Lowery Farms

05/05/2022

05/03/2022

Winter sowing!

03/24/2022

Winter sowing. The seeds have sprouted! I get excited each time I see this happen. It is a little miracle each and every time. Happy to have friends who will jump and down in glee with me.

03/18/2022

The flats of thyme plus have arrived. Impossible to grow so much myself. Pink Chintz Creeping Thyme and Woolley Thyme are perfect ground covers. They can serve a fragrant living mulch or as filler between paving stones. Pink Chintz Creeping Thyme creates a carpet of pink flowers in early spring. It is the most durable of the creeping thymes. Woolley Thyme is a non-blooming drought resistant thyme.

03/16/2022

Hellebores. These evergreen perennials are part of the Ranunculaceae family. They are also referred to as Winter Roses or Lenten Roses, since they tend to bloom during Lent, they are not related to roses. All parts of the plants are poisonous, which means that rabbits and deer avoid them. In Greek mythology, Melampus of Pylos used hellebore to save the daughters of the king of Argos from a madness, induced by Dionysus. Hellebores prefer a sheltered position in semi-shade (dense shade can reduce flowering) with a rich, moist, free draining soil. #

03/12/2022

Winter sowing. Repurposing plastic bottles for mini greenhouses.

03/12/2022

Winter sowing! Repurposing plastic bottles for mini greenhouses.

03/10/2022

🦋 🦉RE-WILDiNG 2022 : Tips on how to start gardening with nature rather than against it this coming year.

🐞 Structure garden spaces using mowed paths instead of large blocks of lawn. The result will look and feel more natural while requiring less polluting lawn care.

🐛 Naturalize areas around tree trunks to function as shelter and habitat for small creatures and to protect the bark and tree roots that keep a tree healthy. You can either just let vegetation grow in and edit it or create a planned garden space.

🌱 Learn to spot invasive and undesirable plants and remove them before they go to seed for fewer weeds in your garden and in nature.

🦇 Make sure any outdoor lighting follows the guides lines of International Dark Skies in order not to interfere with the navigation of nocturnal animals. https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/wildlife/

🌿 Plant garden spaces densely so leaves shade the ground and you can eventually eliminate the task of mulching. Leaves offer better moisture retention and are healthier for soil than chipped wood when they breakdown.

🌼 Plant straight native species whenever possible and cultivars with proven nature value. Many cultivars are sterile and you need to research which ones to avoid. Some non-native plants still support pollinators, but you can’t just assume anything with a flower is beneficial.

🐝 Rake less overall so native bees, especially bumblebees, can safely nest in the ground and other small creatures can find leaf shelter when needed.

🐸 Aim to create a garden that works like an ecosystem. Observe the pocket environments of your property and chose plants that have evolved to want those conditions and thrive like they do in the nature.

🦊 Learn to co-exist with creatures like opossums, skunks, foxes, wasps, snakes and moles. These humble predators will handle many of your pest problems and you won’t need so many chemicals and traps, even some organic pest control methods can do harm.

🌲 Use plants to solve your landscape problems: high-water tables can be managed with plants that like “wet feet”, alpine and riparian plants can fix erosion problems; cool down your home with properly placed shade trees, buffer cold winter winds with evergreens and create privacy with biodiverse hedgerows.

🍂 All the above could be a topic unto itself, but this list is just meant to get you thinking about enhancing your garden for the coming year in a way that will enrich your interaction with the natural world and protect the wildlife we need to share it with.

02/28/2022

P***y Willows from the garden. .

03/23/2021

Gin Fizz tomatoes are up. Sungolds and Black Cherry are also making an appearance. So exciting! 🍅 🌱🌻

03/23/2021

Last year I decided to use Roman chamomile between my raised vegetable beds. I was ordering hard mulch each year and it was so wasteful. The Roman chamomile has many of the same properties as the taller German chamomile and smells lovely when underfoot. It survived a very cold winter and the heavy snows of central NJ.