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What's Growing On Master Gardening Can You Identify This?
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emilycompost |
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Children's wagons make great traveling miniature gardens - especially in the early spring - for lettuces and radishes. Pulling in and out of the garage for protection from cold nights. Sphagnum moss prevents damping off - when starting seeds, sprinkle a light area of your potting box. How to keep those hydrangeas pink or blue: if you want them blue, apply aluminum sulfate or gypsum. If you want them pink, you need more alkaline, wood ashes or limestone. When wrapping gifts, present them with garden touches of berries, leaves, swigs of greenery, dried rosebuds, or pressed flowers. Subtle touches are always remembered. Growing in a bag is easy and effortless, but it doesn't have to look ugly. Hide it in a decorative pot or low window box container and cover with mulch. It'll trick even the best of gardeners. Change your containers seasonally - perhaps even with fresh potting soil. Compost sieves can be made from 2x4s (2 ft by 2 ft) with one inch hard cloth. Large enough to do a fair job yet handy enough to move around. Rotate! Rotate! Rotate! As realtors say "location, location, location", so goes the chant of the gardener. Rotation will prevent all sorts of problems. Confusing disease and insects is fun for me. Large containers can be filled with empty aluminum cans or Styrofoam to save on potting soil and to fill in the area. Even a large rock to help weigh a container down that is too lightweight. If a flower blooms in the spring, divide in the fall. If it blooms in the fall, divide in the spring. Used coffee filters can not only be composted but they make great liners for small pots so the soil won't sieve through. When it comes time to plant, it's easy to pop out. Tri-level vegetable wire baskets are great for hanging baskets. An old wooden drawer can be used as a propagation box. It's excellent for drainage and a good depth. Soil amendments and double digging are the key to new beds. Carts, little wagons, and plastic sleds are great ways to get your gardening materials around the garden. A garden mailbox is a great place to store tools. They'll be immediately in the garden. Check out end-of-the-season sales for next season's tools. When transplanting - do not forget to water, but, don't overdo it. Paint the ends of your garden tools a bright color so you can easily spot them. When transplanting - hardening off your plant will save headaches later on. When creating new beds and lawn always go for a soil test.. Three natural controls for Japanese beetles are: Milky spore (Bacillus popilliae) - it will destroy the grub stage. Also, beneficial nematodes such as ( Heterorhabditis) The third is neem oil. It comes form the Neem tree (India). When put to the soil it kills the grubs and when used on ornamentals it kills the adults. Newspapers are great weed barriers when creating a new bed. They are printed with soy ink and will decompose nicely. Re do when needed. Do not use slick advertisement papers or colored newspapers. Double digging is an excellent way to prepare a bed. Go organic. It is the healthier way to go. Morning sun is more beneficial than afternoon sun. Double potting is a great way to dress up a plant into a nice pot. Most plants grow best in a clay pot (because they tend to look old and worn). Dress it up. Plants that have been started from seed and have matured to a nice size fair better in the garden. Challenge yourself by planting something new every year. Pinching, picking, deadheading and just plain cutting back helps a plant to stay healthy, bushy and growing. Remember, nothing will germinate or grow in the garden until the soil warms up. Prune at the proper time of the year. For spring blooming plants, prune afterwards. For fall bloomers, prune in the spring.
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