Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

Labor Day signals time for Fall lawn chores

September 2, 2014 • Leave a Comment

MSU Extension:

It’s a busy time of year with school starting, fall sports kicking into full gear, and of course lawn chores preparing for winter. Throughout most of Michigan, the summer of 2014 will likely be remembered for cool temperatures and adequate if not excessive rainfall. Some will also remember 2014 as the summer the turf would never quit growing. Probably the biggest challenge I’ve seen with most lawns is simply a lack of fertility. With perfect growing conditions, turf has burned through fertilizer applications quicker than normal resulting in many lawns starting to lose density and becoming invaded by pests such as white clover and rust.

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Cook some classics with green tomatoes

August 21, 2014 • Leave a Comment

The Detroit News:

I may have a ripe tomato before the frost hits. Feeling full of gratitude that most of my garden survived the cruel winter just a few months ago, I planted several varieties of tomatoes in containers on my deck. The plants grew tall, the buds finally formed and then the cooler weather and gray skies put the kibosh on all of it. The one Early Girl that I was watching longingly as it began to redden and ripen turned up in a squirrel’s jaws the next morning. My voice was the scream heard ’round the block.

So, I’ve adopted a new philosophy: When life gives you green tomatoes, put them in a frying pan, a pickle jar or a cake or a soup or a casserole. Don’t bemoan that the lovely heirlooms are taking their sweet time coming around; instead, take action and put those green tomatoes to good use.

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Where are the monarch butterflies?

August 11, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Detroit Free Press:

Look closely outside. Something’s missing. Something orange, black, white and fluttery.

Monarch butterflies, once a ubiquitous spring and summer presence throughout Michigan, are yet again a rare sighting this year.

It’s the result of two factors: An ongoing crash in the migratory monarch’s populations due to the loss of habitat — particularly milkweed — and Michigan’s long, cold winter causing many returning butterflies to hang farther south or to arrive much later than usual.

“It’s really a big difference. It’s a tragedy,” said Diane Pruden, a Milford Township resident who serves as a citizen researcher for Monarch Watch, a nonprofit education, conservation and research program based at the University of Kansas.

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