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: Harvesting, storing root crops
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I sometimes wonder if I’m part squirrel. No, I don’t bury acorns for winter, but I do love putting up food for winter, especially potatoes. They’re the ultimate “comfort food” as far as I am concerned, and I rarely have too many. If you haven’t already done […]
Henry Homeyer: Create espalier fruit trees
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC When traveling in France and England I have often admired the fruit trees that have been pruned and trained to stay low and follow a wall or building. Their branches, like the extended arms of a scarecrow, travel horizontally – and are often loaded with fruit. I […]
Henry Homeyer: Love those red-leafed trees, shrubbery
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Everyone seems to go wild for sugar maples trees in the fall because, here in New England, their leaves turn wonderful colors – yellow, orange and, best of all, red. But some trees and shrubs have reddish or purplish leaves all summer, and these, too, are very […]
Henry Homeyer: Getting the best from your harvested tomatoes
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is my favorite time of the year: tomato time. Tomato sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. Tomato, basil and cucumber salads with dinner. Tomatoes in stir-fries. Tomatoes going in the freezer, dehydrator and jars of sauce. Oh my, I do love my tomatoes and this year, I […]
Henry Homeyer: Attract pollinators with native plants
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently helped prepare and plant a pollinator garden. Bees, butterflies and other insects need pollen and nectar for food, and suitable native plants on which to rest and lay their eggs. Unfortunately, many landscape plants have been introduced from foreign shores, and the plants may be […]
Henry Homeyer: Try new plants if just for fun
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Each year I try to grow some new things in my vegetable garden, varieties that I’ve never tried before. Sometimes my efforts are a bust, and I never grow them again. Then sometimes something new becomes an instant favorite, as happened this year. This year I grew Romanesco […]
Henry Homeyer: Preparing for garden guests
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Summer is the time for spending time in the garden – and for sharing your love of the garden with others. If you want to invite friends – your mother-in-law or perhaps the entire bowling team – to see your garden, here are a few tips. First, […]
Henry Homeyer: Mid-summer tasks in the garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Oh I how I love the sunny weather we’ve had this summer! It reminds me of the years I spent as a young man working with the Peace Corps in West Africa. There were often 7 or 8 months of sunshine between rainy seasons. And, like there, we […]
Henry Homeyer: Building a stone retaining wall
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I decided to build an 80-foot long terrace for fruit trees, and to edge it with a nice fieldstone retaining wall using stones I could find on my property or on the nearby property of a friend. It was […]
Henry Homeyer: Tips for building a garden arbor
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I was a beginning gardener, I just planted vegetables in one place, flowers in another, and never spent 2 minutes thinking about the overall design. I was growing veggies to eat, flowers to admire or to cut and arrange in bouquets. But reading gardening books and and […]
Henry Homeyer: Trees that even tree-huggers can hate
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Tree-huggers to the contrary, not all trees are good. Yes, they all take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, reducing global warming. Yes, they provide shade, keeping us cooler during hot stretches in summer; most trees are great. However, some are invasive, crowding out others and sucking up […]
Henry Homeyer: How to have a better lawn
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Believe it or not, I once ate my lawnmower. No, not the Briggs and Stratton kind. I had purchased a pair of Jacobs sheep to keep my lawn trim for a season. At the end of the season they were off to the butcher, and came home freezer […]
Henry Homeyer: Thinning, weeding, watering made easy
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC With the advent of summer, it is time to buckle down and get a few tedious jobs done in the garden. But there are ways to lighten your load. First, it is time to thin out extra plants that are crowding each other. Carrots and beets are two […]
Henry Homeyer: Six summer beauties
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love the song “Summertime” by George Gershwin, yet I fail to comprehend why Gershwin didn’t include any flowers in the song. Yes, the cotton was high and the fish were jumping, but there’s no mention of peony or iris. Let’s look at some great flowers of summer […]
Henry Homeyer: 3 keys to a successful garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Being a great gardener is pretty simple. Know what your plants need in terms of sun, soil and water. Do that, and make adjustments as necessary, and your plants will thrive. Of course, that is often easier said than done. Sunshine Sunshine is what drives plant growth. Vegetables […]
Henry Homeyer: Keep gardening as you age
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I reached the age of 72 recently and have been thinking about the future. What will my gardens be like when I’m 82? Will I be gardening at 92? I realize I won’t always have the strength, stamina and energy to manage all I do now. Here are […]
Henry Homeyer: Prep veg seedlings for planting
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC One of the highlights of my year is planting my vegetable garden. It’s a time full of hope and anticipation as I nestle seedlings into the soil and sow seeds. I started many seeds indoors, growing tomatoes, peppers and more under lights. They are the right size now […]
Henry Homeyer: Give spring wild flowers a helping hand
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Every spring Mother Nature gives me gifts. Or that is how it seems when she sends the blossoms of trillium, hepatica, Jack-in-the-pulpit, bloodroot, trout lily, blue cohosh, Dutchman’s breeches, squirrel corn and more to my woods and shade gardens. Of course, I have helped nature by planting wild […]
Henry Homeyer: Prune well for beautiful roses
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC My roses are waking up, and starting to show leaf buds along their stems. This is a good time to cut back dead stems, which will stimulate new growth and start them off well for the summer season. It’s time to shape your roses so that they are […]
Henry Homeyer: Spring cleaning for garden prep
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC The snow is gone, and I am ready for gardening. And although I have been able to do a few things in the garden, the soil is wet and easily compacted, so I can’t do much until it dries out. Many of my flower beds are six feet […]
