Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

Five Mistakes Seed Sowers Make—Rose Marie Nichols-McGee Tells How to Get it Right

It’s indoor seed sowing time! Whether you set up a small table, or a full-size greenhouse, seed starting can sometimes be fraught with challenges. Just when you think your seedlings are growing well, they can turn up their toes. It all comes down to the fungus among us, says Rose Marie Nichols-McGee, president of Nichols […]

The Orchid Greenhouse – choosing the right plant(s) by Roger Marshall

Many a greenhouse owner wants to grow orchids. Orchids, after all, are the largest family of flowering plants. They can be found on every continent and in a wide range of settings – in rainforests, in temperate climates, and even in rather harsh environments, such as deserts and alpine regions. Many orchids are epiphytes, which […]

In the Big Apple – Gardening with an Urban Twist

Recent years have seen renewed interest in vegetable gardening everywhere, but perhaps nowhere is this more pronounced than inside our larger cities. Despite the challenge of growing in the densely populated confines of city spaces—and subject to the often intense growing conditions within these microclimates, some New York City gardeners appear to embrace their limitations. […]

Growing the Sweet Greens of Winter, by Pam Ruch

You water, you feed, you cajole. But despite your best efforts the limp leaves of red and green relax into their juvenility. You estimate the time it will take your baby lettuce to reach salad size. Five, six, seven weeks! By then your crop will be “wise-beyond-its-weeks lettuce,” battle-weary from encounters with aphids and whitefly, […]

A Bird Feeding Quiz – How well do you provide for your avian visitors?

In the colder months, birds bring color and motion to gardens at rest, whether you watch them from a kitchen window or enjoy their antics through the glass of a cozy greenhouse. When I have questions about feeding my winged denizens, I turn to Dan Gleason, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Eugene. Dan taught […]