What's so interesting about soil?
As a gardener, this is a loaded question, which elicits a passionate response!
And as the weather warms, and I roll up my sleeves to head outdoors to begin gardening, it 's the perfect time to reflect on the question.
October 23rd was a beautiful crisp Fall day on which the Arboretum hosted its annual "Celebrate Fall" festival. This was my first experience at this wonderful event for families, children and teens.
The theme of this year's festival was "It's Harvest Time" and being the resident Square Foot Gardener in charge of growing vegetables and herbs, I was asked to create a special tasting for our guests to sample at the event. Inspired by some of the cool weather crops which can be found...
Last year the Black Swallowtail butterfly was named the official State Butterfly of New Jersey. On September 14th as I tended the RRA Square Foot Garden, I was rewarded with the sighting of one of these beautiful butterflies fluttering about.
On close examination, I noticed that this butterfly was not on an excursion for nectar. In fact, it was depositing its tiny yellow eggs on the tops of the leaves of the carrot plants that we have growi...