GARDEN DILEMMAS? ASK MARY!

Hello fellow readers, Can you believe we’ve been chatting for 165 weeks? I am so grateful for all we have learned from each other.  I hope you don’t mind that I revisited one of our early columns from 2012. Let’s just say, I’m concerned about produce abuse and thought we could help by

Hello fellow readers, While sitting with Mom outside her nursing home in Virginia, I noticed a crust of bread being hauled off by an ant.  I marvel at how much an ant can carry – ten to fifty times their body weight, they say. Mom, who inspired my gardening start, can’t talk muc

Hello fellow readers, They say one out of every three bites of food depends on a pollinator. According to the Pollinator Partnership, the largest non-profit organization in the world dedicated to the protection of pollinators, the U.S. has lost over 50 percent of its managed honeybee

Hello fellow readers, One of the notable things about our chats is the cycle of gardening dilemmas each year. It’s Japanese beetle time, and they must be out in full force based on all who have asked what to do. Last year we talked about the store-bought Japanese beetle bags and

Hello fellow readers, Last week we heard from Craig of Frelinghuysen about his Willows Gone Wild next to his pool. ‘They’re beautiful trees but cause countless hours of cleanup,’ explained Craig, who went on to rant about each stage of his dirty dilemma, giving us all a good laugh. Th

My dear friend Ruth shared this photo and Happy Bumble Bee Video of her newly acquired Monarda commonly called Bee Balm and for good reason; it’s a Bee Magnet! By the way, Ruth is incredibly attractive too. And, her gardening fortitude and talents tends to make the rest of us lo

Hello fellow readers, Craig of Frelinghuysen admits he has a “love-hate relationship with his willows gone wild.” He and Caroline have three Weeping Willows next to their pool, an ‘ongoing issue’ between them. Caroline, like me, hates to kill trees. ‘They

Hello fellow readers, Nancy of Fredon wrote, ‘Hi there gardening guru, I have a problem that seems to be an issue every year. My annual flowers do not do well in my perennial beds. They grow slowly or not at all and turn yellow. The same plants in a planter do just fine and my perenni

Hello fellow readers, Last week, we spoke about George’s weedy invasion resulting in the need for a garden do-over. Thankfully, he opted for a more organic approach, including a non-chemical remedy called soil solarization. Here’s how. Preparing your garden for planting is