Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Friday, March 7, 2014

Winterizing Your Garden 12 Helpful Tips

The seasons are changing again and the temperatures are dropping here in the northeast.  Preparing your garden for winter is essential in any climate in which the temperatures drop below freezing (Hardiness Zones 1-9).  Regular garden maintenance will ensure the health and beauty of your landscape for years to come.  Here are twelve helpful tips.

1. Remove leaves from the lawn and garden.  Leaves left over winter can harbor fungal disease and damage your lawn or perennials.  Either add your leaves to a compost area or shred them.  A fine layer of shredded leaves can add valuable organic matter to your garden and can be used as mulch protection for your plants.

Hosta Francee Williams
2. Cut back perennials to a couple of inches above the ground. Perennials that benefit from winter pruning include salvia, coreopsis, sedum, gaillardia, nepeta and daylily.  Hosta should be completely cleared of dead foliage to prevent fungal disease.  When the hosta has completely died back simply clean the yellowed leaves from around the plant and apply a thin layer of mulch over the crown. Liriope is somewhat sensitive to cold and can be pruned half way but not all the way down.  Some perennials are very cold sensitive such as Heuchera (coral bells), astilbe, liatris, lavender, perovskia (russian sage) and lupine and should be left to be pruned in early spring.

Canna Lily

3. Pull up any annuals or vegetables destroyed by frost and put into a compost pile or dispose of them.

4. Dig up tender bulbs such as gladiolus, cannas and dahlias that do not survive the winter and store them in a cool dry place such as a crawl space or garage in either a paper bag or in a container of vermiculite.

5. Plant spring blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and crocus from September through early November.  
Astilbe Sprite









6. Check and apply mulch to your gardens around perennials and shrubs in areas where the  temperatures fall below freezing for long periods of time. The mulch serves as insulation for the plants and provides some important protection during winter freezes and thaws and also helps to prevent moisture loss.

7. Apply an anti-desiccant spray to any broadleaf evergreens such as holly, rhododendron, cherry laurel, skip laurel, mountain laurel, Japanese skimmia, leucothoe, aucuba and boxwood. These plants can be subject to severe winter burn due to water loss from the leaves by transpiration.  Apply an anti-desiccant when the daytime temperatures start falling below 50 degrees (late fall/early winter). Apply when the temperatures are above freezing and there is no threat of rain or frost within 24 hours. Application can be repeated in cases of mid-winter thaw.  (This tip applies to areas going into their winter season-temperatures dropping below freezing: 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Cherry Laurel Otto Luyken
8. Water evergreens, trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. It is important that prior to winter that there is significant moisture around your plants before the ground freezes in order to ensure their health. A well watered tree will over winter far better than a thirsty one and will not be as susceptible to winter frost damage.

9. Weed your garden beds now. Weeds seem to show up and thrive in the fall garden so pull them up before they get out of control.  This prevents further weeds from developing and gives your garden a good start for spring!

10.In very windy areas cover your evergreens with burlap or form a wind barrier to prevent chilling winds from drying out and causing winter burn on your plants.


11.Do not fertilize or prune plants as winter approaches. Pruning or fertilization can spark new growth. If a hard frost hits it could kill the new growth and harm your plant. Do trim out dead or damaged branches.

12.Use dormant oil on deciduous trees to prevent spring insect damage. Spraying of dormant oil should be done on a clear day when the temperatures are expected to remain above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not spray if freezing temperatures are in the forecast.

Following these simple tips will help to ensure the health, beauty and lifetime of your landscape and will give your garden a good start for next year.  Gardening doesnt have to stop just because the  temperatures are dropping.  There is much to do to get your garden ready for the winter months so grab your tools!  Watch for more to come on winter gardening and designing your landscape for winter.


Lee@ A Guide To Northeastern Gardening Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved



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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

garden designs for small gardens

Design Suggestions for Your Small Garden
Despite the fact that its easy to believe that gardening which has a limited space is a lot easier than grinding the back Forty five, nothing could possibly be further from the truth. Making use of small garden design concepts when each inch associated with space matters presents the possiblility to learn about particular gardening strategies and place preferences. Converting a small place into an outdoors oasis demands careful planning plus some care as soon as everything is set up, but the returns of a small garden count every moment of arranging and effort that will gardening tiny takes.

garden designs for small gardens



Pots

Implementing small garden style ideas will not require a piece of garden soil because numerous plants may grow throughout containers. Elevated boxes also provide sufficient growing area for vegetation, as do clinging baskets as well as vertical backyards. When the spending budget or place is limited, solid wood pallets used for delivery make great vertical landscapes for increasing smaller, much more shallow-rooted plants, regardless of whether edible or even decorative.

Weather makes a difference when choosing the type of canisters for little gardens if the plot regarding soil just isnt available. Plastic material pots might not be as ornamental as earthenware or terra cotta planting pots, but the plastic material holds humidity better, making them a better package for water-loving plant life in scorching or dried out regions.

Plant life

While crops adapt to nearly all geographies, some fare better than others, determined by moisture, moisture and evening length. Selecting onions for the garden is dependent upon day period. Some call for long times, plentiful throughout northern areas, while quick day yellow onion are grown in the southeast states with an increase of even evening length year-round. Tomato plants are yet another example of crops that have geographical preferences. Just about all tomatoes want it warm, just some varieties are usually better designed to the scorching summers present in southern says.

Employing spouse planting is important for small garden layout ideas. A number of plants fare better when grown next to other forms, but combining some vegetation together can certainly spread conditions or sluggish their progress. When selecting the actual plants for the garden, check with a master novel reader, the staff in a home middle or employ Internet resources to discover plant match ups.

Besides being compatible, it helps for you to group crops together who have similar water and food needs, removing those that will need frequent providing water and eating from people who prefer less damp soils. Several types of herbal remedies produce far better and have much deeper flavors any time grown within slightly tense conditions, such as poorer earth and less recurrent watering. Any time some herbal remedies are pressured, the natural oils in the simply leaves intensify, going for more taste. Leafy veggies, on the other hand, such as abundant nitrogen along with water, thus interspersing herbs together with greens might be counterproductive in a very small garden.

garden designs for small gardens picture



Color, Smell and Feel

Small home gardens need a focus, which can be a bigger plant or another patio or even yard thing that supports wind, sun and dampness. Color choices with regard to plants are remarkably individual. A few gardeners as with color underneath the rainbow, although some like understated changes in leaf along with flower colour. Spending time studying when the seed bloom assists place vegetation so that one thing is always blossoming, providing shade and aroma continually inside the garden.

Earth

Mixing throughout soil efficiencies to active soil provides plants an enhancement when using ancient dirt. But it is a good idea to make use of an inexpensive earth testing equipment before improving the garden earth, since a lot of nitrogen promotes leaf development at the worth of flowers or perhaps fruit. All-purpose potting soil is useful for container garden, except for cactus or plants, that need any sandy blend for quick drainage. Considering that every inches counts throughout small places, placing ornamental objects along with the dirt around the vegetation is another approach to bring much more color along with texture to further improve small garden design concepts.

Watering Programs

Its the unusual garden that does not need additional watering every so often, either from your hose, the irrigation program, or through watering beers. Drip cleansing systems utilize water proficiently and once a garden is established, the particular tubing and also emitters dont deter from the small garden design and style ideas. A number of pots have got water tanks at the foundation and use your principles involving osmosis for irrigating the actual plants. Attractive watering containers can be area of the overall form of the garden.

Switching a dry area just like a patio, deck or nook of the garden into a productive and vibrant retreat is the get to of virtually anyone who would rather plan as well as plant. Individuals of all ages take pleasure in the process as well as the results might be spectacular. These types of small garden design tips dont need to cost a bomb and can bring together the whole family inside healthy, informative and effective fun.

contemporary garden designs for small gardens

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Monday, March 3, 2014

Garden Landscape Design

Garden Landscape Design
Garden Landscape Design
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