I have just written an article on the best plant choices for the landscape. If you are looking for plants with the following characteristics edibility, beauty, good for insects. Enjoy.
: 
Jim McSweeney is a certified arborist, certified horticulturist, licensed pesticide applicator and professional landscape designer with over 15 years experience. Here you will find timely gardening tips, from a pro in the field, that can be easily used by both avid and novice gardeners. The tips will attempt to be clear, concise and usable without a lot of "fluff". He lives and works in Zone 5 (Western Massachusetts), many of the horticultural principles covered are useful in any climate.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Sustainable plant choices for the landscape
http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/3-sustainable-plant-choices-for-the-family-garden/#more-35231
I have just written an article on the best plant choices for the landscape. If you are looking for plants with the following characteristics edibility, beauty, good for insects. Enjoy.
:
I have just written an article on the best plant choices for the landscape. If you are looking for plants with the following characteristics edibility, beauty, good for insects. Enjoy.
: 
Friday, September 13, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
I just published an article on 2 pests (one disease & one insect) that are causing real problems to the home gardeners and local farmers. One is a recent introduction to the U.S. (2008) and the other has been around for a long time. This is the same disease that killed all the potatoes and subsequently the people of Ireland in the mid-1800's. See link for more info.
http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/category/jim-mcsweeney/
http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/category/jim-mcsweeney/
Friday, June 7, 2013
Environmentally sound garden practices for the family garden
One of the major keys to a successful garden is the incorporation of organic matter into the soil every year
I remember taking a soil class at Umass 15 or so years back and hearing my professor say,
"the answer to almost any question I ask this semester will likely be add organic matter to the soil. If the problem is nutrition, drainage, pH, disease & insect problems, etc… the solution often can be solved with the addition of organic matter."
Soil needs organic matter for the following reason: moisture retention, aeration, microbial life, slow release fertilizer, etc….
So now you know it, how do you do it? Most people know about composting (see my composting blog for more details http://hilltowntreeandgarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/dirt-on-dir.html) but as a busy parent this can be too much work for too little return. Here is what I often do (you will not read this stuff in a book but it really works):
1) When you and the kids pull weeds just lay them back down on their side on top of the soil. They will die, become mulch and slowly return the nutrient they have taken from the soil.
2) Have the children rake up piles of your grass clippings and put them down as mulch. Providing you do not wait until the grass is 2' tall it will have few weed seeds. By the fall it will be semi-decomposted and ready to be worked into the soil.
3) Add some leaves (ground if possible) to the beds. If it's a perennial bed add them to the top as mulch & if it's a veg bed use as a mulch then work it in in the late fall.
4) Keep all plant matter in the bed. Why take the peony stalks away only to bring in bark mulch later? Why not just chop your bean stalks back into the soil or save them for a springtime mulch?
5) Cover crop (for veg gardens only). A cover crop is a seed of an annual plant that you broadcast onto the soil. It grows very quickly & then you turn it back into the soil. My favorite is buckwheat which i just pickup at Hadley Garden Center.
Part of the reason these kinds of tips will not be in Martha Stewarts next book is because it can look a bit dishelved. So if you are aspiring to be on the front page of Better Homes and Garden the above tips are not for you. But if you are a laid back Hilltowner and a busy parent who is trying to grow some stuff it will look fine to you. And have noticed that your 8 year old pile of vegetable scraps has amounted to only one and a half wheelbarrows of soil during this time (this was me)? If so then try the above 5 tips to increase the organic matter of your soil.
Jim McSweeney M.C.A, M.C.H.
President
Hilltown Tree & Garden LLC
--------------------------------------------
Cell (413) 559-1905
www.HilltownTreeandGarden.com
https://www.facebook.com/HilltownTreeAndGarden
One of the major keys to a successful garden is the incorporation of organic matter into the soil every year
I remember taking a soil class at Umass 15 or so years back and hearing my professor say,
"the answer to almost any question I ask this semester will likely be add organic matter to the soil. If the problem is nutrition, drainage, pH, disease & insect problems, etc… the solution often can be solved with the addition of organic matter."
Soil needs organic matter for the following reason: moisture retention, aeration, microbial life, slow release fertilizer, etc….
So now you know it, how do you do it? Most people know about composting (see my composting blog for more details http://hilltowntreeandgarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/dirt-on-dir.html) but as a busy parent this can be too much work for too little return. Here is what I often do (you will not read this stuff in a book but it really works):
1) When you and the kids pull weeds just lay them back down on their side on top of the soil. They will die, become mulch and slowly return the nutrient they have taken from the soil.
2) Have the children rake up piles of your grass clippings and put them down as mulch. Providing you do not wait until the grass is 2' tall it will have few weed seeds. By the fall it will be semi-decomposted and ready to be worked into the soil.
3) Add some leaves (ground if possible) to the beds. If it's a perennial bed add them to the top as mulch & if it's a veg bed use as a mulch then work it in in the late fall.
4) Keep all plant matter in the bed. Why take the peony stalks away only to bring in bark mulch later? Why not just chop your bean stalks back into the soil or save them for a springtime mulch?
5) Cover crop (for veg gardens only). A cover crop is a seed of an annual plant that you broadcast onto the soil. It grows very quickly & then you turn it back into the soil. My favorite is buckwheat which i just pickup at Hadley Garden Center.
Part of the reason these kinds of tips will not be in Martha Stewarts next book is because it can look a bit dishelved. So if you are aspiring to be on the front page of Better Homes and Garden the above tips are not for you. But if you are a laid back Hilltowner and a busy parent who is trying to grow some stuff it will look fine to you. And have noticed that your 8 year old pile of vegetable scraps has amounted to only one and a half wheelbarrows of soil during this time (this was me)? If so then try the above 5 tips to increase the organic matter of your soil.
Jim McSweeney M.C.A, M.C.H.
President
Hilltown Tree & Garden LLC
--------------------------------------------
Cell (413) 559-1905
www.HilltownTreeandGarden.com
https://www.facebook.com/HilltownTreeAndGarden
Friday, May 3, 2013
Pruning raspberries
5 Steps
Perhaps no other small fruit commonly found in the gardens of the Hilltowns and Valley mystify their owners as do raspberries. There is no shortage of information out there on how to prune these thorny canes. As a professional and homeowner I can tell you I am often perplexed on how to prune them after reading one of the numerous tomes written on the subject. I will attempt to simplify the process with the below 5 steps.
The steps below assume that you have "summer bearing raspberries" as opposed to "fall bearing raspberries." Even if this is not the case, the below system will work fine.
1) Get the right tools- Loppers on the left & hand pruners on the right.
2) Remove all canes that are dead.
If they fruited last year they will be dead or virtually dead this year. Cut them out at the base (1-2" above soil).
This is a simple task your kids can help you with. They might find hand pruners a bit hard to use so let them use loppers.
3) Remove all canes smaller then the diameter of a pencil.
4) Thin out remaining canes to a 6-12" spacing from one another. Leaving the stoutest healthiest ones.
5) Reduce height of canes with topping cut to approximately 4 1/2 feet.
The photo below shows a row of raspberries at my farm: thinned & topped.
When it comes to bramble fruits, less is more. That monstrous tangled rats nest of a bramble patch that you fear treading into will yield less fruit then a spartanly pruned row of orderly canes. The above 5 steps are the most important things you can do to help you get a good berry harvest. But in conjunction with this do not forget to mulch, irrigate, trellis & fertilize, all topics for a future article.
Good luck!
5 Steps
Perhaps no other small fruit commonly found in the gardens of the Hilltowns and Valley mystify their owners as do raspberries. There is no shortage of information out there on how to prune these thorny canes. As a professional and homeowner I can tell you I am often perplexed on how to prune them after reading one of the numerous tomes written on the subject. I will attempt to simplify the process with the below 5 steps.
The steps below assume that you have "summer bearing raspberries" as opposed to "fall bearing raspberries." Even if this is not the case, the below system will work fine.
1) Get the right tools- Loppers on the left & hand pruners on the right.
2) Remove all canes that are dead.
If they fruited last year they will be dead or virtually dead this year. Cut them out at the base (1-2" above soil).
This is a simple task your kids can help you with. They might find hand pruners a bit hard to use so let them use loppers.
3) Remove all canes smaller then the diameter of a pencil.
4) Thin out remaining canes to a 6-12" spacing from one another. Leaving the stoutest healthiest ones.
5) Reduce height of canes with topping cut to approximately 4 1/2 feet.
The photo below shows a row of raspberries at my farm: thinned & topped.
When it comes to bramble fruits, less is more. That monstrous tangled rats nest of a bramble patch that you fear treading into will yield less fruit then a spartanly pruned row of orderly canes. The above 5 steps are the most important things you can do to help you get a good berry harvest. But in conjunction with this do not forget to mulch, irrigate, trellis & fertilize, all topics for a future article.
Good luck!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Roots and taxes.
People often ask me "when can i start planting my vegetable garden?" The short answer is now. The soil temp in my gardens has reached 50 degrees. While under the black plastic (I use to heat up the soil) has a soil temperature of 60. All vegetable gardeners should own their own $10 soil thermometer. In general we reach these soil temperatures around April 15th, tax day, hence roots and taxes.
The majority of crops you would plant at this time of year (potatoes, lettuces, kale, spinach, beets, carrots radishes, etc...) will germinate at these soil temps. See link for exact soil temps... http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/temperature.html
But... if you see many days of cold wet weather coming, hold off on planing. Because cold wet weather for to many days will often rot the seed. I will plant this weekend because next week looks warm (60) and dry. Plant a victory garden this year, feed your family and thumb your nose at the corporate agro business!
The majority of crops you would plant at this time of year (potatoes, lettuces, kale, spinach, beets, carrots radishes, etc...) will germinate at these soil temps. See link for exact soil temps... http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/temperature.html
But... if you see many days of cold wet weather coming, hold off on planing. Because cold wet weather for to many days will often rot the seed. I will plant this weekend because next week looks warm (60) and dry. Plant a victory garden this year, feed your family and thumb your nose at the corporate agro business!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)