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:

  • Get out and enjoy the spring!

    Spring is always a busy time of year. For me, it is filled with many houses waiting to be cleaned up with plants trimmed back, leaves blown out and ponds cleaned. Even with all the pressures of landscape cleanups, I still find time in the evenings and weekends to spend time enjoying the spring. This [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Landscape Maintenance: The Who, Why, What, and When

    When friends and neighbors ask me what I do for Grimm’s Gardens, I have a difficult time explaining my job. As the landscape maintenance foreman, I have a job that entails much attention to detail, a vast knowledge of plant life and growth stages, electrical and plumbing maintenance, and a willingness to work in all [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Garden Planning Guide February, March & April

    Winter time is the best time to plan and prepare for next year’s gardens. We at Grimm’s Gardens are busy with ideas and preparations for the upcoming spring season. From now until March 1st, we will receive many calls and emails from customers wanting to know if they can plant something, when to plant, do [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • What is the fuss about? Tomato Grafting and the Home Gardener

    Early in January I attended the Great Plains Growers Conference at Missouri Western University, in St. Joseph, MO.  While I was there I was asked to look into the tomato grafting workshop, in the hope that we could possibly put multiple varieties of tomatoes onto one plant. I admit, it was not something I was [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Fountains and Pondless Waterfalls

    Winter weather is here again and my thoughts turn to dreams of lush, brightly colored landscapes, afloat with perennials, shrubs, and flowing water. I have known many landscapes through my work in Kansas and Nebraska, but none have seemed quite complete without a water feature. Water can be displayed in many forms, from large, open [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • What is a Landscape?

    What is it that makes a landscape a landscape? The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a landscape as an area of land that has a particular quality or appearance. We, as landscape designers define it further as a grouping of outdoor rooms which display various plant materials and are anchored by hardscapes and water features. Too [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Kansas Turfgrass Conference

    Good morning all!   The last two days were spent in classes at the Topeka Expo Center for the annual Kansas Turfgrass Conference. Greg Strahm, Neil Lednickey, Doug Grimm and I were at the center of it all for learning and networking with landscape and turfgrass professionals.   On Tuesday morning we arrived with high [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Three Diseases found in 2014

    What a year this has been! With some of the coldest recorded winter days, a very wet spring and fall, and an exceptionally cool summer; we have seen a record amount of diseases popping up in landscapes across northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska.  Typically, my consulting covers scorching, chemical drift, and wilting on trees and [...]

    Read More...

    Read more

  • Weed Files: Poison Hemlock

      This biennial forb was introduced from Europe. It grows 3 to 10 feet tall and has white flowers resembling carrot. The leaves are ferny, and can often be confused with Queen Anne’s lace and wild carrot. All parts of the plant are poisonous. It should be removed from garden beds and any remaining roots [...]

    Read More...

    Read more