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.
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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.
Growing Zinnias
Oct 15 | How to Grow Plants
Growing zinnias is very rewarding with their vibrant colors, hardy character and quick bloom times. One ounce of seed yields about 1000 plants when direct sown. Seeds germinate in 35 days when temperatures are 80-85 degrees F. So keep this in mind when planning your indoor seeding schedule. Make sure the outdoor temperatures will be warm enough when the plants need to be moved outdoors. Zinnias like a soil pH between 6.0-6.5, they will produce larger and more frequent blooms if your soil is well aerated and has good organic content. You should fertilize with a balanced organic fertilizer three times during the growing season if using a granular product. Or every 2-3 weeks when foliar feeding.
Globe Artichoke
Oct 8 | How to Grow Plants
These plants are native to the eastern Mediterranean, and were widely grown by the Greeks and Romans who imported them from Northern Africa. They have been cultivated in England since the sixteenth century, where it has always been considered an aristocratic vegetable. A favorite of Henry VIII partly because it was considered an aphrodisiac. His head gardeners took great care cultivating the plants so there would be continuos harvest throughout the summer.
Globe artichokes are different than most vegetables because it is the immature flowers that are eaten. When they are older only the fleshy bases of the bracts (phyllaries) and the choke, the thickened receptable at the base that are soft enough to eat. The tender young flower stalks and leaves are also delicious.