Read 'Shearing Plants for Rebloom' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Any plant growing in my garden has to earn its keep. Some bloom for a long time, some have beautiful foliage after the flowers fade, others disappear entirely after blooming and can be planted over, and still others will grow fresh foliage and rebloom if I shear them back. True I have to live with some stubble for a while until they produce new leaves and then flowers, but planted with the right companions these plants can be a big asset with their new foliage, flowers, or both.

Don’t expect to get a rebloom as full and fabulous as the first. Second bloom are smaller in number and often is size so set your expectations accordingly.

Group I: These plants can be cut to the ground after the first flowers have finished to encourage fresh foliage and possible rebloom.

Columbine (Aquilegia spp.): Cutting to the ground also eliminates the leaves with mite damage and will result in a fresh new mount of leaves as well as a small rebloom.
Hardy geranium ( Geranium spp.) All species will form a fresh new compact mound of foliage and some will produce flowers.
Hollyhock (Alcea rosea): May rebloom on short stems.
Mullein (Verbascum spp.)
Speedwell (Veronica spicata)
Stoke’s aster (Stokesia laevis); be careful when you cut as buds look very much like the seedheads.
Thread leaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata)
Tickseed (Coreopsis grandiflora)

Group II: For a possible rebloom cut back the stems of the plants in this list to the basal foliage after the flowers have finished.

Delphinium (Delphinium elatum)
Floxglove (Digitalis spp.)
Painted daisy (Tanacetum coccineum)
Peachleaf bellflower (Campanula persicifolia)
Pincushion flower (Scabiosa columbaria)
Salvia (Salvia nemerosa)

Group III: These have no basal foliage and should be cut back as indicated.

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis); Cut down to 2-3” from the ground.
Lavender (Lavandula spp.) Cut to healthy foliage.
Mountain Bluet (Centaurea Montana):  Cut down to 2-3” from the ground.
Spiderwort (Tradescantia Andersoniana group): cut back by half.

Beebalm (Monarda didyma), Goldenrod (Solidago spp..) and Black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’) will produce a compact attractive mound of foliage if cut back 4-5” from the ground after the flowers fade but they will not rebloom.

If you cut back a plant after the flowers fade you will tidy up your bed, encourage fresh foliage, and maybe enjoy some more flowers. You really can’t lose by giving it a try.

Read 'How and What to Deadhead to Prolong Bloom' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Many gardeners find deadhead a boring, mundane job but I always like it. It gives me the opportunity to enjoy plant plants close up, touch them, smell them, and inspect them for diseases or pests. If I do a little everyday, the job is never too overwhelming and the garden is deadheaded about once a week. The prospect of more flowers keeps me pretty faithful about deadheading and I am always spurred on when I see the plants putting out more and more flowers.

The most important reason for me to deadhead is to push my plants to produce more flowers rather than the seeds that they normally would produce. There are other reasons to deadhead of course and not all plants respond to deadheading no matter how much anyone tries. Lilacs, iris, and peonies absolutely refuse to rebloom but I deadhead them anyway in order to improve their appearance and the overall appearance of the garden. When I deadhead my roses I consider shaping the bushes at the same time because they can get very leggy and ugly by the end of the season. Plants like spiderwort have a tendency to self seed in my garden so deadheading them does double duty; promotes rebloom and cuts down the self seeding. Of course there are some plants I want to rebloom AND self seed so I drop the flowers that I deadhead in an area of the garden where I would like to see them grow. You really can’t go wrong with deadheading so give it a try and see if you can get more flowers.

Here is a list of perennials that respond to deadheading with prolonged blooming.

Baby’s breath (Gysophilia paniculata)
Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)
Bellflower-peachleaf (Campanulata persicifolia)
Blanket flower (Garllardia x grandiflora)
Blazing star (Liatris spicata)
Bleeding heart-fernleaf and ringed (Dicentra spp. and Dicentra Formosa)
Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis)
Columbine (Aquilegia spp.)
Coralbells (Heuchera hybrids)
Delphinium (Delphiniium elatum)
Foamflower (tiarella spp) not all
Foxglove (Digitalis spp)
Garden phlos (Phlox paniculata)
Gaura (Gaura lidheimeri)
Glove thistle (Echinops ritro)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp)
Hollyhock (Acea rosea)
Jupiter’s beard (Centranthus rubber)
Lavender (Lavender spp)
Lupine (Lupinus hybrids)
Mountain bluet (Centaurea montana)
Mullein (Verbascum spp)
Painted daisy (Tanacetum coccineum)
Pincushion plant (Scabiosa columbaria)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea
Rose (Rosa spp)
Salvia (Salvia nemerosa)
Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum)
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)
Speedwell (Veronica spicata)
Spiderwort (Tradescantia Andersoniana)
Stokes aster (Stokesia laevis)
Tickseed (Coreopsis grandiflora)

Once you decide that you will deadhead you have to decide how you will do so. Each plant is different but here are some guidelines.

1. Avoid cutting off developing flower buds. Sounds easy but sometimes the buds are hidden or the flowers are on very short stems and snipping a bud is easy to do accidentally. Coreopsis ‘Moonbean’ has this problem.

2. Cut flowers that are borne singly on a stem, like a Shasta daisy, to the first branch or branch bud.

3. Cut off large individual flowers borne in clusters or on spikes, like spiderwort or hollyhocks, as they wilt and die and then cut off the whole spike, or cluster when no flowers or buds remain.

4. Cut off whole spikes or clusters of small flowers, like speedwell or goldenrod, when the whole spike or cluster is wilted or dead.

Items 3 and 4 are a matter of flower size; it is unreasonable to cut off every flower of baby’s breath or speedwell as it dies because the flowers are so small you would have to do it with manicure scissors and a whole lot of patience. Cutting off the whole stem of flowers once they have all faded will do the job nicely.

Deadheading is a pretty easy job. I have a pair of very sharp strong scissors that I always carry in the pocket of my gardening pants so I can use them any time I see a wilting flower. I always welcome an excuse to wander in my garden among my plants and snip here and there, enjoying the rebloom of some plant that has already responded to my sharp little scissors.

Read 'Facts about Thrips that Eat Roses' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

There are many different kinds of thrips; some are beneficial (can you believe it?) others are not, and this post is only on the destructive kinds, that feast on rose flowers. These same thrips hurt many other plants such as impatiens, petunias, members of the cucumber family, peppers, and fruits such as grape and strawberry. These are nasty guys and considering their size (1/8-3/16″ long) they do a lot of damage, especially to rose flowers, making them unsuitable for showing.

What does thrip damage look like?   Buds that fail to open and/or  buds that open to deformed  flowers with brown edges on the petals.  The thrips use their rasping mouth parts to to dig into the bud where they feed on the tissues and juices.  The juices cause the petals to stick together, ball up and fail to open.  Sometimes they also enter the leaves causing them to crinkle.  If you are still  not sure that you have thrips, place a piece of white copy paper underneath the flower you think has thrips and shake the flower. If small tan to black specks that move fall onto the paper they are probably thrips.     Every year the thrips attack the same bushes in my rose garden, usually the light colored ones,  while leaving others untouched.

So, what do you do? If you want to show your roses then you have to spray with a commercial insecticide. The spray will not reverse the damage to the roses that have already succumbed to the thrips, but hopefully it will stop the thrips from doing further damage. On the other hand, if you do not show your roses and can tolerate some damage for a short time, ignore the thrips and don’t spray. As long as only the flowers are hurt, the life of the bush is not threatened. You will lose blooms but avoid pesticides that may cause harm to unintended victims. Perhaps we all need to tolerate some imperfections in order to stop damaging environment. The thrips will disappear during the summer when temperatures warm up, their damage probably does not threaten the life of your plant, and you can enjoy the flowers of the flushes during the summer on reblooming roses, so perhaps you can adjust to life with thrips. Yes, I admit, the thrips will return in the fall.

Selecting varieties with sepals that keep the bud covered until they open, good cultural practices, and removing flowers that are infected will all help control this pest.  A systemic spray such as Orthene will give good control, preventing or reducing the problem before it gets to be a major problem.    Natural predators of thrips such as lady beetles and lacewings are not usually able to handle to job.

If you have a severe infestation of thrips and you can’t stand the damage they inflict,  go the insecticide route. Top mist your plants with a good insecticide every 3-4 days.

Here’s a point to ponder: the same thrips that destroy your roses prey on spider mites, another pest of roses.

Read 'How to Rotate Crops in the Home Vegetable Garden' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

As you begin to plan your vegetable garden consider the importance of crop rotation; that is, the growing of related plants in different areas of the garden in a cyclical pattern over a 3-4 year period. Because most backyard farmers have space limitations they tend put the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant in the same area of the garden year after year but this is not a good idea. These plants are all members of the same plant family and tend to use the same soil nutrients as well as succumb to the same pests and diseases. There results are declining soil fertility and increased infestation of pests and disease all adding up to lower yields.

Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplant are only one example of vegetables in the same plant family. Here is a list of vegetables commonly grown in the home garden and the families to which they belong.

Nightshade Family:
Eggplant
Pepper
Potato
Tomato

Gourd Family:
Gourd
Melon
Pumpkin
Squash

Beans (Legumes) Family:
Lima beans
Peas
Snap/string beans
Wax beans

Carrot Family:
Carrots
Parsnips
Parsley
Celery

Cole Family:
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Horseradish
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard Greens
Radish
Rutabaga
Turnip

Onion Family:
Chives
Garlic
Leek
Onion
Shalots

Goosefoot Family:
Beets
Sinach
Swiss chard

Sunflower Family:
Endive
Lettuce

Corn, sweet potatoes, and okra are in a family with few other vegetables you are likely to grow, so you can consider them singletons and put them with another group.

When planning the garden with crop rotation in mind, organize the vegetables you plan to grow according to families. Divide your garden into 4-5 areas and then distribute the plant families into the various areas taking into consideration size and number of plants as well as environmental conditions such as light and moisture. Make a rough map of your garden filling in the names of the plants with their family name. Next year change the location of each plant family. Continue to change to the location each year so that no plant family occupies the same area more than once in 3-4 years.

Ideally, one bed would lie fallow each year while compost or a cover crop was planted on it.

Here is an example:

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

This plan is not rigid and can be varied to suit your taste.  For example, you find that your family dislikes lima beans but likes English peas. Just put the English peas in the Pea Family bed. O.K., your family doesn’t like eggplant but likes lima beans and wax beans; shrink the size of the Nightshade family bed and enlarge the size of the bean bed. You can also add a member of the Kole family or Onion family etc. to any bed in which you have room and include them in the rotation. Just remember to keep vegetables in the same family together as you rotate them in the beds.  Growing tomatoes in the area where you had pepers last year is NOT rotation because they are in the same family.

You might also want to consider the nutrient demands of your vegetables. Some crops like corn, cauliflower, greens, tomatoes, cabbage and squash are heavy feeders; that is they will use up a lot of the nutrients in the soil. Others, like potatoes and some other root crops are light feeders. Still other crops, namely those in the pea family, are soil builders and add nutrients to the soil. Try to plant light feeders after heavy feeders, followed by some soil builders.

Also, remember that your some of your cool weather crops such as radishes, beets, and carrots might be finished and out of the garden by the time you want to plant your warm weather crops such as tomatoes, squash, and beans. This would allow you to grow two crops in one area each year.

Read 'How to make Forsythia Bloom' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Spring would not be spring without the bright sprays of forsythias. The bushes give beauty to even the lowliest when they bloom so if you have a forsythia bush count your blessings and enjoy the show. But, you say, your bush does not bloom in spite of your attention and care. Let’s say that you have thinned it, cut it back, fertilized it, and ignored it, all to no avail. It simply won’t bloom. Consider these possible causes and the solutions.

1. Forsythia like full sun to initiate flower buds. If there are overhead trees or a shadow from a house or other structure this may be the cause of your forsythia’s refusal to bloom. If overhead trees are the issue, try to thin the canopy as much as possible, other wise, you will have to move the forsythia.

2. Forsythia sets its flower buds during the summer before the spring that it blooms. If you have thinned or pruned the forsythia in summer or fall you may have cut off all the flower buds. Prune in spring before the buds for next year’s flowers are produced and do so by removing 1/3 of the oldest stems cutting them at the base (don’t give the bush a haircut, or remove just the recent growth).

3. If these suggestions don’t work go to your local agricultural extension office and have them run a soil test for pH and fertility. A soil test will reveal the problems your soil may have in regard to pH (acidity-alkalinity), and nutrients. Sometimes the results of a soil test are quite surprising; for example, excess nitrogen may inhibit flower production while stimulating vegetative growth (lots of stems and leaves).

Generally forsythia are easy to grow and bloom well with little care so one of these suggestions will correct the problem and you can enjoy a good show next spring.

Read 'How to Cut Down Ornamental Grasses for the Spring Clean' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

The spring clean up involves many tasks but none that I hate more than cutting down the large ornamental grasses like pampas grass or Miscanthus. The dried leaves, stalks and seed heads make a terrible mess that blows around the garden and yard with every flutter of a breeze; getting rid of the cuttings is another nightmare as we try to pound the sticky debris into the garden waste bins. This year, however, I decided to approach the task with a new procedure. I had to talk long and hard to convince the head gardener to give the new method I try but in the end he was very cooperative and found it better than past experiences. It does NOT eliminate all mess but it DOES make the task easier and less messy and it requires very little equipment.

Equipment:

Bungy cord
Shears, saw or whatever tool you use to cut ornamental grasses

Procedure:

Fasten the bungy cord around the grass mass being careful to include all the grass possible. Higher is better than lower because you will have to cut into the clump and will want to avoid cutting the bungy cord.

Using the tool of your choice, begin cutting the clump of grass. Go around the whole mass first and then bend it over to cut the center if necessary. A very large clump can be difficult to handle alone so if you can get a helper to hold the clump at an angle while you cut the center the task will be easier.

The debris held by the bungy cord is now in a bundle ready for disposal. The clump in the ground may need some trimming but at least the bungy cord is holding the bulk of the grass together.

This method is shown as applied to large grasses but it is equally effective on small ones such as the pennisetums that we cut back in the fall. Please remember that this method does not eliminate the mess but it does reduce it. Cutting on a windless day, disposing of the waste material promptly, and having the waste bins very near the clump of grass will all help reduce the mess of the light dry grass debris.

Read 'Eight Interesting Facts about Aphids and Suggestions for Control' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

Does your heart sink when you see a favorite plant covered with tiny insects exuding a sticky gop, perhaps accompanied by a black dust? You can see that the insects are sucking juices from the plant and you know that these unwelcome visitors means disaster and maybe worse. Take heart; you probably have an aphid infection; certainly not good news, but usually fairly easy to eliminate. Aphids are unpleasant and can hurt your garden plants but knowing more about them will help you deal with them more effectively. Here are eight interesting facts about aphids.

1. There are over 4000 different kinds (species) of aphids about 150 of which cause problems for crops and garden plants in the United States.

2. They come in many colors including green, brown, black, pink.

3. Some kinds only eat a specific kind of plant others like many different kinds of plants.

4. Aphids suck the liquid from the phloem tissue of the plants. This liquid, also called sap, contains the nutrients that nourish the plant. It does not contain enough nitrogen for the aphids so they consume excessive amounts and secrete a sticky, sugary substance known as “honeydew” that is the food for a sooty mold that often grows on it.

5. Ants also like the honeydew, which is rich in carbohydrates, and some kinds of ants live with aphids in a mutually beneficial relations; the ants give the aphids protection and the aphids provide honeydew for the ants; some ants even stroke the aphids with their antennae to stimulate the production of the honeydew!

6. Aphids can damage the plant by depriving the tissues of vital nutrients as they take the sap and by spreading viruses. In addition, some the saliva of some aphids is toxic to the plants they feed upon and cause the leaves to be deformed or puckered.

7. Aphids reproduce asexually in the spring when females produce eggs without males. A single female can produce many billions of descendants by the end of summer. In the fall, aphids reproduce sexually producing eggs that over-winter and hatch in the spring to begin the cycle over again.

8. The natural enemies of aphids are ladybugs, parasitic wasps, lacewings, hoverfly larvae, aphid midge larvae, crab spiders and some fungi. If you have ladybugs around, great, but buying them will probably not work as the kind you buy will fly off before they make any impact on the aphid population.

So, how DO you get rid of aphids? In most cases washing them off with a strong stream of water from a hose will solve your problem. Check your plants daily as you may have to repeat the water spray treatment several times. If that doesn’t work there are other options.

If a large leaf, stem, bud etc. is effected, remove the infected part.
Spray a solution of 1 tablespoon dish or laundry detergent in a quart of water being sure to cover the underside of the leaves.
Commercial summer oils and insecticidal soaps can be used according to directions and again, make sure that you spray the undersides of the leaves. Summer oils can burn depending on the plant and the temperature at which you apply the soil so read the directions carefully.
There are many commercial insecticides that will do the job; check your local garden shop for those that are acceptable in your state.

Of course the best preventative is good gardening practices. Keep the plant healthy with proper light, nutrients, and water. Be careful not to over fertilize as new grow tends to be weak and very attractive to aphids.

Read 'How to Tell the Difference between Voles and Moles' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

The words voles and moles look and sound a lot alike and people seem quite confused as to which animal is to blame for damage to their garden. When you actually look at a vole and a mole next to each other or observe their habits you will probably find that they are very different.

If you think mice are cute then you will probably think voles are cute too because they look very much like them and are often called meadow mice. Here are two pictures;  On the left is a picture of a mole;  compare it with the picture of a vole above. They are both small furry animals but the vole really looks nothing like a mole. They are not as soft and furry as a mole and they have distinct eyes.

The presence of voles can be identified first by the above ground runways they make between burrows. The runways may be hidden by grass or groundcovers but can be discovered by tell tale droppings or dead plant material at the burrow opening. The presence of moles may be noticed by the proverbial molehill.

Voles eat a wide variety of plants, most frequently grasses, herbaceous plants, bulbs, and tubers. They also eat the roots and the bark of trees and can cause extensive damage to fruit trees in particular by girdling them. Moles, on the other hand, are carnivorous, eating mostly earthworms.

Vole populations fluctuate greatly. Female voles have 1-5 litters per year and produce 1-11 young in each litter, but usually have 3-6. The gestation period is 21 days and the babies are weaned at 21 days. The females mature in 35-40 days. Start doing the math and that means a lot of voles! The mortality rate is high, however, and the life span ranges from 2 to 16 months. Large population fluctuations occur every 2 to 5 years and most damage is done during the high points. Moles are not as prolific as voles and have steady but much smaller numbers.

In North Carolina it is illegal to poison either moles or voles but traps are OK. Check you local regulations before trying to get rid of either or call an exterminator.

Mole or vole they are both pests and cause a great deal of damage. The only thing worse than having a mole or vole is having both, yes?

If you want to learn more about moles see Moles: Does Anyone Like Moles

Read 'Ten Interesting Facts About Japanese Beetles to Help You Control Them' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

There are few things more frustrating or discouraging than working hard to create something beautiful and then having to watch it made ugly and be destroyed. Anybody who gardens has probably had this experience due to deer, rabbits, voles, moles, molds, Japanese Beetles or other pests. Knowing your enemy is empowering so I have been researching Japanese Beetles, my current nemesis, and here are some interesting facts about their life cycle that help to understand and control them.

The Ten Facts
1. Adults emerge from the soil on warm sunny days beginning in late June and continuing through July. They warm themselves and then begin to feed as soon as possible. Although they eat over 400 plant species they prefer only about 50.
2. Feeding adults release a congregation pheromone with attracts other adults as they emerge later so that masses of adults gather on some unfortunate victim plant.
3. As females emerge they release an additional sex pheromone that attracts males. Mating may take place on turf with several males waiting for the opportunity with the newly emerged female.
4. Mating may also occur while feeding. I have seen three and four beetles stacked up in a mating position and wonder who is mating with whom and how do they figure it out.
5. After feeding for a couple of days the females stop feeding in the afternoon and burrow into the soil to a depth of 2-4” and lay 1- 5 eggs in the soil.
6. Females repeat this feeding, mating, laying routine every 1-2 days.
7. Under warm, moist conditions the eggs hatch in about 2 weeks and develop into grubs that feed on the roots of plants such as grass.
8. Grubs burrow deep into the soil as temperatures fall and return to the top layer in spring when temperatures rise.
9. Grubs form pupae in early June.
10. The pupae form adults by mid to late June and the cycle is complete.

Possible Control Methods
1. There are insecticides that are effective but since they also hurt bees, butterflies, earthworms, and other wildlife directly or indirectly I choose not to spray.
2. Traps are discouraged by most authorities because they will attract the beetles from all over your neighborhood into your garden. Once there they will be attracted by the pheromones to the plants where your own beetles are feeding and mating. If you want to buy a trap, buy one for your neighbor.
3. Biological methods of control involve bacteria and nematodes and are not considered very effective.
4. Keeping the lawn and garden soil dry to impede the development of the eggs and grubs is a possibility but may hurt the lawn and garden more than it hurts the beetles. If it rains your efforts will be useless and you will loose this years plants no matter what.
5. Picking the beetles off our plants by hand is the best alternative and for the past three years has worked. We sustain some damage to both flowers and leaves but nothing so bad that the plants will not recover. We have to put in about 30-40 minutes/day the first week but the process is very easy and the time spent collecting goes down .

Our Plan of Attack
1. The head gardener (a.k.a my husband) cut a gallon milk jug into a collection container (see picture). It has a handle and a large opening so we can shake a fairly large leaf or branch into the opening. We put a couple of inches of water and a few squirts of dish detergent into the jug.
2. We start our collection between 10:00 and 12:00 in the morning after the sun has warmed the soil and leaves of plants. All we do is shake the branch, flower or leaf on which we see beetles and they drop right into the jug and drown. This is not the prime collection time but we want to decrease the feeding damage.
3. We do another collection between 2:00 to 4:00 PM when we know that we will find a lot of beetles feeding and mating. By this time the pheromones are causing large clusters of beetles to congregate on relative few flowers and leaves. We don’t want the fertilized females to get a chance to lay eggs.
4. We do a final collection about 7 PM and see many beetles still feeding and mating.

We start the process as soon as we see the first Japanese beetle in June and continue until we see no more beetles. Most of the problem is in the rose garden where the beetles congregate on certain roses (mostly yellow ones) and ignore others. A few beetles can be found on some of the plants in the formal garden about 100 feet away. I feel sure that our roses are attracting beetles from the formal garden as well as all over the neighborhood but even so we are able to get control over them in a couple of weeks.

I am sure there are other methods for controlling these pests and if you think about their lifecycle you might come up with a fantastic plan that suits your garden and circumstances better than our method. Understanding the enemy is power!

Read 'Source for Good Plants: A Visit to the Farmers’ Market' at http://www.KarensGardenTips.com.

There are numerous sources for plants but my all time favorite is the local Farmer’s Market. As soon as the weather warms up my husband and I begin our ritual of going to the local Farmer’s market early every Saturday morning. On occasion, we may go Sunday too, but the vendors are there in full force on Saturdays.

The one thing you can count on about the Farmer’s Market is that it will be an adventure. The vendors have good quality plants (as well as many other things) and I have never been disappointed with anything I have bought there (and I buy a lot.) There is a large variety of plants once the season gets rolling and we have found some treasures in addition to the usual plants you can buy anywhere. One Saturday last year we found a weeping winged elm (Ulmus alata) and a paperbark maple (Acer griseum), both featuring unusual bark, and they now stand proudly in our bosco. This year we expect to buy a Japanese cut leaf maple from the same vendor; we just can’t decide which one because he has so many beautiful ones.

Display of our favorite tree and shrub vendor

The vendors of annuals, perennials and vegetables are the same way. We can buy all the same old pansies, geraniums, impatiens and marigolds, but we can also find such annuals as Gomphrena ‘Strawberryfields’, Browallia, and Salvia ‘Victoria’, all in six packs or larger if you want. Hanging baskets and planters for sun or shade, in many colors combinations and sizes abound. A large selection of perennials are available such as Platycodon, Pervoskia, and miniature Monarda. Vegetables come in 4 packs or larger sizes to meet the needs or desires of every gardener. We can buy a very large selection of tomatoes including many heirloom varieties, both hot and sweet peppers, 3 kinds of eggplant, summer squash (but no winter squash!), 5 different cucumbers, 3 kinds of cantaloupe, watermelon, many different lettuces and some cold weather crops.  Several vendors sell herbs, so many different herbs that no single person could grow them all. Another vendor specializes in grasses; still another specializes in bog gardens. Last year we bought Venus Fly Traps, Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and a bog orchid from him, complete with directions to make a bog garden. He also had detailed planting instruction that we were careful to follow and we are happy to see that all the plants are coming back as expected. The point is, the vendors at farmer’s markets are eager to please and will help you as other sellers of plants can’t or won’t.

By June the number of plant vendors declines and those selling vegetables, fruit and other produce increase. By fall there are a very large selection of fresh vegetables including a fantastic array of pumpkins and gourds. Wow, what great pumpkins we bought last year!

Through out the spring, summer and fall you can find fresh flower vendors who make up fabulous bouquets for $10-$20, ostrich steaks, homespun wool, the best goat cheese you have ever tasted, bird houses, and…..you get the point, the sky is the limit.

I have gone to Farmers’ Markets in various parts of the country and each is different in regard to their offerings, prices, and ambience; but they all share one thing, the opportunity for adventure. They never disappoint so find one near you and give it a visit. You’ll have a fun time.