How often should I water flowers, and what is the rule of thumb on how close they should be planted? Also, pruning? How do I keep them in good shape? One more, how do you repair a brown yard, we moved on to a new house and our grass is dead and brown?
Well, its one of those things you learn by experience and a little reading. Generally speaking, most flowering plants love water so keep the soil moist. If you touch the soil and it gets hardish or chalky- like then they need a good watering. Rule of thumb is use good soil- you can buy top soil and composted manure from home depot. Mix it into the top 6-8 inches of soil so your plants can grow good. This gives the roots room to grow too. Check to see how much sun they need too. If you see a picture of a full sun on the plant then that means they need 6-8 hours of full sun a day. If it says partial shade then it needs 4-6 hours of sun a day. Check which zone you live in. The zones vary from Florida to Maine and they change generally about every 300- 600 hundred miles traveling south to north. The lower the zone number the colder your winters are. Zone is important for those plants or trees you want to come back every year these are called perennials. Annuals are generally planted every year thats why they are called annuals. Its not a bad idea to put mulch around plants. You can use anything from grass clippings to red cedar mulch or pine bark. This helps to keep weeds out and water in. Depending where you live if you are in northern canada your grass may be brown by now frost will kill it. Its too late right now to start a new lawn unless you are south of Oaklahoma. If someone ruined the lawn by over feritilizing it they could have burned it to the point of shock- which means it may come back in weeks time or they may have out right killed it. This is highly unusual. I really would seek the help of someone like Lawn Doctor they often will do free analysis of your soil to make sure theres nothing real seriously wrong with the soil and check for other things that may be going on. When you call around ask if they do a free analysis and call a few different companies to see how much they charge to get your lawn up to speed. You may have to tear up your whole lawn and start over by spreading seed and watering it everyday until it grows in again. I also want to suggest that you join one of the gardening groups on yahoo and if you are at the end of your gardening season- like most of us- then you have all winter to read a good gardening book from your local bookstore. I have a good dozen of them and there are some real great gardening books out there! Good Luck!
Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed
Especially helpful if they're about small spaces, herbs, and organic gardening. I have an apartment and I'd like to have a small organic herb and flower garden on my deck, but I'm not sure where to start. Thanks!
Mel Bartholomew's "square foot gardening" method is really inspiring, and can teach you to fit a lot of plants into a small space. (Here's the site; there's also a book: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/)
For nuts and bolts kind of gardening, I like Barbara Damrosch's Garden Primer (from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Primer-Barbara-Damrosch/dp/0894803166).
If you are into preserving foods at all, I really like Mike and Nancy Bubel's books; the root cellar book has a lot of info about planning your garden, too. They also have one on seed-starting. (From amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Root-Cellaring-Natural-Storage-Vegetables/dp/0882667033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231314436&sr=1-1 also http://www.amazon.com/New-Seed-Starters-Handbook/dp/0878577521/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231314436&sr=1-7)
Good luck, and have fun!
Gardening Tips, Advice, anything helpfull for a BEGINNER starting a new garden?
Need advice from you at YAhoo Answers.
Water early in the morning. Avoid strong fertilizers until your plants are mature. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I've personally murdered many a good plant through neglect, ignorance, and stupidity.
Read the little cards that come with the plants, there is a lot of use-full information there.
Do you like gardening? What are your favorite things to plant? What was the first plant you ever grew?
Planting gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, like I'm helping one of God's creatures along the path of life. Do you have a green thumb? I love gardening, don't you? Can you give me some plant tips?
Oooooh, crocuses are pretty, I like tulips, too! heard they were easy to grow, True?
My first memories are of grandmother working next door in her garden. She would literally cultivate rows of flowers…..from seeds, bulbs, anything that she could cut. I got to help her as all grandchildren did. When I ws nine, she told me I was old enough to cut the flowers for church……I was thrilled….then when I ws 11, I started getting to cut and arrange. My favorite things about gardening is to propagate plants…….anything I can get my hands on from seeds, soft cuttings, hardwood cuttings, etc.
Hey.. Has anyone ever did what is considered "Lasagna Gardening", aka the "No dig garden", or "Layered Garden"?
I'm planning to try it… …and am wondering - anyone here ever have success with this method? Any tips to share?
=)
I was fascinated when I first heard of this…. so I tried it… I hate to till!!…. I did a large bed in my backyard…. covered it first with newspaper and compost, then started building my layers…. started early fall….. built layers until the weather turned really cold, then covered it all up with mulch and waited till spring….. when I started planting, there were already changes to my red clay soil.. and more worms than I'd ever seen in there before!…. it's now a happy and great-growing part of my garden….
for layers, I used anything and everything EXCEPT the listed peat moss…. here in the south, that's not used much since when we dry out, the peat dries out, too and it's miserable to try to rewet that mess…… so in mine there was
compost, shredded newspaper, soil, fall leaves (shredded or whole) …old potting soil, straw, grass clippings from the neighbors….coffee grounds, egg shells, black cow bagged manure, soil conditioner (bagged, shredded fine, pine bark and additives)… leftover granulated fertilzers…. kitchen goodies… etc…
every time I went to Lowe's I grabbed a bag of something to take home and spread on it…. that way it didn't cost me much at one time….. and the layers don't have to be THICK, just 'there'…. so coffee ground were broadcast each day…. and anything that showed up like grass clippings and bags of leaves , same deal….
this is basically just 'sheet composting'… so to keep it working, add water when it's dry outside… rain usually takes care of it, but it will 'cook' best if kept on the moist side…. just like a compost pile…..
since learning of this, I'll never dig and till again…. and no more scraping off grass, either!!… I'm hooked!…
What "product" would you like/expect to receive from a gardening consultant?
I would like to take jobs as a gardening or landscaping consultant, working with homeowners as clients. I do not want to take measurements/draw landscape plans. That takes too much time outside of the meeting/appointment. I feel many people just want to pick my brain and ask questions anyway. But I feel I need to leave them with something, written notes, a list of plants, etc. I want them to feel they got their money's worth. What would comprise a good product? I'd like to make up a form or sheet to use.
Garden Consultant eh?
I've done it before… but you'd better be well versed in all manner of garden products. What I've done is offered a 'garden calendar'. All the things you recommend doing, you compile as a 'to do' list, at the appropriate times. Home owners are smart, but unless they know when to do it, they might not get the results they should. So if you suggest a water soluble fertilizer every other week, note it on their calendar. When should they trim their Forsythia? Note that too… Sort of instruction manual for their garden. Offer it at a small charge (print calendar pages on your computer), otherwise let them take their own notes.
I wouldn't expect to have a whole lot of customers, but if you target younger home owners, without a lot of experience- you might do okay.
Good luck-
Im planning on transforming my backyard into a haven..theres this big hill in the backyard and it has few weeds on it, no grass, and some pines.. and they're all burnt from the sun.. and so i want to change it and make it beautiful.. any tips would help.. if u want pics please e-mail me at burhan_2o3@yahoo.com
Sounds like you need to do some terracing and spend some time learning and deciding what you want. Visit some gardens, hang out at garden centers, look through books, and visit websites.
My mom loves gardening and little things in her yard to show off. What are good sites for gardening and yard statues or home decorations?
good sources here
http://mariesmanorbedrooms.com/decor-accessories.html
Does anyone have any gardening tips for growing bell peppers?
What, is cyanne2ak nuts?? The plant HAS to flower to produce peppers!! The pepper comes from the flower.(a very small white flower about the size of a dime) I have been growing Bell peppers in the N.E. for 40 years. Plant seedlings outside after the threat of your last frost. Water and fertilize with all of your other vegetable plants in the garden. I plant mine right next to my tomato plants. They are very hearty and easy to grow. Good luck and BON APPITITE!
i need gardening help! what can grow well in indirect sunlight, north central texas?
the north side of my house has a small garden area that used to have just hedge bushes…i dug them up and would like to have a cactus garden with indigenous texas plants…the main problem with this area is that it does not receive direct sunlight most of the year…will cactus grow there? is there something else attractive that will? do you have a link to a great beginner gardening website? thank you!
I live in Ft Worth I see cactus of all types but usually away from house. I would do mthe corner so it will get some sunlight a way out from wall. I found that Cannas doing well here most anyplace I put them. Just need water hot evenings and actually will come back again after winter and you can thin and start new spot. OURs got 6 ft tall with miracle grow, which we use for everything. Soak a little with roots then add to water for planting then about every 2 weeks , easy instructions on bag. Worth the cost. TEXAS A M has site under Texas gardens and lots others too.