Soothing sounds of a fountain in Weatogue CT
Hello everyone and welcome to our newly enhanced organic landscape design and garden website. We invite you to check back to see the updates as they occur. Our Connecticut
based company works throughout the Northeast creating affordable, natural, organic gardens and landscapes. Our aim here is to help you stroll through this online eco-conscious gardens. We are committed to keep our carbon footprint as small as we can in life and the gardens; and at the same time try to minimize the psychic, emotional, and physical footprint on you as you peruse our pages. You see, whenever we design anything, we believe that the space around an object, plant, or structure is as important as the aforementioned itself.
Please take a moment as you stroll through our website to see all our posts and pages where you can find ‘all things green and garden’. All the blue words on the left can be clicked on to bring you to more items enjoyable and informative. Type a word in the search box (ie: lighting, gardens, stonework, ,tips…) to find something of interest. The Eco-Shop has all my recommendations for things you need in your home and garden that are environmentally friendly.
Make sure you sign up for my monthly ‘Garden Greenline Eco-Letter’ delivered straight to your inbox and subscribe to the RSS (top right corner) so you will be automatically notified of new postings by yours truly. Your comments are appreciated and I will respond to them.
Come back for my ‘Eco-Tip of the Week’, updates, new postings, and more pictures. By the way, all the pictures are taken by my son Ian and are available for purchase in any size high quality print, with or without a frame. - Maureen
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Question: Back in December right after Christmas a 5ft Frasier Fir was given to me as a memorial to my son who had just passed away a week earlier. I was told to either leave it in the garage until spring or if possible plant it right away. I scraped away the snow and found the ground was not frozen, so I carefully planted the tree. As I look at it now, the tips on some of the bottom branches are turning brown. Does this tree still have a chance of growing OK and is there anything I should do to help it. I have watering it.
Thank you
Ron S******
Thank you for tonight’s lecture. It was a mother daughter night. My sister and I seemed to be the youngest gardeners in the group. One question I forgot to ask is when you make manure tea do you have to blow air into the brew?
With kind regards, Anne
So glad you could join me. No you do not blow air into the brew. Have a great time in the garden. Maureen
Dear Ron,
My sincere condolences on your loss. Evergreens in general should not be planted after September; but hopefully your Fraser fir will survive. The brown tips on the branches are hopefully just the normal sloughing of old growth. In a couple of weeks put some aged manure and peat moss around the base of the tree and some fine bark mulch to protect the new root growth. Good luck Maureen
Hello! I caught your talk show on my way to work today. I was pleasantly distracted on through my Hartford commute. Im hoping to catch one of your lectures in the near future. My question re: the horse manure. Does it have to be less than fresh to place around the plants? I could have a good source but I’m not sure if it is composted awhile.
Anna
You can click the link Read This to see the article Maureen wrote entitled Manure Is Like A Fine Wine. Thanks for listening to my radio show. I am on every third Thursday of the month from 8-9AM on Lite100.5FM WRCH or listen online at WRCH.com Thanks- Maureen
Does anyone have information about cocoa mulch, pros and cons. I’ve been using it for years on my flower beds, not my vegetable garden. It deters my cats from turning the beds into their toilet. I’d love to hear your opinions.
Thanks a million.
Dear Auden,
Cocoa mulch is extremely poisonous. Cats and dogs are attracted by the chocolate odor and if they ingest it they will experience seizures within hours and death. Please do not use it. Maureen
Something (vole?) is eating the roots of our rose bushes (planted in September 2008). What can be done?
Hello English Lady. I heard your show this morning on the trip into work and it was very informative and entertaining. Congratulations on a quality program.
I would like to know how you ship your products. What shipping services do you use?
Thanks
Hello
I’m sure you’ve gotten many request on this but would like your advice. I have canadian
geese invading my front yard! I’ve tried everything and nothing working I was told to
get a dog. A friend heard on your station that grape seed extract works, my question is
how is this applied and how often etc…….. Help! tired of flies, fleas and bare patches
in my lawn! Iris
My hydrangia has never bloomed. It produces an abundance of leaves but no flowers. What’s wrong?
I attended your Tuesday night talk at the Mystic/Noank library; what a delightful evening. Thank you.
I have a couple of yugo pines and I went out this morning to look at them and one of them had an abundance of green worms on them and they were devoring the pine. I sprayed bug killer on them and the quickly died but now the pine is in distress. The worms did not attack any other bushes in that area. I have never seen anything like this. What if anything can I do to prevent this again and what can I do to bring back this plant?
I also have a 2 euyonmous bushes in the same area. Same sun same soil. One is flourishing and the other has been dying off and coming back over the last couple of years. There are not bugs or anything else we can see on the surface. What can you suggest to bring this back to life?
I would be glad to take a trip to your nursery to speak with you and show you pictures of what we are dealing with. We also have a great deal of gardens that could use some professional guidance.
Thank you.
Dear Maureen, Help~is there any kind, gentle way to rid our property of Poison Ivy? Thank you, Gail
My job brings me to clients homes and one such client has a very overgrown Holly bush. In fact, it’s so overgrown it makes it hard to get in through the door. The owners are afraid of doing damage, so they do nothing. Can you tell me a good time of year to prune back the branches? (Hopefully soon as this is my only way into the house.)
Helen M.
I am having a chipmunk problem. Last year they loved my tomatos in my garden. I don’t want to have a repeat this year. How can I get rid of the little pests. I tried the stuff you can buy at the local garden center. It is expensive and did not work.
Any suggestions ? I really don’t want to do traps.
Tracy
Hello Maureen,
Love your show on 100.5, I’m always driving though and can’t call in. I have a question about Rhodadendrins. So many I see are in full bloom and
i have two in front of my house that have few blooms and are rather sparse looking. Any suggestions what i can do to make them healthier so they will be full and plentiful in bloom. ALSO I KNOW YOUR FAVORITE WORDS ARE AGED MANURE… HOW OLD IS AGED AND DOES IT MATTER IF IT’S CHICKEN, COW OR HORSE? THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVISE. Erin
i’
Help…a chipmunk is burrowing his way to China and creating a large hole and continuosly throwing mounds of dirt around his hole. What can I do???
Hi Maureen, I enjoyed your speech at the Branford garden club. I have a question…what do you think about hydroponic gardening in coconut?
Dear Maureen,
We have a dwarf flowering fountain cherry tree that for the last two years has been having an issue with something eating it’s leaves. We’ve tried to see what it is but never see anything. Any suggestions?
Thank you Vicki
Thank you for your lecture in Essex yesterday. Not only for the abundance of wonderful information but for the true gift, the wonder that you are committed to unveiling through your work with the earth.
I am having a terrible time with aphids. I have a beautiful, healthy honey suckle vine that brings a hummingbird to grace my spring and summer every year. The aphids have taken over and our destroying the blooms and the plant. I cut them off and destroy them by the millions but then, there are a million more. Please help
Beetles and Slugs are a big problem in my gardens. Help!
Hi Maureen,
My Lilac bush is loosing all its leaves! What could be causing this?
Any information is greatly appreciated!
Candy
Iris
Thanks for asking. Please click on the link at the top of this page that says The Eco Shop and you will find the answer to your problems.
Regards
Maureen
Candy, you need to have the lilac in full sun with manure and lime in the soil around it. Remove spent blooms and prune by about one quarter immediately. Powdery mildew can be a problem especially in damp and hot weather. If your lilac is in the shade that could be a large part of the problem. Good luck Maureen
Beetle traps are very useful, make sure you place them away from your plants. Slugs can be controlled with dry dog food - buy some dry dog food, add some water to make it into small squishy piles, put it on the ground in the area where the slugs congregate and then go out an hour later, all the slugs will have feasted and cannot move. Take the shovel and scoop them up and into a garbage bag and throw them away. Also shallow saucers of beer also attract them - in which they will drown. Good luck Maureen
Dear Karan, I am so happy you enjoyed the lecture. I am so passionate in my quest for all of us to heal and nourish the planet, beginning with that little piece of earth around our home, our garden.
On my website click on what to use in the garden and click again for organic aphid control. Also encourage lacewings and lady bugs into the garden, they enjoy feasting on aphids. Good luck Maureen
Tracy, try sprinkling cayenne pepper in the area, or putting down an old sneaker; they are afraid of the human odor or if you have a dog have it lie on an old piece of carpet that will get the doggy odor to help keep them at bay. Good luck Maureen
Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the soil will do the trick. Good luck Maureen
Helen, any time of year is fine to prune back the holly and if you prune it now the new growth will cover any of the pruning ends. Good luck Maureen
Gail, click on website on what to use in the garden and click on that site and I feel there may be an organic remedy for you. Good luck Maureen
James, unfortunately you are talking about the mugo worm for which there is no cure and will also have infested the soil in that area. On the website click on “what to use in the garden” and you will find an organic product for soil renovation. Euonymus likes sun and good drainage however they are susceptible to scale which can be controlled with an organic oil spray (also on the same area on the website) or it may be crown gall - the galls are rounded with rough surfaces and are made up of corky tissue - if that is the case - you will need to destroy the affected plant and throw in the garbage. Good luck Maureen
Donna, on our website type in Hydrangeas under articles and that will give you all the info. Good luck Maureen
Leonard, the organic products that we recommend on the website and which can be ordered from the companies noted there on “what to use in the garden” and the eco shoppe are shipped direct from those companies to the person that ordered - we are not involved in shipping. I’m glad you enjoyed the program and this month I will be on next Monday June 15th from 8 to 9 a.m. Usually I am on WRCH the third Thursday of each month between 8 and 9 a.m. Keep listening. Regards Maureen
Hello! I love to listen to you on lite 100.5!! I hope you can help me…. I have a beloved flowering cherry about 20 years old… This year my tree is sick! There are brown dropping leaves and I am noticing gobs of clear goo on the branches. I have cleared away the mulch around the bottom of the tree, as I learned recently they do not like their bottom trunk covered. What can I do?? I would just hate to loose this beloved beauty…. I would be so grateful for advice at all.
Barbara, it sounds like shothole borers which make small holes in the bark of the branches and trunks and the holes are covered with “gum” - prevent the tiny black adults from laying eggs by painting trunk and large branches in spring, summer and fall with white latex paint diluted 1 to 1 with water. Also apply BT organic Bacillus thuringiensis to provide more control. Good luck Maureen
Bill, on my website go onto “what to use in the garden” click on that site for organic mole and vole repellent. Good luck Maureen
Hi Maureen. I have listened to you on 100.5FM for years and enjoy it. Thank you for wonderful information. I have a question. We have installed a 40ft quarried stone wall and it now has at least one snake as a resident. I would prefer that it reside ELSEWHERE and is there a natural repellant? Thank you. Kathleen
When is the best time to prune variegated holly and barbery bushes?
I enjoyed your show on 100.5.
Thanks.
Toni, you can prune them at any time but make sure you wear thick gloves as you are aware they are very prickly. Good luck Maureen
Kathleen, there is a product called “snake away” you can get from the hardware store. There is also a great book written by a friend of mine who was very scared of snakes and made it her mission to overcome the fear by studying the snakes of New England. The book is “Snakes of New England” by Linda Krulikowski endorsed by the oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard. Good luck Maureen
Hi Maureen, I have a mature hydrangea that was planted by the previous owners of my house and since I have owned the house it gets very little blooms, so far I only count 6 on it and the bush is quiet large. I do not prune it and just use the aged manure on it like you suggest. It only blooms on new growth. Any suggestions to get more blooms? I have two others I planted myself and they are full of blooms already and 1/4 the size. Thanks!
Thank you Maureen. I will try the product. I appreciate the information. Kathleen B
Ann, click on my website and in the search box type in Hydrangea article and you will find one I wrote that will give you all the info on the Hydrangea. Good luck Maureen
our peonies just finished flowering, when should i cut them back?
Donald, after flowering add a dilute application of organic fertilizer. Cut back the peonies in the late fall after the first hard frost and not before. In April apply an inch of manure around the base of the plant. Good luck Maureen