Showing posts with label gardening tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening tips. Show all posts

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Pruning a potted fruit tree


Since most of our fruit trees were killed by winter freezes and Hurricane Irma, we are thinking of starting them again in large containers.  They would be much easier to maintain and keep alive.

It will be a new experiment for us and we need all the information we can get on the basics.  This article contains everything you need to know about pruning those fruit trees!





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Sunday, June 2, 2019

Preventing weeds in an established garden



Weeding has got to be one of the most dreaded tasks in the garden.

Click here for an article with great ideas to prevent weeds in an established garden.



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Thursday, June 30, 2016

Save Time and Money in the Garden




Everyone loves to save money and time is precious!  

Check out some tips and tricks used by another gardener . . . click here.




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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Plants/Planting Tips For Zones 9-11





Love the color in that garden!

If you need a guide for what plants to buy and planting tips for gardening in zones 9-11, click here for an excellent article from Gardening Know How.




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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Summer Garden



Summer gardening can be totally overwhelming!

Experienced gardeners have come up with many tips and tricks to make it less overwhelming and more enjoyable.  One of those tips is setting aside 15 minutes a day . . . a concept I like to use for any task. I've found that once you get in the habit of doing something every day, it becomes routine and actually extends beyond the 15 minutes.

One gardening blog, Tenth Acre Farm, has laid out an excellent plan as a guide to June gardening which most tasks are also good for the whole summer. Check it out here.  Awesome blog!

Happy Gardening!




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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

More Gardening Tips and Tricks




One of the things that I love about the internet is gardening benefits through other gardeners sharing their tips and tricks through their blogs.

Today I ran across an excellent article with some great photos for vegetable gardening inspiration, along with tips and tricks that you may find useful.

Click here for the article from Live, Laugh, Farm.




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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Quick Gardening Tips




Keep your garden looking good through the summer with awesome gardening tips from Old World Gardens.

Click here to go to the informative article.








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Saturday, October 24, 2015

Common Gardening Mistakes



Mistakes . . . we all make them!  We are not aware of some mistakes.

I ran across an excellent article on common gardening mistakes that all gardeners should read.  Some I was not aware of and through the years, I have done a ton of gardening research.  You never stop learning!

Click here to go to the very informative article 15 Common Gardening Mistakes Everyone Makes.

Some things to keep in mind . . .

Through my years of gardening in moderate zone 9 climate, the "rules" for winter depend on the weather.  It is not a bad idea to push the limits and experiment in certain climates.  For example, my best success in propagating hibiscus was during the winter when the temperatures were consistently in the 70s.  For one thing, I broke the cardinal rule of not hard pruning during the winter months.  

The experiment was a monumental success and I had a record number of hibiscus ready to plant in the spring and had enough to give away to other gardeners who were happy to share cuttings and surpluses of their own.  You never know unless you push the limits.




The photo is a version of my garden back in 2000.



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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Best Plants for Harvesting Seeds



As a little girl growing up, my dad taught me the joys of growing plants from seed.  For as long as I could remember, I had a little patch of my own to plant whatever I wanted . . . I always picked red zinnias.  He also taught me to check my zinnias often, cutting off the spent flowers so I could increase my inventory of seeds to plant in the future.  To a little girl, it was amazing to watch nature in action and exciting that I had a part in it.  

One of my favorite publications and website, Birds and Blooms have published a wonderful article on the 10 best plants for harvesting seeds.  Of course my beloved zinnias are listing . . . but there are nine more!  Click here to go to the article.


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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Winter Sowing





Moving our clocks forward is around the corner which means so is spring!  Here in Florida, there is already a change in the air and it has been very pleasant to get out there and do pre-spring clean up.

Get an early start on spring by starting your seeds indoors.  There are so many methods and don't necessarily have to be expensive.  Utilizing egg cartons is my favorite method for seed starting.  The following article from HGTV Gardens has some other great ideas.

In the past I purchased my seeds from the popular catalog companies, which can get rather pricey.  Last year, I ordered lots of seed from Amazon.com which saved me quite a bit of money.  Check them out!  Even better . . . do a search on free seeds and you will find lots of offers for limited amounts of free seeds.  

Join a seed swapping group and get tons of seed for the price of postage unless you find a local seed swapping group that organizes get togethers.  In the past I've even swapped plants with other gardeners with great rewards of getting a ton of new plants for free and making some awesome gardening friends.  Back in the day, we hosted some awesome plant and seed swaps complete with BBQ grill going and everyone bringing a cover dish.  Loads of fun!

Gardening doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.  Just use your imagination and do your research!

I'm so ready for spring!!!



Winter Sowing

by Julie A. Martens, HGTV Gardens



"Get your hands dirty this winter by starting seeds outdoors using a practice called winter sowing. This method forgoes supplemental lighting and pricey seed-starting kits and lets nature’s rhythms coax seeds to sprout. Winter sowing is simple and yields sturdy seedlings that are ready to grow. If you have avoided starting seeds because you lack space or sunny windows, check out winter sowing.

To get started with winter sowing, you’ll need supplies you probably have around the house. Plastic containers, like milk jugs, 2-liter bottles or clear-lidded clamshell-type containers serve as a mini-greenhouse for the seeds. Use a box cutter or pen knife to cut around the middle of the container. Leave roughly a one-half inch section uncut to act as a hinge. What you’re doing is creating a hinged container that opens. Clamshell containers don’t require cutting.

Punch drainage holes in the bottom of the container. Use a lighter to heat the tip of the screwdriver to make punching through plastic easier. The container forms a mini-greenhouse for your seeds. Cut slits in the lid of the container to provide ventilation and prevent heat build-up. If your container has a lid (milk jug, 2-liter bottle), remove it.

Fill the container with 2 to 3 inches of soil. Winter sowing works best with a soil a mix that’s light and drains well. Bagged commercial peat moss and perlite mixes work great. Avoid mixes that feature water retention agents or moisture control properties. Wet soil thoroughly, place seeds on the surface, and add additional soil as needed to cover seeds. Pat the soil lightly to ensure good seed to soil contact, and close your container. Use a piece of duct tape to hold the container closed. Be sure to label containers with planting date and seed."


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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Gardening tips from a master gardener


As a long time fan of Home and Garden Television (HGTV), the programming changes that have pushed my favorite gardening shows off the air continue to upset me.  Apparently, ratings for gardening shows fall short of the television executives' expectations and shows geared toward the real estate market have taken over the majority of their programming schedule.  Oh well, who am I to question the television experts?

One of my favorite gardening shows was Gardening by the Yard with Paul James.  He's a quirky guy with lots of gardening knowledge.  I sure do miss his shows and decided to do a search on him and found his website.  Of special interest was an article about the demise of Gardening by the Yard, according to Paul James.  Click here to go to the article.  Check out his website while you are there . . . although it does not seem to be updated regularly.

I found another article on the HGTV website featuring gardening tips from my favorite gardening guy . . . the link appears at the end of the article if you care to read more of the older articles from Paul James.


1. To remove the salt deposits that form on clay pots, combine equal parts white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture to the pot and scrub with a plastic brush. Let the pot dry before you plant anything in it.
2. To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you'll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can't collect beneath them. Then, after you've finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean.
3. To prevent the line on your string trimmer from jamming or breaking, treat with a spray vegetable oil before installing it in the trimmer.
4. Turn a long-handled tool into a measuring stick! Lay a long-handled garden tool on the ground, and next to it place a tape measure. Using a permanent marker, write inch and foot marks on the handle. When you need to space plants a certain distance apart (from just an inch to several feet) you'll already have a measuring device in your hand.
5. To have garden twine handy when you need it, just stick a ball of twine in a small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you'll never go looking for twine again.
6. Little clay pots make great cloches for protecting young plants from sudden, overnight frosts and freezes.
7. To turn a clay pot into a hose guide, just stab a roughly one-foot length of steel reinforcing bar into the ground at the corner of a bed and slip two clay pots over it: one facing down, the other facing up. The guides will prevent damage to your plants as you drag the hose along the bed.
8. To create perfectly natural markers, write the names of plants (using a permanent marker) on the flat faces of stones of various sizes and place them at or near the base of your plants.
9. Got aphids? You can control them with a strong blast of water from the hose or with insecticidal soap. But here's another suggestion, one that's a lot more fun; get some tape! Wrap a wide strip of tape around your hand, sticky side out, and pat the leaves of plants infested with aphids. Concentrate on the undersides of leaves, because that's where the little buggers like to hide.
10. The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the "vegetable soup."
11. Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep the pH of the soil on the acidic side.
12. Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray.
13. If you need an instant table for tea service, look no farther than your collection of clay pots and saucers. Just flip a good-sized pot over, and top it off with a large saucer. And when you've had your share of tea, fill the saucer with water, and your "table" is now a birdbath.
14. The quickest way in the world to dry herbs: just lay a sheet of newspaper on the seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, then roll up the windows and close the doors. Your herbs will be quickly dried to perfection. What's more, your car will smell great.

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