Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
sunbeam through branches of beach tree with emerging leaves

Unusual Spring & Soil Temperature

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
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A woman cutting cabbage out of garden

Vegetable Garden Basics

Hello fellow readers, It is undoubtedly is a challenging time in the history of our country. I pray the precautions and consequences of the coronavirus brings us together—each of us sharing kindness, provisions, and seeds of love with our neighbors, which brings me to the topic of sta
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Echinacea-seeds-on-stone-patio

The Magic of Seeds

Hello Fellow Readers, The other day I read a children's book that came up when I searched for A Promise is a Promise in the nifty library database. I don't recall why I searched the title. Certainly not for a children's book, though I enjoy reading them from time to time, maybe to fee
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Starting Seeds, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone, Gardening tips, Garden Blogs

Starting Perennials from Seed

Hello Fellow Readers, Last week we spoke about starting annual seeds indoors. John from Hope NJ asked if he could start perennial seeds indoors too. “Or should I start them directly in the ground?” For the benefit of gardening newbies, perennials are herbaceous (non-woody) plants that
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, Forget-Me-Nots,Myosotis sylvatica

Forget-Me-Nots

Hello Fellow Readers, Over the weekend I attended a celebration of the life of Lori from Phillipsburg NJ whom I never personally met. Her partner, Drew, is a writing workshop buddy and kind encourager of my book underway titled The Lesson of the Leaf. Through Drew, I feel as though ha
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Impulses Satisfied by Seed Shopping

Hello Fellow Readers, “Seems timely,” wrote Anita from Blairstown NJ in an email this morning with a Rose is Rose cartoon (a syndicated comic strip by Pat Brady.) It starts out with a woman decked in garden cloths and wide-brimmed hat adorned with a pink bow. She’s on her knees up to
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A colander of funky vegetables on a wooden table

Funky Vegetables

Hello Fellow Readers, This time of year, what fun it is to peruse seed catalogs. Green beans aren’t only green anymore. And tomatoes come in all sorts of shades and mottled blends of colors. There are even tomatoes that stay green when they’re ripe. Charlotte of Stone Chur
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog,Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach and Speaker,How seeds disperse, seed dispersal, Seeds, eating dandelions

We’re All Just Seeds

Hello Fellow Readers, There’s a country song by Pat Alger and Ralph Murphy, sung by Kathy Mattea that I adore. The chorus of Seeds speaks volumes starting with “We’re all just seeds in God’s hands. We start the same, but where we land is sometimes fertile soil
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Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone,Gardening tips, Garden Blogs, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Ruth Ratcliff, Bumble Bee, Bee Balm, Monarda

Bee Kind

Hello Fellow Readers, There’s quite a buzz about widely-used insecticides impacting our pollinators. One out of every three bites of food depend on a pollinator; hence they are critical to our food supply. Digging through research, there are varying opinions on the effect of insectici
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A half of a seedless watermelon on a wood table.

Are Seedless Watermelon GMOs?

Hello fellow readers, “Are seedless watermelon GMOs?” asked Lois from Tranquility, NJ. The consensus is they aren’t genetically modified, nor are they truly seedless. Summer picnics bring back memories of seed spitting contests. Hard to do nowadays as most watermelon
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