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: Plant now, bloom later
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing I have been planting bulbs around my property for at least 40 years, and some of them are still flowering each spring. I even have daffodils I brought up from my childhood home in Connecticut that might be 70 years old or more. Others run out of energy […]
Henry Homeyer: How to grow great garlic
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing If you lean toward lazy (or have kids, dogs and a job), growing garlic may be just the ticket. It is the easiest of all vegetables to grow. Once planted and mulched, it requires little or no work until harvest. A good harvest is guaranteed if follow my […]
Henry Homeyer: Fall flowers important food for butterflies, other pollinators and birds
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing Despite my best efforts to support monarch butterflies, this year was discouraging: I only saw two monarchs visit my gardens. I have a small bed just for milkweeds, both the common one and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). But no monarchs laid eggs there this summer, no larvae ate […]
Henry Homeyer: Time to sharpen your pruners
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing Fall is a good time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Once the leaves have dropped you can see the form – and the clutter – and decide what to take out. But before you begin, think about sharpening up your pruning tools, replacing blades, or buying new […]
Henry Homeyer: how to deal with invasive plants
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing Most older houses are plagued with plants brought from Asia or Europe and sold to well-meaning people who didn’t know that some of those handsome plants might become invasive. By definition, invasives come from abroad, spread rapidly, do not have any natural predators to help keep them under […]
Henry Homeyer: gardening better as we age
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing As a Certified Senior Citizen I sometimes wonder if I am too ambitious in my garden. I have about an acre of gardens with 200 or more kinds of flowers and a good-size vegetable garden. These gardens please me greatly, and I visit them daily all year, even […]
Henry Homeyer: From garden to kitchen
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing I love to cook, and I love to eat. I got started gardening in the vegetable garden more than 70 years ago, in part, because everyone I knew loved to eat homegrown vegetables – raw in the garden, fresh in the kitchen, or cooked for dinner. I’d pull […]
Henry Homeyer: With hydrangeas, you always win
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing Unlike the games of chance at our local fair, you always win when you buy a hydrangea. They generally bloom their fool heads off every year, even if you have poor soil and a poor track record in the garden. When I was a boy I noticed that […]
Henry Homeyer: We like big plants and we cannot lie
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC If Jack, of Beanstalk fame, were to visit my garden, I think he would be impressed. I’m not sure how tall his beanstalk grew, but I got out my 10ft tripod Hasegawa pruning ladder and took a picture of a flower blossom while standing on the top […]
Henry Homeyer: A window box for everyone
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC You may not have the time and energy to weed and maintain lovely perennial flower beds – or even to grow a few tomatoes, carrots and beans. But if you love flowers, you can have a window box or a big pot of flowers on your deck. […]
Henry Homeyer: How to time your pickings
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Hhose of us who grow vegetables are faced with many questions each year: will there be a late frost that will harm our tomatoes and peppers if we plant them on Memorial Day weekend? Is it time to harvest garlic now, since they produced their scapes early […]
Henry Homeyer: Sal, of blueberry fame, is getting old
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Have you ever wondered what would happen after a story ends? I have. The children’s book Blueberries for Sal came out in 1948 and has been a hit for 75 years. If Sal was four years old in the book, she must be pushing 80. I imagine […]
Henry Homeyer: How to reduce your weeding time
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The recent rains have kept many gardeners from getting outdoors to weed, and weeds have loved the rain and are growing like Boy Scouts on “Free Ice Cream Day” at the Ben and Jerry’s factory. But don’t give up. Weeds also pull well now, with the soft, […]
Henry Homeyer: How to pick and arrange your flowers
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC I have been keeping track this year of what blooms for me, and when. So far I’ve recorded over 100 species of flowers (plus many more named varieties of the same genus) and 40 species of flowering trees and shrubs. Blooming starts with snowdrops in March and […]
Henry Homeyer: A few July chores to check off your list
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC For me, July has started off wet: rains, heavy at times, three days a week and going on for weeks. Although I like not having to water my new plantings in the vegetable garden and flower beds, some plants are having a tough time- they need sunshine! […]
Henry Homeyer: Slugs and bugs and ticks, oh my!
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC All gardeners have to contend with a variety of insects and other small pests in the garden – those that attack our plants and those that bite us. Mosquitoes? I can live with them. But ticks? That is another story. I’ve tried every kind of spray to […]
Henry Homeyer: Fragrant blooms to satisfy your senses
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Do you remember your Grammy’s favorite rose? If you do, you probably remember how fragrant it was. For me, one of my grandmother’s favorite plants was the peony named Festiva Maxima. It is a double white with a drop of red in the middle. It’s in bloom […]
Henry Homeyer: How to plant and transplant your plants
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Once, a long time ago, I was sitting on a porch overlooking a landscape with an acquintance. I commented that if she removed or thinned a line of tall pine trees, she would have a lovely long view. “Great idea! I’ll have them moved,” she said. Even […]
Henry Homeyer: Learning from other gardeners
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC One of the best ways to learn how to create a lovely garden is to see others. Visit good gardens of neighbors, great gardens near and far. I recently visited three great gardens and, as always when viewing other gardens, they gave me much to consider. The […]
Henry Homeyer: Honoring the royalty of your garden, the tomato
By Henry Homeyer © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC For me tomatoes are the best tasting, most important vegetable I grow. I eat them raw in salads and sandwiches or cooked in soups and stews. I dehydrate some, I freeze many whole, and I make some sauce for quick dinners in winter. But they are not […]
