Hello fellow readers, I recently received an email from the NJ Landscape Contractors Association (NJLCA), alerting members about legislation pending to limit the use of neonicotinoid insecticides to agricultural properties only. Neonicotinoids (neo·​nic·​o·​ti·​noid) are a synthetic d

Hello fellow readers, After our volunteer sing at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice last Friday, my singing buddy, Ken of Branchville NJ, asked about grub remedies for his lawn riddled with brown patches. He tried a product from a home store, but it didn’t help. It may not be a g

Hello fellow readers, Last week, I enjoyed a visit with facilitators of a recently installed memorial garden at Father John’s Animal House, a no-kill rescue facility in Lafayette, NJ. My colleague and dear friend Marty of Three Seasons Garden Design volunteered to create the gar

Hello Fellow Readers, The idea of saving vegetable seeds came to me a few years back while buying produce at a farm market. One tomato weighed in at five bucks. True, it was a beefy one. When I shared my sticker shock, the farmer said it was an heirloom tomato grown organically. And s

Hello Fellow Readers, We attended a pool party over the weekend with close friends; the host is a full-fledged organic gardener. “Aren’t seedless watermelons genetically modified not to have seeds?” one guest whispered as we dished the delicious fruit. “How can

Hello Fellow Readers, I have an assortment of deformed and dwarfed flowers on my Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) and Coneflower (Echinacea). In addition to distorted petals, some flowers didn’t form at all.  Plus, the ends of others look like something nibbled them off. This year,

Hello fellow readers, Have you noticed on a humid summer morning, sometimes there are shiny clusters of droplets on what looks like cobwebs in the lawn? The webs could be the branching nature of dollar spot fungus. Or, they may be the webs of grass spiders. Then there are the adorable

Hello Fellow Readers, Sometimes, I think I should’ve been a bug expert given all the garden dilemmas from insects that folks ask about. Fortunately, there are also beneficial bugs, such as the much-loved ladybugs. Aphid remedies before introducing beneficial ladybugs For sure ma

Hello Fellow Readers, The violence added to the pandemic is hard to comprehend. A foundation of our column is finding lessons in our gardens and nature and taking these lessons into the garden of life. And so, especially this week, we long for wisdom to soothe the heaviness. Maybe a t

Hello Fellow Readers, The spring sure is unfolding at an unusual pace. Many are asking why the leaves on trees look stunted—or reporting perennials that haven’t come back. Give it time. Much has to do with soil temperatures, but Mother Nature has a way of sorting things out. Dur