Author Archive for Henry Homeyer
Henry Homeyer is a lifetime organic gardener living in Cornish Flat, N.H. He is the author of four gardening books including The Vermont Gardener's Companion. You may reach him by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or by snail mail at PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746. Please include a SASE if you wish an answer to a question by mail.
Henry Homeyer: Staying busy in the garden’s slow time
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Winter is our slow season, and many gardeners begin to languish as January finishes and spring is still far away. It is important to keep busy. For me, this means reading gardening books and magazines, and working on small tasks that can be done indoors now. Preparing plant […]
Henry Homeyer: Treat yourself, flowers in the winter
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I’m planning to go pick some flowers today. Yes, we got a foot of snow recently and the temperature as I write this is well below zero with the wind chill. And no, I am not crazy. I’m going to go pick them out at my local florist, […]
Henry Homeyer: Hot peppers deserve a place in every garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love hot and spicy peppers. As a young man I lived in West Africa for nearly 10 years, first as a traveler, then as a Peace Corps volunteer and Peace Corps country director. I lived in Cameroon and Mali, where hot peppers were an integral part of […]
Henry Homeyer: Borrow ideas from a Chinese garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Winter is a time for gardeners to rest. No weeding, no mowing, no moving plants from one bed to another. But now is a good time for planning what changes one can make in the garden, come spring and summer. I like to reflect on gardens I have […]
Henry Homeyer: Eat better, eat from your garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC As we go through the holidays, we tend to relax our vigilance about eating, or at least I do. Like a woodchuck bulking up for hibernation, I find myself enjoying comfort foods during the long winter nights – and days. It is easy to gain a few pounds, […]
Henry Homeyer: Holiday reflections
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC At this time of year I like to look back on the past year – in the garden, and in my life – to reflect on all the wonderful events of the year. I take time to count my blessings, look at my mistakes, and make plans for […]
Henry Homeyer: Japanese culture makes vibrant mark on West Coast
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Visiting a garden in winter allows me to see its bones, the internal structure that supports and enhances the flowers and leaves of the other three seasons. I like to go slowly through a winter garden to allow the spirit and essence of the garden to sink in. […]
Henry Homeyer: Winter wonderland’s wondrous trees
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is not the time for planting trees in New England. But it is a good time for looking at them and deciding what to plant, come spring and summer. Since we have five months or so without flowers growing in our gardens, look at the silhouettes of […]
Henry Homeyer: Keeping houseplants happy, healthy
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently visited my friend Alicia Jenks of Green Dragon Farm in Weathersfield, Vt., to take a look at her houseplants – some 50 or more of them. Alicia considers them her “indoor garden,” her plant friends that keep her gardening all winter. She doesn’t think houseplants are […]
Henry Homeyer: Feed the birds, sans the bird seed
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC This year, given the plethora of squirrels in the universe, I feel that I should just buy a dump truck-load of black oil sunflower seeds and drop it on the lawn in front of the deck. Then maybe the squirrels would let my timid titmice get to the […]
Henry Homeyer: Eat local — from your backyard
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC For breakfast I often drink a green smoothie that includes a banana, kale, some OJ, half a lime, fresh ginger, fresh mint and water. It’s healthy, tasty and uses kale I grew. I usually pick fresh ‘Winterbor’ kale from my garden until mid-December as even temperatures in the […]
Henry Homeyer: holiday gifts for the gardener
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Already, songs such as “Jingle Bells” and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” are blaring in stores in an attempt to get us in the mood to buy holiday gifts. Good grief, Halloween is barely over. Still, here are some thoughts for all you eager beavers who […]
Henry Homeyer: Who, what, where and how of pruning
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you have cut back your perennials, cleaned up the vegetable garden and raked the leaves, you have good reason to be a tad smug. You’re ahead of me, but don’t be too proud – there is still plenty to do outside. It’s time for some fall pruning. […]
Henry Homeyer: Tips for forcing spring bulbs
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC One of the easiest and most satisfying gardening activities I do each year is to plant tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus in containers each fall. I keep them in a place that is cold, but not freezing, for three to four months, then bring them into the warmth […]
Henry Homeyer: How to handle rodent visitors
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Like the Joad family in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, countless squirrels are on the move. Heedless of traffic, they cross the road in search of new sources of food. Steely-eyed gardeners bear down on them, thinking revenge for the destruction of their crops, particularly tomatoes, apples and […]
Henry Homeyer: What to plant now for spring
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC For decades I’ve been planting spring-flowering bulbs. Some come back every year, some disappear after a few years, and some I treat as annuals. So just when mud season is about to swallow me whole, I am rewarded with flowers to enjoy outdoors – and indoors in […]
Henry Homeyer: How to grow great garlic
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Now is the time to buy garlic for planting – unless you have some from your own garden that you saved for that purpose, as I do. You’ll want to get your garlic planted a month before the ground freezes, so depending on where you live, you […]
Henry Homeyer: 7 chores to complete this fall
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC For many years I was in denial, for I refused to accept that fall and winter were on the way by October. I didn’t start fall clean up until November, and by then it was cold, raw, often wet and unpleasant out. Now, having reached a certain […]
Henry Homeyer: Fall in love with seasonal mums, asters
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Summer is over, officially, and the garden knows it. Tomatoes exist only in the kitchen, many flowers are looking lackluster, and trees are losing their leaves. What’s a gardener to do? I buy color in the form of chrysanthemums and fall asters, and I also enjoy wild […]
Henry Homeyer: It’s the perfect time to plant (some) seeds
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Most of us think about planting seeds in the spring, but there are lots of plants that can be planted by seed now, especially wildflowers. One of my favorite wildflowers is Jack-in-the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). In the spring, it produces a single well-hidden blossom beneath its large […]
