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Farm
& Garden
Links to Farm & Garden On-Line
. Loads
of Links to Winter Gardening If
last winter's snows still linger in your memory, then it could be hard to think
about Winter Gardening, or even April gardening for that matter. But as
avid gardeners know, there are things you can do year-round. ... So,
in conjunction with this month's Gardening, Indoors
& Out: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, DownStreet is
providing this list of links to other Winter Gardening themes and
information. ...  We
included some of the links from last year. But we also went out again, to
scour the web in search of other useful info on our theme, and found
a few more worthwhile links -- mostly to sections of larger web sites, or
individual articles. ...
So ... The
days have gotten as short as they'll get -- less than nine hours of sun, if and
when it shows, above the horizon. That is a fact of life, as someone
obviously from somewhere in the North Country, once wrote ... the
sun's gone as far south as it's dared
and now, slowly, the light
comes
creeping back ...
Here, then,
this month's Links to Winter Gardening.
.
National
Gardening: Regional Report for New England
Since this link
takes you directly to the National Gardening Association's Regional Report
for New England, it will always take you to gardening info appropriate to
any given two-week period during the year ... which is how often the report
is up-dated. There's also a link to archived reports. ...
.
What
began as Gardens for All back in 1972, National Gardening, based in South
Burlington, is now the largest syndicate of gardening content on-line.
And the Regional Report is only one of many features available through their
site. It's a fine site, and an organization that has devoted itself to
gardeners & gardening for almost 30 years. If you haven't been
there yet, we can't imagine what you're waiting for.
Rating:
***** [5 stars]
. Winter
Gardening Articles: Dept. of Plant & Soil Science, UVM
This
link takes you directly to the Winter Gardening section of the theme page of
Dr. Leonard Perry's Perennial Pages, over at UVM's Department of Plant &
Soil Science. ...
.
The Winter
Gardening list -- which appears to include articles covering topics for the
months of December to March -- contains about 60 different articles on a
very wide variety of topics, more than we can list here. We wished
there was some sort of organization to the list. But you can simply
browse it ... which you may want to do, since the only other alternative is
a search page. If you're looking for something that might not be
readily apparent from the title of an article, that may be your only
option. We tried the search -- with the All option -- for 'winter
gardening'. But in that limited experience, it was extremely
slow. {Though we only used our 56k connection, sending the
search info was not what took time. The time for most searches are
taken up on the server, while it tries to match your terms with its
contents.}
.
Of
course, on the other side, there were 58 articles! They come up as
titles in a non-standard search tool; and not as links themselves, but as
text to highlight, after which you can click on the "Load Page"
button When you do, the page loads quickly in a separate window, so
that aspect was very quick ... and convenient. Despite what we
consider a problem with the Search, this site is definitely worth visiting
for material that easily overcomes the downside of the search function.
Rating:
**** [4 stars]
.. Spring
Ahead Step By Step Instructions For Forcing Bulbs
This offering
comes is a simple and straightforward sequence of 4 Step By Step
Instructions For Forcing Bulbs. ... Many folks probably
already know these basics. But if you're a first-timer, then the
simple instructions, with accompanying photos, will help you get it right
the first time.
.
Of course, the
real value of this link is that it leads to lots of other BHG info
on-line. And during the long, cold evenings of winter, you may just
find yourself going back for more. The BHG site is definitely
worth a visit, and this article, like most of the others, is gardening plain
& simple.
Rating: **** [4 stars]
. Mother
Earth News: A GARDEN FOR ALL SEASONS
Remember Mother
Earth? ... No, not the planet. The magazine.
... Well, Mother
Earth News is on-line, and, as you might expect, the site is just a
little slow. But we wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't
intentional. After all, Mother Earth always did want us to slow
down and smell the roses. ... This offering is another article
that actually comes via FindArticles.com.
It appeared in Mother Earth winter before last, but it may actually
be more helpful now, while you still have time to prepare. The basic
premise is that there's no good reason not to be eating fresh, home-grown
veggies all year long. The author, Elliot Coleman, began his winter
gardening "back in 1981, when [he] took on the job of farm manager at a
private school in Vermont that grew most of its own food." So you
know he knows whereof he speaks.
.
The
article is some seven on-line pages, and much is anecdotal, so if you're
looking for 'nothing but the facts', you may have to read at a less than
leisurely pace. But it's interesting & informative, and worth a
portion of one of your winter evenings.
Rating: ***1/2 [3-1/2
stars]
. Flower
& Garden Magazine Winter shapes, colors and textures
This
article actually comes via FindArticles.com
... an interesting on-line resource. But the original appeared in
Flower & Garden back on the late autumn of '98. ... The
article -- some 3+ on-line pages -- is fairly full and informative,
extending on the info we offered in this month's Gardening:
Indoors & Out. It includes some recommendations for flowers,
grasses, and trees. However, like many general articles on gardening,
the recommendations may be moot for up here in the North Country. {On
that score, you may want to check last month's Gardening: Indoors & Out
article on Hardiness
Zones.}
.
Still, despite the
generalist approach, it's an article worth perusing. ...
Rating:
***1/2 [3-1/2 stars]
. Winter
Gardening Tips
 This
link takes you over to an piece by Vern Grubinger in Vermont Weathervane:
A Journal of Vermont Country Life, which published on-line a few years
back, offering a nice variety of articles. ...
.
It's
relatively brief, and focuses on January, with some helpful tips.
Rating:
***1/2 [3-1/2 stars]
. Excerpt
from Eliot Coleman's Four-Season Harvest, pub'd by Chelsea Green
An interesting excerpt from this book by someone who farms &
gardens "on the 44th parallel in Maine." ...
.
The
focus of the excerpt is the role of daylight vs. temperature for winter
gardening. As the author points out, the fact that his farm sits at
44° North latitude places it "on the same latitude as Avignon in
southern France and Genoa on the warm Ligurian coast of Italy. That means we
have the same daylength and amount of sun they do." ...
What's the meaning of that little tid-bit? Visit this link and see.
Rating:
***1/2 [3-1/2 stars]
About Links to Farm & Garden On-Line
The
amount of info on the web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a
search can attest to. To put it all in context, best estimates say that
only a fraction -- maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there -- is actually making its
way to the search engines. Well, here at DownStreet,
we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we post a few links in Farm &
Garden to sites that might interest you. Sometimes the links will be
related to one another ... sometimes we'll just offer up a somewhat
random sampling. Sometimes they're about Vermont sites, sometimes
not. Of course, while we can't vouch for the fact that
every link we provide will be of interest to everyone, we do our best to filter
out the noise and the bustle and focus on quality sites. ... In that
light, we hope you enjoy these sites as much as we have. . *******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to include
them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* .
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