Look for plant sales.
October 8th, 2009
Fall is the time when you can get some really good bargains at garden centers. I’ve seen daylilies, ornamental grasses and even hostas for as much as 50 and 75 percent off this time of year.
A garden center doesn’t want to keep plants over winter because it costs too much in fuel and manpower time to maintain plants in a greenhouse.
If you need several plants of the same kind, ask a garden center what kind of extra discount they will give you in addition to the sale price.
Fall is the very best time to plant perennials, herbs, trees and shrubs so go shopping and get planting!
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October is pansy time.
October 1st, 2009
October’s cool weather is when you want to plant pansies in your gardens, in pots on your front porch and in planters on your back deck.
A fun Halloween display is to place a caricature-type pumpkin on a pedastal in a bed of yellow, orange and black pansies.
Pansies need full sun for best blooms. Since they are annuals, they are heavy feeders, so work in a timed-release fertilizer (a six-month formula is good) so they are continuously fed without you having to always do it.
You do not have to remove the old flowers on pansies to get new flowers. Cold weather, however, can make them limp and leggy. When that happens, use old scissors to give them a hair cut and they’ll be blooming again in no time.
Pansies will keep your garden colorful and attractive now through May when it’s time to plant petunias and geraniums again.
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Wigglers are wonderful.
September 17th, 2009
Resist the urge to put down chemicals that kill grub worms in your yard.
Why?
Because those same chemicals kill the good earthworms that enrich your soil.
You’ll have the best soil in the world if you add a top layer of organic compost to your yard, your gardens, your plantings of all kinds.
Then, watch the earthworms arrive to help make your soil into black gold.
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Patience please.
September 14th, 2009
Yes, it’s tempting to put in lots of pansies now that the mums and pumpkins are showing up.
Please, however, wait until October to plant pansies.
Why?
Because there is still lots of daytime heat during September and pansies like it cooler. September is time to still enjoy summer’s annuals like petunias.
Hot weather makes pansies stretch and get all out shape.
So, save pansy buying for your October trips to garden centers.
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Gardening gets you fit.
September 9th, 2009
With all the bending, lifting and stretching involved, gardening can be a fun and effective workout - if you know how to make the most of it. Stacy Walters, registered kinesiotherapist, fitness director and creator of the Fit to Garden program, provides tips on how to turn a day of lawn and garden care into a day of healthy exercise.
Warm-up
Begin with five to 10 minutes of stretching the legs, ankles, arms, shoulders and wrists.
Proper technique
To help stay comfortable while gardening alternate between squatting, kneeling on a pad and sitting on a stool. Tighten your abdominal muscles when you reach and move.
Workout
When lifting, keep your feet shoulder-width apart, tighten your abdominal muscles and bend at the hips and knees.
Mulching helps conserve water in your garden, prevent weeds and keeps your outdoor spaces looking neat. Scotts NatureScapes Advanced is a natural, color-enhanced mulch and comes in a variety of colors and textures to maintain moisture and create a groomed landscape all year long.
Gardening cool down
Stretching the hips, hamstrings, back, neck and shoulders will help balance muscle groups that may have been overused and decrease post-gardening soreness.
For more information on garden workouts, visit Scotts.com or OutdoorLivingWithStacy.com.
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Visit Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.
August 31st, 2009
A visit to ‘The Bulb Shoppe & Gardens’ at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs is a must for every gardener! Enjoy the gardens by sitting under the gazebo in our Courtyard garden, or stroll down the pathways to view the Living Catalog Garden. This garden is a sample of everything offered in the previous seasons catalog. The gardens are always changing giving you something new to see! Currently under development is the Knot Garden which will begin growing this year! Other gardens are being planned so you do not want to miss the ever evolving gardens at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Brent and Becky Heath’s trial and home gardens are also available for seasonal tours. Check the website for available dates and times. The Bulb Shoppe and Gardens are open Tuesday - Saturday, mid-February - December.
Visit www.BrentandBeckysbulbs.com for upcoming events.
Visit Virginia Tourism for more statewide garden sites at www.virginia.org.
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Trash cans go solar and save $$$.
August 27th, 2009
Philadelphia officials estimate that the replacement of 700 wire trash baskets with 500 BigBelly solar-powered trash compactors will save taxpayers in the City of Brotherly Love nearly $1 million.
Funded by a $2.2 million state recycling grant, the city has installed the compactors along four downtown collection routes. The trash cans are expected to reduce collections on these routes from 17 times per week to five times per week.
NBC Philadelphia reports only eight city workers will be needed to clean out the trash from the compactors, which is down from 33 workers using the old trash cans. Each compactor holds about 200 gallons of trash compared to 55 gallons for traditional trash cans.
USA Today said the compactors have been tried in 40 states and 20 countries. Richard Kennedy, vice president of marketing at BigBelly Solar, told the paper that no other city or organization has tried as comprehensive an approach as Philadelphia.
The BigBelly compacting trash receptacle is completely self-powered using solar power for 100 percent of its energy needs, using less than 5 watt-hours per day. The company said the unit takes up as much space as the footprint of an ordinary receptacle, but its capacity is five times greater. It claims the compactors’ increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent. BigBelly reduces trash to 20 percent of its normal size, but doesn’t compact the trash into a brick and doesn’t inhibit sorting or recycling. The compactors range in price from $3,000-$4,000 and have a life expectancy of eight years.
See the trash receptacles at www.BigBellySolar.com.
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Iris plants may help clean waste water.
August 27th, 2009
Using floating vegetation to remove nutrients from fishery wastewater is being tested by Agricultural Research Service scientists, ScienceDaily reported.
The researchers’ long-term goal is to develop a system to treat the wastewater, return it to ponds for reuse, and use the nutrients to produce biomass or plant material.
Twelve different plant species … some home garden plants … are currently being tested: St. Augustine grass, Tifton 85 bermudagrass, common bermudagrass, cannas, iris, bamboo, bulrush, cattail, bordergrass, napiergrass, reeds and maidencane. Iris is the best performer so far.
Read the entire article at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090131124137.htm
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Start your fall veggie garden.
August 26th, 2009
Even though it’s hot outdoors, August is when you start your fall vegetable garden.
Garden centers now offer everything you need to grow cabbage, broccoli, onions, lettuce, greens like collards and more.
Before putting transplants in your garden, work in some aged compost to enrich the soil and slowly feed the plants as they grow.
Most fall vegetables are green and leafy, meaning they thrive on ample nitrogen. When you put in the transplants, work a half cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer around each. When you finish, water thorougly.
Every two weeks, apply a light topdressing of 10-10-10 fertilizer along the sides of plants and water in throughly.
Remember, you only need a small space, like 10-by-10 feet to have a bountiful vegetable garden year-round.
The key is once one crop is finished, put in another crop to keep the harvests going!
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These plants like it wet.
August 24th, 2009
It’s been a rainy August and the soil is often mushy.
If you have natural wet spots in your yard, take advantage of those “microclimates” and put in perennials that like “wet feet.”
Perennials for moist sites include:
Milkweed
Butterfly weed
Astilbe (needs shade, too)
Marsh marigold
Bellflower
Tickseed, or coreopsis
Bleeding heart
Foxglove
Joe-Pye weed
Hardy sunflower
Hostas
Louisisana iris
Yellow flag iris
Cardinal flower
Virginia bluebells
Bee balm
Virginia bluebells
Solomon’s seal
Black-eyed Susan
Foam flower
Ironweed
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