Late Summer Garden: Easy and Cheap Gardening Tips
October 2, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Kathy Wilson asked:
Has your late summer garden seen better days? If your outdoor paradise is getting a little ragged, and you would like some easy and cheap gardening tips to get it back into shape in time for fall, keep reading!
Most gardens, no matter how well they are designed will have periods without a lot of bloom. But a late summer garden is more than just lack of bloom; it’s overgrown plants, ratty leaves, spindly annuals and brown spots in the lawn. Here’s how to fix these garden problems.
Cut back your blooming perennials by half. This will stimulate new growth, and create need for another flush of flowers in the fall for many varieties. It will also clean up the overgrown look of your flower beds.
If you still have brown foliage from spring bulbs showing, it is safe to cut them to the ground now. They have already stored all the energy they need for spring bloom, and the dead plant matter isn’t doing anything for the look of your garden.
If you have a pest problem, you should be addressing it. You can use commercially available Sevin dust for many of the most common predators, or seek out an organic alternative. One good way to identify what is eating your plants is place a piece of white paper under the leaves of the plant being attached and give the plant a good tap or shake. Whatever pest is the culprit should fall onto the paper for easy identification. If you’re stumped, pop it in a jar and take it to your local nursery for identification and advice on how to eradicate it while doing the least damage to beneficial bugs. Remember, we need those bees! Don’t’ poison them.
If you have annuals planted in containers or beds that have seen better days, cut them back hard. Apply a good dose of water soluble fertilizer and they will bounce back and start re-blooming for you. Petunias, alyssum and geraniums all need a good rejuvenation this time of year, but will bloom well into fall if you try this trick.
If your lawn has developed some dry spots, try raking in an organic compost or fine bark to protect the soil and hold in moisture. Water frequently during the day for a week or two until you start to see new green growth. Cut back on the watering gradually, but be consistent until the lawn is once again green in the spot.
A late summer garden may seem to have gone to sleep, but its pretty easy to throw a big basket of water on it and wake it back up. (Both literally, and figuratively!) Use these easy and cheap gardening tips to renew your garden, and have a beautiful spot to spend those quiet autumn afternoons.
Want free gardening tips and ideas? Kathy Wilson is a home and garden writer, author and consultant and is the home decorating expert for LifetimeTV.com. Visit her for more home and garden ideas at www.TheGardenGlove.com and www.TheBudgetDecorator.com . Also visit her at www.Women-on-the-Net.com where any woman can learn to make money on the internet!
Has your late summer garden seen better days? If your outdoor paradise is getting a little ragged, and you would like some easy and cheap gardening tips to get it back into shape in time for fall, keep reading!
Most gardens, no matter how well they are designed will have periods without a lot of bloom. But a late summer garden is more than just lack of bloom; it’s overgrown plants, ratty leaves, spindly annuals and brown spots in the lawn. Here’s how to fix these garden problems.
Cut back your blooming perennials by half. This will stimulate new growth, and create need for another flush of flowers in the fall for many varieties. It will also clean up the overgrown look of your flower beds.
If you still have brown foliage from spring bulbs showing, it is safe to cut them to the ground now. They have already stored all the energy they need for spring bloom, and the dead plant matter isn’t doing anything for the look of your garden.
If you have a pest problem, you should be addressing it. You can use commercially available Sevin dust for many of the most common predators, or seek out an organic alternative. One good way to identify what is eating your plants is place a piece of white paper under the leaves of the plant being attached and give the plant a good tap or shake. Whatever pest is the culprit should fall onto the paper for easy identification. If you’re stumped, pop it in a jar and take it to your local nursery for identification and advice on how to eradicate it while doing the least damage to beneficial bugs. Remember, we need those bees! Don’t’ poison them.
If you have annuals planted in containers or beds that have seen better days, cut them back hard. Apply a good dose of water soluble fertilizer and they will bounce back and start re-blooming for you. Petunias, alyssum and geraniums all need a good rejuvenation this time of year, but will bloom well into fall if you try this trick.
If your lawn has developed some dry spots, try raking in an organic compost or fine bark to protect the soil and hold in moisture. Water frequently during the day for a week or two until you start to see new green growth. Cut back on the watering gradually, but be consistent until the lawn is once again green in the spot.
A late summer garden may seem to have gone to sleep, but its pretty easy to throw a big basket of water on it and wake it back up. (Both literally, and figuratively!) Use these easy and cheap gardening tips to renew your garden, and have a beautiful spot to spend those quiet autumn afternoons.
Want free gardening tips and ideas? Kathy Wilson is a home and garden writer, author and consultant and is the home decorating expert for LifetimeTV.com. Visit her for more home and garden ideas at www.TheGardenGlove.com and www.TheBudgetDecorator.com . Also visit her at www.Women-on-the-Net.com where any woman can learn to make money on the internet!
What Are The Most Important Vegetable Gardening Tips That You Should Know?
September 24, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Scott Goodman asked:
There are literally thousands upon thousands of different vegetable gardening tips and home gardening tips out there that you can learn about and use to your advantage, but if you are just getting started in gardening and want to know what the absolute most important vegetable gardening tips are that you should know, here they are.
Garden Site
One of the most important vegetable gardening tips, easily, involves deciding where to make your garden. Choosing a garden site is going to have a significant effect on whether your plants are going to do well or poorly. An area exposed to full or near-full sunlight with deep, well-drained, fertile soil is ideal.
You should never make a garden site near a water outlet and you need to make sure that the area you choose is free of competition from existing shrubs or trees.
Planting
Another of the first vegetable gardening tips you should learn involves the actual planting of the plants. You should always avoid transplanting too deep or too shallow because this often results in developed roots aborting. Some crops are easily transplanted bare-root while others will need to be transplanted in containers.
Fertilizer
Proper fertilizer is essential for any successful vegetable garden. The next tip here is to use organic fertilizer. This is for a few reasons, but more than anything because organic fertilizers are much safer to use and less damaging to the plants. They are also much better for the environment, and every little thing that you can do to save the environment these days is crucial.
Design
The design of your garden is what the next of the most important vegetable gardening tips revolves around. You want to design your garden so that the crop rotation is practiced, and this is imperative because rotation primarily helps by preventing diseases from living over from one season to another. Avoid growing the same vegetable in the same location more often than once every three years.
Gardening is a very fun and enjoyable activity, and when you have fresh vegetables produced from your very own garden, you are going to feel so proud. Just make sure that you take all the different gardening tips and tricks into serious consideration and really use them to your advantage so that you can have the best overall success with your gardening and come out of it all with fresh, nutritious, delicious vegetables.
There are literally thousands upon thousands of different vegetable gardening tips and home gardening tips out there that you can learn about and use to your advantage, but if you are just getting started in gardening and want to know what the absolute most important vegetable gardening tips are that you should know, here they are.
Garden Site
One of the most important vegetable gardening tips, easily, involves deciding where to make your garden. Choosing a garden site is going to have a significant effect on whether your plants are going to do well or poorly. An area exposed to full or near-full sunlight with deep, well-drained, fertile soil is ideal.
You should never make a garden site near a water outlet and you need to make sure that the area you choose is free of competition from existing shrubs or trees.
Planting
Another of the first vegetable gardening tips you should learn involves the actual planting of the plants. You should always avoid transplanting too deep or too shallow because this often results in developed roots aborting. Some crops are easily transplanted bare-root while others will need to be transplanted in containers.
Fertilizer
Proper fertilizer is essential for any successful vegetable garden. The next tip here is to use organic fertilizer. This is for a few reasons, but more than anything because organic fertilizers are much safer to use and less damaging to the plants. They are also much better for the environment, and every little thing that you can do to save the environment these days is crucial.
Design
The design of your garden is what the next of the most important vegetable gardening tips revolves around. You want to design your garden so that the crop rotation is practiced, and this is imperative because rotation primarily helps by preventing diseases from living over from one season to another. Avoid growing the same vegetable in the same location more often than once every three years.
Gardening is a very fun and enjoyable activity, and when you have fresh vegetables produced from your very own garden, you are going to feel so proud. Just make sure that you take all the different gardening tips and tricks into serious consideration and really use them to your advantage so that you can have the best overall success with your gardening and come out of it all with fresh, nutritious, delicious vegetables.
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