There is no way to really teach you to trim apple trees unless you come and visit me and we work together…at least that is how I learn best. However, Josiah and I took some pictures in the hopes of giving you an idea of what to do. This should at least get you started.

Read more: Pruning Apple Trees 101

I've got four different varieties of hops vines on the way, and due this weekend, so it is time to buy some 4" x 4" x 8' posts and sink them into the ground at either end of two of my garden beds, and set up the wire trellises. I'll foot them 18" into some Quickcrete.

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My Hops Order Is On Its Way...

There are all sorts of bad things that can happen when you garden. You can step on the end of hoe and it will come up and wack you in the face. You can hurt your back lugging heavy pots and rocks around or by pulling weeds. I've heard of people having heart attacks while gardening. I have had all of the above happen to me, except the heart attack part.

Read more: Gardening Can Be Dangerous To Your Health

Victorian designs were precise and generally contained highly symmetrical designs. The ideal Victorian outdoor garden fountain contains a highly symmetrical design for the base and basin; you won’t find faux waterfalls or the like when looking for Victorian outdoor garden fountains. For those who are fond of falling water, look for a fountain that’s symmetrical, but tiered; some Victorian outdoor garden fountains are designed with multiple tiers to create falling water.

Read more: Finding An Appropriate Victorian Outdoor Garden Fountain

Arya, our driver, recommended against Besaki (big mother) temple, claiming it was overrun with tourists, local guides who would like nothing more than to rip off visitors (and who, incidentally, would want to kick his ass, as they supposedly see it as “their” territory.) We saw our share of temples, though, including the peaceful Mengwi royal temple, and a really nice one in a valley, with beautiful Hindu carvings and koi ponds (forget the name.)

Read more: Weekend Blitzkrieg: Bali

During the summer of 1991 I had the good fortune of being selected to participate in the internship program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. I had the even better fortune of being selected to serve my term under the guiding hand of Patrick Nutt, a renowned expert on all things horticulture, but even more renowned for his voluminous knowledge of aquatic plants and gardens. It was here, under Pat’s expert guidance, that I first laid eyes on and eventually got to work with one of the most-revered aquatic plants in the world–the giant waterlily, Victoria.

Read more: Aquatic Giants

Hydroponic gardening has been around since the days of the hanging gardens of Babylon. Today, techniques for growing in a soil-less environment allows anyone to create an indoor garden with relative ease. The Aerogarden is specifically designed indoor 'smart garden'.

Read more: Hydroponics in the City

The Japanese Gardens were beautiful and tranquil. Jacob actually feel asleep while being rolled around on his stroller.

Read more: OSCon and Portland Photos

Another of my simple little vases of flowers. Three sprigs of summer flowers and some cuttings of shrub.

Read more: Good Morning.

What a fun day. The kids and I, along with the previous owners of our house, spent an entire day at Callaway Gardens. We had to bribe the kids with ice cream to avoid a melt down when it was time to leave.

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Summertime was the apple tree in bloom in the backyard on Waverley.

Read more: dear summer,

Eventually, a combination of complaints from neighbours, burning down part of a mature yew hedge and an old apple tree had me enraged. I waited a week to calm down before I tackled him. I managed not to shriek when I explained that from now on all fires had to be enclosed in the furnace dustbin (a nifty little galvanised dustbin with a chimney in the lid).

Read more: Bonfires

Continuing to the right of this photo are a lot of hostas, groundcover, ivy, a stone path, and stone wall; up one level is a small area that I’m going to do something with next year, I think; it’s very cool and shady and I’m thinking ferns. Up the next level is a border of wild flowers and then the biggest part of our yard which is flat and dry and just a mess. Too many pine trees make growing things difficult and I’d love to put some raised beds up there, but I have no idea how we’d get the dirt there because you actually have to climb a series of concrete steps to get up there.

Read more: Melanie and her German Garden

We traveled 14+ hours to smell the ocean and cross the ferry into a land filled with the songs of birds, the crash of a wave and towering trees. We fell into the warmth of friends and the house they built nestled in a garden of trees and flowers and when I finish posting this, I am off to a cherry cider and a laugh or two or three.

Read more: losing the city

Another tool in the soil conservation toolkit–and a relatively new one–is conservation tillage, which includes both no-till and minimum tillage. In addition to reducing erosion, this practice helps retain water, raises soil carbon content, and reduces the energy needed for crop cultivation. Instead of plowing land, discing or harrowing it to prepare the seedbed, and then using a mechanical cultivator to control weeds, farmers simply drill seeds directly through crop residues into undisturbed soil, controlling weeds with herbicides.

Read more: Earth Policy Institute Update #212