, collards, leeks and scallions, along with more lettuce and radishes. In some really sunny Sudbury gardens, even fast-maturing peas and potatoes will do well in the fall garden. If you love onions, be sure to try some multiplying onions and…

Growing up we used to have a dessert which combined dried fruits and sweetened wine that was called “compote.” Being that I had three brothers and a sister with me at the dining table, you can imagine that we quickly renamed it “compost” and I can’t ever think of one without thinking of the other. Actually a couple of my brothers would probably swear that the “compost” tastes better. (In reality compote tastes pretty good if put on top of lots of vanilla ice cream.) Once August is upon us, everything that’s getting planted at my house is in the ground and it’s time to spend a little time …

Ornamental trees add color and interest to any landscape but their use and placement are often misunderstood. A typical suburban garden should have only a few of them strategically placed to attract the eye with their beauty and form. From a design point of view, they should be used in three ways: as a focal point, serving as punctuation to an architectural form to draw your attention to a linear space to direct your eyes to a special vista within the landscape. There are too many wonderful specimen trees to describe here, so these are just a few of my favorites, chosen for their beauty and …

The tomatoes are ripening more and more every day. If yours aren't, be patient. The last week of July is usually when mine ripen. Now's the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. There's nothing like picking a fresh tomato off the vine and eating it while it's still warm from the sun. Yum! Don't forget to fertilize your vegetable garden every two weeks now, with a foliar-type fertilizer such as Miracle Gro. If your plants have yellow sections in their centers near the veins it means that they’re having a hard time taking up iron from the soil. The easy way to correct this is to mix some …

We've been eating delicious cherry tomatoes for the past week. It looks like the larger varieties are going to be ready to eat next week, can't wait. The plants are growing very rapidly now, so be sure to pinch yours back and cut off all the base suckers every couple of days. I limit mine to 5 feet high, so I have to cut off about 6 inches at the top every few days now. See the attached photo, they look terrific. Also, if you have Salvia, the beautiful blue spiky mid-ground plants in your garden, now is the time to cut them back to about 4 inches. You'll get another beautiful show of color …

There's not much you can do in the garden right now other than enjoy the beautiful flowers and watering/weeding. My lillies are in full bloom now, looking spectacular. Also, the hydrangeas have finally bloomed and they look great, too. Autumn is my favorite time of year for planting trees and shrubs. If you can bear the mosquitoes you will find that most anything you stick in the ground will grow when planted in the fall.  Visitors from other parts of the country are drawn to New England for the vivid reds, scarlets, oranges, yellow-oranges, and copper colors. While much of the display comes …

If you really don’t like someone give them a wild running bamboo plant, that’s my advice. Today, I’ll talk about plants that will not endear you to the person you’re giving them to. And by converse, if you get one of these plants from a friend you may want to reevaluate your friendship. If a friend asks for some and you gave them some they will hate you for it in a year or two. Some folks call them “thugs of the plant world,” some call them “spite plants.” I like to think of them as plants that are by their nature invasive or die easily, or somehow bring pain to the recipient. And before you …

This spring/summer has been one of the hardest I can remember for the vegetable gardener. Starting with the endless days without sun and then the days with massive sun/humidity, it’s a wonder anything is growing at all. The good news is that the tomatoes and squash plants have lots of blossoms and will be soon producing a bounty with consistent water and some simple care. An important note ... Sudbury has a watering restriction in place, please respect it and only water on your designated day in the early morning or late evening. Now’s the time to start taking care of your tomatoes the …

Now is the perfect time to trim your flowering shrubs. Rhododendrons, azaleas, lilacs and just about any spring-flowering shrub have finished blooming and are ready to be pruned to a great shape. Don't wait too long, as they produce blooms for next year on new growth. Cut with sharp shears and shape the plants in a pleasing manner. Never trim anyting so it's flat on the top, give it a slight slope so the snow doesn't break the plant. Also there's no need to put anything on the wounds of the plant unless it's bigger than 2 inches in diameter. Nature will take care of anything smaller. Many of …

I've attached some photos of the raised bed gardens that I've installed this year, showing the progression of the plantings. They look fantastic so far and we're all looking forward to some wonderful fresh vegetables very soon. This week we'll spend a little time working on how to make great garden soil out of the good soil you have. Soil is the medium that garden plants grow in and it doesn't just happen to be great by accident, it requires a concerted effort and lots of patience. Here's the first thing you need to know:   “A plant grows in direct proportion to the least available nutrient…

Now that the vegetable garden is fully planted it's time to think about planting a few things around the house that will add beauty all summer and into the fall. I've included a list of great plants for window boxes or planters and divided them up into those for sunny spots and those for shady pots. At the end of the article I'll give you a few combinations that I've gotten over the years from my friend Evvy, a "real" Nantucket gardener. Their climate is a little warmer than Sudbury's, but the plants will work successfully here, too. GREAT PLANTS FOR SUNNY WINDOW BOXES & PLANTERS Ornamental …

When choosing garden gloves I divide gardening tasks into three categories: “bull-work” “finesse-work” “delicate-work.” And although there are no gloves out there that are perfect for all tasks, this article is about gloves I'll highly recommend for each category. The most obvious task to start with would be “bull-work” gloves, as they’re the most common and what most of us think of as tasks needing garden gloves. My definition of “bull-work” involves anything that you’ll need a wheelbarrow for, such as when you’re digging holes, cutting branches and trees, raking, moving dirt, etc. For these…

One of my favorite landscape plants is also one of the least ornamental while it’s growing. However, in the winter when it’s gone by and covered with a glistening cover of crystal ice it can look as beautiful as a Faberge egg. What is this plant? Plants is more like it – they are a family of plants known as ornamental grasses. They are very subtle and start in the spring as foot-high mounds and end the season sometimes as tall as 10-foot screens. Their beauty is very subtle and comes from their artistic placement for texture, colors and form. As a design element, I usually use them to …

Growing up as a kid, I always helped Mom and Dad in the garden. With five kids the garden helped stretch the family budget and give us great, fresh food grown organically long before there were Whole Foods markets. We had a 20-acre farm, so the size of the garden didn't really matter. What we did was rototill long rows with about 2 feet of grass between them (the size of our hand mower) and plant them full of vegetables in a line. This is called "row-path-row" gardening and is very traditional around the globe. Not many people have that luxury these days, so we've taken an idea developed in …

Of course, just about any plant is a nice gift for someone you like. Today's column has some groupings of thoughtful plants that you could give someone to make them think of you every time they brush against them or walk by. One of the universal favored scents over the ages is that of the lemon. The Romans still to this day have a special fondness for the scent and you will find it in some of the finest Italian fragrances. In our climate it’s hard to grow the real thing, but here are a few plants that have the scent and grow well: Roman Chamomile, Lemon-Balm, Dragonhead, Lemon-scented …

When planning your shade garden you must start by determining “how shady is my shade”. Here's a simple guide : Medium shade is usually produced by a tall tree or a structure interrupting sunlight for parts of the day and varies as the day progresses. Deep shade occurs on the north side of the house or under a dense canopy of trees and never varies as the sun travels through its daily cycle. Light shade exists where there is a canopy of trees that filter the sunlight through their leaves, blocking some of the sunlight, but ever changing and never fully blocking the sun. The starter plant of …