How to Save Broken Tomato Plants

Jill Henderson ~ Show Me Oz – I don’t really feel totally comfortable with the word clone. It’s a little too 2001 Space Odyssey kind of creepy for me, but if you have a seedling, transplant, or mature tomato plant break, you can turn a major-minor disaster into a gardening win-win by cloning it. I’ve saved more than my fair share of nearly-dead plants over the last 30-something years and it works almost every time.

Fantastic Fennel Part Two

Jill Henderson ~ Show Me Oz

Fennel is a wonderful and gentle medicinal, an extraordinarily versatile vegetable and spice and a tall graceful herb that should be planted and used much more often than it is.  Last week, I covered the various types of fennel available to the home gardener and a couple of handy tips for growing this finicky herb. This week’s post is all about how to use fennel as a culinary herb in the kitchen and and and as an effective herbal remedy for every member of your family!

Fantastic Fennel Part One

Jill Henderson ~ Show Me Oz

Among the many wonderful herbs available to the gardener, no honest-to-goodness herb garden is truly complete without at least one tall, stately fennel plant.  I say that because fennel is not only edible, medicinal and downright gorgeous, but it also attracts hordes of beneficial insects and butterflies to the garden, too. What more could any gardener, cook or herbalist ask for?

Fun in the Garden with Critters

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –

Ahhh! Who doesn’t love a spring day? The birds are singing and the flowers are blooming and it’s just a beautiful free for all.  We’ve spent a lot of time in the garden recently, planting and weeding and the general stuff.  I was standing there in the garden, when a beautiful pileated woodpecker sailed by me and beyond, into the woods.  I suddenly thought of an interesting gardening experience from some years before – and in another garden. It involved a pileated woodpecker, a hollow tree, a mess of squirrels, and me.

Why Save Seed? Patents in the Garden

by Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz –

Another issue related to GMO’s is the patenting of life forms by the grain giants and the pharmaceutical industry. Make no mistake – the money to be made on the ownership of genetic patents is staggering. That’s why the big agriculture, chemical and pharma-giants like Cargill, Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont are racing to patent plant genes – and not just the GMO’s they create, but all plants with any value – like the vegetable crops that you and I grow in our gardens.

Seed Saving Time: Spinach

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz

Spinach is one of the very earliest crops planted and harvested from the garden in spring.  As a member of the Amaranth family (formerly classified as the Chenopodia family), spinach is naturally packed with fiber, protein, and high levels of essential vitamins and minerals.  If you’ve never grown your own spinach or had freshly prepared spinach, you are in for a real treat!  And if you already love spinach and grow it in your garden every year, then why not try saving your own seed?  You’ll not only be rewarded with oodles of eating pleasure, but you’ll save a ton of money, too!

The Indoor Winter Herb Garden

By Jill Henderson

Gardeners can enjoy the sight, smell and taste of culinary herbs long after summer’s end.  By providing adequate light, warmth and moisture, culinary herbs will grow well enough indoors to provide the discriminating chef with plenty of savory flavors for the pot all winter long.

Flying Flowers: The Beauty of Butterflies

By Jill Henderson – Show Me Oz

Butterflies must be one of the most beloved creatures of all time. They exist almost everywhere on the planet and their diverse forms are absolutely one of the most astounding feats of creation. In Missouri alone, there are 198 recorded species of butterfly; from the seemingly dull skipper to the fantastically impressive swallowtail. The Ozarks have enough butterflies to keep even avid butterfly lovers happy.

Grow Your Own Ginger

By Birgit ‘B’ Bradtke – Guest Contributor

When I began growing ginger I expected it to be difficult, but it’s not.  I’ve been growing ginger at home for years and it is a serious contender for the title of “most neglected plant” in my garden. In fact, I look at my ginger plants exactly once a year at harvest time. I harvest them, replant them and then forget about them for another year.  I easily grow a year’s supply of ginger and have plenty left over to give away. You can grow your own ginger using store-bought ginger root and you can easily grow it in pots or tubs.  On this page I tell you everything you need to know about growing ginger, so you can grow your own fresh ginger, too.

A Successful Community Seed Swap

On March 1st, the community of West Plains, Missouri, held their first-ever community seed swap!  It was a fun and busy day with over 35 people in attendance.  Dubbed the Ozarks Pot Luck & Seed Swap, my dream was to bring together area gardeners to share their knowledge and experience with other gardeners and to promote the concept of saving one’s own seed.   I was understandably nervous in the hours leading up to the swap, but all that quickly flew out of the window when I walked into the facility to find a room full of friends who had arrived early and were already setting up the tables! 

Propagating Herbs: Division

By Jill Henderson

By now your garden honey-do list is probably getting pretty long, but if you haven’t done it yet, now is the absolute best time to propagate perennial herbs and flowers through cutting, layering and division.  Vegetative propagation is best achieved during periods of active growth such as spring and fall, with spring being the best season overall.  During this time the plant is filled with growth hormones in the stems and roots, and you can take advantage of those natural growth stimulators to multiply your mature plantings.  This article on herb propagation comes from my book, The Healing Power of Kitchen Herbs.