How-To Archive
Italy Trip 2013 – Plants and Gardens
Southern Italy is comparable to south Georgia and the northern half of Florida. There were lots of bougainvillea, oleander, lantana and geraniums. Surprisingly, there were no crapemyrtles! Back to Italy Trip...
Italy Trip 2013 – Tour Group
We had a total of 36 people in the group. Almost all were from Georgia and many had been on trips with me before. Back to Italy Trip – 2013 the group singing “That’s Amore” as we drove into...
Greenhouse Assembly Manual – Thinking Outside Model 44115
Want to do a good deed for a fellow gardener? Sarah C. says she recently purchase a beautiful (used) plastic outdoor greenhouse/shed. “I’ve been able to put the shed together for the most part, but I can’t figure out how to...
World Naked Gardening Day
World Naked Gardening Day is celebrated each year on the first Saturday in May. People across the globe are encouraged to tend their portion of the world’s garden unclothed . As the organizers say: “It’s fun, costs no money, runs no unwanted...
Self-Watering Bucket Garden
I am a lazy gardener. As such, I often find that I haven’t watered my garden nearly as often as I should. So when I saw plans for a self-watering bucket garden, I knew I had to try it. I...
Wild Hemp (Marijuana) – How to Control It
People often ask me if I get questions about growing marijuana. While I have answered questions about growing opium poppy, ephedra and Salvia divinorum, marijuana gardeners have not yet availed themselves of my supposed knowledge. Recently, though, I did find...
How DeKalb County Compost is Made
DeKalb County is one of the few counties that collects yard waste, composts it, and returns it to citizens for their use. I recently toured the composting facility to see how it...
Indoor Greenhouse – Building
A few weekends ago I mentioned that I had built an enclosed greenhouse on my unheated sunporch. The new growing space is in front of windows but it also contains two shelving units with fluorescent lights plus a small space...
Christmas Displays
Each year I try to have a different Christmas display in front of my house. I use lights to make it more festive at night. Compare mine to the display I saw on Peachtree-Dunwoody...
PDA – Used for Gardening
Note: this was written in 2003…long before smartphones became so ubiquitous!) The local garden club came to visit last week. We all had a fine time talking with each other and tasting the potluck dishes each person had brought. “Watch...
Rooting Cuttings – Accelerated by Aerated Water
My friend Kim C. remarked to me that the coleus stalks he’d absentmindedly stuck in an ornamental fountain had rooted much quicker than similar cuttings he’d put in a bucket of water. Eager to test his observation, I clipped 30...
Cuba Trip – 2012 – Pictures
I recently returned from a trip to a country that has fascinated me since I read about it in Life Magazine when I was a kid: Cuba. Accompanied by 25 intrepid travelers, I was able to visit organic farms, lively streets...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Tour Group
I went to Cuba with 25 gardeners and other travelers. Most were from Georgia but others came from Washington State and Ohio. Back to Cuba Trip – 2012 Want to be notified when I take another trip? CLICK...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Cuban People
The Cuban literacy rate (99.8%) is higher than the United States’ rate (97%). Although not many people outside the tourist industry speak English, the natives were uniformly friendly, often blurting “We love the US…we just wish we could go there!”...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Signs
I understand very little Spanish but could sometimes puzzle out what signs meant. It was such a relief to arrive in the Miami airport and be able to navigate without getting lost! Back to Cuba Trip – 2012...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Gardens and Farms
Cuba is a tropical island, well-suited to growing many fruits and vegetables plus ornamental plants. Organic farms have sprung up by necessity, because they can’t get pesticides into the country. Back to Cuba Trip –...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Transportation
When the US embargo began in 1960, it was like a door slammed shut on importing cars from other countries. Cuba had plenty of cars from before that time and it has lots of Russian Lada cars (imagine a tin...
Cuba Trip 2012 – Buildings
It’s like a time bomb went off in the 1950′s: many buildings still stand but they have had NO maintenance for 60 years. No paint, no exterior repairs, no improvements….just the effects of weather on stucco and wood. We would...
