Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
a black and white dg overlooking a heart shaped stone amongst fry leaves and yellow Coltsfoot flowers.

Love Gardening – Love Yourself

Hello fellow readers, Last week’s story about personal growth with houseplants came with a struggle of self-doubt. Then came a recording by Louise Hay with an analogy to starting a garden that I hope will inspire you to love gardening and love yourself. Early Spring Houseplant t
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a woman in jeans and black boots from the waist down behind a broadfork

Starting a No-till Garden

Hello fellow readers, Last week, we learned about No-till Gardening thanks to Patti Doell of Little Big Farm. She began using the system for her flower farm three years ago and has remarkable results of improved soil, fewer weeds, and increased bounty. I asked if a homeowner wanted to
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a woman from the waist down in jeans and black workbooks demonstrating no-till gardening using a broadfork.

No-till Gardening

Hello fellow readers, I adore learning from Patti Doell of Little Big Farm, a cut flower farm in Blairstown, NJ. We spoke in late winter when her seed-starting was underway, and I found out she adopted the no-till gardening technique. Also known as no-dig gardening, it’s the pra
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Kearny Community Garden using strawbales

Vegetable Gardening Basics

Hello fellow readers, Thanks to Anita from Blairstown, NJ, who sent me an alert; I sat in on an informative talk about Vegetable Gardening Basics—virtually, that is, like everything these days. Kelly Durkin, Manager of Catherine Dickson Hofman Branch of Warren County Library, looking
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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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