Saturday, August 16, 2025

GardenDC Podcast Episode 252: Onion Gardening Tips

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with returning guest Barbara Melera, president of Harvesting-History.com, all about growing onions. The plant profile is on Shrubby Cinquefoil and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on Overwintering Peppers by Christy Page of GreenPrints.

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 153: An American Garden Story 

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/06/gardendc-podcast-episode-153-american.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 45: Seed Starting Tips

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-45-seed.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 16: Garlic

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/06/gardendc-podcast-episode-16-garlic.html

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter/subscriber at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe

Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online store!

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7dn5j6Hc5esF8uXdmqsaaz?si=n1olC3F-T06pkuGPPcsi4Q

Show Notes will be posted after 8-19-2025.

We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz
Interview Edit & Show Notes: Ian Ferris

at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, August 15, 2025

Fenton Friday: Prize-winning Peppers

 


Guest Blog by Ian Ferris

I began my summer as an intern with a choice: Which vegetable would I grow? Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. It felt like choosing a starter Pokémon. In my haste to select the best option, I chose the one that intrigued me the most: peppers — as tasty to the mouth as they are to the eye. And what a choice it was.

I began with small pepper plants of four different varieties. Planting them brought me back to my days working on a farm, where I would plant dozens of plugs without thought. This time was different. I took time planting these, carefully digging holes with proper spacing and giving these wee plants a good start in their new home.

Next came maintenance as my infants grew up. Peppers don’t need too much work if the growing conditions are right. Every week I would give them a good share of water, always feeling that they must be as thirsty as I was in the hot summer heat. The other tool they needed for success was nutrients. After a couple of weeks of letting them grow, I began giving them a dose of fish fertilizer before they were watered. This ensured they were well fed and ready to put those nutrients into big, healthy fruit.

Along the way, I helped out with the rest of the garden, pulling weeds from around my peppers and the surrounding areas. I really do hate weeding. I would also help harvest blackberries and attend to any tricky misnomers occurring that Kathy had spotted — mostly hacking away at the pestsome mulberry trees that kept sprouting around the garden and trimming back ambitious plants.

My peppers only encountered some trouble: slight wilting on the bottom leaves, likely due to the frequent tropical-like thunderstorms we’ve endured in Maryland. Beyond that, my only worry was whether they’d produce enough fruit in time for the fair. This seemed hopeless at times, but it was the pepper plant with the smallest fruit — instead of the largest — that surprised me. It grew uniform, delicious-looking peppers that looked like they would ripen in time.


While I was out of state on vacation, Kathy took care of my peppers and harvested them in time for the fair. These peppers had one last surprise for me. Upon strolling toward the awards table, I noticed they placed second and third in their category. Deep pride filled me. It is this shared feeling among gardeners that makes the whole ordeal worthwhile. Together, the plant and I worked hand in hand to produce a gorgeous and delicious fruit — although the pepper plants did most of the work. For that, I’m grateful to my peppers and to the Washington Gardener for a great summer growing.

About the Author:

Ian Ferris is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the University of Maryland studying journalism and sustainable agriculture. He worked on a garden farm near Annapolis, MD, called Maidstone Harvest for two summers, where he learned a lot about growing vegetables in a sustainable and efficient fashion.


at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Washington Gardener Magazine's 15th Annual Tomato Tasting at the Silver Spring FreshFarm Market

It’s ‘Green Zebra’ vs. ‘Sun Gold,' heirloom versus hybrid, the tomato wars have just begun. Everyone is sure that their tomato pick is the tastiest. Join Washington Gardener Magazine at the FreshFarm Market in downtown Silver Spring, MD, on Saturday, August 23 from 10am-12noon for a Tomato Tasting. Best of all, this event is FREE!

   Chef Sara Hayden of Vita Cooking School will join us to share tomato recipes and tastings.

   Farmers at the market will contribute their locally grown selections — from super-sweet ‘Sungold’ to not-so-pretty ‘Cherokee Purple’ — and we’ll explore which tomatoes make the short list of favorites. We’ll have tomato gardening tips, tomato recipes, tomato activities for kids, and much more. All to celebrate one of summer’s greatest indulgences — the juicy fresh tomato.

   Tip: Your tomato taste voting ballot is also your entry into our prize drawing for a basket full of gardening goodies. The drawing is at 12noon, so be sure to fully fill out your ballot by 11:45am and then stick around for the prize announcement as you must be present to win!


at No comments:
Labels: ,

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Stokesia Plant Profile

 

Stokesia Plant Profile

Stokes’ Aster (Stokesia laevis) is a perennial plant with white, pink-ish, blue, or purple flowers that bloom from summer into early fall. The flowers resemble thistles, but are much fluffier. The dark green foliage is evergreen.

It is hardy to USDA Zone 5 to 9.

It is native to North Carolina to Louisiana. Its native habitat is in the coastal plains, bogs, pine savanna, and open woodlands. It attracts butterflies and bumblebees.

Stokes Aster does best in full to part sun in moist, acidic soils with good drainage.

It is somewhat deer- and rabbit-resistant.

Remove spent flowers to prolong the bloom season. Other than that, this plant is extremely low-maintenance.  

You can propagate it by dividing Stokesia clumps in spring or fall.

Available cultivars include ‘Blue Danube’, ‘Rosea’, and ‘Silver Moon’.

Stokesia: You Can Grow That!

 

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Audio, Photos, Video, and Text by Kathy Jentz

Editing by Miguel Zarate’

 

➤ If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our Youtube channel (thank you!)

➤Remember to TURN ON notifications to know when our new videos are out

➤ FIND Washington Gardener Magazine ONLINE

~ WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com

~ http://twitter.com/WDCGardener

~ https://www.instagram.com/wdcgardener/

~ Facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine

~ Podcast: GardenDC


If you liked this video, we think you will like these other Plant Profiles:

~ Echinacea Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2019/07/video-plant-profile-coneflowers.html

~ Gaura Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/08/gaura-plant-profile.html

~Shasta Daisy Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/08/shasta-daisy-plant-profile.html


Pin this for later!

at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, August 11, 2025

Monday Thoughts: “I must have flowers, always and always.” ~ Claude Monet

“I must have flowers, always and always.” ~ Claude Monet

at No comments:
Labels:

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Win a Kodiak® Red Diervilla shrub in the July-August 2025 Washington Gardener Reader Contest

For our July-August 2025 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away a Kodiak® Red Diervilla shrub from the Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrub Collection. The prize value is $24.

   This deep-red foliage will draw the eye all throughout the growing season. Kodiak Red 2.0 Diervilla bursts onto the scene in spring with vibrant coloring, produces dramatic warm rouge-tipped foliage for the entire summer, and lights up in the fall. It’s the kind of constant beauty any garden could benefit from. While the foliage is beautiful, it’s also useful: It feeds pollinator larva! The equally useful summer-long display of flowers feeds adult pollinators. Knowing that your plant is providing a service to the ecosystem as well as your eyes is a great comfort to any gardener.

   To enter to win the Kodiak® Red Diervilla, send an email by 5:00pm on Sunday, August 31, to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com with “Kodiak Red Diervilla” in the Subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in the July-August 2025 Washington Gardener issue and why. Please include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced and notified on/about September 1. Replies might be published. 

at No comments:
Labels: ,

Saturday, August 09, 2025

GardenDC Podcast Episode 251: Soil Care Basics

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with Debra Knapke, known as the Garden Sage, all about soil care basics. The plant profile is on Globe Amaranth and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on Max, Mia, and the Sunflowers by Christy Page of GreenPrints.

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 187: Mad About Mulches

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2024/03/gardendc-podcast-episode-187-mad-about.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 71: Soil Health

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/08/gardendc-podcast-episode-71-soil-health.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 136: Home Composting

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-136-home.html

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter/subscriber at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe

Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online store!

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wQL2pxljESO4tuyiTFb7q?si=TkZCJo52Q2q0RV5BQOH5_g

Show Notes will be posted after 8-12-2025.

We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz
Interview Edit & Show Notes: Colin Davan
Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany
at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Friday, August 08, 2025

Fenton Friday: First Zucchini

This past week brought in cooler temps and lower humidity -- it was glorious! We didn't get any real rain, so I watered a few times, but the ground seems damp enough a few inches down that I can skip a few days.

The Zucchini is finally producing (see pic above) and is covered in blossoms that I hope also develop fruit soon.

We are preparing out county fair entries this week, though we won't have 5 equal-sized cucumbers and enough of the several other category entries that I'd hope for... the fair seems too early for a lot of our produce to be ripe and some rules require 15 identical examples of an item or a full quart, which makes it tough for a plot gardener to enter. Still, I'll have plenty of cut flowers and can do at least one pepper and one tomato entry.

The rabbits seem to be giving the Cow Peas and Green Bean plants a rest this week, so they are setting flowers and we may actually be able to harvest some in a few weeks.

I made fresh pesto with our Basil and cured Garlic. 

We also tackled more weeding and tying up wayward Cucumber vines as well as reining in the now-tall Asparagus.

Everything else is humming right along...

What are you growing and harvesting in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 14th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton"  into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog.)

at No comments:
Labels: ,

Wednesday, August 06, 2025

Gaura Plant Profile


Gaura Plant Profile

Gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri previously Gaura lindheimeri)) is an herbaceous flowering plant with a floppy, weeping habit that looks good in a cottage garden or planted in containers. It has star-shaped blooms in shades of pale pink and white that flower from late summer into fall.

It is also known as Butterfly Gaura, Lindheimer's Beeblossom, Indian Feather, and Wand Flower. The flowers  attract bumblebees, long-tongue bees, and butterflies.

Though it is reportedly hardy to USDA Zones 5 to 9, it is an annual or tender perennial (also known as temperennial) in our region – depending on your zone and how harsh and wet the winter weather is each year and how heavy your clay soil is. As an extra measure to winter them over, you can add straw mulch around the base to insulate them.

Gaura grows best in full sun and well-draining soils. It is native to Louisiana and Texas.

Cut it back after it finishes flowering and divide the large clumps in mid-spring. You can take cuttings in the fall to propagate them indoors

A few Gaura cultivars to try include 'Siskiyou Pink' and ‘Whirling Butterflies’.

Gaura: You Can Grow That!

 

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Audio, Photos, Video, and Text by Kathy Jentz

Editing by Ian Ferris

 

➤ If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our Youtube channel (thank you!)

➤Remember to TURN ON notifications to know when our new videos are out

➤ FIND Washington Gardener Magazine ONLINE

~ WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com

~ http://twitter.com/WDCGardener

~ https://www.instagram.com/wdcgardener/

~ Facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine

~ Podcast: GardenDC

 

If you liked this video, we think you will like these other Plant Profiles:

~ Blazing Star Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/07/blazing-star-plant-profile.html

~ Black Cohosh Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/07/black-cohosh-plant-profile.html

~ Fleabane Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/05/fleabane-plant-profile.html

 Pin this for later!

at No comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Featured Post

Holiday Gifts for Gardeners ~ Top Gardening Gifts ~ 21+ Cool Gardening Gift Ideas

The holiday season is here and I bet you have a gardener on your gift list, so we've   updated   our annual a Holiday Gifts for Gardener...

Most Popular Posts