Connecticut Garden Journal

Oct 29 2024 171 ep. 2 mins 7
Connecticut Garden Journal Podcast artwork

Connecticut Garden Journal hosted by horticulturalist Charlie Nardozzi provides gardening tips for every season. Charlie focuses on a topic relevant to new and experienced gardeners, including pruning lilac bushes, growing blight-free tomatoes, groundcovers, sunflowers, bulbs, pests, and more.

Learn more about Charlie at gardeningwithcharlie.com.

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Connecticut Garden Journal: Prepping for winter, and a series wrap

Oct 29 2024 2 mins  
With the changing season, it’s time to close the garden down. Before the cold weather hits, drain and bring in outdoors hoses, clean and sharpen garden tools and start protecting plants for winter. Wrap young trees with plastic or wire fencing to about 2 feet up the trunk and a few inches below the ground, to protect the young bark from rodents and rabbits. Erect A-frame, snow ba

Connecticut Garden Journal: Get a jump on spring by planting bulbs in containers

Oct 18 2024 2 mins  
It's hard to think about winter with such warm, fall weather, but spring flowering bulbs need to be planted soon. If you want to enjoy your spring flowering tulips, daffodils, crocus and other bulbs a little earlier in spring or if you don’t have a garden, consider forcing them in containers. You can plant two different ways. Either plant all one type of bulb in a pot for a big

Connecticut Garden Journal: Fall-planting garlic and shallot varieties

Oct 16 2024 2 mins  
With our warm fall, we're still enjoying fresh tomatoes, peppers, greens, and zucchini from the garden. But it's also time to start thinking about planting garlic and shallots. These two alliums are easy to grow. Unlike other veggies, you plant garlic and shallots in the fall for an early summer harvest. There are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties,

Connecticut Garden Journal: For fall cleanup, remove diseased plants, leave the rest

Oct 08 2024 2 mins  
As the days shorten and weather cools, somewhat, it's time for some fall garden chores. One of the rules that's changed is around perennial flower garden cleanup. Traditionally, we'd cut back and remove the dying foliage of perennial flowers such as daylilies, peonies, echinacea and rudbeckia. While the look of a cleaned garden might be appealing, it's not the best for the ecology

Connecticut Garden Journal: Alliums are a trouble-free bulb to plant right now

Oct 01 2024 2 mins  
October is spring bulb planting time. While the tulips, daffodils, and crocus head the list of popular bulbs to plant later this month, don't forget some of the more unusual bulbs such as the alliums. Allium or flowering onion plants range in sizes from 5 inches to 4 feet tall. The tall varieties make a statement in the garden rising about the foliage of perennials such as daylilie

Connecticut Garden Journal: Time to bring some herbs indoors

Sep 19 2024 2 mins  
As the temperatures dip, it's time bring some of your favorite herbs indoors. Some of the best herbs to move inside to grow and cook with include parsley, rosemary, geraniums, chives, thyme and oregano. The advantage of bringing a mature, potted herb plant indoors is it will continue to send out shoots and leaves into November. If you grow it under grow lights, it will continue int

Connecticut Garden Journal: Boltonia for a meadow, slope or cottage garden

Sep 19 2024 2 mins  
Fall is for asters. Asters are reliable native plants that give us color in our autumn gardens. But there are other natives that are equally as beautiful and trouble-free. One of the best is boltonia. Boltonia, or false aster, is related to asters. It features plants that grow 5- to 6- feet tall with white, pink or lavender colored flowers. Like asters, they flower in full or part

Connecticut Garden Journal: Don't eschew sneezeweed; Helenium is a fall alternative to mums

Sep 04 2024 2 mins  
If you're looking for some color this fall in your perennial flower garden, certainly mums are always a nice addition. But here is a carefree, native perennial to grow for fall color and food for the pollinators. Helenium has the unfortunate common name of sneezeweed because it blooms when ragweed is flowering. It's the ragweed that causes the allergic reactions, not Helenium. This

Connecticut Garden Journal: How to spot when apples and pears are ripe for the pickin'

Sep 04 2024 2 mins  
It's apple and pear season and time to start harvesting. Actually some varieties are already ripe, but most will be harvested this month. If you're growing apples or pears in your yard, going to a pick your own orchard or just foraging for wild trees, it's good to know when to harvest. If you harvest too early the flavor isn't great. If you wait too long, the texture can be mealy o

Connecticut Garden Journal: Connecticut Garden Journal: Effective grub control that's safe for the environment

Aug 23 2024 2 mins  
If you've had a rough year battling Japanese beetles, now is the time to control them. Many gardeners are familiar with Japanese beetle adults that cause damage to many flowers, vegetables and fruits. While there are chemical controls for these and other ground dwelling beetles, there are effective ecologically friendly controls as well. Remember only 1 per cent of the insects in y