Calendar & Seasons by Ruth S. Foster Calendar & Seasons text here. Spring - Summer - Fall - Winter Winter Mother Nature's Calendar Indicator Plants and GDDs or When the oak leaves are the size of a mouse's ear, it's time to plant the corn. more You Can Design A Beautiful Vegetable Garden A vegetable garden does not have to look like an old shoe. There's no reason to not combine flowers and good design with edibles. more Houseplant Blights When houseplants get sick and it's not insects, we may say they have blights. These are usually due to fungi or viruses. The symptoms may be brown spots, yellow soggy leaves, rot, decay or peculiar stunted growth. more Sequence of Bloom Planting for different seasons of bloom and color. Learn more about the sequence of bloom in your climate zone, and you can plan ahead to create a garden that blooms throughout the growing season. more In Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn Lawns are really thousands of tiny plants, each crying for attention. A perfect lawn depends on constant care... regular mowing, fertilizer, water, monitoring, maybe chemicals and lots of tough love. more Labor Saving Gardening Tips Ruth offers some simple strategies to make your garden care less labor intensive when good help is hard to find. more Evergreen Groundcovers As the leaves fall away from trees, shrubs and flower beds, evergreen foliage becomes more noticeable and more cherished. None so much as the ground covers that keep the bare earth green during the darkening days of winter. more Houseplant Bug Problems Houseplants brought indoors from outside have bugs and blights. Indoors, where there are no natural predators, these pesky problems eventually recur often with population explosions that dismay us. more Why Plants Die It's like trying to explain why babies cry. Many things may be wrong, but knowing which are causes and which are effects is complex. The current plant theory is that plant health starts with healthy roots. more Improving Your Soil Good fertile soil grows good plants and crops but worn out soil or backfill (called "builders' special) won't grow a hill of beans. more De-Icing Slippery Walks When the Christmas goose is finally all eaten, icy paths are not far behind. It helps to know all the alternatives to prevent slipping, sliding, and accidents. more Maintaining Common Flowers A few helpful tips and tricks for maintaining the garden favorites: Petunias, Geraniums, Impatiens... more What to do with Left Over Bulbs The frost is on the pumpkin, the fodder's in the shock and all that stuff.... but in many households there are still spring flowering bulbs not yet planted outside in the garden. more Simplify the Garden Outdoors A few time and labor saving tips to simplify your outdoor gardens. more