General Garden Info | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

Rain Barrels – Buying

How to Make a Rain Barrel LOCAL SOURCES OF RAIN BARRELS Noah’s Rain Barrel Steve Golden 404-210-7061 Email: noahsrainbarrel@comcast.net Brookhaven Rain Barrels Pat Magee (404) 364-0440 Rain Barrels in Georgia Many local hardware stores offer assembled rain barrels or kits...

Soil Testing – Why

Once upon a time, farmers tested their soil by tasting it. Cupping a handful in front of their face, they would inhale its aroma and tentatively touch the dirt with their tongue. “Time to spread some lime and gu-anner” they’d...

Gardeners Play With pH

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the importance of soil testing and the role of pH in plant health. I gave instructions on how to collect a soil sample and have it tested. In the days following, several...

Chromosome Numbers of Plants and Animals

Sometimes a Dad has to be a Dad…….. When my son was studying biology in the ninth grade, he and I got into a discussion of whether organisms with identical numbers of chromosomes would be identical. He said they would...

Powdery Mildew – Control

Powdery mildew is a common disease of summer. It begins when we have cool nighttime temperatures coupled with warm, humid days. Symptoms continue even when days are warmer. Powdery mildew is a “parasitic” fungus. It rests on the leaf surface...

Secrets for Beginner Gardeners

Warm weather the last couple of weekends really brought out the gardening masses! I visited three different garden centers one weekend and found all of them packed. I was in line behind a young couple one Saturday and overheard their...

Plant Names – Deciphering

I’ve been thinking recently about the mystification that plant “common names” can present to gardeners. Common names are just the familiar names we attach to plants: maypop, skunk cabbage, obedient plant and a host of others. They aid our pronunciation...

Compost – Why We Do it

“My whole life has been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that lets you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first...

Wood Chips – Using

Wood chips are an inexpensive mulch and ground cover. Tree companies are often glad to dump their chip truck in a homeowner’s yard – the company doesn’t have to pay a disposal fee and the homeowner gets free mulch. Jim...

Maintenance Matters

If you attended the “Maintenance Matters!” class at Evening at Emory, I promised you could download the whole thing and study it at your leisure. Here it is! Click here to download “Maintenance...

Garden Phrases – Misunderstood

I was reading late at night recently when I came upon a phrase that chilled my soul: “Dress with dried blood to accelerate.” Did it concern the latest Hollywood terror flick? Was it directions for driving a getaway car? Are...

Drought – Watering Rules – Current May, 2017

In 2015 the Georgia Department of Natural Resources issued permanent Drought Management Rules (see below). If drought worsens, the Director of EPD monitors drought severity and reports regularly if conditions might trigger further water restrictions. This insures that, if a...