This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
Word of Mouth

What are your plans for spring gardening?

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Published: April 7, 2011

  • While I don’t have a garden where I live, I’m planning to grow some potted herbs in a window sill garden. I’m also trying to convince my mom to grow Swiss chard and spinach. The leafy greens are so good for you.

    Bethany Gladkowski
    Project Manager
    Enterprise Infrastructure Services, CIT

  • We’ve owned our house for little more than a year now, and thankfully the previous owners planted literally tons of bulbs all around the house. Not knowing what she had done, I had to wait to see what came up last year. This year, now that I know, I’ll be cleaning up a little from last fall and replacing some of the plants that I didn’t like. I’m not a true gardener, so I’m always looking up information about how to groom different types of plants, trees, flowers, etc. This year, I’ll be putting the final touches on a small flowering tree in my front yard, re-mulching the flower beds, possibly getting edging put in and, of course, hanging baskets for my front porch.

    Nancy Varner-Snyder
    Assistant to Joseph Brennan
    University Communications

  • First thing I’m going to do is rake up all the dead leaves and scrubby stalks and stuff as soon as it’s not too soggy. I’ll add some of the compost that’s been rotting nicely all winter. Then I’ll continue my quest to eliminate lawn from the front yard. I’m going to plant another currant bush, since the currants seem to thrive here, hoping to find a black currant this time, and I’m planning to extend the area of day lilies, tansies and yarrow, and I’ll sprinkle some seeds in the annual patch, tall and rowdy ones, like dill and cilantro and cosmos. And if I can manage the space, cleomes. In the backyard I have raspberries.

    Jean Dickson
    Associate Librarian
    Arts and Sciences Libraries

  • So each year I plant vegetables and herbs, and I’m a complete novice and sometimes it works out great (tomatoes and basil and cucumbers), and sometimes it does not work out so great (broccoli never came). I grew strawberries one year but rabbits ate them up. The mint was doing great, but then like a weed it grew massive and took over the space of other plants. So I learn through experience with each new year. I figure it’s worth a go because I spend so much money on produce at the store and it’s also really great when I can feed my family food that we picked from right outside our house. I encourage everyone to give it a try!

    Jessica Akey
    Senior Project Manager
    School of Social Work