Gardening For and Through the Holidays
Season 7, Episode 5, December 18, 2024
Once again, it’s time to settle in with your favorite cup of tea and maybe a little plate of holiday cookies—just a few, to check the quality before you serve them to your friends and family—and join us for another podcast episode. (That’s the early listen link!)
We join you on this week before Christmas to talk about some of our favorite Christmas plants and savory, another unusual herb to grow. Then we review a book, Small-Scale Homesteading, dive into some interesting dirt we found, and give you a brief glimpse into the rabbit holes we found ourselves in this past week.
Right before we started recording, we both got marketing emails from Burpee introducing a new zinnia, Queeny Lemon Peach. Do we want it? What do you think? Don’t think too long about the answer. You know the answer if you’ve listened to any episodes this past year. But do tell us in the comments if you want it!
While discussing what we did in our gardens this past week, Dee mentioned a blog post she wrote about how to enjoy your garden more. I found it for you, click over there and read it, for some good gardening tips.
And if you want to find out what happened with my microgreens, check out my personal weekly newsletter, In the Garden with Carol.
For our flower topic, we used an article I wrote for Family Handyman, “14 Best Christmas Plants and Flowers for the Holiday Season,” as our inspiration. You can also read the article on Birds & Blooms. Listen to the podcast to hear about some of our favorite holiday plants and then tell us some of yours in a comment below.
Is ivy one? I remembered while we were chatting about some of the holiday plants how I once used ivy in an amaryllis planting. I wrote a blog post about it if you want to see how it looked when in bloom (the amaryllis, not the ivy).
For our vegetable gardening topic, we profiled both summer and winter savory. I found some good information from Masterclass. I also looked up some information in The Chef’s Garden, by Farmer Lee Jones, a book Dee and I both invested in a few years ago and refer to often. It’s a fantastic resource.
On the bookshelf, we were pleased to get review copies of Small-Scale Homesteading: A Sustainable Guide to Gardening, Keeping Chickens, Maple Sugaring, Preserving the Harvest, and More, by Stephanie Thurow & Michelle Bruhn (Amazon Link). We both thought the information in the book was excellent and showed how you can do homesteading activities in suburban backyards!
For our dirt, I found an article from the Smithsonian, “Meet the Italian ‘Fruit Detective’, Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table.” Fascinating.
Dee and I both got Joey Aprons | Roo Gardening to try. Listen to find out what we like about them.
Down in our rabbit holes, Dee continues research to help her manage her health and Alpha-gal syndrome.
I talked about the latest Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Marge Clark. Listen to discover why I chose her to write about this past week.
A few other links for you… Dee recommends The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, as one of her favorite children’s Christmas stories. And I’m still listening to some of the episodes of the Dorothy L. Sayers podcast.
And that’s all I wrote down to include in this episode’s newsletter. Did I miss something you want more info on? If so, comment and let us know!
Also, be sure and listen until the very end to find out our podcasting plans for the holidays!
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For more info on Carol visit her website. Visit her blog, May Dreams Gardens and check out her new weekly newsletter, In the Garden With Carol.
For more info on Dee, visit her blog, Red Dirt Ramblings.
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