The Garden Patch

Blueberries, Tomatoes and More: August Garden Open at Fordhook Farm

Taste new tomato varieties, learn about growing blueberries, tour the gardens and purchase plants at W. Atlee Burpee's historic Fordhook Farm in Doylestown on Saturday.

Blueberries are a great crop to grow in your backyard. Besides the pleasure of picking your own homegrown berries, the bushes offer lovely blossoms in late spring, glossy green to blue-green leaves, and reddish foliage in the fall. Blueberry plants love acidic soil, so if you can grow azaleas and rhododendrons, then you can grow blueberries. Mark Ehlenfeldt, USDA research geneticist and blueberry breeder will present “The native American blueberry—a home garden favorite,” on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. during Fordhook Farm's August Garden Open. "You need to know four basic things to grow blueberries successfully," Ehlenfeldt said. "These plants need good drainage and some moisture, plenty of sunshine, the right pH or soil acidity, and two …

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The Garden Patch

Vegetable Gardens Go Vertical

Derek Fell, a longtime organic gardener who lives in Pipersville, shared his tips and techniques for creating high production vegetable gardens in small spaces.

Derek Fell became hooked on growing vegetables as a child when he watched pea seedlings thrive in a small garden at his grandfather's English row house. Fell, an award-winning garden photographer and author, shared his passion for vegetable growing in front of a crowd of nearly 150 in the Newtown Township building. The Bucks County Foodshed Alliance presented his talk, "High Production Vegetable Mini-Gardens." If you don't have much room for vegetables, don't despair! Fell provided some tips for utilizing the space you have whether you plant in raised beds or containers, or plant a vertical garden. If you lack horizontal space, then think upwards! "Vertical gardening is an intelligent way to grow," said Fell. "You can grow vegetables up a …

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Burpee Takes Top Honors in Penn State Tomato Trials

The Warminster-based company had a few of its tomato varieties earn first place rankings in several categories.

For the third year in a row, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. walked away with top honors in a recently published Tomato Report, based on extensive trials by Penn State University of approximately 50 different varieties. A total of 15 different tomato varieties sold by Burpee through the company's famous catalogue and via its website were recommended by Penn State, which has been running tomato trials since 2000 and each year publishes some of the best varieties. Among the tomato categories included in "The Best of the Penn State Tomato Trials" report were Hybrids, Heirlooms and those that are best for containers. For the third straight year, Burpee's "Brandy Boy" took top honors among Slicers. According to the report, "When gardeners ask what single…

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