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: 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 […]
Henry Homeyer: Spring harvest from the garden Parsnips, sorrel, rhubarb and chives make an early debut
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC It occurred to me as I walked up from my vegetable garden recently with a dozen fat parsnips, that gardening has something in common with fishing: You never know if you’re going to come home with something for dinner or not. Those parsnips, which were planted last summer, […]
Henry Homeyer: The woodchucks are coming
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Woodchucks, alas, are out and about. Fortunately I don’t have lettuce or green beans growing in my garden yet, as I saw my first one lounging in the sun on April 11 in a neighbor’s field. It was looking relaxed and happy. If you’ve have had woodchucks […]
Henry Homeyer: A quick look at edible natives
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s rare that I find a book that is as useful, accurate and easy-to-read as Native Plants for New England Gardens by Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe, both on staff at the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, Mass. This book presents over 100 species of […]
Henry Homeyer: Blooming indoors for sanity
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC I recently got a new tool that I’ve been using to pick stems of forsythia and pussy willows. Stems of spring-blooming shrubs put in a vase with water will bloom earlier inside than they would outside – and I’m ready for blossoms. Often the best buds are […]
Henry Homeyer: Oldies but goodies
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC As we lurch toward spring, I spend time thinking about my garden: What will come through this hard winter? What needs to be replaced? What new plants do I want to try? One thing is certain. My grandmother’s peony will survive, and I will feel blessed by its […]
Henry Homeyer: Spring bulbs Myriad bulbs can help you force spring to arrive even in snow
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC March has been ferocious. None of this, “In like a lion, out like a lamb” business. The entire month has been a Tyrannosaurus Rex, if you ask me. I’ve done more roof-shoveling this month than I usually do in a year. My poor snowdrops, usually showing me their […]
Henry Homeyer: Seed starting is a cure for Mud Season Blues
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Is it time to start seedlings yet? Yes, for a few things: artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, onions and leeks, kale and peppers. Tomatoes I start in early- to mid-April, along with eggplants, lettuce, melons and squashes of all sorts. Root crops are generally started outdoors later on, […]
Henry Homeyer: Put pruning on your spring garden calendar
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC I find it amusing that fruit tree pruning and income tax preparations should take place at about the same time of year, and that many gardeners put off each until the last moment. You might want to start pruning now, instead of trying to do it while adding […]
Henry Homeyer: Grow your flowers organically, for the soil & your blooms
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I mentioned to an acquaintance that I not only grow my vegetables with organic methods, but my flowers, too, he looked at me funny and asked, “Why? Are you going to eat your peonies?” No, I don’t eat my peonies, but I do believe they are healthier […]
Henry Homeyer: Tricks and tips to help you grow house plants
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Even the best vegetable gardener can struggle to keep house plants alive. A champion rose gardener can sometimes kill her fiddle-leafed fig or her “mother-in-law’s tongue” (also called the snake plant or Sansevieria). Why? Because the growing conditions are really very different. And indoors plants really do depend […]
Henry Homeyer: 10 ways to become a great gardener
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you want to become a great gardener, you can. It’s really not that hard. Here are 10 things you can do that will help you achieve that goal. Take classes. The flower shows are starting up, and they all have classes with speakers who have been selected […]
Henry Homeyer: Grab your seed catalogs and start to plan
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Groundhog’s Day has come and gone. That means we’re coming down home stretch. Winter is more than half gone. It’s time to think about ordering seeds, if you haven’t yet. Many great gardeners just don’t bother starting seedlings indoors. They say it takes too much time and effort. […]
Henry Homeyer: I love plants, but I hate these
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC There are a few plants I just do not like. Yes, I’m known as the Gardening Guy and have the website to prove it (www.Gardening-Guy.com). So I should love – or at least like – all plants. But I don’t. Now, in mid-winter, it’s a good time to […]
Henry Homeyer: How to identify trees in winter
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Despite their lack of leaves in winter, it is not too difficult to identify most trees now. You just have to look at other characteristics such as branching patterns, bark, overall shape, seeds or fruit, where they grow and what their buds look like. I recently went to […]
Henry Homeyer: Mark your calendars for spring flower shows
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Each winter, just as I am about to give up on life in the North Country and move to an island in the Caribbean, I am saved by the arrival of the spring flower shows. If you think that life is nothing but shoveling walks and wearing […]
Henry Homeyer: A view to improve your white winterscape
By Henry Homeyer © 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC During hard winters like this, when we tend to be somewhat housebound, it’s important to have a landscape that we can enjoy from indoors. When I first gardened, I only grew vegetables and flowers, which disappear from view in winter. But now I delight in growing trees […]
