Blog Authors
Marta Gouger
Marta Gouger is the managing editor online and Home and Garden editor for the Pocono Record so she's busy busy most of the time. Her passions (besides work) include gardening and quilting so she does everything she can to cut corners on housework ... Read FullCategories
Archives
Category Archives: gardening
Dreaming of container gardens
This was going to be the year that I had success with container gardens.
Oh how fools dream.
I planted more containers than ever because I simply have run out of room in the ground. We wanted to plant more dahlias in our former vegetable garden so I planted lettuce in a container and put petunias in [...]
That’s a rose bush?
Gardening is like a job. It’s something you really have to do every day.
If you do, you get big rewards. If you don’t you spend the rest of the summer playing catchup.
Some things are obvious. You know you have to pay attention to weeds if you ever want to find your plants.
But if you [...]
Also posted in rose diseases, roses 0 Comments
Nothing says “Happy Birthday” like a load of manure
Andrea Robbins Rimberg has just moved into her house in Smithfield Township when a red truck turned into her driveway with her birthday present. The truck was carrying a load of manure.
After she got over the shock of her family getting her a load of you-know-what, she laughed. Then she was truly grateful to her [...]
Where did my butterfly go?
I have been on a weed-pulling mission. Every chance I get I go out and try to clear an area. After several exhausting sessions I finally made it to the perennials I planted last year.
I planted monarda and they multiplied. Not as fast as the dandelions, but they did multiply. As I kept going, pulling [...]
57 varieties of weeds
I spent the weekend following an age-old May tradition. Not talking about the Kentucky Derby, but the marathon process of pulling weeds from the garden.
Alas, they are everywhere. We have the common dandelion, Canada thistle, possibly lambsquarters and many to be named if I ever really get bored. I know I’m not the only one with [...]
Snakes are never good news
More questions about gardening.
Why do snakes show up in my yard?
Because it’s the Poconos is not an answer.
Because the grass is kind of high. Now you’re onto something.
Whatever the reason, they’re already here. Can you believe it? Last week my husband Ronnie called me to tell me “good news.” The good news is that he [...]
Why, oh why, are there earthworms on my sidewalk?
With the opening of trout season and yard work off to annoying start, we thought we’d provide answers to those ever-pressing questions:
First, just why is it that when it rains, earthworms come out onto sidewalks and driveways?
Our place is like a minefield. You have to jump all around to make sure you don’t squish any. [...]
A buzz from doing laundry
My husband and I have both been hanging laundry outside to dry all our lives. Never had a problem except occasionally stiff clothes. Until last week, that is.
Saturday morning I started to put on a pair of jeans and something sharp was hitting me just above my right knee. It felt like a crab or jelly fish [...]
You can bring me flowers. Just hold the hyacinths
Nothing is more beautiful than a deep purple or pink hyacinth. From a distance.
Yes, they are gorgeous Easter flowers. Cheap too.
The thing about hyacinths, though… and lilies…and daffodils…is that they smell. Strong.
That causes a severe allergy for some people, including me.
I love getting a whiff of them outdoors and even have them in my own [...]
Where does your food come from?