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📰This week in my Associated Press gardening column
I started writing a bi-weekly gardening column for the AP in January, so you might be seeing my byline in your local paper (or news website) — wherever in the world you are. In case you miss it, though, I’ll post the most recent here every week.
Plants to plant in spring for a beautiful garden next winter: When you’re planning and planting your spring garden, think ahead to next winter too, and include plants that will create interest in your landscape in the so-called “off season.”
Black innovators who reshaped American gardening and farming: The achievements of 19th-century scientist George Washington Carver have landed him in U.S. history textbooks, but many other agricultural practices and innovations that traveled with enslaved people from West Africa or were developed by their descendants remain unsung. Here’s a look at five.
Tips for indoor seed-starting: When to start planting seeds indoors? First, check your frost date.
Holey leaves and vines! A look at houseplant trends for 2022: A look at trends in houseplants for 2022. Popular varieties include fenestrated plants, that is, those with leaves that are split or contain holes. Vines are another hot category.
📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: I want to cover my greenhouse in vines, what is your suggestion?—Michael Charity
DEAR MICHAEL: Vining plants can pretty up the outside of a greenhouse, but they also can provide much-needed shade to keep the structure from baking your plants during summer.
Be sure to select the vines for your conditions. Consider how much sunlight the area gets and, unless your greenhouse is very sturdy, stick to lightweight vines. And install a trellis or support between the plants and your greenhouse.
My top choices are:
Black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata), not to be confused with the upright perennial called Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), is a beautiful climbing tender perennial in zones 10-11 that’s treated as an annual everywhere else. It prefers full sun in all but the hottest locations but can tolerate partial shade. Available in shades of yellow, salmon, ivory, pink, cream and orange. Deadhead flowers to encourage more blooming.
Morning glory is a fast-growing vine that reseeds readily, and it can handle full sun to partial shade.
Sweet pea is a lightweight vine that performs best in full sun but likes “cold feet” — so plant ground cover or low-lying annuals or perennials around it to shade its roots. It reseeds somewhat, but most varieties will likely need to be replanted every year.
Clematis is available in many varieties, with some more shade-tolerant than others.
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Plant peas! Sow them directly into the garden. They should be ready to harvest in mid-May.
For more daily gardening tips — 365 of them! — get a jump on the growing season with my Day-by-Day Gardening Calendar. It’s like a complete gardening course in a wall calendar! By the end of the year, I promise, you’ll have earned a green thumb! Plus, your wall will be adorned with award-winning photography provided by The Weekly Dirt readers. Take a look:
👏 Sunday shoutout
Reader Luz Martinez of Jamaica Estates, NY, shared this photo of the beautiful container garden in the sitting area of her backyard, taken in July 2021.
Send in your photo, and you could be featured next!
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📧 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.
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Although Morning Glory vine is pretty, they can be invasive with their self germinating seeds that can grow and multiply year after year around and few feet from mother plant, then some. I will avoid it . Few years after I discarded the original plant, I am still pulling new ones around the garden.