|
Tips and Tricks of Gardening
Gardening Tips from club members.
1.Keep a journal. Record what worked, what didn't. The colors you liked and
didn't like. Where you planted what. And take pictures throughout the growing
seasons to remind you what each area looks like in bloom.
2. Paint all the handles of your tools with a bright color so they are easy
to find.
3. 5 gallon plastic buckets make great carryalls for tools and also for
weeds. they stack well so you can carry 2 at a time.
4. Plant broken egg shells with tomatoes to prevent blossom end rot.
5. If you want you tools to last as long as you, never put them away dirty.
6. Using you bulb planter for annuals saves a lot of digging holes.
7. Shredded newspapers, soaked in you favorite liquid fertilizer, then put
into you planting holes helps hold the moisture in the ground. Put in a gob
about the size of an egg in each hole, marigolds really seem to like being
planted this way.
8. Line the sides of your large hanging baskets with wet newspaper, it helps
keep the moisture in your pot.
9. Oyster shells help keep the slugs and snails away from your hosta's and
other sensitive plants. Slugs do not like crawling on anything sharp, plus it
adds a bit of calcium to your soil. Coffee grounds are also suppose to keep
slugs away.
10. Instead of buying expensive water saving crystals, buy cheap disposable
baby diapers and tear the middle apart for the water absorbing crystals. Mix it
into your potting mixture to help retain water.
11. Plant native species. These plants are geared to your climate.
12. For a natural fertilizer use horse manure.
13. Use pine needles as a mulch around raspberries.
14. For Aphid control mix together one tablespoon of freshly grated citrus
rind such as orange, lemon or grapefruit, with one pint of boiling water. Let
mixture steep overnight, then strain through a coffee filter into a spray
bottle. Add three drops of dishwashing liquid to the bottle. Aphids are repelled
by the scent of the citrus rind and the soap helps the mixture cling to the
plant. Spray every five to seven days until the aphids are gone.
(Christine Bucks, editor, Great Garden Fix-Its: Organic Remedies for Everything
from Aphids to Weeds (Rodale).
15. Healthy Hollyhock
spray: 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1
TBLS canola oil
1/2
tsp Ivory liquid dish soap
1/2
cup white vinegar
1
gallon water
Pour
mixture into a small spray bottle and shake thoroughly before each use. Spray
your hollyhocks once a week from the time the first buds appear until the
flowers finish blooming. always apply in the early morning, drenching both sides
of the leaves with liquid. (Naturalist Sharon Lovejoy: Roots,
Shoots, Buckets & Boots. Workman, 1999).
16. Cut Flowers: to keep
your cut flowers fresh longer: mix 1 quart warm water, 1 Tbls bleach and 1/4 cup
lemon-line soda together. Add your flowers.
17.Tulip saver: Mix 2
1/2 lbs blood-meal in a gallon bucket of water. Add 1 cup ammonia. Cut green
floral foam into squares. Dip the squares into the blood-meal ammonia mixture
and then slide the soaked squares onto long sticks, like you would thread a
shish kebab. Place the sticks around the flowerbeds. Dip the sticks weekly.
18.Treat Black spot on
roses, mix 1 Tbls baking soda, 2 1/2 tsp horticultural oil and 1 gallon of
water. Spray on roses when symptoms appear and every 1 to 2 weeks thereafter.
Shade
Gardening
Types of plants:
Annuals:
impatient, pansies, nicotiana, was or tuberous begonias, fuschia, alyssum,
lobelia.
Perennials:
primrose, hosta, money plant, colubine, rose campion, foxglove, lenten rose,
bleeding heart, lungwort, ladies mantle, astilbe, coral bells, ferns, wild
ginger, violets, trillium, jack-in-pulpit, cardinal flower, ligularia, bugbane,
jacob's ladder, hens & chicks, spiderwort, sedums, lily of the valley, forget me
knots, lamium, sweet woodruff, canterbury bells, creeping jenny, hyssop,
dianthus and lilies, and vinea.
Most spring bulbs will
grow in shade although they will bloom better in sun.
Tips
for sun or shade
If ordering from a
catalog-watch you zones! If shopping at a local nursery -ASK questions- these
business people would rather you have success with their plants.
Experiment!!! If a plant
doesn't grow well in one spot move it.
Ask other gardeners- we
love to talk about gardening!!!
To
get ready for the return of our little "Flying Jewels" .
If you enjoy putting up feeders to attract hummingbirds, there
are a few precautions that should be taken to protect the tiny
creatures when making "nectar" at home.
The correct solution is: 1 part sugar, 4 parts water.
Boil the water first to ensure freshness & retard fermentation.
Add the sugar to the water after it has boiled. If the nectar is
too sweet and concentrated from over boiling, the solution can
be harmful to the bird.
Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red but it's not wise
to add red food coloring or dye. A touch of red coloring on
your feeder is enough to attract the birds. Also, avoid artificial
sweeteners (no nutritional value) and honey which ferments
quickly causing a deadly fungus to grow.
Place your feeders in the shade and keep out of direct sun and
wind. Be sure to clean your feeders every week. Some experts
recommend using only water and vinegar for cleaning - bleach
and soaps tend to leave trace residue. Rinse thoroughly and allow
to dry completely before refilling. When temperatures are above
70 degrees the solution should be changed every 2-3 days to
avoid spoiling.
Prune early-blooming shrubs
Shrubs that bloom early in the year, such as forsythia, form their flower buds
the previous year. In the rush of the spring season, there are always so many
chores to do it's easy to forget that these early flowering shrubs need pruning
immediately after bloom. If you wait too long before getting around to it,
you'll cut off next year's flower buds. And if you don't prune at all, these
strong growers will quickly turn into giant tangles.
As soon as the last flowers fade, use a pruning saw to cut off one-fourth to
one-third of the biggest, oldest stems at ground level. Use pruning shears to
shorten all of the stems to two or three feet from the ground. If you wish to
greatly limit the shrub's size, you can cut the branches as far back as six
inches from the ground. By the end of the growing season, new branches will have
formed. These will arch gracefully from the center and will be covered with new
flower buds for next year's spring show.
TIPS FOR GARDENERS
Winter is a good time to start a garden journal, or even just a file, where
you can store articles clipped out of newspapers and magazines, or lists
of ideas you want to try in the garden. A good place to get a few new
ideas is by taking a class or joining a garden club. Most gardeners
love to talk about gardening and won't mind sharing some of their tried
and true methods and products with you.
If you are like many gardeners, you probably keep notes on annual seed and
plant purchases, past garden successes and failures, and even new things
to try. It's a good idea to review these before you start planning your
seed orders. Maps of past gardens will help you rotate plants and
avoid overcrowding when planning spacing of plantings.
Next, check the seeds you saved and stored from last year's garden. Discard
anything that is damp, diseased, moldy, or in otherwise bad condition.
Look over what's left, and determine what you need to order.
You also should take a look at squash, potatoes, root crops, and other
vegetables and fruits in winter storage. Although conditions may have
been ideal when you harvested and stored them in the fall, the cold, wet
winter may make that location too wet or damp. Toss anything that
has spoiled or has soft spots. The same goes for summer flower bulbs
like dahlias and gladioli that you saved to plant this year.
As many avid gardeners have discovered, it's wise to plan your seed order
with other gardeners. This will allow you to save money while growing
a wider variety of plant. In addition, some seed companies offer
discounts or free seeds for early bird and/or large orders. Just don't
fall into the trap of ordering more than you can use. That's where the
notes you kept from past years will be useful.
GARDENING TIP
March...time to prepare the soil for spring planting. Be sure the ground
is dry and the weather is fairly mild. In some regions it may be too cold to
plant outdoors, but seeds and plants can be started inside. Weather-resistant
frames and greenhouses, of course, will add even more protection. The bulbs you
may have saved from last year, such as tulips, daffodils, and crocus, can be put
in the ground or in containers. March is a good time to prune or trim most
shrubs in the garden, except for the early flowering azaleas, camellias,
magnolias, and rhododendrons. Peat moss can be placed around the base of these
shrubs to keep the soil acidic and moist.
GIVE RAISED-BED GARDENING A TRY
The term refers to framed structures that are higher than the surrounding soil.
The bottom
layer is started directly on existing soil, for drainage purposes. These beds
are usually built
narrow enough so that the growing area can be reached from all sides without
ever stepping
in the soil.
A few of the advantages of growing either flowers or vegetables in raised beds
are the fact that
the soil doesn't get compacted from being walked on. This keeps it loose,
allowing air and water
to circulate through it easily. Soil compaction can reduce crop yield by up to
50% because water,
air and roots all have difficulty moving through soil that has been compressed.
Raised beds can extend the gardening season because the higher soil heats up
more quickly in
the spring, allowing you to plant earlier in the season. That added warmth also
allows these beds
to produce later into the fall.
PATIO GARDENING TIPS
If your patio has no plants growing on it and looks bare, you can use pots,
barrels and other containers to soften the looks. Add a small statue or water
feature to create a focal point. Nothing like the sound of moving water to draw
the eye away from stark areas!
Plant "wall shrubs" , choosing shrubs that will benefit from the shelter of a
wall.
They will quickly add color and interest, and are generally more suitable for
small patios than wide-spreading climbers.
Plants on your patio will need special attention as temperatures can get high
during the summer. Plants will need to be watered thoroughly and regularly.
Feed throughout the growing season with a weak liquid fertilizer.
If you have a new patio, and want to give the paving blocks a weathered look,
paint them with yogurt or liquid manure. This will encourage the growth of moss
and algae.
Check out these sites.
www.provenwinners.com/plants
http://www.gardenweb.com/
http://calendar.gardenweb.com/display/200704280900026843.html
http://www.gardenersnet.com/index.htm
www.garden.org/plantfinder
|
