Organic gardening

Keep deer and rabbits out of your garden in the Buffalo area

November 15, 2011
deer eating in Buffalo NY winter Jan 2011

The image at left is lovely if it’s on a Christmas card, but aggravating if it’s actually happening in your garden. I’ve written before about ways to keep deer and rabbits out of your garden. Even if you read those articles when they were published, take a second look and make sure you take...
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Take a lesson from this elementary school garden in Hamburg

October 18, 2011
two boys in Hamburg NY school garden

“All of this is to teach our children where food comes from,” said Tricia Miller, volunteer coordinator for the Giving Garden at Union-Pleasant Elementary School in Hamburg. “If children grow it and taste it, their willingness to eat it and try more things grows.” The garden at Union-Pleasant Elementary School started three years ago...
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Update: Where you can get worms for composting in the Buffalo area

September 6, 2011
composting with worms in Buffalo Ny

A lot of you have asked where you can get red worms for composting. In an April article, we told you that Buffalo Reuse was planning to sell worms for composting. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll have a stock available anytime soon, so your best bet is to go to a bait shop....
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Learn about growing and tending roses in Buffalo area

May 10, 2011
David Clark rose class in Hamburg NY

Growing roses in the Buffalo area isn’t as hard as some people think. In the video below, David Clark, professional horticulturist, gives quick tips on selecting roses, caring for roses and managing pests. Want more in-depth information? Clark will give a class on the topic at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 14, 2011 at Lockwood’s...
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Turn garbage into compost for your garden with red wriggler worms

April 26, 2011
composting with worms in Buffalo Ny

I saw some amazingly beautiful compost a couple weeks ago in an Earth Day demonstration at Buffalo ReUse. The compost was dark brown and crumbly and pure, with almost no soil mixed in. The secret to this compost is red wriggler worms. They eat garbage and turn it into compost. “They eat their weight...
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Keep Earth Day in mind as you set your gardening goals

April 19, 2011
sparrows in juniper in Buffalo-Niagara area

by Mike Van Der Puy On the border of my lot stands a mature evergreen bush that holds little aesthetic appeal for me. At six feet high and about eight feet in diameter, it does function to some degree as a windbreak. Its primary function, however, is serving as the equivalent of Starbucks to...
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Here’s why great soil is so important to your Buffalo area garden

February 1, 2011
Sharon Webber talks with Gary Barnes of Buffalo

Sharon M. Webber, CNLP was once called to a home with a problem. It had a fairly new landscape, installed just two years before, but the plants weren’t thriving. In fact, normally tough and sturdy varieties of plant, such as forsythia, spirea, day lilies and even black-eyed Susans, were declining, big time. When you...
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The grass that made me cry, and my best organic gardening tip ever

November 30, 2010
Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' in Amherst NY

Adventures in Organic Gardening By Laura Sileo-Lepkyj It was potting day last weekend. Oh, how I expected the tears to flow. We’ll be moving in January and I had made a list of a few of the rarer items in my garden that I want to take with me: the newly planted peach tree...
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Mums are nice, but think outside the box for autumn color in your garden

September 28, 2010
caryopteris wide angle

Adventures in Organic Gardening By Laura Sileo-Lepkyj Mums are everywhere now. Heck, you can even buy them at gas stations. I’ve got fifteen dollars on pump number three, this Slim Jim, and oh, a burgundy cushion mum, please. While I do love mums’ bushy blooms and their pungent smell, I have other plant friends...
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A minimalist approach to vegetable gardening

August 30, 2010
tomatoes organic gardening

Adventures in Organic Gardening By Laura Sileo-Lepkyj You know the “Set it and forget it” motto on the infomercial? That’s the kind of gardener I am. I set the plant in the ground and forget about it. I describe my method as survival-of-the-fittest gardening. No special coddling, practically zero watering, and certainly no umbrellas...
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