Your All Things Plants weekly news: December 21, 2013

There were 7 new gardening ideas posted last week:

By Trish December 21, 2013 "Team Overwinter" or "Team Buy New" As the first day of winter has officially arrived, annuals have been put away for the year. Let's talk about how you treat these tender plants in your garden. (101 words - Read the full article) (7 comments)

By Boopaints December 20, 2013 Handcrafted Wreaths from Your Own Garden Nothing says "Welcome" like a wreath. Grab some of your favorite greens, blooms, and garden supplies and make a quick garden wreath. (770 words - Read the full article) (7 comments)

By Skiekitty December 19, 2013 Chicken Litter Makes Great Fertilizer If you keep chickens, make sure that you spread around the straw/sawdust/bottom of the coop in the late fall / early winter. Let the winter snow/rains mix this into the soil. Free nitrogen and happy plants! (3 comments)

By dave December 18, 2013 Book Review: Gardening the Amana Way Hot off the presses is a new book by author and ATP member Larry Rettig, about gardening in the Amana Colonies. Let me share my review of this interesting and useful book. (469 words - Read the full article) (62 comments)

By greene December 17, 2013 Prickly Seed Pods? Last year I removed seeds from some dry, prickly Leonotis seed pods - with my bare hands. Ouch! Having learned from my mistakes, when I was fortunate enough to gather more pods this year, I tried to remove the seeds while wearing gloves. Alas, I was not destined to be a brain surgeon and was all thumbs. I needed a better idea... (126 words - Read the full article) (13 comments)

By plantladylin December 16, 2013 Carpenter Aprons Are a Gardener's Companion Wear or make a carpenter's type apron with pockets for holding small hand-held garden tools, seed packets, plant ties, and anything else you might need while working in your garden. (2 comments)

By Bonehead December 15, 2013 Christmas Tree for the Birds Bring the outside in and extend your decorations by adding a bird tree to your holiday. (144 words - Read the full article) (11 comments)

The most popular images last week from our plant database: Photo of Corn (Zea mays 'Glass Gem') by passiflora: Photo of Rose (Rosa primula) by growitall: Photo of Iris (Iris ensata 'Red Tessa') by pirl: Photo of Clematis (Clematis Crystal Fountain™) by pirl: Photo of Greek Yarrow (Achillea ageratifolia) by growitall: Photo of (Erysimum roseum) by growitall:

The most popular Multi-Plant Photos from last week: Multi-plant photo by ge1836: Multi-plant photo by ge1836: Multi-plant photo by jmorth: Multi-plant photo by pirl: Multi-plant photo by ge1836: Multi-plant photo by ge1836:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

11 people gave for the idea "Prickly Seed Pods?" by greene 9 people gave for a post in "Banner for December 15, 2013 by gg5" by gg5 8 people gave for the idea "Christmas Tree for the Birds" by Bonehead 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for December 16, 2013 by Shawwannda" by Shawwannda 4 people gave for the idea "Handcrafted Wreaths from Your Own Garden" by Boopaints 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for December 19, 2013 by mcash70" by mcash70 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for December 21, 2013 by mcash70" by mcash70 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for December 18, 2013 by Char" by Char 2 people gave for a post in "December 2013 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" by mellielong 2 people gave for the idea "Carpenter Aprons Are a Gardener's Companion" by plantladylin

The most active threads this week:

Subject	OP	Area	Replies
Rock Gardens	chelle	All Things Gardening forum	63
Way to go Larry!	woofie	Book Review: Gardening the Amana Way	40
Spanish moss in compost heap?	flaflwrgrl	All Things Gardening forum	38
Banner for December 15, 2013 by gg5	gg5	Site Banners forum	35
Slow - release fertilizing	virginiarose	Daylilies forum	34
Tips on building a DIY rock garden	chelle	All Things Gardening forum	33
Joe Ghio's 2014's	Betja	Irises forum	25
Help with scraggly houseplants	jvdubb	Houseplants forum	25
Favorite yellows	tveguy3	Irises forum	24

Some numbers from last week:

• 32 new members.
• 101 new threads.
• 2,735 new posts.
• 1,046 new images to the plant database.
• 175 new comments in the plant database.
• 25 new Multi-Plant photos.