I’ve been a tomato lover my whole life. Some of my finest childhood memories involve a sunny day, my mom’s crystal salt shaker, and heirloom tomatoes. Our house on Fry Avenue may have been small, but we sure did have a big garden, filled with rows and rows of heirloom tomato varieties. My mom grew nearly every vegetable our family ate, and what we didn’t eat fresh, she made into her famous tomato soup and sauces for the winter. Needless to say, because of my mom’s garden, I’ve grown into a bit of a “tomato snob.” I know what I like in a tomato, and over the years, I’ve grown hundreds of different heirloom tomato varieties in hopes of discovering new favorites. After decades of trial and error, at long last, I think I’ve managed to create my very own list of the best heirloom tomatoes.
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Make a holiday swag in five easy steps
Our latest Savvy Gardening newsletter was filled with creative ways to use the garden for holiday decorations. There’s no easier way to do just that than to make a holiday swag out of items you probably have right in your own backyard.
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Plant an amaryllis bulb for holiday blooms
I cannot walk into a nursery or florist in late fall without taking home a holiday plant or two. An amaryllis bulb falls high on my list. I also usually include a poinsettia, paperwhites, and other favorites. I feel like holiday blooms are festive necessities like the retro decorations I’ve had since I was a kid. There are a few tips to consider when planting and shopping for an amaryllis bulb to ensure it flowers for you.
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Why the “thrillers, spillers, and fillers” idea works for winter containers
Pine, spruce, and cedar boughs start to appear in garden centers and grocery stores in November. I love to browse, even though I usually “shop” for most of the materials in my garden. But I will pick up some different types of foliage, like holly or magnolia leaves to fill in the spaces. I like to switch things up a little bit each year. But what I consistently will do is apply the same thrillers, fillers, and spillers concept that I use to plant my spring, summer, and fall containers.
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How to protect your hydrangea for the winter
I hosted a radio program on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh for fifteen years, and the most common question my co-host and I were asked on-air is “Why doesn’t my hydrangea bloom?” Upon further inquiry, we would often come to learn the caller was asking about a big-leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla. While these old-fashioned hydrangeas bear gorgeous balls of pink or blue flowers, they’re notorious for their unreliably here in the northern U.S. Some years they bloom beautifully, while other years there’s not a single bud in sight. If you’re a USDA zone 5 or 6 gardener who has faced this experience yourself, here are a few tips you can use right now to get better blooms from your hydrangea.
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Three quick steps to winter carrots
Carrots are the most popular crop in our winter garden with the cold temperatures turning the roots into sugar-filled ‘candy carrots’. Our winter carrots are planted in mid-summer in both garden beds and cold frames, and although ‘Napoli’ and ‘Yaya’ yield the sweetest orange carrots, the kids also like to seed a rainbow of colours including red, yellow, white, and purple.
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