It’s Home and Garden Time!

Part of The Herald this week was a 12-page supplement with stories and advertisements about spring projects in the home and garden.

Below are two of the stories that were part of the supplement. If any on-line reader would like a copy of the supplement mailed to them, without charge, simply email Kyle@OurHerald.com.

Dandelion Acres Predicts:

Vegetable Gardening Big this Year

By Sandy Vondrasek

Helen Shay and her two partners at Dandelion Acres, Debra Bacon, and Eileen Ahern, think that this could be the year of the vegetable garden.

Shay theorizes that a combination of economic pressures, environmental concerns, and the "localvore" movement is inspiring more folks than ever to try their hand at growing their own vegetables.

She has seen an early indication of the growing interest in vegetable gardening: Every spring, Dandelion Acres stocks an impressive array of seeds. This year, the gardening center has already sold out of five varieties of tomato seeds.

That’s never happened before, Shay said.

Buying those seeds are first-time gardeners, former gardeners who have decided it’s time to go back to growing their own veggies, and long-time pros.

For those who are new to starting seedlings—and now is the time to start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants—Shay offered two important tips for growing sturdy plants that can provide a summer of bounty.

Providing extra light "is probably the most important thing for growing successful indoor seedlings," Shay said.

"People say they have big, sunny windows, but window glass does filter out some of the light.

"Although the light is still strong enough to fade furniture," Shay pointed out, "it eliminate some of the spectrum plants really want."

Plants grown indoors without lights, she said, tend to be "leggy and spindly."

It is not necessary to invest in an elaborate set-up, Shay noted. Dandelion Acres sells several kinds of clip-on grow lights, and they also sell longer tubes that will fit into any standard fluorescent fixture.

Shay’s second tip is about germination. Just-planted seeds don’t need light—not until they sprout—but they do need warmth. The best scenario is bottom heat of about 70 degrees, according to Shay. Most gardeners can find places in their homes—atop a fridge or water heater—that does the trick, and don’t need to buy a "heat mat," Shay said.

The warmth is important, because it gives the plants a "quick start."

"Skinny, gangly seedlings," she explained, "are not strong and can succumb to a soil-borne fungus right away."

The Dandelion Acres staff knows something about growing vegetable seedlings, because every spring they grow thousands of them at their Route 107 garden center.

Gardeners will find a huge variety of seedlings, including herbs, in their greenhouses, as the growing season approaches.

Many vegetable varieties can be direct-seeded into the garden, Shay noted, but planting sturdy seedlings brings earlier produce. Plants are also safer from hungry flocks of birds, such as robins or crows, who can descend on a garden and pluck tiny sprouts out of the garden soil.

Dandelion Acres has continued to grow and thrive under its three owners, Shay of Stockbridge, Bacon of Bethel, and Ahern, from Tunbridge.

All three women had worked together under the previous owner, and they decided to buy the business jointly when he was ready to sell, four years ago.

A three-way partnership, it turns out, works well, Shay said.

Shay admitted that "there are occasions" when the three women don’t agree. However, they have worked together for years and know each others’ strengths, so on those occasions, "there are two to carry" the idea forward, and a third who just graciously goes along.

"It’s like Japanese flower arranging—business partnerships are better with uneven numbers," Shay said.

The guidelines of ikebana suggest that odd numbers of flowers lead to the most pleasing arrangements. Dandelion Acres has tons of flowers, too.

Standing Stone Grows—

And Knows—Perennials

By Josh Terry

Perennials are plants that grow foliage and bloom every year. Depending on the type, they can be started by seed, by division of their root system, or by cuttings.

Since they flower at different times, a carefully planned perennial bed can provide a continual parade of blooms throughout the growing season.

Lynne Hall and David Brandau's Royalton perennial flower farm will open for its 21st year of business on Earth Day, April 22. Their Royalton farm, Standing Stone Perennials, offers 750 varieties of plants, from fragrant yellow lilies to striking blue iris and plenty in between, including more than 40 varieties of hostas.

The staff at Standing Stone Perennials grows and pots the perennials they sell, so gardeners can be assured that their varieties are Vermont hardy.

Thanks to Standing Stone’s extensive plantings and display gardens, customers can wander around the rows of perennials and pick out what they would like for their gardens.

Hall noted that a perennial’s flower—its color, size, fragrance, and time of bloom—is usually the prime consideration for gardeners. However, she pointed out that the foliage should also be part of the equation, since foliage, with its various shades and textures, is "around all year."

Hall said it was tough to single out a few favorite plants of all the varieties she grows. However, she listed peonies "because of their gorgeous blooms and great all-year-round foliage," and hostas, available in many striking varieties, both shade- and sun-loving.

Her third pick is black cohosh, also known as Cimicifuga, or bugbane.

"It is a big plant with tall, bottlebrush ‘candles’ and nicely fragrant that grows wild with white flowers; it is a large specimen in the garden. The foliage is dark green and purple and is great for cut flowers," Hall said.

She offered a few suggestions for planning a bed.

Combinations that bloom together can be more striking if they have different foliage, for example big leafy plants next to those with "feathery" leaves.

"A peony with a short iris in front of it looks good," she continued, "with the iris's long, narrow foliage.

"Perennial geraniums bloom at the same time, and look good with a groundcover plant like woodland phlox," Hall said. "The phlox stays low and creeps around the garden. Hostas look good with bleeding hearts; flowering bulbs like daffodils look good with lamium, a low-growing groundcover that comes in a variety of variegated foliages."

As a tip, Hall noted that hostas and daffodils are good companions, since the hostas’ leaves will cover the fading daffodil foliage, after its blooms have gone by.

A number of perennials that do well in Vermont’s Zone 4 are extraordinarily hardy, Hall noted, and may survive for years on Vermont homesteads with minimal care. These include tall garden phlox, daylilies, iris, peonies, and vinca or myrtle.