Tips for Choosing what Seeds to Buy
Mar 1 | How to Grow Plants
The best way to get started making your selection of seeds for this year’s garden is to look through several seed catalogs. Sit down with a pen and a nice cup of tea and look through each catalog.
Every time a variety catches your eye read through the description, checking for length of time until the plant will mature, the zone it is hardy to and whether it needs sun or shade. If it even remotely meets your growing conditions then circle the description and fold the corner of that page down. Do this with all of your seed and plant catalogs and then set them aside.
Continue Reading »
Improving Your Soil
Nov 28 | Garden Soil
A fantasy that every gardener has is a garden full of rich dark soil. Lofty, soft soil you can turn with your hand and so fertile your plants grow to robust, flavorful perfection. Not bothered by pests, or the stresses of heat and drought. The soil teaming with beneficial microorganisms and earth worms. With an understanding of how to build healthy soil and some hard work you can make this fantasy come true. Using compost as the primary ingredient to bring your soil back to great health.
Soil acidity is a key element in your plants ability to properly absorb nutrients and micro-nutrients. An easy way to check your soils pH is with an inexpensive chemical pH test kit. To sweeten acidic soils use ground lime stone which is calcium carbonate. Spread the lime at a rate of 7-8 pounds per 100 square feet of clay soil. 7-10 pounds per 100 square feet for loam or silty soils and 3-6 pounds per 100 square feet for sandy soils. Wood ashes, eggshells, bone meal, coffee grounds, and crushed oyster shells will also work to sweeten mildly acidic soils. The addition of compost will also aid in neutralizing the pH of your soil because finished compost has a neutral reading of 6.0-7.0.
Continue Reading »
Types of Soil
Aug 17 | Garden Soil
Good tilth in your soil is a key ingredient. Good soil will form loose crumbly clumps, with a soft fluffy texture when it is wet or dry. When your soil is well aerated it will be easy to till, keep cultivated, and easily allows water, nutrients, and plant roots to penetrate deep into the sub soil. You will see lots of earthworms in healthy soil. Soil deficiencies usually fall into three types of soil.
Continue Reading »
Clematis
Jun 18 | Flowering Plants
Clematis is a member of the Ranunculaceae family. In the 1850s plants from Japan and China were imported and used for parentage in the breeding programs. Most of the clematis breeding and hybridizing was concentrated in England, Belgium and Germany. Clematis are enjoying renewed popularity, especially the small-flowered types that are very hardy and disease-resistant.
Most are woody deciduous climbing plants, there are a few evergreen and herbaceous varieties. Leaves are opposite on the stem with three to five leaflets. The plant supports itself by twining its leaf stalk around a support or other plant. The flowers have four to eight petal-like sepals in numerous colors and shades and the dried seedpods are wonderful in arrangements. Hybrids provide large flashy colored blooms through out the summer. The species often have fragrant blooms and are very hardy and disease resistant.
Continue Reading »
Soil Testing
Apr 30 | Garden Soil
Lime or sulfur can be safely applied to the soil at any time. Work them into the soil before planting or side-dress existing plants. Since soil pH will slowly revert to its original level before treatment, it’s a good idea to test your soil every two years. You can have your soil’s pH measured by a university laboratory through your local cooperative-extension service or use a soil testing kit from garden stores or catalogs. The lab test report or kit instructions will give suggestions on how to raise or lower soil pH. Lab reports will list your soil’s resistance to pH changes based on the structure of your soil. This is referred to your soil’s buffer pH. If your soil is sandy and well drained you can raise the pH a full point in one season. Heavy clay soils will take more lime and a longer time for the same amount of change in the pH level.
Continue Reading »
Controlling Rabbits In Your Garden
Mar 17 | How to Grow Plants
Rabbits have a large appetite and never fail to find your favorite garden plant the one that they consider the most delectable. The eastern cottontail is approximately 15 to 19 inches long weighing two to four pounds. Males and females are about the same size appearing gray or brownish with a short tail and big ears. Their life expectancy is only 12 to 15 months but they have an extremely high reproductive potential reaching up to four litters per year, with the first appearing in March. The gestation period is 29 days and there are usually six young per litter. Cottontails like to concentrate in brushy fence rows, brush or junk piles, upland thickets, and the edges of fields or nicely landscaped backyards where food and cover are desirable.
Continue Reading »
Passion Flower
Feb 15 | Flowering Plants
Passiflora - passifloraceae is a genus of evergreen and semi-evergreen woody stemmed vines. Grown for their beautiful fragrant flowers, some species have egg shaped edible fruits that mature to an orange yellow in autumn. They are also widely used for their medicinal properties. First discovered by Jesuit priests in South America the passion flower has been historically used to relax motor nerves and reduce muscular spasms. It is beneficial in treating epilepsy, ophthalmia, restlessness, hemorrhoids and neuralgia.
Continue Reading »
Understanding Soil pH
Jan 11 | Garden Soil
What do the p and H in pH stand for? And why is a proper pH level in your soil so crucial to plant growth? The “p” is a mathematical operator like “+” or “x”. In chemical mathematics, “p” means “the negative logarithm of something”. In the case of pH, it would be defined as “the negative logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen (H) ions in the soil.”
Soil pH simply measures how many hydrogen ions are affecting plant roots. The more hydrogen ions present in the soil, the more acidic the pH. The pH scale ranges from 1 (extremely acid) to 14 (extremely alkaline). At pH 7 (neutral), hydrogen ions have little effect on the plant’s root ability to absorb nutrients. Scientists have found that plants generally need a small amount of acidity in the soil for optimum growth. The roots seek out the major soil nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium absorbing them for healthy flower, leaf and root development. Some ions are dissolved in water making uptake by plant roots simple. Some cling tightly to particles of clay and humus so the plant roots have a harder time absorbing them. Calcium loosens nutrient ions from the soil particles, making fertilizer more available to plant roots.
Continue Reading »
Rose Petal Beads
Dec 3 | Flowering Plants
The warmth of your skin releases the beads rich musky rose scent. In an enamel saucepan put one pound red rose petals, just covering with water. Heat gently for one hour but do not allow to boil. Cover and let stand over night, repeating the process three more times. On the fourth day the petals and water will be reduced to a smooth paste, take a small amount and roll it between your palms forming beads a inch in diameter. Pierce each one with a needle for stringing, let the beads dry on newspaper in a warm closet. Thread the beads onto silk thread for your necklace. These beads will last for years, retaining their fragrance and turning a polished red sienna color.
Fall Garden Cleanup
Oct 26 | How to Grow Plants
Soil Preparation and Planting Tips
In mild areas set out hardy annuals. Find a location with the correct amount of lifght and plant bare root, container grown, and ball and burlap plants after amending the soil. Plan and plant your large containers with trees and spring flowering bulbs. In early fall sow a last crop of salad greens and winter salad vegetables, put Oriental brassicas under cover. In mid fall add compost and nutrients to your empty vegetable and flowerbeds. The soil should be tossed and fluffed for better aeration and incorporation of the organic material. Rake your lawns clear of leaves, acorns and other debris. Falls is the perfect time to seed or sod new lawns and over seed and de-thatch established lawns. Pot up strawberry runners and baby plants in containers storing them in the green house or a deep cold frame for an early spring start.
