The Kansas Gardener

Profile
Andrew Mitchell, also known professionally as the Kansas Gardener, is a Horticulturalist, Nursery Crops Specialist, and Landscape Maintenance Supervisor for Grimm's. He has a B.S. Degree in Horticulture from Kansas State University and a A.S. Degree in Agronomy from Cloud County Community College. Andrew is a Lifetime Member of the National Home Gardening Club and a member of the American Horticultural Society. He is a regular writer and on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Native Plant Society and the Eternal Hope Worship Center. Andrew lives on an oak-hickory remnant forest edge with his wife and 3 children. He is an avid collector of plant species, and has an interest in heirloom vegetables. Andrew spends his free time in photography, hiking, spending time with his family and church, and working in the garden.

Posts by The Kansas Gardener:

  • Garden  Planning: Monarch Waystations

    Last spring I went to a conference in Lawrence, KS and was inspired by Dr. Chip Taylor of KU’s biology department. In 2005, Dr. Taylor created a program to develop “Monarch Waystations” across the United States. The goal of the program is to educate the public on the importance of butterflies and their habitats, to [...]

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  • Improving Quality of Life: Improving Heavy Clay Soils

    Living in the central Great Plains can be a challenge: prairie fires, extreme temperature swings, wind, chemical drift, drought, and soil quality. For many of us, soil quality can be a determining factor in choosing plants for our garden. I have been fortunate to have great silt clay loam soil in my garden, but I [...]

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  • Create a Nature Garden for Children

    Every day I think about where my kids are going to play this summer when school gets out. When I was growing up I had acres of land to roam on, with no fear of traffic, or some neighbor spying on me, or all the dangers associated with today’s lifestyle. I had the garden, where [...]

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  • A Study of Maples

    Thoughts of autumn in New England, maple syrup, children throwing “tree helicopters”, wonderful shade, fall festivals. All these seem to embody the spirit of the maple tree. When our forefathers came to America they found the eastern forests full of tuliptrees, elms, chestnuts, red maples and sugar maples. They loved the maples for the same [...]

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  • Gardeners are Romantics

    Gardeners are romantics, dreamers, artists, composers, painters, wanderers, charmers, extremists, poets, sculptors, BELIEVERS. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and everyone is thinking about what to get for their special someone. St. Valentine’s Day got its history from ancient Rome, when Pope Galasius changed the pagan festival of Lupercalia on February 15th to the [...]

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  • Prairie Plantings: Improving your Quality of Life

    There something so simple and calming about the prairie. Growing up in north central Kansas, I knew too well the heat and drought of the plains states.  Even in the shade of the wooded creek bottoms near our house, it was sultry and hot. Later, when I lived in Manhattan, KS, a quiet walk on [...]

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  • Pruning Blueberries

    Gather your tools and safety equipment and head to your blueberry patch! Blueberries are best pruned in early winter, usually January in NE Kansas and SE Nebraska.  We start pruning our blueberries at Grimm’s Gardens after the first of the year, before we get into peaches, apples, raspberries, apricots, and cherries.  Our patch is large; [...]

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  • Learn What Kind of Rock Mulch is Best.

    In the previous blog I talked about using mulches and comparing the different kinds available in our region-the central Great Plains. This week I am going to discuss using rock instead of mulch. The main thing to remember with using rock is that you must use a weed barrier fabric underneath for it to be [...]

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  • What Organic Mulch is Best for Your Garden?

    What kind of mulch should I use? Wintertime for the gardener is planning time. When snow comes and the frigid winter winds keep us from tinkering in the garden shed, we curl up on the couch with seed catalogs, garden magazines, and design ideas. It is usually in the spring we start thinking about mulches [...]

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