Heartland Gardening bloggers
(left to right: Michael Leach, Debra Knapke and Teresa Woodard)
Michael Leach, Teresa Woodard, and I were in Indianapolis in 2011 attending a GWA – The Association of Garden Communicators – conference. After a garden writers workshop we went out to dinner. Not an easy thing to do in a city where three other conferences were also in session. Over the second bottle of wine, while waiting for our table, we decided to create a blog together. We not only launched the blog, Heartland Gardening, but developed deep friendships.
In June, 2021, Michael passed, Teresa became more involved with her writing – please look for her book American Roots and her next book, Garden to the Max which will be published in March 2025. And I became involved with projects that focus on care for the Earth and and all who live on it. Teresa and I felt that it was time to let our blog settle into an archive as a beautiful testament to three gardeners who shared their passion for plants, people, and collaboration.
Enjoy.
Seasonal Serendipity
By Debra Knapke I wasn’t looking for a new apple; it found me. On a chilly morning at the end of October I picked my last two pecks of apples, Goldrush and Staymen Winesap at Lynd’s Fruit Farm in Pataskala, Ohio. At the checkout, Andy Lynd offered me an apple that...
The Guilty Gardener
By Michael Leach Are you a guilty gardener? Do you appear to mourn the passing of the growing season with appropriate remorse and gloom, but can't quite hide a twinkle in your eye? Is there a certain hollowness in your...
Favorite Flora: Fall Fruits
Which is fairer – fall foliage or fall fruits? By Teresa Woodard As I visit a few Midwestern gardens this fall, no doubt, the colorful foliage steals the show. But, as I take a closer look at trees especially now...
Trendspotting: Community Gardens
Planting Seeds of Hope By Teresa Woodard In Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch, reporter Allison Manning wrote an eye-opening, front-page report “Kids Killing Kids” about teen violence especially in four of our...
Catch Us If You Can
Catch Us If You Can: Debra Knapke Fall is the time for apples and you can read Debra’s article “The Apple” in edibleColumbus. You can also catch her at the Delaware County Master Gardeners Workshop: “Landscape Design...
Trendspotting: Beekeeping
Old garden now abuzz with possibilities Text by Michael Leach; photos by Debra Knapke and Teresa Woodard When my neighbor John asked about putting a beehive behind my falling-down tool barn, I readily agreed. Keeping bees was on my bucket list because they are under...
Great pumpkins and more
By Michael Leach The Midwest may lack dramatic rocky spires of the West or the endless vistas along ocean shores. But our open countryside, wooded hills and forests make kaleidoscopic spectacles themselves in autumn that make aspens and white sand seem little more...
Fall Maintenance Tasks… or not
By Debra Knapke Being somewhat of a pragmatist when it comes to garden maintenance – do what you can, when you can – I consider recommended garden maintenance schedules to be guidelines, not rules. Yes, you want to deadhead flowers because it will prolong bloom and...
Garden Happenings: Farm Science Review (Sept. 17-19)
By Teresa Woodard Gardeners have long enjoyed a close relationship with the farming community, so it’s no surprise to find many gardeners at the upcoming Farm Science Review in Madison County,...