Author: Bob Bauer

As a grampa gardener I tend to walk slowly. The two feet by six feet of pathway in front of me takes all of my attention. The shadows of the pebbles, twigs and grass continually change as I pass and provide a billion bits of information for me to process. It fills me up. Getting to my goal becomes secondary […]

I’ve gotten over my snit with the weed eater. It’s now my magic wand that turns weeds into ground cover. I know it’s a healthy alternative to Round Up and am beginning to believe it may be more earth friendly than trying to suppress weeds with thick mulch. Weeds produce oxygen, keep the ground cooler with their shade, and sequester […]

I put the sprinkler on my carrot row at 7:00 one evening and left it on for an hour. When I went to pick carrots the next morning I couldn’t pull them out of the ground without breaking the tops off. I thought I’d have mud, but was surprised at how dry the ground was. My soil has a very […]

In response to our foretasted triple digit heatwave for the next week I’ve dragged out the shade cloth and draped it over two tomato towers. I’ll be gardening under it and moving it wherever kneeling work can be done. If it gets too hot I’ve got a mist setting on my hose nozzle and will try suspending that above me. […]

I planted Ferry Morse Silver’N Gold Hybrid sweet corn this spring and I’m very disappointed at the poor germination rate. Between five and seven seeds in every planting of twenty failed to emerge. I then switched to Burpee Early Sunglow Hybrid, which is what I’ve always planted before, and have gotten 99% and 100% germination on the first two plantings. […]

I’ve been reminded how important it is to add lime to your garden, especially if you mulch with leaves, shavings, chips, bark or any wood products. They tend to make your soil more acidic as they decompose. I used to lime my melon and squash hills but could detect no significant difference so I quit. Now I’m told that it […]

I googled “Amish vegetable gardens” to see how they deal with weeds in an environmentally friendly way and my first discovery was that all their houses were painted white. I also realized they have home schooled kids that can hoe every day. I found that some use plastic mulch and some use wood chips. I think I should get a […]