Pumpkinist Lora

Attract Bees to Your Garden with Bee Balm

Bee Balm aka Monarda is a flowering plant that is beneficial to bees, birds, and other pollinators. It belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The flowers can also be used to garnish salads, drinks, and desserts. Monarda is native to the North American region, where it grows in sunny places, on moist and well-drained soil. There are…

Milkweed aka Asclepias

There is 73 different types of milkweed. Many types of milkweed are specific to certain regions of the country. The Monarch butterfly feeds on the nectar of the flowers and then lays its eggs on the plant. Plants also make good cut flowers. A source for more information and for more information on monarch butterflies….

Plant Room Update

I started stratifying seeds on Jan. 17. This year I put the seeds on paper towels, moistened the paper towels, and put the seeds into the fridge. When I planted I just laid the paper towel on top of the soil because some of the seeds were so tiny. Found out this doesn’t work, as…

Raised Canning Garden Plan

Another idea is to make a theme garden such as planting everything you need to make a Greek salad or everything you need to can. I have included a map showing how to plant a canning garden. Spacing the boxes: Boxes are 4′ by 4′ and rows are 2′ wide, but you can always widen…

Raised Garden Bed Plans

As I have said in other posts having a plan is very important. Plants don’t like being crowded, they need adequate spacing so as to prevent diseases, and adequate spaced plants will thrive over crowded plants. Having a plan will also help you buy the correct amount of seeds and/or plants. I have come up…

Raised Bed Gardening

I love raised beds, but having a 3.5 acre garden it isn’t a feasible option. The pros of raised beds are you can make them any height you want so if you have difficulty bending or kneeling you can make them so you don’t have to kneel or bend. They drain quickly and you won’t…

Damping Off: the Killer of Seedlings

You had good germination and the seedlings are popping out of the soil. The next day you check and the seedlings are starting to flop over. What happened? The most likely cause is damping off. What is damping off? Simply put damping off is the death or weakening of seedlings by fungus or growing conditions….

The Archaic Garden Plan

I tried various methods to make my garden plan/map for the previous post. I tried drawing, but I realized quite quickly I don’t have the skills to make an eye pleasing map. Next I tried MS Paint and realized I need gridlines. My plants were doing the wave in the rows. Next up I tried…

Making a Garden Where There Once was Lawn

Are you a beginner gardener and it seems a bit daunting? In this post I’ll go through everything you need to do to have a successful garden. This post I’ll be writing about inground gardening. In later posts I’ll go into container gardening and raised bed gardening. Step 1 is finding the perfect spot to…

Spacing Vegetable Plants and Seeds

Spacing vegetables adequately is important due to preventing crowding, diseases, adequate air flow, and support healthy growth. Spacing plants too far apart will mean decreased yields. Spacing is also important with container gardening. I often have to tell people putting 3 indeterminate tomato plants in a 24″ pot is a very bad idea. Also crowding…