Vermont Home Gardener Organic Gardening – Organic Food! My guess is that you garden because you enjoy growing plants for flowers and for some food. It is a great satisfaction to bring in food & flowers that you grew yourself. My hope is that you do this mostly using organic practices. Perhaps you also buy organic foods when you can. If you also feel that organic foods tend to be too expensive to buy all the time, you might like to watch this short (3 minute) video published by PBS on the true cost of organic foods (and, why is cheaper food so cheap?). This is a very brief introduction to the important issue of what food costs and worth thinking about every time you make a food purchase choice. Spring Pruning What can I do outside soon? After the snow is gone use the nicer days to your advantage and get your pruning and cleanup done. Pruning is best done while woody plants are still dormant, before their buds swell (usually about mid-April). In general, prune out all dead, diseased or damaged stems and branches. Make your pruning cuts of side branches close to the main stem, just outside the enlarged "collar" or just outside lateral buds so they can grow new branches. This is a great time to manage shape & size by cutting off those drooping or too long branches and downward growing branches. UVM Extension has helpful videos online to show the basics of good pruning practices. The rest of this article covers a few of my own suggestions. Read the whole article at VermontHomeGardener.com | 
