Welcome to the Party

Posted by Tony Bielaczyc

I get asked about native plants a lot by people who are thinking of changing the plant palette or design of the their gardens. Just last night, I was talking with neighbors in my new building about the beds that surround the building: ditching this, moving that, when one person said 'I want to use just naive plants'. He then added how he liked the butterfly bush (Buddleia) that we have in the front of the building since they're a 'nectar source for insects'. I didn't really have the heart to tell him that the buddleia we have is a native of China and is now considered a noxious weed in Oregon and Washington state. Native plants are good, right? They're 'pollinator plants', right? They behave nicely and are trouble free, right? Non-natives are bad, right? They dominate, and overrun a place, right? We shouldn't be using them, right?

Well...yes and no. Native plants are mostly trouble free, and in many cases are a food source for insects and other animals, yes. But they do self sow and spread. So, trouble free and well behaved? Not always...when people use the phrase 'native plants,' it's like saying 'organic' or 'going green'. The intent is good, but what do they really mean? In terms of gardening, I think  they mean plant diversity. Plant diversity is just that, lots of different kinds of plants all together. Plants like butterfly bush: Easy as can be to grow, thriving in hot, sunny spots, deer resistant and fragrant, pretty flowers that attract and help feed pretty butterflies. No wonder it's wildly popular. But can it still be a good choice, even when it's on its way to becoming not just noxious, but downright obnoxious.

It has been said before: Gardening is a lot like hosting a big dinner party with loads of widely different personalities. And like a good party, it isn't a 'set-it-forget-it' event, but requires lots of work to make sure everyone has what they need to enjoy themselves and shine in the way that made them attractive and a good candidate to invite to the party to meet all the other great guests in the first place. With work and luck, everyone gets along and has a fabulous time, both locals and visiting dignitaries. To keep everyone comfortable, we need to tidy up after some of our guests and rein them in when they start to take up too much space in the room. But those non-native revelers are great to invite and liven things up. And they're often a great choice in unexpected places.

Like this beauty, Australian bush mint, Prostanthera rotundifolia. A listener called yesterday for advice on how to grow it. Well, with a name like Australian bush mint, you can bet it's not a Washington state native. In fact, it is a native to Australia where it's considered a very responsible garden choice for its drought tolerance, long flowering period, as a food source for pollinators, a medicinal used by indigenous people, and even for it's fragrant foliage that helps to deter grazing animals. But in Seattle, an Aussie in Seattle? Well, if you think about the notoriously hot, dry, Aussie-like summers of Seattle, yes. To make sure it does its best, our gentle listener should look for the sunniest, hottest spot in her garden, like a place between a paved walk way and a wall or a raised bed that has lean, fast draining soil with some shelter from winds. Or in a container that's out all summer and wintered over in a cool, sunny enclosed porch or room. I know, I know, sunny in Seattle during the winter, right...I'm just saying ideally.

And I'm just saying that when we make plant choices, we need to be proactive. Mix things up, but ask questions and read labels. If your choice is a rampant grower that sheds tons of seed all over the place, maybe it's not the best choice, be it native or exotic. Or, maybe you need to be willing to take the upper hand and deadhead big time, thin self sown seedlings, and dig and compost the far too many established plants already there. It's not a question of black or white, good or bad, native or non-native, but of deciding which of the fun, interesting potential 'guests' out there you'll invite.

Naomi gets into the gardening groove.

Posted by Naomi Gabay

Working at Martha Stewart Living Radio has allowed me to expand my horizons of cooking, crafting, and even flower arranging. The one thing that still scares me for some reason, is gardening. Now that I’m a first time home owner, it’s time for me to pull out my shovel and get ready to get some dirt under my nails!

Gardening editor Stacey Hirvela was patient with me through all my questions both on and off the air, and more than a few emails! She finally convinced me that bulb planting was a great way me for to get started. I chose some colorful scilla and allium bulbs that are deer resistant from my local garden center. The only other tools I needed were gloved and a shovel. Total investment was only about $20.

I picked a spot along the walkway to my front door, so I could be greeted by flowers every day. It was a rainy day, and I couldn’t wait to get initiated into home gardening by getting muddy!

I started with the scilla, which was a bag of about 20 tiny bulbs. After digging to the depth recommended on the package, I scattered them throughout the space, hoping that they would look natural like wildflowers.

While digging, I discovered that the previous owners must have already planted there. Oops! I carefully removed the old bulbs, not even knowing what they were, and relocated them to a corner in the back of the flower bed. Hopefully I’ll be surprised in the spring!

I planted the 2 large allium bulbs in the back, next to the mystery bulbs.

I covered it all back up again, let the rain water them, and am now crossing my fingers till spring. Can gardening really be this easy? Will let you know in a few months!

Visiting Deep Cut Gardens in New Jersey

Posted by Stacey Hirvela

I've visited dozens of public gardens in this country but as far as I know, none of them have had quite as colorful a past as Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown, New Jersey. While most of its history is pretty innocent, it was occupied for a period by notorious gangster Vito Genovese. When he acquired the property, he had the gardens redesigned to remind him of his native Naples, Italy by constructing an extensive rockery out of native New Jersey "peanut stone", including a stone replica of Mount Vesuvius. The entire property makes for a great visit, but it is Vito's additions that imbue Deep Cut with quirky charm. Read on for the full report...

Update - our garden in the Berkshires

Posted by Stacey Hirvela

For nearly a year now, I've been keeping you abreast of the development of the Martha Stewart heirloom garden at the Berkshire Botanical Garden (you can read previous posts here, here, here, and here). I hadn't seen it since planting day way back in May and I finally got to visit it again last week. Things had changed, to say the least - but all for the better!

Broadcasting from the Gardens

Posted by Alexis Tirado

The New York Botanical Gardens is a phenomenon -- there are acres and acres of greenery! Just like people can't believe that Central Park exists smack in the middle of NYC, it's pretty amazing that the NYBG is located in the Bronx.

Tomorrow from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm EST, Martha Stewart Living Radio will be broadcasting live from NYBG! We'll have cool guests on air from Food Network chefs to herbal tea connoisseurs. If you live in the NYC area and want tixs to the event email radio@marthastewart.com If you can't attend the event, make sure to tune in (Sirius 112 or XM 157) or view online Martha's Herb Garden (it's located at the NYGB).

SEE THE TOPICS & GUESTS FROM THE BROADCAST AFTER THE JUMP

We LOVE the Highline

Posted by Tony Bielaczyc

On Monday, Stacey and I went for a walk through the newest public park to open in Manhattan, The High Line.  After nearly 10 years of jumping through hoops, juggling egos, cajoling donors, reviewing designs, hosting public panels and a frantic steamroller-like installation of hard surfaces, planting beds, lighting, irrigation, seating and plant material, 'tis done, 'tis just begun, 'tis open to the public!

The main stairway entry is at Gansevoort and Washington Streets in the meat packing district in lower Manhattan.  It is the official beginning spot for the 1.5 mile long park that snakes its way overhead through the top of the West Village into Chelsea and will eventually make it to 34th St.

Sleek and sensitive, modern and humane, the landscape architecture was done by Field Operations  and the architecture by Diller Scofidio.  The formal elements are of a strong presence while acting as the perfect partners for the planting design. 

Ahh, yes, the plants...This is where Stacey and I almost cried with joy.

Piet Oudolf is the gardener and plantsman l'extraodinaire/maestro who did the design.  His selection and masterly combination of material is sublime and divine , really.  Those words sound like cheesy cliches from a 50s romance movie, but they really sprang to mind as Stacey and I swooned over and over at what had been accomplished.

 

Planting day at the Berkshire Botanical Garden

Posted by Stacey Hirvela

I spent January in my office in Midtown Manhattan designing a garden in an otherwise empty space that I had seen only once (for more details, look here, here, and here.) so when the planting day finally arrived last Tuesday, I was really excited to see everything come together.

It's the story, of a Vegetable Garden...

Posted by Tony Bielaczyc


 

As Much as I love Brooklyn (I've been there almost 20 years!), the time finally came for my partner and me to buy real estate and we chose a place in Riverdale, the southwestern most part of the Bronx.  I had lamented leaving the perennial community garden I'd been working in for some 8+ years,
but was relieved when I could take over the above plot to make into a new veg garden.  I was THRILLED to have this much room to grow in, some 450 whopping sq feet!  A monumental improvement on the 4X6' bed I'd been growing vegetables in back in Brooklyn.  I know it doesn't look like heaven in a traditional Garden-of-Eden kinda way, but it was pure paradise found for me.  This is the beginning of the story of my exploits in reclaiming and taming this fallow hallowed ground. 

READ MORE

Vote for Your Favorite Green Thumb

Posted by Alexis Tirado

Last week Homegrown, our gardening show on Martha Stewart Living Radio ran a "What was your big green thumb moment?" contest. Below are the three finalists for the contest. Please vote on your favorite story in the POLL. The person with the most votes wins the contest. Winner receives a mower or composting bin!

Please note: The poll closes on Monday, March 16 at 11:59 PM EST. On Tuesday, March 17, please tune in to Homegrown on Sirius 112/XM 157 between 9:00 and 10:00 AM EST to hear who won the contest.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Mary
My mom was an avid gardener during my childhood years. I truly resented this fact because she would often ask me to help weed (a task I loathed) and I felt she wasted much of her day in the garden. I vowed to her that I would never ever have a garden. She knowingly listened, but said, "It's great therapy. You'll feel differently about gardening when you are older. It is in the genes." I knew at that moment that she was wrong.

Well, much to my surprise, she was right. I do not know exactly how it happened, but once I moved into my own home, one of the first things I wanted to do was plant a garden! I did not even realize the irony until one day, while I was proudly showing my sister my herb garden, I began to chuckle to myself as I heard my mom's words echoing in my mind. She was right! Not only did I have a garden, I loved every second of it and felt the same sense of accomplishment that she did as I gazed upon my small albeit well-stocked herb garden. Now I could never imagine life without a garden.

Kate
I owe my passion for gardening to a woman who passed away months before we bought her house in early November. The scraggly backyard was uninspiring. Come spring though, gifts started appearing. Wide leaves folded around the tiny white bells of lily of the valley. Delicate bouquets of bridal wreath welcomed me at the front door. Peonies provided blooms to float in a glass bowl. The scent of a mock orange was intoxicating. Later, I harvested blackberries, and made jelly from the purple elderberries. All this without lifting a finger, I thought, just imagine what I could do once I invested some thought and work. Never having gardened before, I devoured garden books, and eagerly experimented with their many ideas. I grew carrots and covered them in hay, harvesting all winter. From the pride of production, I learned to enjoy vegetables I had avoided, like broccoli, peppers and onions.

Every meal I announced "This is from our own garden," a pleasure I continue to this day, 30 years on. But for the gifts of that first garden, I might never have been seduced by the pleasures of ornamentals and the superior taste and pride of growing my own food.

Gina
I'm a student who shares a one-bedroom apartment in an urban neighborhood with my husband. My patio is roughly the size of a twin bed -- not enough room to create an outdoor room, but too much space to leave bare. Last spring was our first as a married couple and we were feeling our space needed a fresh beginning (just like us!).

Since we're on a budget and into being as self-sufficient as possible, we decided to turn our little patio into a garden. After some lengthy research, we gathered our containers and began planting. The garden started out with dwarf fruit trees, heirloom tomatoes, berries and lots of great herbs. As summer drew on, the plant list expanded to include almost every basic (and exotic!) garden staple imaginable.

We practiced companion planting so we could keep our garden as condensed and organically grown as possible. The most incredible moment of our first garden was biting into fresh baby-sized watermelon in the heat of summer. I've never tasted sweeter. All the naysayers believed we were crazy for trying it, but now they're asking when they can expect some more great food from our little garden!

Garden Design 101

Posted by Dionne Victor

Tony and Andrew have designed more gardens than they can count, and on last week's "Homegrown," they gave listeners some cues on what they've learned along the way. When you're designing your garden space, it's important to look at what you have and think about the possibilities. It's also imperative to create something that you can grow with, is easy to maintain and is functional.  Here are some of their tips the gave listeners:

1) Give yourself plenty of space. In planning pathways, make sure they're wide enough.  Think about the room you may need for carts, wheel barrows, and general garden maintenance.  Andrew's rule of thumb is that the main path should be 5 feet wide, but adding an extra foot to make it six feet will provide more than enough space.

2) Be generous by building wide, broad steps. This garden feature is multi-purpose, not only are steps aesthetically pleasing, but level changes also allow you mark the transitions in your garden. Again, it gives you space to walk freely through your garden. Generally, your garden steps should have a 6-inch rise and 20-inch run. 

3)   Surfaces can be really slick if you're not careful. To avoid slips and falls, watch how you treat it. Think about using gravel as a surface for garden pathways.  And in choosing the gravel, be sure to use a small mixed gravel (sometimes called pea gravel) it's easily passable and the components fit together without areas of gaping.