Enter the 2024 Garden Poetry Contest
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Hi, guys!
It’s time for the 2024 Weekly Dirt Garden Poetry Contest!
Since 2009, I’ve been asking gardeners to dig deep into their poetic selves, first at Newsday in New York and now here at the Weekly Dirt. Every year, I’m blown away by the talent and effort you guys put forth.
Pollinator gardens have become trendy in recent years — and for good reason. Without bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps and moths, we wouldn’t have any flowers, fruits or vegetables. When we include plants that attract them, they move in and get to work, making our jobs easier and our gardens more productive.
So, for this 15th anniversary of The Contest, I’m asking you to compose an ode to the pollinators in your garden. It can rhyme or not; be free verse, sonnet, limerick or slam; a poignant reflection on butterflies as a metaphor for your life or a humorous account — whatever moves you when you put pen to paper (or strike those keys).
Aside from sticking to the year’s theme—pollinators—there’s just one rule: Entries must be a maximum of seven lines. Longer poems will not be considered.
A selection of the best submissions will be published here in The Weekly Dirt, and my absolute favorite will receive a token gift in the mail.
Email your poem, along with your full name and complete mailing address (only your name and hometown will be published), to jessica@jessicadamiano.com with “Garden Poetry” in the subject line.
Submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 7.
📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: After we moved into our house last year, we were surprised to see the lawn covered in grape hyacinths in spring. I started to dig some up but realized I was destroying the lawn, so I stopped. I would rather not use chemicals. Is there an easy way to get rid of them? —Al Miller, Pennsylvania
DEAR AL: Honestly, I’m not sure why you’d want to eliminate them. Grape hyacinths (Muscari) are among the first plants to bloom in spring, with grape-cluster-like flowers above 8-inch-tall stems. They’re frequently planted in garden beds and landscapes for an early blast of color. Sometimes, they’re deliberately planted in the lawn. They do spread quickly and continually each year, but the show typically lasts only a couple of weeks.
The recommended advice for ensuring repeat performances from year to year is to allow the foliage to remain on plants until it turns yellow and withers. That allows the leaves to collect sunlight, which is converted into energy the plants will use to bloom the following year.
If digging is impractical and you don’t want the plants to return, reverse the advice: Cut or mow them to ground level as soon as their foliage emerges, and repeat weekly throughout the season.
Many of next year’s plants won’t have enough energy to bloom. And after a few years of repeated mowings, they should be so starved that their reproduction will be curtailed. Eventually, they won’t have enough energy to return.
This strategy can be applied to any bulbs naturalized in the lawn.
Got a gardening question? Ask it here.
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Pull weeds! It’s not too early, except in the coldest of regions. Removing them now, while their roots are young and small, is much easier than trying to eradicate them after they’ve anchored themselves into the soil. So pull now — and keep pulling as you see new ones. You’ll thank yourself later.
👏 Sunday shoutout
Reader Edie Emeritz of Medford, NY, has a challenge for us: “Here is a picture I took a few days ago of my Erica Mediterranea. There is a bumblebee hiding in it. Can you find him?”
“Also, here’s a fun fact for you,” she writes. “Dumbledore is an old word for a bumblebee across the pond. Take that, Harry Potter!”
Send in your photo, and you could be featured next (bonus points if you’re in the picture!)
📰This week in my Associated Press gardening column
I write a weekly gardening column for the AP, so you might have seen my byline in your local paper (or news website) — wherever in the world you happen to be. In case you miss it, I’ll post the most recent here every week.
THIS WEEK: Cool and unique new annuals and perennials to plant this spring
LAST WEEK: Exciting new fruit and vegetable varieties to grow this year
BEFORE THAT: Dreaming of summer peaches? Some gardening tips for growing them in many climates
ONE MORE: Covering ground in the desert
You can read all my AP gardening columns here.
📚📺🎵 Random things I enjoyed this week
📺 I will only recommend one streaming show this week and then drop the mic. It’s THAT good. (If you don’t subscribe to Netflix, I believe this is a good reason to start). Two words: THE GENTLEMEN. Just imagine if Succession and Breaking Bad had a baby. It’s so good!
🧑🏫I got out to meet more readers when I presented a couple more programs (“Tomatomania!” and “History & Horticulture: France”) at Molloy University last week. It’s always a good time!
⚰️ Now I’m working on my taxes.
📰 An important update
I’m a freelance writer who juggles various gigs to piece together a living. I spend hours every week writing The Weekly Dirt, researching and answering your questions, and sharing advice to help you achieve the garden of your dreams. As much as I enjoy it, I have bills to pay so can’t afford to work for free. If you work for a paycheck, I’m sure you can relate.
When I discovered the Buy Me a Coffee platform a year ago, it seemed like the perfect solution: A voluntary, tip-as-you-go system that keeps the newsletter free for everyone, but provides the option to place the cost of a cup of coffee in my virtual tip jar every week — or as often as you are able and feel comfortable. It was a worthy experiment.
To be honest, it’s not working out.
Of the nearly 5,000 subscribers here, 142 have contributed at some point during the past 12 months. That averages to about 2.7 supporters each week and, unfortunately, doesn’t even cover the expenses of keeping the website and associated platforms running.
In short, The Weekly Dirt is operating at a substantial loss.
I’d really like to keep it going, though, so I’m exploring other options. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, if you enjoy receiving The Weekly Dirt and value the information it contains, please consider “buying me a coffee!”
I’d also appreciate it if you’d share The Weekly Dirt with your gardening friends (click the link at the bottom of this page).
This week’s newsletter was made possible by generous support from one reader, who wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you so much!
Let’s be friends! Follow me:
@jessicadamiano on Facebook
@JesDamiano on Threads
📧 How’m I doing?
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Ask Jessica section.