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2. Ornamental millet
3. King Tut grass
4. Dinnerplate dahlias
9. Elephant ear to try: King of the Nile, West Indian kale
If you want healthy trees and shrubs, this is the best time of year to prune. Just be careful not to take off blossoms.
12 Essentials for 2012
3 Jan
1. Sungold indeterminate tomatoes
2. Ornamental millet
3. King Tut grass
4. Dinnerplate dahlias
5. Amaranth
6. Rainbow Swiss chard
7. Lemon basil
8. Cobra garden tool for weeding.
It will make you more successful with weeding, digging and planting!
9. Elephant ear to try: King of the Nile, West Indian kale
10. Edible flowers.
Plant some nasturiums or calendulas, (pot marigolds) or Scarlet runner bean flowers. Then add to your salads. These are super-fun for kids to eat.
11. Build and plant a raised bed for your kids, a garden within your garden.
Kids love to be involved and dig in the dirt. Build their self-esteem and foster independence as they create and grow and harvest. This is something Mel’s Green Garden can do for you, too!
12. CHEMICAL FREE for 2012.
Buy grass seed with the money you would have spent on chemicals. Plant and grow instead of spraying and killing.
Growing flowers. But delivering smiles
4 AugI’ve been having a ton of fun with my weekly flower share this summer. It’s great putting together the bouquets each week, but the best part is seeing the smiles when people come to pick them up. Seeing those smiles is incredibly gratifying.
I want to give others that same gratification. It’s been a bumper crop in the yard this year so I’ve decided to open up the bouquet opportunities a bit more. I want you all to see those smiles when you deliver a bouquet to someone special.
I’m now taking orders for individual bouquets and floral arrangements. I can do any size for birthdays, anniversaries or the little moments where you just want to make someone smile. With enough warning, I’m happy to help you add multiple arrangements for dinner parties or outdoor entertainment.
Shoot me an email at mel@melsgreengarden.com and let me know how I can help you deliver smiles.
Mel’s Green Garden – Tip of the Day
5 Apr
Example of a Pear Tree in espalier form photo taken at Alice Water's Edible Schoolyard
For example, I will be leaving my lilacs alone; and since most hydrangeas blossom on old wood, I will leave them alone too. Mind you, if they needed it (if they were getting too big or crowding out other plantings), I would have to sacrifice some blooms and just do it. But this year my spring pruning to-do list is to prune and stake my pear trees, which I am growing flat to my garage wall in espalier form. I also need to tackle my William Baffin Climbing Rose. With no shortage of blossoms on that one, I can prune away to my heart’s content.
Succession Planting
4 Apr 
To ensure you have blooms all summer long, try this method of planting that has worked really well for my garden: For example, let’s say you want to grow some zinnias. Buy some zinnia plants and buy some zinnia seeds (I like cut-and-come-again from Seed Savers).
First, plant your plants. When your area is all planted with plants (for the most part, anyway; I am forever rearranging and planting all season long), sprinkle some of the zinnia seeds. Plant the seeds every 2 weeks through the July. This will guarantee loads of blooms all summer long. So when your first plants bloom and then go to seed, your little seedlings will be up and blooming and the cycle continues through the first hard frost.
May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day!
Poison….Beware….Caution….
17 FebAnyone who knows me well knows I am “a worrier,” an “over-protective mom” of three, so it was important to me to be educated and keep my kids and dog safe when I garden.
This was my main motivation for creating a green and organic yard and garden, as I learned that most kids absorb those nasty chemicals through their skin rather than ingest them through what they eat or drink. They absorb it from running barefoot in their own backyard so I am careful not to grow anything that could irritate or harm them in any way.
I have read again and again to steer clear of the following poisonous plants:
Monkshood
Foxglove
Caladium
Gibsonii Castor Bean
Angel Trumpet, also know as Datura or Brugmansia
Colchicum
