Prune tomato plants for a healthy productive crop

Proper pruning can be an effective practice for producing strong and productive tomato plants.

Click here for an article from Old World Garden Farms on how they prune their tomato plants.

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DIY Concrete Countertop For Your Outdoor Kitchen

Concrete is a durable and inexpensive solution to your outdoor kitchen countertops.

I've worked with concrete on many outdoor projects for decades and many of them are still intact and functional.  In addition, concrete was fun to work with and once I started, it was so addicting that I kept thinking of new projects to work on.  Try it!

Click here for an excellent article on creating a concrete countertop for your outdoor kitchen.

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Beginners Guide to Succulents

Succulents seem to be all the rage . . . I'm seeing them everywhere!  I've always loved hens and chicks, but I have not had luck growing them.

They are perfect plants for container gardening and so cute.

Click here for a beginners guide to growing these little beauties.  I'll be updating this post as I find more links.

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Blue Plumbago: How to grow

Before an unusually brutal winter wiped out most of my paradise, my blue plumbago stood out like a shining gem.  It was started from a cutting from my mother-in-law's garden, like most of my other plants.  The cutting grew into a beautiful bush that always had butterflies hovering around it.  

When we get our paradise beautiful and thriving again, the blue plumbago for sure will be prominent in the garden again.

I highly recommend this beautiful bush for your landscape.

Click here for an excellent article from Plant Care Today on growing these beauties.

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Homemade Mosaic Planter

Love this planter idea that would work so well for a raised bed by adding enough rows to suit your taste.

If you love working with concrete and being creative, this project is perfect for you!  Also a great idea for stones for a path.

Click here to see how this one was made!

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Grow a Lemon Tree in a Container

If you use lots of lemons in preparation of meals and beverages, there is nothing like having your own supply. Once established, your lemon tree will provide you and your friends with more than enough!

Want to know the secrets of one gardener who grows lemon trees in containers?  Click here.

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Start lettuce from seed

Every year I say I'd like to grow my own lettuce from seed, but never get around to it.  I was reminded again by an article on the Birds and Blooms website.

Growing from seed really takes little effort.  You just need the right place to get them going

Click here for the article from Birds and Blooms . . . the photo source is from that article.

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Creative Ways to Grow Herbs

I love growing herbs close to the kitchen.  In fact, they are beautiful grown indoors.

Container gardening is my preferred method of gardening since the plants are portable and can be moved from outdoors to indoors.

Click here to go to an article from The Empress of Dirt on being creative growing those herbs.  

Photo source is also The Empress of Dirt.

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Christmas Cactus Care

It has been years since I have tried to successfully grow a Christmas Cactus. Back in my first days of growing houseplants when I first moved out on my own, I didn't bother to do my research.  I'd just buy a Christmas Cactus and eventually kill it.  I treated it the same as all of my other houseplants.

When I found the following articles, they peaked my interest in trying to grow Christmas Cactus again.  If you are also an amateur at growing these beautiful plants, check out the following articles.

Click here for the article from WikiHow, How to Care for a Christmas Cactus.

Click here for Secrets to Getting Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom.

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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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