Bloom Tuesday No. 22: Hanging in There

With mornings and evenings getting cooler and cooler, the blooms are looking rough around the edges. However, several plants have re-bloomed in the last couple of weeks. I mentioned in an earlier post that the flower carpet roses are covered with blooms. This week, the Purple Passion rose I bought in Chicago last spring has [...]

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Overheard at the Farmers’ Market

Market farmers (and gardeners) will likely be leaving many crops unripened in the ground this fall, according to one of the vendors I talked with at Saturday’s Northfield Farmers’ Market. Summer started two or three weeks later than expected, then we plunged into a semi-drought. As a result, many vegetables are still blossoming–confused about what [...]

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 21: Berry Pretty

In fall, berries are as striking as blooms. This year we have a large crop of perfectly formed, perfectly red berries on the American highbush cranberry bushes in our backyard. These will hang on all winter, providing food for birds and comfortable places for snow to rest.

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Hurry Up, Make Pesto

With fall hard upon us, it’s time to make as much pesto as possible. Yesterday while I was waiting for my red pepper relish to marinate, I decided to make a batch of pesto for freezing. Even if you do not have much freezer room, pesto is easy to make and keep for that cold [...]

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Red Pepper Relish

When September rolls around and the red peppers start showing up at the Farmers’ Market, I get out my canning equipment and make red pepper relish. I’ve had this recipe more than 25 years, having gotten it from the mother of an old boyfriend. She was an exceptional cook, and in the early 1980s, I [...]

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Garden Product Reviews

One of the unexpected perks of blogging is that occasionally a company will send me a product to try out. I’ve received liquified worm poop fertilizer (highly recommended) and a bunch of books on gardening and design.
About 6 weeks ago, the folks at Ethel Gloves™ sent me a pair of their Jubilee gloves. Ethel gloves [...]

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Invasion of the Green Bugs

Anyone know what kind of bugs these green guys are? They pretty much destroyed the flower head of this sunflower, and I have seen the bugs in other gardens, too. I checked the Minnesota Extension insect site and my guess is it is some kind of aphid. That makes sense in that yesterday I discovered [...]

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September Slump?

“Why is it so much easier to weed in June compared to September?” asked my friend Julie, who gardens in St. Paul. I hadn’t thought about it, but I also haven’t weeded that much lately. And, now that you mention it, the raspberries I picked yesterday were going soft because I had not been out [...]

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 20

The cooler temperatures and especially the rains of this weekend have really perked up the garden. Many of my perennials are looking as nice as they have in several weeks, including the garden phlox out front (Phlox ‘David’), which is blooming well despite a bad case of powdery mildew. The Russian sage is bright and [...]

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It’s My Blog’s Birthday!

Today marks the first anniversary of My Northern Garden going online. I probably would never have started a blog if I did not live in the blogging-est town in America, Northfield, MN, so my thanks to the folks at Northfield.org, Locallygrown, Penelopedia, Rough Draft, and the rest of Northfield’s blog community for inspiring this effort. [...]

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