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Dinosaur Kale For An Extraordinary Fall & Winter Garden - 7 Vegetables That Must Be Planted In August 2019 The Second Season has begun! We talked briefly about 7 flowers that must be planted in August in our last newsletter. Now let’s begin a discussion of vegetables that must be planted in August. FIRST, some of our newsletter topics are now available on YouTube. We will include a YouTube link whenever there is a YouTube video from Harvesting History that relates to a subject in the newsletter. The Second Gardening Season for most vegetable gardeners throughout theUS begins at the end of June or early July. It is the time to plant cold tolerant crops that will flourish in the cool autumn nights. Unlike planting in the spring where each day is growing
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Canterbury Bells For An Extraordinary 2020 Garden - 7 Flowers That Must Be Planted In August 2019 Spring is definitely not the only season for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs. The months of August - November present numerous opportunities for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs, FROM SEED, that will mature throughout the fall or during the spring and summer of the following year. In fact, I have consistently found that mid-season and fall planting is easier, with higher rewards than spring planting. In this newsletter we will discuss seven flowers that can and should be planted from seed in August or the months from September to November. Hollyhock Indian Spring Hollyhocks are a very, very old cultivated flower which probably originated in Turkey or parts of Asia and was introduced into Great Britain in
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This is the fourth installment of four retold from Andrea Wulf’s book, The Founding Gardeners. The Constitutional Convention Story: Installment #4 A Pathway in the Bartram Garden Monday, July 16th dawned crisp and clear and cool. Though the air temperature had improved substantially, the tempers of the gentlemen delegates in the closed hall of the Pennsylvania State House were as hot as ever. That Monday only 10 states (Of the 13 original colonies) were voting. Six votes would be required to either defeat or accept The Connecticut Plan. Rhode Island was boycotting the Convention. The New Hampshire delegates had not yet arrived, and of the three New York delegates only Alexander Hamilton had arrived so that state did nothave a quorum and was not eligible to vote. As the voting started, one by
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This is the third installment of four retold from Andrea Wulf’s book, The Founding Gardeners. The Constitutional Convention Story: Installment #3 On the trip back from Bartram’s Garden and for the next day and a half, the delegates had a lot to think about. The 55 delegates ranged in age from 26 to Benjamin Franklin who at 81 was the oldest delegate. Franklin, himself, had begun to doubt that the Constitutional Convention would ever produce a successful result. He had stated, “Failure to revise the Articles of Confederation would show that we have not the Wisdom enough among us to govern ourselves.” The seemingly insurmountable area of contention was the issue of distribution of power in the Legislative Branch. Stone wall separating upper and lower gardens of Bartram’s Garden The small states argued
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Upper Garden with rectangles The Constitutional Convention Story: Installment #2 This is the second installment of four retold from Andrea Wulf’s book, The Founding Gardeners. There were 12 men in the entourage that visited Bartram’s Garden that day: from New York-Alexander Hamilton, from South Carolina-John Rutledge, from North Carolina-Alexander Martin and Hugh Williamson, Manasseh Cutler, from Massachusetts-Caleb Strong, from Virginia-James Madison and George Mason and his son, 2 Philadelphians and Samuel Vaughan. Bartram’s Garden was divided into an upper and lower garden. The upper garden was divided into three rectangles; one planted with flowers, one planted with vegetables and one planted withnewly received or recently germinated plants. The lower gardens had been designed by John Bartram, the father, with meandering paths, small glades, scoops, cascading terraces, a small stream and a dock
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The Family Home of John Bartram The Constitutional Convention Story: Installment #1 In 4 days we will celebrate the birth of this nation. Last year, as part of this celebration, Harvesting History posted a story of The Constitutional Convention and The Great Compromise that made the United States a reality. From July 1 through July 4th this year, we are going to repeat this story as a series of 4 newsletters. The story is somewhat complicated which is why we are retelling it in 4 installments. I apologize to each of you that feels that 4 newsletters in one week is too many. It is, but this story is worth telling and retelling. At a time when this nation faces, perhaps, its greatest challenges since its founding, it is
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The Naked Lady Lily Autumn’s Glory- The Rarely Available FALL BLOOMING Bulbs We welcome nearly 1000 new subscribers to our newsletter. If you are receiving this newsletter for the first time, you provided Harvesting History with your email address in exchange for a free seed packet at one of the early 2019 flower shows or outdoor garden festivals. At this time of year, we publish our newsletter once every 2 weeks with the exception of July 1, July 2, July 3, and July 4. During those 4 days each year we publish a little known but remarkable, true story about the creation of this country and therole that horticulture may have played. We hope you enjoy and learn something from these historically based newsletters, and that as a result you
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Heirloom Squash Variety From the Prehistoric Americans to the Native Americans to the Immigrant Americans - The Vegetable That Nourished A Nation Squash have been a staple of the American diet since the first prehistoric peoples entered North America via the land bridge from Asia. Squash and pumpkins are native to many parts of the North American, Central American and South American regions. They were a significant part of the 3 sisters trinity – beans, corn and squash. The Native Americans used squash in all aspects of their lives and culture. The vegetable was made into soups, breads, desserts, stuffings, storage containers, musical instruments, utensils, etc. The Native Americans shared their knowledge of this vegetable with the Europeans who adopted many of the culinary practices they were taught. Today, squash
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The Heirloom Scarlet Runner Pole Beans in Thomas Jefferson’s Hanging Gardens at Monticello Pole Beans Belong in Every Vegetable Garden- Here are 6 of the Greatest Visit THE LEESBURG FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL site for details Visit THE SHEEP & WOOL site for details Beans, corn and squash are the quintessential American crops – the trinity of vegetables – The Three Sisters. Of these three sisters, perhaps beans, are now the most pervasive crop originally exported from the New World to Europe, Africa Asia and Australia. There are many types of beans: bush, pole, runner, half runner, wax, shell, cowpeas, etc., but in today’s America maybe the most relevant type of bean is the pole bean. For more than a century now, pole beans have been scorned by commercial and home gardeners because
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The King of Purple Zinnias – Royal Purple How Zinnias Were Used To Communicate The Unspeakable During The Victorian Era WE’RE BACK!!! Thank all of you who visited our booths during the 2019 Indoor Flower Show Season, and a special thanks from me, personally, to those of you who cameto thank me for these newsletters. You have no idea how powerful the impact of a simple expression of thanks can be. Now that spring is really underway in most parts of the country, we are going to publish our newsletters every two weeks. It is time for all of you gardeners to be outside with your hands in the soil and your hearts with your plants. What precious little free time you have should be spent enjoying your gardens not staring at
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