The Garden Buzz

Spring Giveaway! OXO Good Grips Bypass Pruners

Just in time for spring pruning...

Depending upon where you live, you may already be pruning grapes. harvesting flowering branches for forcing or just tidying up the garden. No matter what the chore, wouldn't it be nice to have a new pair of pruning shears for spring?

The nice people at Oxo have given me an extra pair to give away to one lucky reader. This time I'm not listing it on a giveaway site, so faithful readers, subscribers, facebook friends and twitter followers will get a better chance at winning. (Oh my, will that word ever be the same?)

Giveaways give me the chance to take a break from my regular blogging schedule; not that I'm slacking by any means, I'll be searching out great garden stories down in Georgia while I'm on spring break.

I've always enjoyed using Oxo kitchen tools, so I'm anxious to see how they perform in the garden. These pruners work with a bypass mechanism preferable to anvil-style pruners that crush instead of slice; bypass pruners make cleaner cuts with less effort. They also feature a hardened, non-stick coated steel blade for smooth cuts with a 3/4 inch cutting capacity. They have an easy-to-use left or right hand lock.

To help me avoid spammers, please use the subject line "Oxo Pruners" in your emails. Tell me what needs pruning in your garden. If the email button doesn't work with your server, just leave a comment with your email address. This giveaway goes from Right Now to March 30, 2011 @ midnight CST. 

In the meantime if you're needing a little 'Buzz click onto my blog at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to read about the bunny we found in the basement. It truly must be the Year of the Rabbit.

 

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

 

Holiday Giveaway: We Have Winners!

 
Bee on Bottle Brush Shrub               The Garden Buzz

Some bloggers use "random generator" software to determine their giveaway winners. I think it's fun to hold my own old-fashioned drawing. After printing out the entries, I cut them into strips of paper, put them in a container and pick them by hand. This year we put them in the big orange mixing bowl, then my daughter closed her eyes and picked out the winners. How more random could you get?!

Congratulations to the following ten readers upon winning a North American Bee Calendar...Michele, Marija, Shelley T, Johanne, Sharlene, Mickey, Bella, Bernieh, Maureen and Elsie, who have all been notified of their good luck.

If you still would love to have a calendar, they can be ordered from the Great Sunflower Project. The proceeds go to bee conservation efforts through this great "citizen scientist" project.

Thanks to all readers who submitted entries. Next giveaway should begin in February. Stay tuned.

Summer Giveaway: We Have a Winner!

Congratulation to Felicity Steers of Idaho for winning the huge selection of Garden Safe Products, tote bag of tools and $20 Lowe's Gift Card.

Thanks to all the readers who entered the giveaway. Your comments were delightful and informative. I've done a very non-scientific poll of the pest problems that were mentioned and will blog on the subject soon. Sorry to be so late in announcing the winner, with the garden tour and everything growing so fast, it's been a busy couple of months.

Stay tuned to The Garden Buzz...

Big Summer Giveaway From Garden Safe Products!!!

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE THE PRODUCTS PICTURED HERE... along with a Tote Bag of Tools and a $20 LOWE"S gift card.  Not shabby huh?

Sometimes I don't know if I'm leaning toward organic or just lazy. I don't tend to use the herbicides, insecticides and such that sit in the garage cabinet. I have good intentions, but don't get around to spraying whatever it was I was supposed to spread to do away with the latest bug-du-jour. I find that nature usually takes care of things in the long run.

However this laissez-faire attitude has been less apparent as the BIG garden tour approaches. It's not about ego. I just sincerely want to give the garden "tourists" their money's worth with a great garden experience. And now those Japanese beetles don't have wristbands for admission, but they've shown up anyway.

With all the wet weather, I've been actually using up all the slug and snail bait Garden Safe sent me. I have to say, it saved the pole beans that are the centerpiece of my back door potager.

So when the nice folks at Garden Safe offered to sponsor a huge giveaway of their products, I thought twice. And then I thought, it would be nice to try out products that are an effective alternative to more toxic chemicals. More and more people are requesting more benign solutions for pest control. These Garden Safe products employ an organic chemical called pyrethrin derived from chrysanthemums.

I always advise gardeners to first identify the problem or pest so as not to just apply any products willy-nilly. I then suggest they start with the least toxic method or product first to solve any garden issue. Most importantly READ LABEL DIRECTIONS AND FOLLOW CLOSELY.

Planting a diverse selection of plants and including natives is another way of restoring balance to your garden. Gardeners should decide if there are areas in their garden where they can tolerate more temporary damage to plants or garden appearance. Some pests will need stronger products when whole plant health is at stake. Spray early in mornings to avoid harming bees.

CONTEST ENDS JULY 13 AT MIDNIGHT CENTRAL STANDARD TIME

TO QUALIFY PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL WITH THE SUBJECT TITLE "GARDEN SAFE GIVEAWAY". AS ALWAYS TO FILTER OUT SPAM AND SHOW ME YOU ARE A HUMAN, TELL ME ABOUT THE BIGGEST PEST IN YOUR GARDEN (NO PEOPLE, JUST ANIMALS, BUGS AND FUNGUS)!

Giveaway! Enter Now...

Surely I not the only one who suffers from a curious form of horticultural dementia. Right now I bet there's something coming up in your garden that you've come across and wondered, "Hmmm, now what was that?", and you just planted it six months ago! You shoulda labeled it.

Allsop Home and Garden has given me a darling set of 6 plant labels to give away on The Garden Buzz.

They feature 6 soft decorative rubber badges that dangle from delightfully curled steel stakes, each badge with a different botanical design. Use a gel pen to label your plant and simply erase when you want. For more info check out their website. 

To enter the giveaway just shoot me an email, and like always to avoid spammers, you need to write something in the email that shows me you're a human...like a plant that surprised you in your garden. Entries must be in by midnight Minnesota time, May 1, 2010. Good Luck!

Is it too late for a calendar giveaway?

Cleaning off my desk when lo and behold I found some more of those 2010 North American Native Bee Calendars (retail value $14.95) I ordered for gifts and giveaways a few months ago! Lots of gorgeous bee photos and tons of useful info. Pin up this calendar and you'll be a beeologist before you know it. I know January is almost over, but hey...there's still 11 more months...and it's free. As always to avoid spam, please include in the text of your email a little something about what you like at The Garden Buzz. Title the subject line as "calendar giveaway". Giveaway contest ends on midnight (central time) Monday, January 25. I'll pick three random winners. I'll have it to you by the first of February! Good luck.