Posted on Apr 03, 2010 under dried foliage |
As a group,flower bulbs are outstanding plants—colorful, showy, and generally easy to grow for container gardening. Many have evergreen foliage; with others, the leaves ripen after flowering and the bulbs are stored and started again, year after year. Some flower bulbs are hardy, others, tender, though what is, and is not hardy, in a particular area is a matter of winter temperature averages. In cold regions, tender types—tuberous begonias, gloxinias, and calla lilies—can be treated like summer in container gardens. This gives the gardener a wide variety to grow from earliest spring to late fall.
Dutch flower bulbs include crocus, snowdrops, eranthis or winter aconites, chionodoxas, scillas, grape hyacinths, leucojums or snowflakes, Dutch hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips, the pride of northern spring gardens. Though hardy, they are not adapted to garden containers outdoors where temperatures drop much below freezing. They require the protection of a shed, unheated cellar or cold frame. Gardening Pots can also be dug into a trench in the ground for the winter and covered with a thick blanket of marsh hay or straw. Where temperatures do not go below freezing, Dutch flower bulbs can be left outdoors in gardening pots over the winter.
For best results in a container garden, start with fresh, firm, large-sized flower bulbs each fall. Insure good drainage in the bottom of each garden pot and use a light soil with bone meal added. If in clay pots, plunge during the rooting period in damp peat moss to prevent rapid drying out. If this occurs too often, roots will be injured and flowers will be poor. When weather permits, after the danger of freezing passes, put your container garden outside where they are to flower or in a nursery row until they reach the bud stage. After blooming, move your container garden where foliage can ripen unseen.
For fragrance, concentrate on Dutch hyacinths, excellent for bedding large planter boxes or raised beds. Daffodils look well grouped around trees or large shrubs, as birches and forsythias. Tulips, formal in character, combine delightfully with pansies, violas, wall flowers, forget-me-nots, marguerites, English daisies, and annual candytuft in container gardens.
As already indicated, in cold areas, Dutch flower bulbs cannot be potted or planted in small window boxes and left outdoors unprotected for the winter. They can, however, be set out in large planters and boxes, deep and wide enough to contain plenty of soil. The garden pots should be one and a half to two feet deep and about two feet wide. Set flower bulbs, with at least six inches of soil above them, planting them early enough in the fall so that they can make root growth before soil freezes hard. In penthouse gardens in New York City, Dutch bulbs have been grown successfully in this way, but it is always a risk. It makes no difference whether garden pots are made of wood, concrete, or other material; it is the amount of soil they hold that counts.
Actually, it is not the freezing of the soil that injures flower bulbs (this occurs in open ground), but it is the pressure and counter pressure exerted by frost on the sides of containers, which are firm and do not give. As a result, flower bulbs are bruised and thrust out of the soil, their roots torn. Where there is no hard freeze, but sufficient cold weather, hardy flower bulbs can be grown successfully in garden containers of small size.
Here is a partial list of flower bulbs that thrive in container gardens. They will help you with your container garden design
Achimenes are warmth-loving trailing plants with neat leaves and tubular flowers in blue, lavender, red and white. Related to gloxinias and African violets, they are nice in hanging baskets and window boxes or in garden pots on tables, shelves, or wall brackets. Start the small tubers indoors and give plants a sheltered spot with protection from strong sun and wind. Achimenes, an old standby in the South, is worthy of more frequent planting.
Agapanthus or Blue Lily of the Nile is a fleshy-rooted evergreen plant, with strap leaves, often grown in tubs and urns on terraces and steps during the summer, when the tall blue spikes unfold. Culture is easy, but plants require a well-lighted, frost proof room or greenhouse in winter. This is an old-time favorite, often seen in the gardens of Europe. It is a perfect flower bulb for container gardening.
The Calla Lily is Showy, and outdoors in warmer regions, but a tender pot plant in the North. Most familiar is the white one with large, shiny, heart-shaped leaves. Start bulbs indoors in February or March in rich soil and, when weather settles, transfer to large gardening pots and take outdoors. Calla lilies do well in full sun or part shade, are heavy feeders and need much water. There is also a dainty yellow one with white-spotted leaves. Rest your flower bulbs after foliage ripens and grow again.
Colorful and free-flowering Dahlias provide bounteous cut blooms. Tall, large-flowering kinds can be grown only in large planters and boxes, but the dwarfs, even freer flowering, are excellent in small garden containers. Attaining one to two feet tall, they grow easily from tubers in average soil in sun or part shade. They may also be raised from seed sown indoors in February. If tubers are stored in peat or sand in a cool, frost proof place, they can be grown for years. Check bulbs during winter, and if shriveling, sprinkle lightly.
Gladiolus, the summer-flowering plant has spear like leaves and many hued spikes. Corms can be planted in garden containers outdoors after danger of frost is passed. Set them six inches apart and four to six inches deep. The best way to use these in container gardening is to planting a few every two to three weeks, giving you a succession of bloom in your container garden. Stake stems before flowers open. After the leaves turn brown, or there is a frost, lift corms, cut off foliage and dust with DDT to control the tiny sucking thrips. After dusting, store corms in a dry place at 45 to 55 degrees F for future planting.
Gloxinias, another Summer-flowering plant and tender with large, tubular blooms of red, pink, lavender, purple, or white, and broad velvety rosettes of leaves. Start tubers indoors and don’t take outside until weather is warm. Since the leaves are easily broken or injured by wind or rain, put plants in a sheltered spot. The low broad eaves of contemporary houses, with restricted sun, offer an appropriate setting for rows of pots or window boxes filled with gay gloxinias.
Now you have some great ideas for your container garden design. It’s time now to start planting your flower bulbs.
Happy Container Gardening!
Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.
This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.
Technorati Tags: beautiful, bulbs, container, flower, Gardening, plant
Posted on Mar 13, 2010 under how to dry flowers |
The activity of gardening is gaining in popularity since it is being viewed as an extremely rewarding pastime that provides plenty of fresh air, exercise, and “beautiful” results. But most people are not content with just a garden full of ordinary plants, but wish to create a landscape of extraordinary flowers! And so the entry of “flower gardening”!
But wait a minute! There should be no mistaken belief that creating a garden full of flowers is an easy task. It involves tough physical labor and demands dedication. Only then will you be able to produce a “work of art”.
Any outdoor activity should be acceptable to the surrounding ecosystem; so also flower gardening. The suggestions listed below should help you to grow healthy plants–
(1) It is important to know the “hardiness zone” of the area you are located in. The USA and lower Canada have been divided into various hardiness zones by the USDA, according to a 10-degree Fahrenheit difference in the average minimum temperature. This division will allow you to note which plants can survive in which zones (seed packets or flower guides carry this information), and you can purchase the appropriate flowers for your garden.
(2) You have a vast range of flowering plants to choose from, including butterfly bush, butterfly weed, foxtail lily, African lily or the lily of the Nile, lantana and delphiniums. Nice insects like butterflies and bees will feel like visiting your garden!
(3) If you are unsure about the type of plants you need to pick for your flower gardening, take the help of garden guides and catalogs. They can provide you with all the information you want, including useful tips.
(4) Some of the tips given concern having a mix-and-match garden that displays flowers and plenty of colors all year round! There are early bloomers, late bloomers and mid-season bloomers to choose from. The “early” ones and “late” ones can grow in side-by-side rows, to exhibit alternate blooming times. So also perennials and bulbs. Many more combinations can be tried out, depending on your creativity!
(5) Though most plants have green leaves, there are some with silvery-colored leaves. Some exhibit burgundy-colored leaves. These can become “space fillers”, to make up for those flowers which have not yet blossomed/finished blooming.
(6) Before actually starting on your flower gardening project, keep aside a book as a gardening journal. This is what seasoned veterans do, and recording their earlier mistakes have helped them to do better the next time round.
Start off by preparing a sketch or plan of your new garden. Fill in all the details like–the location of your garden, its proposed shape, the flowering plants that you wish to have, a rough arrangement of the plants, and so on. Place pictures too, as you go along. Record your successes and failures. Over a period of time, this journal becomes a “chronicle” of your flower gardening efforts!
(7) Are you planning to have a container garden or a purely outdoor garden? If it is containers that are going to hold your plants, then ensure that the soil conditions are just right inside them. Also, you have to get only those plants that can tolerate temperature changes and exposure to sunlight, because all plants cannot face environmental changes. Again, all plants cannot be grown inside containers.
(8) If it is going to be an outdoor garden, the soil has to be tested first with the help of a soil testing kit. Many local gardening supply stores stock it; in case they are not able to supply one, they can always refer you to a place where the kit is available.
Even without a kit, you should be able to judge the quality of the soil in your yard with the help of your hands. Take some soil in your hand, and rub it back and forth. If the soil comes apart, it indicates the presence of too much of sand. So it cannot store nutrients. Sticking together, indicates that there is too much of clay in the soil. This type of soil does not drain well, and does not allow roots to penetrate easily.
Loam soil (equal amounts of clay and sand) is the best for flower gardening.
(9) Now that you chosen the spot for your garden, start digging. When you have gone about 8 inches to 1 foot in depth, extract the rocks and other unwanted debris that you can find there. Use a rake to split up clods of earth and level the area.
(10) The next step is tilling. About one inch or more of manure or compost is to be added to the dug-up soil. Add even more if it is of poor quality. Grass cuttings or peat moss help to increase water retention capacity if the soil has too much of sand in it. For acidic type of soil, add lime.
When you mix the soil and all the organic components that you have added to it, turning the whole thing over and over a few times, you have “tilled” the soil.
(11) Use the rake again to level the new bed. Some more ammendments have to be added to the soil. Compost goes into the top soil (about 6 inches), along with a general-purpose fertilizer (10-20-10).
(12) Do not start planting your flowers as soon as you have finished adding ammendments. Give them time to enter the soil and spread all across the plot designated for your garden. A few weeks of waiting is necessary. Meanwhile, you can browse the books again so that you are thoroughly prepared when it is actual planting time, with the plants as well as all their requirements.
(13) Now that the time has finally arrived, start sowing the seeds, or planting the seedlings. Smaller ones should take the front seats, while the bigger ones should be placed at the back. Ensure a distance of 3 feet between the plants and any buildings/fences. Also, there should be at least 20 feet of space between your flowers and large trees. Large bushes should maintain a distance of 5 feet from your plants. Other trouble spots to look out for are–steep slopes, places where water tends to stagnate and shallow and rocky soil.
(14) Now that you have come this far in your flower gardening project, it is time to put down a layer of mulch (indicates compost that has not completely decayed) over the garden. A word of caution–ensure that it does not come in contact with the stems of the plants. A layer of 2 to 3 inches of mulch should remain around the plants all the time, especially during the growing seasons.
Weeds can prove detrimental to your garden. As an added precaution, keep layers of wet/damp newspapers under the mulch.
Why mulch? The benefits it provides to the soil include–stabilization of temperature, increase in water retention capacity, addition of nutrients and prevention of excessive growth of weeds.
(15) Do not go in for synthetic substances or chemical pesticides, despite advice from some professional gardeners. You have been “organic” so far; no point in going back to “inorganic”! All that you need to do to make a success of your flower gardening project is to keep the soil quality in top condition. Try to combine plants so that one acts like a “pesticide” for the other. For example, plants like rose and garlic are beneficial to their companions in the garden.
(16) If you are in a hurry to start growing your flowers, there is another option available. Get some jiffy pots that are made from compressed peat moss. Put in potting soil or starting mix. Sow the seeds. Place the pots inside the house in an area where they can can get sufficient sunlight.
Once the plants have attained a height of 4 inches, place the jiffy pots outside in a pre-designated location. The pots rot away and the plants get “attached” to the natural soil by their roots.
In addition, you can look for tips and information about seeds on the backs of seed packages, such as–when and how to sow the seeds, distance to be maintained between plants, etc. Seedlings of course, should be planted as soon as possible.
(17) Like many others, you may not really have an idea about compost or how it is prepared. So, here is some information about this “organic manure”.
How is organic matter different from inorganic materials? When there is decaying of the dead remains of animals and plants (remains of any living things, in fact), the decomposed material returns to the soil. The soil therefore gets enriched with vitamins and other nutrients. Its fertility is enhanced, enabling plants to grow healthy.
Thus, when soil is of poor quality, it can be “ammended” with the addition of natural manure or compost. Being totally organic in nature, it causes no harm to your garden or the surrounding environment.
Since compost is easy to make on your own, you save on costs as you do not have to pay for readymade manure purchased from the local gardening supply store. You save on time too. The environment will be thankful to you as you are taking care of the large amount of material collecting in landfills!
If your garden soil contains too much of sand, compost will help to retain water. If there is too much of clay, the compost enhances the soil’s capacity to drain well. And of course, plenty of nutrients get into the soil with the help of this organic manure.
(18) Finally, how do you prepare your own compost for your flower gardening project?
Dig a pit. Fill it with whatever organic wastes that you can get–lettuce leaves, tea leaves, coffee grounds, banana peels, grass clippings, shredded branches, hay, chopped leaves, garden plants that are free of disease and have finished their season, straw, weeds, shredded papers and newspaper. No bones or meat are to be put in. Whatever is put in, should be small in size–so use a lawn mower or a shredder to reduce the size of some materials.
Once the pile has attained 6 inches in height, use finished compost or soil or manure to cover it. The covering layer should be about 3 to 6 inches thick. Repeat the process of alternate layers of organic materials and finished compost/soil/manure. The final height of the entire pile should be 3 feet.
The compost pile should be started in a shady location. Whenever it seems to go dry, sprinkle water on it; enough to keep it damp, not to make it soggy. There is heat generated that helps to sterilize the forming compost. Keep turning the pile to ensure circulation of oxygen.
When there is no more heat being produced, the pile is ready for use. This compost has to be mixed with soil before planting flowers. It can actually be used in any way possible–as mulch, soil ammendment or potting soil. But use it as quickly as possible since the nutrients in it tend to get dissipated.
Thus, your flower gardening project has been entirely “organic” in nature!
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Posted on Mar 04, 2010 under dried foliage |
Preparing for the Winter Months: Gardening in October
When you feel that first solid bite in the breeze and you see the songbirds winging their way south, and the trees are bursting with fire-laden hues, you know you can’t be spending the weekend curled up by the fireplace with a good book. Not for long.
While the weather is still gardener-friendly, you must shorten your “to-do” lists for the coming of late fall and early winter. Now is the time to attack your lawn and garden by planting your spring bulbs, buying and maintaining your trees and shrubs, doing your late autumn lawn care, using common-sense watering strategies, building a compost bin and making your own compost, controlling the many common garden pests, and winning at the weed-whacking war before the sudden onset of the fickle, cold and all-enveloping winter season.
Planting Your Perennials
Plant the spring-flowering bulbs until the ground becomes frozen, and prepare your tender but tenacious perennials for the coming seasonal changes. Remember that in the milder climates, bulbs can still be divided and transplanted. Plant hardy bulbs anytime before the soil freezes, but it’s best to plant them early enough so the root systems can grow before winter arrives. In some climates, you can plant until Thanksgiving or even Christmas. Late-planted bulbs develop roots in the spring, and may bloom late. But they’ll arrive on time by next year.
Be sure to position the bulbs at their proper depth. They must be planted so their bottoms rest at a depth two-and-a-half times each bulb’s diameter. In well-drained or sandy soil, plant an inch or two deeper to increase life and discourage rodents.
Bulbs look best planted in groups. So use a garden spade instead of a bulb planter, which encourages you to plant singly. Set the bulbs side-by-side and plant groups of them in holes the size of a dinner plate, or dig curving trenches and position the bulbs in the bottom. Water your bulbs after planting to stimulate the roots to grow.
Interplanting creates maximum flowering in a tight space and eliminates bare spots when “dead” bulbs don’t grow. For a succession of blooms and foliage, plant perennials around the bulb holes. As the bulb foliage dwindles, the perennials will grow, camouflaging the bulbs’ yellowing leaves.
Choosing Your Trees and Shrubs
October is a wonderful time to shop for trees and shrubs at the nursery. They’re now showing their best and brightest colors there. You can plant them now and over the next few months, so that strong, healthy roots will grow over the winter.
You must carefully plan out your landscape to choose which trees you wish to plant for providing proper lawn coverage and the most beautiful scenery. When an appropriate tree is purchased, selected and planted in the right place, it frames your home and beautifies your land, making both more enjoyable. Trees can greatly increase the resale value of property, and even save you on energy costs.
Visualize your new trees at maturity while realizing that some trees develop as much width as height if given enough space to develop. Picture each tree’s size and shape in relation to the overall landscape and the size and style of your home. Trees peaking at forty feet do best near or behind a one-story home. Taller trees blend with two-story houses and large lots. Trees under thirty feet tall suit streetside locations, small lots and enclosed areas such as decks and patios.
There are two basic types of trees you will be considering for purchase. Deciduous trees include large shade trees which frame areas with a cool summer canopy and a colorful autumn rack of superior colors. In winter, their silhouettes provide passage for sunlight. These trees can shade a southern exposure from summertime heat, and allow winter sunlight to warm the house. Evergreen trees have dense green foliage that suits them for planting as privacy screens, windbreaks or backdrops for flowering trees and shrubs. But they are handsome enough to stand alone. They do not lose their leaves, called needles, and provide year-round shelter and color. You should be sure to include a wide variety of both kinds of trees in your landscape to avoid losing them to diseases or pests. Buy disease- and pest-resistant trees.
When buying a tree, look for healthy green leaves if it has any, and also well-developed top growth. Branches should be unbroken and balanced around the trunk, and on dormant or bare-root stock they should be pliable. Examine the roots, which should form a balanced, fully-formed mass. Reject trees with broken or dried-out roots. Avoid trees showing signs of disease, pests or stress such as wilting, discoloration, misshapen leaves, scarred bark and nonvigorous growth. Consider the size of the tree. Young trees have a better rate of success when planted, and most flowering trees grow quickly, so start with less expensive, smaller specimens. And be sure and buy all your plants from a good quality nursery with a decent reputation.
Don’t prune a newly planted tree unless its form needs improving. Prune flowering trees in spring, after blooming, to correct unsightly problems. Crab apple trees are an exception and should be pruned in late winter. But you can remove diseased or dead branches anytime of the year, and much of this is done during the winter. Apply fertilizer when needed in the second and subsequent growing seasons. Mulch to conserve moisture, reduce weeds and eliminate mowing near the tree. Spread wood chips or bark four inches deep and as wide as the tree’s canopy around the base. But don’t mulch poorly drained oversaturated soil. Wrap tree trunks after planting to prevent winter damage from weather and pests. And stake young trees, especially bare-root trees and evergreens, to fortify them against strong winds. Stake loosely and allow the tree to bend slightly, and remove stakes after one year.
Shrubs are often planted and used merely as foundation plants or privacy screens. But shrubbery foliage is vastly more versatile, and can go a long way toward livening up your landscaping. Countless varieties of gorgeously hued and beautifully leafed shrubs are available through nurseries and garden catalogs.
You must start by learning what varieties thrive in your area. Try visiting your local arboretum, where you may view different kinds of shrubs and decide whether they fit your gardening plans. Decide what overall look you want at different times of the year, and then find out which shrubs will be flowering, producing berries or sporting colorful foliage at those times. Compare what you find to the inventory at your local nursery, and ask the professionals who work there lots of questions.
Understand the characteristics of each shrub before you plant it. Flowering and fruit-bearing shrubs enhance a new home, but improper pruning and care will ruin the beauty of all your hard work. Some shrubs bloom on second- or third-year wood. If you’re maintaining a shrub because you’re hoping it’s going to blossom, but you’re cutting off first-year wood every year, it’s never going to bloom.
Some varieties are a foot tall at maturity, while others reach over fifteen feet. A large shrub will usually require more pruning. Also determine the plant’s ability to tolerate various soil conditions, wind, sun and shade. You don’t put a plant that’s sensitive to the elements in an open area. Use hardier plants to shelter it.
Not all shrubs work in every climate. Witch hazel, for example, blooms in fall or winter and is hardiest where minimum temperatures range from thirty degrees below zero to twenty degrees above. It would not be a good choice for very dry, hot climates. But some shrubs such as buddleia, hydrangea and spirea perform well across a wide range of growing zones.
Most shrubs are relatively fast-growing. Those that follow the shape and scale of a home will do more to make a home site look established. For example, if you have a long, ranch-style house the shrubs should be rectangular. If you have a two-story home, you’re going to want some leafy shrubs that are a little more upright.
You could try buying larger shrubs instead of trees because they don’t cost that much more than smaller shrubs and they help a landscape look fuller. Larger shrubs will go through some shock recovery, but typically it doesn’t take a shrub as long as a tree to bounce back. Position shrubs as if they are full-size, leaving ample room for them to fill out. Viburnum, barberry, honeysuckle and hydrangea are all good choices to surround almost any house.
Late Autumn Lawn Care
Aerate lawns in mid- to late-October, while the grass can recover easily. If you core aerate, make your cores three inches deep, spaced about every six inches. Break up the cores and spread them around. If your lawn needs it, thatch and follow with a fall or winter fertilizer. Even if thatching isn’t needed, your lawn will be happy for a dusting of fertilizer to help roots gain strength before the spring growing season. Overseed bald patches or whole lawns as needed.
Rake and compost leaves as they fall, as well as grass clippings from mowing. If left on the ground now, they’ll make a wet, slippery mess that’s inviting to pests.
Good gardeners use heavy-duty molded plastic for shaping neat edges of beds. You can buy these from garden centers, nurseries and mail order suppliers in rolls of flat, four- to six-inch-tall plastic, and the edging installs easily. You’ll save yourself countless hours of removing grass and weeds that otherwise creep into your beds.
Watering Your Lawn and Garden
You can’t forget about watering in the middle of fall. The summer’s long over, but proper moisture now is key to your plants’ survival over the cold winter months. You’re likely to hear two pieces of advice on watering. One is that you should give established plants an inch of water per week, whether from rain or irrigation. The other is that personal observation of your own garden is the only way to judge how much water it needs. One fact about which there is more agreement: the ideal is to maintain constant moisture, not a cycle of wet soil followed by dry soil.
Although overwatering can be as big a problem as underwatering, most gardeners err on the side of too little. Your needs will vary through the year depending on the rate of evapotranspiration in your garden. Evapotranspiration refers to the two ways that plants lose water. There’s evaporation, the loss of water to the air from soil, water and other surfaces. Then the other way is called transpiration, or water lost primarily from the leaves and stems of the plants. You can often obtain evapotranspiration rates for local areas from water departments and other agencies. You will see a graphic description of how a plant’s natural need for water changes during the growing season.
In the meantime, keep these pointers in mind:
1) Water when it’s needed, not according to the calendar. Check the top six inches of the soil. If it’s dry and falls apart easily, water. Your plants will also show signs that they need water. Wilting, curling or brown leaves mean that your plants may lack adequate water. Meanwhile, bear in mind that excess water creates a lack of oxygen in plants, making them show similar symptoms to underwatering.
2) Water slowly, not more than one-half inch of water per hour. Too much water can be lost to runoff. This is why handheld watering cans or handheld hoses generally work only for watering small areas.
3) Water deeply. With established vegetables and flowers, six inches is a minimum. With trees and shrubs, water one to two feet or more. Shallow watering does more harm than good; it discourages plants from developing the deep roots they need to find their own water. Except when you are watering seedlings, soil should never be wet only in the top layer.
4) Water in the morning, never during the hottest part of the day. Too much water may be lost to evaporation. Watering in the evening sometimes causes problems in humid climates, particularly with overhead watering, which wets all the foliage. Plants that remain wet at night sometimes come down with disease and fungal growth.
5) Don’t allow runoff. On heavy clay soil, one inch of water will probably cause runoff. At the first sign that water is not penetrating the soil, turn it off. Irrigate in an hour or so, after the initial water has penetrated.
The increased use of piped municipal water and the invention of sprinklers have made mechanical irrigation the most commonly used watering method, particularly for lawns and large areas. Sprinkler irrigation works best with well-draining soils and shallow-rooted plants, or where a cooling effect is desired. But sprinklers have several disadvantages. They waste water, since much of it is sprayed on areas other than the root zone around the plant. Because much of the water is thrown high in the air, loss due to evaporation can be significant. Sprinklers can also foster fungal diseases and other problems with some plants such as roses that don’t like having wet foliage. Sprinklers require good water pressure and are best used on plants which are not in bloom. Several types of sprinklers are available.
Drip or trickle irrigation using low-flow hoses or emitters can save more than half the water that overhead sprinklers lose due to evaporation or runoff. It also reduces disease, because the foliage is never wetted. This type of irrigation never saturates the soil, so there is little bad effect on overall soil structure. Since the area that’s watered is smaller, weed growth is reduced as well. And drip systems don’t require trenching. You can design a simple drip system to direct low flows of water to individual plants, either by laying polyethylene tubing on the ground or burying it shallowly. Or you can buy a more sophisticated custom-designed system. But drip systems have their limitations. They don’t work for lawns or broad areas, and they can be damaged if children or pets dig them up. The required number of emitters, misters and sprayers can add up costwise. A drip system also may require a water-pressure reducer to keep low-volume fittings functioning properly.
Soaker hoses are similar to drip systems in some ways, but are even simpler. Soaker hoses “leak” water along the length of the hose. You can buy flat plastic hoses or soakers made from recycled rubber tires, known as sweaty hoses or leaky pipe soakers. And garden stores are filled with many other kinds of gadgets and tools to help you water your garden, such as rain gauges, mechanical and electronic timers, and watering cans.
For small areas, container plantings and seedlings, watering cans work well. Make sure your can has an attachment so that water can be delivered like a fine rain. When picking a can, keep in mind that they are quite heavy when filled. A two-gallon container full of water is as heavy as most people can carry. Make sure that the handle and the rest of the can are designed for ease of carrying.
Building a Bin and Making Your Own Compost
A bin will contain your compost pile and make it more attractive as well as keep it from spilling or blowing over into your yard. A circular or square structure can be made from fencing wire. The idea is to push the compost material together to make it heat up and rot properly. The bin should be at least three feet wide and three feet deep to provide enough space for the spreading material. Use untreated wood or metal fence posts for the corners and wrap sturdy wire fencing around them. The fence mesh should be small enough that rotting materials won’t fall out. When the compost is ready, unwind the wire and scoop from the bottom of the pile. Then re-pile the undecomposed material and wrap the wire back around the heap.
Many hard-core gardeners feel that three compost bins are the best for serious composting. By building a trio of bins you can compost in stages: one bin will be ready, one will be brewing and one will always be starting. Installing a cover, such as a plastic tarp or a piece of wood, helps to cut odor, control moisture and keep out wild pests. You will also want to use the right ingredients for a proper, lovely smelling rotting compost heap.
It’s easy to cook up your own pile. At first, layer grass clippings with a dash of leaves and twigs to create a concoction that turns into humus, the best plant food. Added ingredients for the compost comes from everyday waste in the kitchen and yard. But avoid any items that ruin your compost. Use green materials such as fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, and grass and plant clippings; and brown materials, such as leaves, wood and bark chips, shredded newspaper, straw and sawdust from untreated wood. Avoid using any meat, oil, fat, grease, diseased plants, sawdust or chips from pressure-treated wood, dog or cat feces, weeds that go to seed or dairy products. These can befoul, spoil and make smelly and rancid a perfectly good productive compost heap.
There are two types of composting: cold and hot. Cold composting is as simple as piling up your yard waste or taking out the organic materials in your trash such as fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds or egg shells and then piling them in your yard. Over the course of a year or so, the material will decompose. Hot composting is for the more serious gardener; you’ll get compost in one to three months during warm weather. Four ingredients are required for fast-cooking hot compost: nitrogen, carbon, air and water. These items feed microorganisms, which speed up the process of decay.
To create your own organic hot-compost heap, wait until you have enough material to make a pile that’s three feet deep. To ensure an even composition, first create alternating four-inch layers of green and brown materials. Green materials such as vegetable scraps, grass clippings and plant trimmings create nitrogen. Brown materials such as leaves, shredded newspaper and twigs create carbon. Sprinkle water over the pile regularly so it has the consistency of a damp sponge. Don’t add too much, or the microorganisms will become waterlogged and won’t heat the pile.
During the growing season, you should provide the pile with oxygen by turning it once a week with a pitchfork. The best time is when the center of the pile feels very warm. Stirring up the pile helps it cook faster and prevents material from becoming matted down and developing a bad odor. At this point, the layers have served their purpose of creating equal amounts of green and brown materials throughout the pile. Stir it thoroughly, turning it over repeatedly. When the compost no longer gives off heat and becomes dry, brown and crumbly, it’s fully cooked and ready to feed to your garden.
Concentrated Pest Control
Slugs and other pests don’t disappear as the weather gets cooler. You’ll find them at all life stages in October, from eggs to youngsters and adults. For slugs, use whatever measures you prefer, salt, slug bait or saucers of beer to eliminate them. It’s best to catch them at the early stages to stop the reproduction cycle. And keep the ground well-raked and tidied to reduce their natural habitat.
Here’s a list of common garden pests and how to control them:
Thrips: Adult thrips are about one-sixteenth-inch long and have dark bodies with four fringed wings. Their size makes them difficult to detect in the garden. They attack young leaves, flower stalks and buds. Spray young foliage, developing buds and the soil around the bush with an insecticide containing acephate.
Cane borer: This insect is the maggot of the eggs laid by sawflies or carpenter bees in the freshly-cut cane of the rose after pruning. One telltale sign is a neatly-punctured hole visible on the top of the cane. To remove the pest, cut several inches down the cane until there are no more signs of the maggot or pith-eaten core. Seal all pruning cuts with pruning sealer.
Japanese beetle, Fuller rose beetle: These will eat parts of the foliage and sometimes the flowers. Pick beetles off the bush by hand. Or spray foliage and flowers with an insecticide containing acepate or malathion.
Leaf miner: This insect can be spotted on foliage by the appearance of irregular white chain-like blisters containing its grub. Remove foliage and discard it to prevent further infestation.
Spittle bug: This small, greenish-yellow insect hides inside a circular mass of white foam on the surface of new stems, usually during the development of the first bloom cycle in early spring. Spray a jet of water to remove the foam and the insect.
Roseslug: When you see new foliage with a skeletonized pattern, indicating that it has been eaten, chances are it’s the roseslug. Remove the infected foliage and spray with insecticidal soap or an insecticide that contains acephate.
Leaf cutter bee: As its name implies, this very small yellowish-green insect jumps on the undersides of foliage to feast, often leaving its white skin behind. The damage caused by this insect often results in defoliation. Use an insecticide containing acephate or malathion to prevent it from establishing a strong colony.
Rose scale: This insect hides under gray scales, normally on old canes or stems. It feeds by sucking the sap, weakening the plant. If the infestation is localized, try removing it with a fingernail. Or spray with an insecticide containing acephate.
Spider mite: It builds huge colonies underneath leaves, giving the appearance of salt-and-pepper particles. If the problem is detected early, you can control it chemically with insecticides containing acephate or malathion. Spray the underside of the leaves. Or you can apply a fine misting of water to the foliage’s undersides to wash the mites to the ground. They can’t fly, so they will die on the soil surface.
Rose aphid: This is the commonest insect enemy in the rose garden, and is often referred to as the greenfly. It’s a small, green soft-bodied insect often found in large colonies, particularly on the first lush spring growth, sucking sap from stems. Control by washing off the rose stems with water or spraying with an insecticide containing acephate or malathion.
Plant bugs: This is a large group of insects that includes the lygus bug and stink bug. Plant bugs attack the developing bud by sucking the sap. While feeding, they inject a toxic substance that breaks down plant tissue, causing the distortion and premature death of the bud. Apply a systemic insecticide such as RosePride Systemic to prevent further attacks.
Weed Whacking Made Easy
Actually, this is a slight exaggeration. There’s no rest for the wicked. Keep staying ahead of your nasty weeds all this and next month. They serve as Home Sweet Home for all manner of pests and bugs, and destroying them before they flower and seed will save you much work in the future.
Preparation is the key. All gardeners know what it’s like to have their yards invaded by unwelcome plants. Although there’s no really easy way to banish weeds, there are a few solid techniques you can use to reclaim your turf. At the very least, you can limit this utmost in hostile takeovers.
Here is a simple outline of effective battle strategies you can use in the fall:
1) Be a mulching maniac. Mulch acts as a suffocating blanket by preventing light from reaching weed seeds. At the same time, it holds moisture for your plants and provides nutrients for your soil as it decomposes. Apply coarse mulch, such as bark or wood chips, directly onto soil. Leaves, grass clippings, or straw work better as a weed deterrent with a separating layer of newspaper, cardboard or fabric between them and the soil.
2) Water those weeds. Pulling weeds is easier and more efficient when the soil is moist. You are more likely to get the whole root system, and your yanking won’t disturb surrounding plants as much either. No rain? Turn on the sprinkler or even water individual weeds, leave for a few hours and then get your hands dirty. Just ignore the strange looks from your neighbors as you lovingly water your weeds.
3) Cut weeds down in their prime. Weeds love open soil. But if you till or cultivate and then wait to plant, you can outmaneuver the weeds. Till the ground at least twice before you plant. Your first digging will bring dormant weed seeds to the surface where they can germinate. Watch and wait for a few weeks until they begin to grow. Then slice up the weeds again with a tiller or a hoe, only don’t dig as deep. Now it should be safe to put precious plants into the soil.
4) Pass the salt. Try sweeping rock salt into crevices between paths. Although more harsh, borax also works well. Be sure to wear rubber gloves with the latter material. You might need to apply a few doses, but be aware of any surrounding plants because both products kill the good plants along with the bad.
5) Lay down the law. Try using landscape fabric as a weed controller. Landscape fabric is usually made of a nonwoven, porous polypropylene material which enables air, water and nutrients to reach the soil but keeps weed seeds in a dark, cool environment where they can’t germinate. You lay down the fabric, cut a hole where your plants are positioned or will be planted and then cover the fabric with a two- to four-inch layer of mulch or gravel. However, landscape fabric doesn’t work well on steep slopes or a windy site, where the mulch often slides off or is blown away, exposing the fabric. Never use plastic, as it prevents moisture and air from reaching your plants’ roots.
6) Boil them alive. If you have pesky weeds in a spot with no nearby grass or valuable plants, boil water and pour it over the unsuspecting weeds. To control the stream of boiling water and to save surrounding plants and your toes from a scalding, use a teakettle.
7) To compost or not to compost. After you’ve labored to rid your garden of weeds, be careful that you don’t throw them onto the compost heap where they can drop seed and infect your entire yard. When you pull or till young weeds, leave them where you chop them and let the sun dry them out, and then use them as mulch. Throw mature weeds on a hot compost pile where they should cook at two hundred degrees or higher for several weeks to ensure the seeds are killed.
Cover your ground. Cultivate plants close together or grow winter ground cover in areas that typically suffer from weed invasions. A thick mass of plants not only is attractive but also shelters the soil from direct sunlight, making it more difficult for weed seeds to prosper.
9) Old-fashioned elbow grease. Weed every couple of weeks throughout the growing season in order to stay in control of the weed situation. If you’re going to get down and dirty, use a comfortable knee cushion or try pads to lessen the impact of weeding on your body. You can also try an upright tool such as the Weed Hound, which prevents excessive bending or body strain.
10) Solar-powered soil. Solarization uses heat to disinfect your soil. If you have a large planting bed or area of lawn that you want to reseed, till the area to clear all vegetation. Then water the area until it is saturated. Wait one whole day, and then cover with clear three- to six-mil plastic sheeting. Bury the edges of the sheeting to seal it. Let the soil cook for four to six weeks, then remove the plastic. If any weeds appear, till them lightly without disturbing the soil. Wait a few days for the soil to cool and then start planting. This method gets rid of many soil-borne diseases as well.
11) Kiss my grits. You can try a natural weed control such as WOW! (WithOut Weeds) which is made from a byproduct of corn. It acts as a preemergent, and is best applied during the spring, killing weeds before they germinate. A second application at the end of the growing season kills weeds that sprout late in summer and go to seed in the fall. Its nontoxic formula is safe, and it releases nitrogen into your soil.
12) Identify your weeds. If you can ID the sprouting menaces in your yard, you can control their reseeding habits better. Annual weeds complete their growing cycle from seeds to plants in a few months and then die. Unfortunately, they can leave behind thousands of babies if they go to seed, so always try to remove annuals before they drop seeds. Perennial weeds usually live for at least three years and are more difficult to banish, so at first sighting remove them immediately.
13) Time is tight. If your weeds are starting to grow but you don’t have the time or energy to pull them up at the moment, suffocate the weeds by covering them with a block of wood or piece of plastic. Better yet, use a few large decorative stones, a big-based work of art or a birdbath. At least you’ll stop the weeds from spreading so you can tackle them when you have time.
14) Off with their heads. To stop weeds from spreading, pluck off their flower heads before they drop seed. This technique can be especially helpful with annual weeds, which love to provide generation after generation of seeds.
Food for Thought
In addition to performing these autumnal lawn and garden duties, you may want to harvest your fall vegetables such as the perennial squashes. Do a taste test and harvest them when flavor is at its peak. If you’d like to extend the harvest of carrots, turnips and other root vegetables, leave some in the ground to mulch as the weather gets colder. Early next month, before temperatures drop too much, seed cover crops such as clover, peas or vetch to enrich the soil. It will serve as a natural fertilizer, stifle weed growth and help loosen up the soil for next year’s crops.
As for your houseplants that you’ve put outside for the summer, if September was mild enough that your geraniums and other such plants are still outdoors, be sure to make them cozy inside before the first frost takes a bite out of them. Take geranium cuttings of two to four inches to root indoors. If you treat houseplants chemically, be sure to keep them warm and away from direct sunlight. Fertilize houseplants now and they won’t need it again until March. And remember to get your poinsettias and your Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti ready for well-timed holiday color. Give them a daily dose of ten hours of bright daylight or four hours of direct sun and fourteen hours of night darkness. Cacti need a cool environment of fifty to sixty degrees, while poinsettias prefer a warmer sixty-five to seventy degrees. Be sure and let your cacti dry out between waterings.
For a true gardenaholic, winter is often considered to be the enemy. But with a few steps toward preparation in the early- to mid-fall, you can take care of your lawn, garden and houseplants in a way that will keep them thriving and surviving until the dawning of yet another most welcome and bountiful springtime.
Technorati Tags: autumn, Gardening, Late, tips, Tricks
Posted on Mar 04, 2010 under dried flowers |
In case you are just starting out gardening, or you have a number of years of gardening experience, there is every possibility that you may consider planting bulbs. Most seasoned gardeners always make it a point to grow bulbs due to their toughness, convenience, and vivid hues.
Bulbs are capable of unfailingly blossoming several times in very season without the need to replant them, and if you properly schedule and tenderly plant them, you can enjoy those gorgeous bulb hues from the end of winter to about June.
After the bulbs are planted, they require very little maintenance and are quite simply are placed in the garden area or in containers.
Then, what exactly are bulbs? These are plainly, a kind of a nursery meant for the plant seed or embryo; now, in this nursery, adequate food and shelter are made available to the plant embryo. The moment the bulb is planted in the soil, there is nothing much to do save for watering it regularly, observe it slowly growing, and appreciate the attractive hues on display by early February or March!
So, now we come to the issue of selecting the suitable kind of bulbs for your garden. In the first instance, as usual, you should consider the environment in which the plant is to grow. When the groundwork for that is completed, you need to reflect on the possible colors you prefer to flaunt in your garden and the right time you desire your garden to be in full bloom.
A majority of gardeners propose tulips since they occur in a kaleidoscopic range of hues, virtually spanning from black to white. Then there are daffodils, which are also an excellent selection, appearing in yellow hues or in intermingling shades of white and yellow.
Still another popular preference of the bulb gardening variety are crocuses, which occur in yellow, white, or purple shades. Of course, you should give free rein to your imagination and fashion bulb blends to produce a captivating display of brilliant colors.
Then again, if you prepare meticulously, you can possess a garden that blooms nearly all the time, by planting myriad bulb variants. Crocuses, tulips, winter aconite, snowdrops, and daffodils all bloom early in the spring season.
Grecian windflowers and Grape hyacinth tend to blossom in the middle of spring, while Persian buttercups and lilies tend to blossom in early to the middle of summer. Begonias, amaryllis, eucomis, dahlias, caladiums, and elephant ears all bloom in summer, even as meadow saffron blossoms in the fall. It is important to commit to memory that the bulbs that tend to bloom in spring should be carefully planted in autumn, while the ones that bloom in summer as well as autumn should be gently planted in spring.
After you have resolved the kind of bulbs you wish to grow, the time has now come to set off to the gardening outlet to pick up the bulbs. In the first instance, bulbs are also known as rhizomes, tubers, or corms, and hence if you come across these tags, you can safely take them without much ado. Always opt for the biggest and most compact bulbs that you can get hold of; gardening specialists will inform you that the larger bulbs bring forth larger blooms.
Moreover, squishy bulbs are generally not in good condition and tend to bloom feebly or will not produce any blooms at all. Positively pass up blooms that have scars or cracks, as this too, signifies sick plants, and you never should choose bulbs that already are growing roots; such bulbs, in all probability, will not blossom satisfactorily once planted in the soil.
By now, you have selected your bulbs, given them the once over, and carried them home. Then the next step is that in case you do not wish to plant them at once, ensure they are stored in a dry, cool place, not exposed to direct sunshine, until such time you are all set to plant them in the soil or grow them in containers. When you are all prepared to plant, begin to hollow out the ground to make holes, which are three times the bulbs’ diameter that you are about to plant.
There are quite a few gardeners, who favor a structured appearance and hence plant the bulbs in precise rows.
In case you fall into this category, you need to acquire a bulb planter, which is a cylindrical shaped implement with a grip that helps to extract small tufts of the earth in a systematic and consistent manner.
There are other bulb gardening enthusiasts, who fancy the unaffected, natural appearance and will in fact, put in a couple or more bulbs into a single hole, trying to create a ‘clumped’ look.
Whatever the impression you wish to create, prior to putting the bulbs in the holes, you should ensure that a little quantity of fertilizer is placed in the holes and a light layer of soil is showered over it. Then put the bulb inside the hole over the soil layer (it should not have any contact with the fertilizer as it may spoil) with the end up and the flat side against the soil.
Pack the holes with soil, tapping it downward firmly; there should not be any air pockets and the bulbs need to be held in position by the soil. The planting conditions with regard to bulbs should be the very best since bulbs are lasting add-ons for your garden.
Finally, you can revel in the visual work of art that you have fashioned! However, preserving this stunning visual requires some effort. One common method of ensuring your bulbs are healthy and are blooming is to de-head them. This process entails taking out wilted flowers to encourage plants to bring forth more flowers. Always, commit to memory, especially where bulbs are concerned, that leaves should never be taken out until they begin to become brown.
In conclusion, remember that in warmer climes, most of the bulbs can be left in the ground in winter and they will not spoil. On the other hand, in colder climes, before the winter sets in, the bulbs need to be taken out from the ground and kept in a cool and dry place.
In fact, there are a few tender bulbs, such as dahlias, that are unable to survive the winter season, even when planted in warmer climes, and therefore should be taken out. Yet again, brush up on the subject and be aware of the bulbs’ requirements that you select for your garden.
Technorati Tags: Bulb, Detailed, Effectively, flowers, Gardening, plant, tips
The Transvaal daisy, also known as gerbera jamesonii, or gerber daisy, grows natively in South Africa and comes in yellows, oranges, reds and pinks. Plant Transvaal daisies in temperate climates, as they are not very hearty, with advice from a sustainable gardener in this free video on gardening.