We use grass clippings alot in our garden beds. My husband is always on the lookout for people that put bags of clippings along the curb. He refers to them as "bags of gold" since they are so valuable for the garden.

The following little bit of wisdom comes from Storey's Country Wisdom and Know-How book.

Grass clippings are great for improving garden soil. There are several ways to use them:

1.  Add them to your compost pile. They'll give you the nitrogen you need to make the pile "cook." Mix them well with other materials, such as weeds, leaves, or hay.
2.  Spread them around the garden area, then till them in. They're an excellent green manure.
3.  Let them dry, then spread them in the garden, or spread them in thin layers when green. They are one of the best mulches you can find.

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I've noticed several enteries of people asking what could be wrong with their tomatoes plants. Many are saying that the leaves are starting to yellow, the leaves are curling, and the plants are small. These can all be signs of mineral deficiencies. I found a website that shows colored pictures of how the plants with different deficiencies look.  Most of these problems can easily be corrected with some fish emulsion or compost/manure tea.

Check out the photos and see if your plants look anything like these.

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/tomatoes.htm

We just planted our early tomatoes outside yesterday. So far they look good and the ones still in the little greenhouse look good too.

~~Anne

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It's not even the first of the new year and the 2007 garden catalogs are already filling my mailbox. So far I have recieved three of them. And one, Pinetree Garden Seeds, arrived before Thanksgiving. Yesterday, the Wood Praire Farm  catalog came, and last week I got one from Totally Tomatoes.  I didn't even open any of them up yet. While I do enjoy looking through all the catalogs, reading about the newest varieties, and planning my garden, I won't even open a new catalog until after the first of the year. And even then, I don't like looking until there's snow on the ground. May be a little quirky of me, but that's how I've always done it. It's so much more fun on a snowy day to get myself a hot cup of tea or cocoa, gather the pile of catalogs, curl up in a favorite chair, and leisurely look through the catalogs and dream of and plan the upcoming gardens. I think Pinetree is my favorite catalog. You can buy seeds in small quantities from them, so I can try new things without having to spend a lot of money. They also sell sopamaking supplies and they have a good selection of books. Many of the books are on sale and I've gotten some really good ones for only $2.00.
Two other favorites I'm still looking forward to receiving are from Johnny's Selected Seeds and The Cook's Garden, but I'm sure those will be coming soon too.

I usually only get catalogs from places here in the Northeast since they cover the growing season I am in, but I know there are other great catalogs available. So, what catalogs have come to your mailbox so far?
Care to share any favorites that you look forward to receiving?

~~Anne

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