Newsletter 93

Welcome!

In This Issue

• Creative No-Carve Pumpkins
• Composting 101
• New T-Shirt Shop for Gardeners
• Foxglove Growing Tips
• Quick Question

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Newsletter Index

Creative No-carve Pumpkins

Hello, fall! In the previous issue, I asked if you decorate for the seasons. Many said yes, but also requested ideas for keeping it simple. These no-carve pumpkin people are fast and fun to make.

Composting 101

What’s the most valuable thing a gardener can grow? A new gardener! One of the ways I try to do this is by sharing easy-to-understand information to encourage beginners.

One topic that comes up a lot is compost. What is it? How do you make it? Is there an easy way? I’ve answered it all in Composting 101: Slow and Fast Methods.

New T-Shirt Shop for Gardeners

I’m delighted the t-shirt shown here is the bestseller so far. We gardeners have superpowers! There are more designs in the shop. Each t-shirt is available in several colors for men, women, and youth.

Foxglove Growing Tips

I’ve been featuring growing tips on cottage-style plants, working through all the favourites in my garden. Foxglove (Digitalis) is a charming one with an interesting history and an important medicinal role.

Quick Question

Name 3 gifts you would like to receive as a gardener.
Low, medium, and high budgets—whatever you like.
Me? I’d love a greenhouse.

Here in my garden (southwestern Ontario, Canada), I’m hustling to get through my fall garden checklist before the frosts begin. The aim is to protect tender plants, my pond fish, and stuff (garden art and decor), and get a jump start on spring.

I’ve been sowing flower seeds, planting flowering bulbs, moving plants, and picking up a ridiculous number of black walnuts. The squirrels stand nearby just chuckling at me. There’s more than they could ever stash away.

The thing I don’t do is ‘clean up’. Old perennial growth, decaying matter, and fall leaves contain all the goodness nature needs to renew itself. The birds, bees, butterflies, and many other wild things (great and small) that overwinter in our gardens use this stuff for habitat and fuel. I leave it for them until new growth appears in late spring.

I hope this newsletter finds you well, and please take time to play outdoors: worries are easy to lose in the garden and they make excellent compost.

See you again in two weeks!

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
PS: If it’s leaf raking time where you are, see why they are so important in the garden.