By now your tomato plants should be starting to bear fruit, tantalizing you with their green promises of what’s to come. After all, no store bought tomato can ever compare to the juicy sweetness of a homegrown tomato.

However, tomato plants can quickly become overburdened with long heavy limbs and dozens of fruits. Sometimes a tomato cage won’t cut it. Here are four tips for wrangling and managing your tomato plants this summer.

Tip 1: Cage ’Em

I know I just said that sometimes a tomato cage won’t cut it, but there are times when a cage will cut it—namely while the plant is still young. You can buy tomato cages at any home improvement or gardening center or you can make one by wrapping chicken wire into a tall cylinder. Whatever you use, place the cage over the tomato and carefully thread the limbs through it, allowing them to rest on the cross wires or the center rings. It’s easiest if you place a cage over the tomato when you plant it so that you can help the limbs use the cage as they grow.

Tip 2: Stake ’Em

Stakes are a great solution for a larger vegetable garden. Your stakes should be at least 1-inch thick and five or six feet tall. Plant the stakes at least a foot in the ground. You can use wooden stakes you buy at the home improvement center, you can harvest large branches or small trees from your property, you can use bamboo or you can use fencing stakes—you get the idea. Use smaller pieces of wood or tightly pulled baling twine to create cross supports between the stakes. Carefully thread the limbs through the support system. You can also secure the limbs to the system with twine, twist ties or zip ties.

Tip 3: Net ’Em

Even if you cage and/or stake your tomatoes, they may still require another layer of support—depending on how far out their limbs decide to reach. I like to buy tomato nets and secure them to the top of their support system. Zip ties work great for this. Use the netted squares to support the ends of the limbs.

Tip 4: Prune ’Em

It’s not completely necessary, but your plant will benefit from a little pruning. The very bottom leaves (they often look wilted or yellow) are great ones to prune because they aren’t going to produce anything. You can also prune or pinch off the little “suckers” or leaves that shoot up in the elbow between two limbs. These suckers also won’t produce anything and they really do suck the plant of energy and nutrients that the plant could send to the tomatoes. You can also selectively prune back some of the leaves on the plant—namely the ones that are inadvertently shading tomatoes or blossoms. Don’t prune too much though! The leaves are gathering the sunlight that create the sugars and other nutrients the plant needs to produce and survive (photosynthesis, y’all).

And there you have it. Four simple tips to help you get the most of your tomatoes this summer. Here’s to many tomato sandwiches.

Darla Antoine is an enrolled member of the Okanagan Indian Band in British Columbia and grew up in Eastern Washington State. For three years, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the Midwest, reporting on issues relevant to the Native and Hispanic communities, and most recently served as a producer for Native America Calling. In 2011, she moved to Costa Rica, where she currently lives with her husband and their infant son. She lives on an organic and sustainable farm in the “cloud forest”—the highlands of Costa Rica, 9,000 feet above sea level. Due to the high elevation, the conditions for farming and gardening are similar to that of the Pacific Northwest—cold and rainy for most of the year with a short growing season. Antoine has an herb garden, green house, a bee hive, cows, a goat, and two trout ponds stocked with hundreds of rainbow trout.

By now your tomato plants should be starting to bear fruit, tantalizing you with their green promises of what’s to come. After all, no store bought tomato can ever compare to the juicy sweetness of a homegrown tomato.

However, tomato plants can quickly become overburdened with long heavy limbs and dozens of fruits. Sometimes a tomato cage won’t cut it. Here are four tips for wrangling and managing your tomato plants this summer.

Tip 1: Cage ’Em

I know I just said that sometimes a tomato cage won’t cut it, but there are times when a cage will cut it—namely while the plant is still young. You can buy tomato cages at any home improvement or gardening center or you can make one by wrapping chicken wire into a tall cylinder. Whatever you use, place the cage over the tomato and carefully thread the limbs through it, allowing them to rest on the cross wires or the center rings. It’s easiest if you place a cage over the tomato when you plant it so that you can help the limbs use the cage as they grow.

Tip 2: Stake ’Em

Stakes are a great solution for a larger vegetable garden. Your stakes should be at least 1-inch thick and five or six feet tall. Plant the stakes at least a foot in the ground. You can use wooden stakes you buy at the home improvement center, you can harvest large branches or small trees from your property, you can use bamboo or you can use fencing stakes—you get the idea. Use smaller pieces of wood or tightly pulled baling twine to create cross supports between the stakes. Carefully thread the limbs through the support system. You can also secure the limbs to the system with twine, twist ties or zip ties.

Tip 3: Net ’Em

Even if you cage and/or stake your tomatoes, they may still require another layer of support—depending on how far out their limbs decide to reach. I like to buy tomato nets and secure them to the top of their support system. Zip ties work great for this. Use the netted squares to support the ends of the limbs.

Tip 4: Prune ’Em

It’s not completely necessary, but your plant will benefit from a little pruning. The very bottom leaves (they often look wilted or yellow) are great ones to prune because they aren’t going to produce anything. You can also prune or pinch off the little “suckers” or leaves that shoot up in the elbow between two limbs. These suckers also won’t produce anything and they really do suck the plant of energy and nutrients that the plant could send to the tomatoes. You can also selectively prune back some of the leaves on the plant—namely the ones that are inadvertently shading tomatoes or blossoms. Don’t prune too much though! The leaves are gathering the sunlight that create the sugars and other nutrients the plant needs to produce and survive (photosynthesis, y’all).

And there you have it. Four simple tips to help you get the most of your tomatoes this summer. Here’s to many tomato sandwiches.

Darla Antoine is an enrolled member of the Okanagan Indian Band in British Columbia and grew up in Eastern Washington State. For three years, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the Midwest, reporting on issues relevant to the Native and Hispanic communities, and most recently served as a producer for Native America Calling. In 2011, she moved to Costa Rica, where she currently lives with her husband and their infant son. She lives on an organic and sustainable farm in the “cloud forest”—the highlands of Costa Rica, 9,000 feet above sea level. Due to the high elevation, the conditions for farming and gardening are similar to that of the Pacific Northwest—cold and rainy for most of the year with a short growing season. Antoine has an herb garden, green house, a bee hive, cows, a goat, and two trout ponds stocked with hundreds of rainbow trout.

Tulips are much easier to grow and care for than you might imagine. Even a rank beginner can do it!

In the 1600’s a single tulip bulb often sold for as much as a house. Today, even the very poor can afford to enhance their home gardens with an endless variety of regal looking tulips of many colors, shapes, and sizes. A carefully planned tulip garden attracts attention from all who visit or pass by, and tulips are so easy to grow and care for, that even novice gardeners will be astounded at how simple it is.

Caring for tulips

Planting Tulips

Preparing Your Bed

Tulips need a fertile, well-drained soil located in full or partial sun. Under a tree is okay since the flowers will receive plenty of sun in the spring before tree leaves are fully developed. Then, later in the summer, the leaves on the tree will provide welcome shade. Add mulch if your soil is heavily compacted.

Choosing Your Bulbs

There are literally hundreds of species of tulips to choose from. Usually pictures on the package of bulbs at your nursery are accurate enough to give you a pretty good idea of how your mature flowers will look. Come armed with a plan of how you want your finished garden to appear and choose accordingly. Some commonly chosen favorites are:

• Single blooms
• Double blooms
• Parrot (Petals are feathered and scalloped looking)
• Lily (Pointy petals)
• Fringed (Lacy and extremely delicate looking petals)

There are almost as many colors of tulips as there are varieties. Some are barely tinged with solid pastel colors while others range from deepest red to purple. Recently, an exotic black tulip has become a popular choice. Some tulips are two-tone color patterns, and some, especially the fringed and parrot types, display bold splashes of attention-getting color that almost take your breath away.

Check the bulb package for height as you choose your bulbs. Planting bulbs that produce very short mature flowers behind a row of very tall ones may detract from the effect you are trying to create. These versatile bulbs range in height from less than 8 inches to a few that grow as tall as 24 inches. You may want to pick up a few other plants to alternate with the tulips at the same time you are choosing your tulip bulbs. Daffodils, pansies, bleeding hearts, and columbine all go very well with tulips.

Also, be sure that you check on the package for blooming time for the particular species of bulb you choose. If you pick only early spring flowering bulbs, your garden will look pretty barren by mid-summer. Try for a variety to make your garden last as long as possible.

Choose large bulbs. The larger your bulbs, the more likely you are to get sturdier plants with larger blooms.

Planting the Bulbs

Tulips grow best when planted in mid-fall before the ground freezes. Make sure the bulbs you buy have not already sprouted in the package. If you live in a very warm climate, refrigerate your bulbs for about 8 weeks before planting them.

For a showier display, plant them in round or irregularly shaped groups of 5-15 bulbs, rather than in straight rigid rows.

Plant your bulbs, pointy side up, at least 5-8 inches deep. Some growers feel that even deeper may prolong the life of tulip bulbs, but never plant them over 12 inches deep. Again, check the package for planting directions, keeping in mind that the instructions may not take into account the climate of your particular area.

Write down the names and locations of your bulbs so you can re-order only the ones you truly enjoy, and avoid replanting types that did not do well.

Tulip Care

As with all garden plants, your tulips will require some maintenance, but that maintenance is neither difficult nor excessive. If your neighborhood is infested with bulb snatching squirrels, a wire mesh spread over the ground may discourage them long enough for your plants to begin to grow. Some gardeners use hot pepper powder to successfully battle a variety of curious animals; grated orange peels sprinkled on the ground around plants sometimes works, too, but may lose their aroma in a few days and need to be replaced. If you have purchased very expensive and difficult to find bulbs, you may wish to invest in a few bulb cages to use at the time of planting. These cages can be reused each year.

When your tulips start to grow, water them whenever the top half inch of soil around them is dry. A feeding with an all purpose bulb fertilizer when the first new plants show themselves, and once more after the flowers are finished blooming, if you intend to replant them for the next year, is sufficient.

Storing Bulbs For The Next Season

Most tulips are designated as perennials, but usually bloom best during their first season, with blooms getting smaller each year. Because of this many people prefer starting with new bulbs each year. Older bulbs can be moved to decorate areas along property lines, or to empty areas in a back corner of your property, while new ones are purchased for your main display each year.

If you do want to preserve your bulbs and keep them blooming as long as possible, they are not difficult to store for replanting the next year. Just pick off dead blossoms during the flowering season, but let the leaves remain until they turn brown. Then dig up the bulbs and store them in a cool dry area, (too much heat can cook the bulbs), until mid-fall.

Congratulations. You are now ready to begin planning next summer’s tulip display.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a small greenhouse in the yard where you could escape winter, if only temporarily, and enjoy the quiet serenity of tropical plants and beautiful flowers? Well, with so many hobby greenhouses on the market today, growing year round is no longer just for the professional. Trying to decide which structure to purchase can be a bit confusing though. Let’s look together at the different types available today.

There are two basic types of hobby greenhouse, lean-to and freestanding. Lean-to types are attached to your home. This is an advantage because a common wall is shared as well as heat and electric. Care should be taken to make sure the structure is properly attached and sealed to the house. The major disadvantage is at some point during the day, the lean-to will be in shade because of the shared wall. This can affect the plants growth inside.

Gardening Tips: Hobby Greenhouse Structures

Freestanding types can be located anywhere on your property that receives sun all day and where the ground is level. There is a wider selection of style and size options to choose from. There is one negative aspect; heat and electrical lines must be brought out to where the greenhouse is sitting. Freestanding greenhouses lose heat more quickly because it does not have the insulating wall that a lean-to has, but it will receive more sun, as it is open on all sides.

Styles vary between the two, with lean-to’s having the least to choose from. Freestanding greenhouses offer Slant-side, A-frame, Dome, Gable roof, Quonset, and Gothic arch styles, the most popular being the latter three. Both lean-to and freestanding can be purchased as a kit and usually have aluminum framework, which is long lasting and needs little maintenance.

There are a variety of greenhouse-covering materials to choose from. Polyethylene films, reinforced fiberglass panels, double layered acrylic and traditional glass are mostly used, each having advantages and disadvantages. Glass is very strong and transparent but subject to shattering and is very expensive. Polyethylene film is cheaper to use and lends itself to layering (putting one sheet on top of the other and inflating with air creating an insulation barrier), but needs replacing frequently. Fiberglass panels are rigid, durable, and lightweight and retain heat better than glass panels do. I found that the fiberglass turned yellow after a few years and needed to be replaced. Double-layered acrylic panels are made up of two layers of plastic. There is a ribbed spacing between the layers, measuring between a half and one inch. It will remind you of a corrugated box. This layer increases the strength of the walls and increases the heat retention capabilities. It is also aesthetically pleasing.

I mentioned framing before and I would like to go back to that. The covering material used determines which frame to use. Homemade greenhouse frames are usually constructed with treated wood. Greenhouse kits, sold by the manufacturer, are made of aluminum or galvanized metal. Which ever one you choose, make sure that the frame can support the covering material used. The frame must withstand wind, rain, snow, ice and the load exerted on it from hanging baskets.

If building a freestanding or lean-to structure doesn’t appeal to you, try a greenhouse window. The window resembles a box that has glass shelves and venting windowpanes. It gets its heat from the sun and is a good way to try your hand at greenhouse growing without the expense of a structure on the property.

One important note at this time, always check with your town first for any special permits that may be required before you erect your greenhouse.

So here you have the different types of structures, covering materials, and styles to choose from. Confusing yes, but if you know someone who owns a greenhouse, use him or her for information. Some counties own and operate greenhouses to grow all the flowers used in the surrounding town. Pop in one day and talk to the grower. They are a wealth of information and usually willing to share their passion with others. Sometimes bouncing your ideas off of some else will shed more light on the subject.

True or false: Common household plants are safe, although maybe not desirable, to eat? The answer is false! There is a very good chance that somewhere in your home or garden, you have a poisonous plant growing. The list of poisonous plants is a very long one. Even some foods that we eat come from a plant that has poisonous components. Have you ever enjoyed a strawberry rhubarb pie? This tasty dessert contains the stalks of the rhubarb plant. However, the leaves of a rhubarb plant are poisonous! Even if you do not normally keep plants in your home, you might have an amaryllis, poinsettia, holly or mistletoe around during the holiday season.

Plants that might cause mild symptoms should an adult eat them can be deadly to a small child or pet. A good rule of thumb is that all plants should be treated as dangerous. For this reason, plants should always be kept out of reach, or removed from the house altogether, until the child is old enough to be trusted. Other ways to keep your child safe include:

Gardening Tips: Poisonous Plants

Knowing your plants. When buying a new plant or receiving one as a gift, learn its proper scientific name. Often plants have different common names and this can lead to confusion or improper treatment should the need arise.

Labeling your plants. The plants in your garden and home should be identified in some obvious way. Keep the information stick that comes with the plant. When you transplant your plant to a new pot, move the identifier as well. When planting a group outdoors, push several of the identifying sticks into the grouping. This will help should someone unfamiliar with your garden need to identify the plant for Poison Control.

Completing plant maintenance away from prying eyes. Children are great imitators! If they see you deadheading, pruning, or even cultivating blooms, they may decide to do the same when you are not around — with disastrous consequences.

Should your child ingest a plant, you need to take immediate action. Remove any remaining plant from your child’s mouth and call Poison Control. If you know the name of the plant, inform Poison Control. If you do not, give the professional on the line as complete a description of the plant as possible. Include information about the shape and color of the leaves, describe the flower/fruit it gets (if any) and any unusual characteristics. Also let the Poison Control professional know what part of the plant your child ate — seed, leaf, flower, or fruit. If your child is exhibiting symptoms — diarrhea, nausea, loss of consciousness, erratic or unusual behavior, vomiting, etc. — let the professional know as well. Do not induce vomiting or give your child anything to drink unless told to do so by the Poison Control expert!

Don’t let your vacations or holiday celebration be overshadowed by an emergency. Consult the list of common plants with toxic properties and use them judiciously in your home and landscaping.

Some time ago, I wrote a Lazivore Manifesto—a thinly-veiled self justification for the fact that while I like home grown produce, I really don’t like doing too much work to get it. After years of over reach and under achievement, I am finally achieving some success with my gardening efforts. So I thought I’d run through a few techniques that can help fellow lazivores to grow more while doing less.

Here are some of my favorites.

Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
I’ve already talked about mulching as a no-cost way to grow more from your garden, but it’s a gardening technique that simply can’t be emphasized enough—especially when it comes to reducing your workload too. It reduces evaporation, meaning less watering. It suppresses weeds, meaning less weeding. And it protects soil biodiversity, meaning healthier plants and less trouble shooting. As an added bonus, as the mulch breaks down it adds organic matter to the soil, further feeding the soil beasties and improving moisture retention for future crops too. From leaf mulch to shredded newspaper, there are plenty of different mulching options available. I’m a big fan of pine straw, at least here in North Carolina—it’s cheap, plentiful and doesn’t involve chopping down trees. It’s also great for us lazivores because it’s super light and easy to haul around. (And no, it doesn’t make your soil significantly more acidic.)

Grow What Grows Best

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
I’d love to grow bussels sprouts, but they don’t seem to like the humidity here in NC—and I’ve never had much luck with strawberries either. Garlic, on the other hand, seems to grow for me without trying. So I grow a lot of garlic. Yes, I do grow a few crops that require a little more care and attention—tomatoes, for example—but I am constantly weighing up relative effort versus reward. Not to mention how cheaply and easily I can get that crop at the local farmers’ market or grocery store. (Some things are best left to the professionals.)

Eat What Grows Anyway

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
Yesterday, I found these oyster mushrooms growing in my compost heap. They were the sprouting from the now composting remnants of a (so I thought) failed attempt at growing mushrooms in coffee grounds. This year, I’ve also eaten potatoes I never planted – courtesy of a previous owner I guess – and lettuce and parsley which has self seeded and gone wild. Learning to keep an eye out for the unexpected edibles is a great way to take the “grow what grows best” principle a step further toward “grow what grows without even trying”. It’s worth noting that it is sometimes worth giving volunteers a helping hand—I transplanted the lettuce I found self-seeding, for example, into a vacant section of my plot, and I was also sure to leave it to self seed in case I get the same gift next year too.

Ignore the Weeds of August

Some weeds will grow, no matter how much you mulch. So it’s worth establishing a selective strategy for how to deal with them. Above all else, at least for the lazivore, it’s worth remembering that a weed infestation in April is a much bigger problem than some overgrown weeds in August. Fully grown crops better equipped to compete with weeds than tiny seedlings, and it’s also simply too darned hot to be spending much time in the garden. Let them get a little unruly. Pull back the ones that get out of hand. And then sit back, drink a beer and worry about something else instead.

Go Perennial

© Umbria
It should be pretty obvious that perennial crops require less work than annuals. You don’t need to sow seeds each year. You don’t need to water them religiously because their root systems are already developed. And it’s easy to mulch them heavily at the start of the season and pretty much forget about weeding for the rest of the year. (Did I mention that mulching is a great strategy for lazivore gardening?) From malabar spinach to asparagus to blueberries, there are plenty of perennial crops you can incorporate into a traditional veggie garden—or you can go whole hog and plant a perennial permaculture food forest too.

Saturday

Bayou City Heirloom Bulbs sale: Formosa lilies, oxblood lilies, gingers and more. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at 5842 Velma Lane, Humble; 713-471-4383.

Fall vegetable gardening: Sponsored by Urban Harvest. 9 a.m.-noon at University of Houston, 4361 Wheeler; 713-880-5540, urbanharvest.org. $24 members, $36 nonmembers.

Introduction to Chickens: With John Berry. 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Wabash Antiques and Feed Store, 5701 Washington; 713-863-8322, wabashfeed.com. Free.

Aug. 3

Arboretum at Night: Wine and Cheese and Bats: With Cullen Geiselman. 7-9 p.m. at 4501 Woodway; houston arboretum.org. $30 members, $40 nonmembers.

Starting a community/school garden, Class 1: Sponsored by Urban Harvest. 9-11:15 a.m. at Green Planet Sanctuary, 13424-B Briar Forest Drive; 713-880-5540, urbanharvest.org. $24 members, $36 nonmembers.

Upcoming

Houston Urban Food Production Conference: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the United Way of Greater Houston, 50 Waugh Drive. Participants can select sessions pertaining to starting commercial operations and production methods. Commercial topics include organic certification, marketing options, agricultural valuation for land, efficient irrigation and funding support. Production topics include poultry, goats, beekeeping, integrated pest management, fruit and nut growing, irrigation, season extenders, soil building, weed control, vegetable production and cut flowers. To register, call Diana Todd at 281-855-5614; facebook.com/HUFPC2013. Registration prior to Aug. 9 is $35 and thereafter is $50. Lunch included.

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KUSA – At the end of July, we’re at the midpoint of the growing season and also the hottest time of the year. Here are some mid-season tips to keep your garden thriving through the rest of the growing season.

Pay attention to insects that are active

Aphids and spider mites are active now. They will show up on veggies, but also on roses and some perennials. Almost all insects attack when plants get weak – and heat, like the 90-degree heat we’ve had recently – can play into this. If you’ve been doing all the right things to keep plants healthy, that’s your first line of defense. If infestations are severe, these insects can be treated with products available from the garden center.

Powdery mildew is also common in Colorado gardens

It shows up not just on veggies, but also on the foliage of many plants such as lilacs and roses. This mildew loves warm, dry climates like we have in Colorado! You will find it most often in crowded plantings where air circulation is poor and in damp, shaded areas. And younger plant tissue is usually more susceptible. You will see spots or patches of white to grayish growth that looks like talcum-powder on the upper sides of leaves.

This disease is a good example of how to use Integrated Pest Management – where you start with the simplest measures and then work up to applying a product, if you need it. Start by pruning off the affected areas – and remember never to put diseased material into your compost pile. If you need to do more, you can use copper soap or sulfur or a fungicide product available from a garden center.

Help plants cope with heat

When it’s hot, most veggies need regular water – so watering every day or every other day in the early morning hours is best. Water at the base of the plants so moisture goes right to the roots; this saves water. If you have drip irrigation, that’s all the better. If we have more days prolonged high temps, you can even shade veggies with an umbrella or a shade tarp so they don’t heat stress. This helps them stay at the right temperature to be healthy and keep producing.

Fill up the bare spots

We have 9 really good and warm weeks of weather ahead of us. So if you have gaps and bare spots in your veggie garden – or even in other areas of your landscape, fill them up! Plant shrubs or flowers, or even pot up a plant in a container with some showy annual flowers to add a bright spot of color you can enjoy the rest of the season. We’ve got many good growing days ahead and we need to make the most of them!

Information courtesy Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, sponsors of the 9News Kitchen Garden and the 9News Water Wise Garden: www.alcc.com.

(KUSA-TV © 2013 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

Some time ago, I wrote a Lazivore Manifesto—a thinly-veiled self justification for the fact that while I like home grown produce, I really don’t like doing too much work to get it. After years of over reach and under achievement, I am finally achieving some success with my gardening efforts. So I thought I’d run through a few techniques that can help fellow lazivores to grow more while doing less.

Here are some of my favorites.

Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
I’ve already talked about mulching as a no-cost way to grow more from your garden, but it’s a gardening technique that simply can’t be emphasized enough—especially when it comes to reducing your workload too. It reduces evaporation, meaning less watering. It suppresses weeds, meaning less weeding. And it protects soil biodiversity, meaning healthier plants and less trouble shooting. As an added bonus, as the mulch breaks down it adds organic matter to the soil, further feeding the soil beasties and improving moisture retention for future crops too. From leaf mulch to shredded newspaper, there are plenty of different mulching options available. I’m a big fan of pine straw, at least here in North Carolina—it’s cheap, plentiful and doesn’t involve chopping down trees. It’s also great for us lazivores because it’s super light and easy to haul around. (And no, it doesn’t make your soil significantly more acidic.)

Grow What Grows Best

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
I’d love to grow bussels sprouts, but they don’t seem to like the acidity here in NC—and I’ve never had much luck with strawberries either. Garlic, on the other hand, seems to grow for me without trying. So I grow a lot of garlic. Yes, I do grow a few crops that require a little more care and attention—tomatoes, for example—but I am constantly weighing up relative effort versus reward. Not to mention how cheaply and easily I can get that crop at the local farmers’ market or grocery store. (Some things are best left to the professionals.)

Eat What Grows Anyway

Sami Grover/CC BY 2.0
Yesterday, I found these oyster mushrooms growing in my compost heap. They were the sprouting from the now composting remnants of a (so I thought) failed attempt at growing mushrooms in coffee grounds. This year, I’ve also eaten potatoes I never planted – courtesy of a previous owner I guess – and lettuce and parsley which has self seeded and gone wild. Learning to keep an eye out for the unexpected edibles is a great way to take the “grow what grows best” principle a step further toward “grow what grows without even trying”. It’s worth noting that it is sometimes worth giving volunteers a helping hand—I transplanted the lettuce I found self-seeding, for example, into a vacant section of my plot, and I was also sure to leave it to self seed in case I get the same gift next year too.

Ignore the Weeds of August

Some weeds will grow, no matter how much you mulch. So it’s worth establishing a selective strategy for how to deal with them. Above all else, at least for the lazivore, it’s worth remembering that a weed infestation in April is a much bigger problem than some overgrown weeds in August. Fully grown crops better equipped to compete with weeds than tiny seedlings, and it’s also simply too darned hot to be spending much time in the garden. Let them get a little unruly. Pull back the ones that get out of hand. And then sit back, drink a beer and worry about something else instead.

Go Perennial

© Umbria
It should be pretty obvious that perennial crops require less work than annuals. You don’t need to sow seeds each year. You don’t need to water them religiously because their root systems are already developed. And it’s easy to mulch them heavily at the start of the season and pretty much forget about weeding for the rest of the year. (Did I mention that mulching is a great strategy for lazivore gardening?) From malabar spinach to asparagus to blueberries, there are plenty of perennial crops you can incorporate into a traditional veggie garden—or you can go whole hog and plant a perennial permaculture food forest too.

KENMORE – For visitors of Ken-Ton’s 11th annual Garden Tour, last weekend’s event was a chance to see a wide variety of flowers and plants in different shapes, sizes, and colors. However, for gardeners, it was also an opportunity to communicate and share tips with other green-thumbed community members.

During the event, which ran on July 20 and 21, gardeners opened up their yards to the public, shared their unique experiences, and gave advice to residents who may participate in this colorful tradition in the future.

According to Vicki Miller of Nassau Avenue, one who is just starting out should remember that gardening, like art, is subjective. She advised new participants not to be nervous when showcasing their masterpieces.

“I think people refrain from participating in the Garden Walk because they’re afraid of what people will think or say, and it’s not like that. It’s a great weekend, you meet wonderful people, and you share tips and you learn tips,” she said.

Many other participants of the Garden Tour also said an important part of gardening is networking and sharing things with others. This was especially true for those who were starting out, such as Denis Uminski of Columbia Boulevard. He said he took many gardening tips from his neighbor, Lynn O’Connor.

“I take my lead off of Lynn next door. She’s been doing this for years, and we watch her decorations increase and so on, she’s constantly searching for new things and so we’re starting to follow her example,” Uminski said.

O’Connor’s advice to gardeners was simple: “buy only what you love.” She commented that people often put a great deal of thought into their gardens, without knowing ahead of time what is actually going to grow.

“If it grows, that’s great. If it doesn’t, that’s okay, too,” she said.

For even experienced gardeners, the craft can be a challenge. Some factors, such as weather, are out of human control. Brian Blyth of Delaware Road in Tonawanda said this year’s weather was conducive to growing, but there were challenges.

“It’s actually been good for growing things, it’s just that sometimes the conditions get a little over the top, a little harsh. In general, it’s been good,” he said. “[It] seems to change and you get a long string of hot weather…then we ended up with that storm the other day.”

As an experienced gardener, Blyth advised people to realize gardening is about much more than just throwing water on a plant and hoping it will grow, adding that it is important to use fertilizer for the best results.

“A lot of people don’t realize that when they plant stuff, they have to feed it, fertilize it…we mulch all of our gardens, so then we don’t have to weed so often,” he said.

Blyth and his wife, Linda, showed off a large garden with approximately 1,500 individual plants. However, the biggest gardens do not start that way, and everyone must start somewhere, much like any other hobby.

“We started small, and just eventually our garden evolved,” he said.

Shelly Martin, a resident of Columbia Boulevard, expressed similar sentiments.

“Start small, have a vision, talk to people who are in the know, and just experiment,” she said.