Tag: gardening

Tractor Supply Appeals to Women with New Martha Stewart Collab

Over the decades, DIY maven Martha Stewart has traveled pretty far afield with her collaborations, working everyone from Snoop Dogg to Skechers, but her latest partnership with Tractor Supply is bringing Stewart back to her roots (literally) with a new line of branded gardening apparel. 

The rural lifestyle retailer has tapped Stewart to expand its women’s apparel assortment with the debut of the Martha Stewart Garden Apparel line, which was developed in collaboration with Marquee Brands (which owns the Martha Stewart IP) and French Dressing Jeans Inc.

“Women’s apparel continues to be an important product category for us at Tractor Supply, especially when it comes to gardening,” said Seth Estep, Chief Merchandising Officer at Tractor Supply in a statement. “This launch with Martha Stewart is the perfect way for us to bring fashion and function to our gardening customers, with great new styles and products our customers can’t

… Read the rest

Four years later, is pandemic gardening fever still going strong? – InForum

Did you hear about the entrepreneur who wanted to make belts decorated with herbs? His gardening friends told him it was a waist of thyme.

Joking aside, gardening changed dramatically in early 2020 as the pandemic gripped the country. Has the gardening frenzy that began during COVID-19 continued in the years since?

In our March 31, 2020 garden column I wrote, “Toilet paper wasn’t the only thing in short supply during recent weeks. Potatoes were hard to come by in the grocery store, and canned and frozen vegetables were sparse.”

The grow-your-own frenzy was starting.

LIFE-HOME-VICTORYGARDEN-DMT.JPG

Planting your own victory garden is a great exercise in the current pandemic. Dreamstime / TNS

About the same time, I received an email from a San Francisco man urgently asking how to start a vegetable garden after he read The Forum column in which

I wrote about the resurgence of Victory Gardens

. He

… Read the rest

Gardening: How to spend the winter planning and preparing for the spring

Gardening isn’t usually the first thing that springs to mind when the calendar page turns to January. But with the holidays behind us, there’s no better time to start planning and preparing our 2024 gardens.

Of course, that will mean different things in different places. It’s impossible to account for every microclimate in every region, but frost – or lack thereof – is the defining characteristic that should guide gardeners over winter.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

In regions where frosts and freezes are common, gardeners should monitor for heaving, the lifting of plant roots and bulbs out of the soil resulting from the season’s freeze-thaw cycles. Pushed up out of the ground, even ever so slightly, they become vulnerable to exposure and could die.

Take periodic walks around beds and borders and push heaved roots back into the ground with your foot, then apply a few inches of

… Read the rest

Gardening for You: Resources for gardeners

The winter months give gardeners time to browse unfamiliar resources for next season’s gardens. An inexhaustible supply of garden ideas can be found as free resources in local libraries, in book stores and on grocer’s shelves for a price, on the internet, and even the daily newspaper.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the original North American almanac, the “little yellow book” with a hole in the upper left corner. The Gardening calendar gives gardening tips and astronomical events with humor and wisdom.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the original North American almanac, the “little yellow book” with a hole in the upper left corner. The Gardening calendar gives gardening tips and astronomical events with humor and wisdom.

Horticulturists look for trustworthy and research-based authorities, rather than depend on anecdotal thoughts on best practices for gardening that can be found in many print and online resources. Today’s column has two very different suggestions for gardening advice that can be considered trustworthy.

The first idea for horticulturists is to take a look at the American Horticultural Society. This may be unfamiliar to the home gardener, but the

… Read the rest

Use winter to plan and organize for spring gardening ahead

“Fallingwater Greenhouse” is one of 18 show gardens at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show on display this week in Seattle. It was designed by Tumwater’s Landon Moore.

“Fallingwater Greenhouse” is one of 18 show gardens at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show on display this week in Seattle. It was designed by Tumwater’s Landon Moore.


Craig Sailor

The News Tribune

The last week of December can be a fresh start if you take a moment to look forward to the days growing longer and the first signs of spring ahead. And we still have plenty of winter days left, giving us indoor time for scheming and dreaming of ways to improve our lives and gardening skills.

Here are some ways to grow great expectations for the season ahead:

Join us in New England

Travel is one way to add adventure to life, and we have some openings for our May trip to the Islands of New England. This trip runs May 9-16, 2024, with an optional two-night Boston post-tour extension. The trip includes the Newport, Rhode Island,

… Read the rest

Gardening for You: Gardening can be murder

Does the gardener on your gift list love to read? “Gardening Can Be Murder” is a brand new read that intertwines horticulture with mystery. The full title of Marta McDowell’s new book is “Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers.”

For the gardener on your Christmas gift list that loves murder mysteries, “Gardening Can Be Murder” is a great new read that melds horticulture with crime fiction.

For the gardener on your Christmas gift list that loves murder mysteries, “Gardening Can Be Murder” is a great new read that melds horticulture with crime fiction.

Gardeners are booklovers. We love to read. What else can stimulate our interest but a good murder mystery with plants as the instruments of obliteration? In this 2023 book is a myriad of horticultural themes that well-known mystery writers have used as the method of murder in crime fiction.

Some of today’s column was gleaned from a conversation between the author of “Gardening Can Be Murder” and Margaret Roach. Roach is the author of

… Read the rest

Good Natured Gardening: Gardening in December

‘Tis the season when Christmas appears on the horizon, and opportunities for gardening are fewer. It’s a great time to admire the remaining autumn colors, sit in front of a roaring fire, and enjoy this month’s festivities.

Baseball players take winter off to relax, so gardeners also should be able to have an off-season. No planting, fertilizing, or weeding, and no stressing. Right? In your dreams.

Clarence Schmidt

Clarence Schmidt

(Courtesy photo)

So that you can grow in the know, here’s this month’s yard to-dos.

Get a jump on building those new planter beds. Building them now will give the soil time to settle and be ready for springtime planting.

Make time for some prime-time armchair gardening. Flip through a few plant and seed catalogs for ideas.

Don’t forget about that partridge in the tree, the turtle doves, and all those calling birds. That’s a lot of birds to feed. So, clean

… Read the rest

Good News for 2024: Consumer Focus on Gardening Likely to Continue Rising

green plan it gardening outdoor nature explore classroom gardenersInterest in home gardening continues to rise despite concerns about the economy, weather, and increased time spent at work in 2023. A new study found that home gardeners spent more time and money on gardening in 2023 than they did in 2022. More important, they will spend even more time and money, plant more, and expand their gardens in 2024.

The research, conducted by Axiom Marketing, a Minneapolis-based marketing firm serving the horticultural, agricultural, and home improvement markets, found meaningful increases in time and money spent on gardening in 2023 and planned gardening activities for 2024 especially among Gen Z and Gen Y gardeners.

“Fifty percent of respondents say they spent more money in 2023 compared to 2022,” says Mike Reiber, founder and CEO of Axiom. “Forty three percent of respondents reported spending 50% to 100% percent more time in 2023 compared to 2022, and 50.5% expect to spend more

… Read the rest

‘I’m literally never buying herbs again’

Rosemary can enhance the flavor of many dishes, so it’s a great spice to have on hand whenever you need it.

And thanks to one gardening hack on TikTok, you’ll never have to worry about running out of rosemary again.

The scoop

In a viral TikTok video, Martha (@marfskitchengarden) shared a gardening trick that seems almost too good to be true: endless rosemary.

“Did you know you can grow a lifetime’s supply of rosemary just using one packet of cut rosemary from the supermarket?” she says.

First, strip the bottom leaves from the stem and trim the bottom. Place your rosemary sprigs in water to promote root growth and propagation. Be sure to change the water each week, and after about three to four weeks, you’ll notice roots growing.

Once you notice the roots, it’s time to plant them in pots. Rosemary thrives in a free-draining, soil-based mix, so

… Read the rest

Tropical Gardening: Remember dads now and throughout the year

… Read the rest