Archive for the ‘Dirty Little Secrets General Tips’ Category
Help the bees
April 11th, 2010
Bees love coneflowers
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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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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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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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Need something for shady spot?
August 21st, 2009
Despite what many believe, there are numerous flowers for shady spots, especially in the ground cover category.
“Meehans Mint,” pictured here in flowering form, is one of those, according to Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm & Gardens in Renick, W.Va. Botanically speaking, Meehania cordata is a member of the Lamiaceae, or mint family.
Easy to propagage by stem cuttings and division, the mint is cold hardy to Zone 4, maybe even 3, he says. Unlike most mints, this one is not invasive or even aggressive, he assures us from his own testing.
You can buy the mint from Barry at www.sunfarm.com or call 304-497-2208.
Other shade-loving groundcovers include:*
Ajuga, also gorgeous for its spring-time purple flowers and anytime eye-catching foliage. I’ve grown this ground cover many times in many yards and adore its pleasing personality. It likes moist, but not wet, rich soil.
* Liriope, a grass-like groundcover that grows in sun or shade. It features white or purple flower spikes. Cut it down before new growth emerges in March. There are clumping and spreading varieties; opt for the clumping type for less invasiveness.
* Lily-of-the-valley for its bell-shaped clusters of delicate flowers and its upward growth habit. Over time lily-of-the-valley can become a little troublesome but give it room to spread and grow and both of you will be happy.
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Lovin’ our Bermuda lawn.
August 20th, 2009
When Ken and I decided to put in a warm-season Bermuda lawn three years ago, we worried how we would like it. We’ve always been cool-season fesuce lawn lovers but the Bermuda pleases us beyond expectations.
We sodded with Tifway Bermuda, a hybrid that looks more like a lawn turf and less like wild Bermuda. It’s drought-tolerant, and loves the heat, sun and humidity in southeastern Virginia.
So far, keeping the Bermuda out of our flower and shrub beds has been no major problem. I do a weekly weed patrol, pulling out stragglers while I walk. Ken routinely uses Black & Decker Grasshog trimmers to keep the edges crisp and neat.
And, we don’t mind the brown lawn in winter.
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