Gardening

You’ve heard of speed dating? Some Vermont organic farmers are trying out a slower paced, you could say...more rural, alternative: weed dating. It has nothing to do with smoking marijuana.

In speed dating, you spend only a few minutes chatting, then move on in a fast-paced round robin with several potential partners.

Weed daters have plenty of time to get acquainted as they move down row after row, pulling weeds.

As part of an environment reporting collaboration with Northeast stations, Steve Zind of Vermont Public Radio has our story. More...

It isn't that there's nothing left to do in the vegetable garden, but Cornell Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy took a break this weekend. She didn't go far. In her weekly conversation about the yard and gardens with Martha Foley, Amy shares a list of things to do to catch up in the flower beds.

Local food advocates in Keene and Keene Valley will celebrate the lowly rutabaga this Sunday. You’re invited to sample the yellow turnip roasted, in soups and even desserts during the third annual Great Adirondack Rutabaga Festival, sponsored by Adirondack Harvest, the Adirondack Farmers Market Cooperative and the town of Keene. The day’s events also include the 5k Rutabaga Run, High Peaks Hula Hoop Championship and Coronation of the Rutabaga King and Queen. Tom Both, lives in Keene and is chair of Adirondack Harvest. He told Todd Moe that the rutabaga deserves a day of praise.

When school resumes next week, some North Country students will return to the classroom and the garden. Since last spring, students, faculty and parents have tilled, planted and tended to vegetable gardens from Cape Vincent to Keene Valley. The result is edible schoolyards. In many schools, gardens are being integrated into the educational curriculum to teach children not only about plants and nature, but other subjects as well. School leaders say gardens can teach children about economics, poetry, math and science studies. In Potsdam, the result has been more than just a pretty garden patch in the school’s courtyard. Fresh, school-grown veggies are being served at lunch. Todd Moe has more.

Gardeners are, we hope, enjoying the harvest season these last days of August. Martha Foley runs down the list of the usual chores and worries with Cornell Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy, and finds that by now, there's not much point in worrying about the weeds or the pests. One continuing worry...late blight.

"Going local" is a subject you've heard about many times in the last few years. You can't celebrate "local" without talking about food. Todd Moe visited a community garden in Saranac Lake and talked to Green Circle founder Gail Brill about the upcoming "Farm2Fork Festival" on September 4th in Riverside Park. The event will include workshops, cooking demonstrations and, of course, a chance to eat locally grown food.

Some of what you pull out of the garden this season could be used to help nourish the soil next spring. Compost is simply decomposed organic material. While it may seem mysterious or complicated, horticulturist Amy Ivy told Todd Moe that composting is a very simple and natural process. She shares some tips.

The duties of the head gardener at Upper Canada Village, a living history museum in Morrisburg, Ontario, are many...and varied. Brian Henderson “lives” gardening as it was in the mid-1800s. It’s a full time commitment, from seedlings, through summer, and the harvest. Brian Henderson uses “period” tools and methods...and wardrobe, as well. He's today's Heard Up North.

Henderson told his story to Jill Breit, of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York. TAUNY is our partner in the Garden Plot, and you can find more about Jill’s trip to the Upper Canada Village gardens at the Garden Plot blog.

You've eaten, canned and maybe dried vegetables from the garden this summer, and it's still producing plenty of fresh produce. Sometimes this extra bounty is wasted, left to rot on the plant or picked and left on the kitchen counter until it's too late. Todd Moe talks with horticulturist Amy Ivy about ways to donate excess veggies from the garden to a local food bank, soup kitchen or community center.

Martha Foley and horticulturist Amy Ivy talk about beneficial garden bugs: ladybugs, praying mantis, and other good garden insects provide safe, natural biological solutions to pest control problems in flower and vegetable beds.