Gardening Tips

If you want to add ground cover such as creeping thyme or alyssum to your garden here is a great way to get started early and a fabulous way to create instant borders without the backache of having to plant each flower. Measure the area you want covered with ground cover. Let's say you want to create a border along an existing garden that is 10 feet long. Cut newspaper (about 2 pages thick) into two feet long by one foot wide strips. To cover 10 feet you will need five of these two foot strips. Place the strips in a slightly sunny area but where the seeds won't be disturbed or pelted with rays of light, such as basement shelving near a window. Place garbage bags on the shelves then add the newspaper strips. Do not overlap strips.

Sprinkle the seeds on the newspaper like you would if you were planting them in the ground. Place a layer of paper towel over each strip and then spray the towel, seeds and newspaper with a water bottle. You want to saturate the towel and the newspaper, but you don't want it to drip. The paper must never dry out (if it does spray immediately.) Remove the paper towel when the seeds germinate (in about a week.) Two months later, weather permitting, you can plant your newspaper strips, now bursting with seedlings, outdoors. First carefully arrange each seedling strip where it will be planted. Once you are happy with the arrangement cover bare newspaper areas with soil to anchor the strip.>More

Save all flats and flower pots that come with your plants. First, you can always use these to start your seeds next season (be sure to wash the flats to rid them of any disease.) Second, it may look funny at first, but if you cut out the bottom of plastic pots and place them over younger transplants it will protect them from rabbits. Additionally, placing pots around ornamental grasses is a great way to contain the younger, lower grass strands from rotting as they lay on the ground. The band created by the pot will keep the strands off the ground.

Here's a coffee tip. Humans are not the only ones to get a boost from espresso. Plants do too! Caffeine and theophylline, two ingredients of coffee are popular ingredients in expensive skin care products, and key ingredients in asthma medications, but also make excellent fertilizer for plants. You can get it by the big bagful and for free just by contacting your local coffee shop. Just mix the espresso in with your existing soil every few months and watch your plants grow. Successful gardening means that you don't always have to buy everything new, such as pots or fertilizer. Look around your home to see what you already have that you can reuse.>More

Late Autumn Gardening Tips

Come fall gardeners are usually a little teary-eyed over parting ways with garden tasks. For a little late season planting run to the nearest garden section and buy California poppy, candytuft, cornflower, dianthus, phlox, cosmos, soapwort, spinach, larkspur, pansies, some marigolds, snapdragons, garlic, and/or sweet pea seeds for what should be half off at that time of year. These hardy annuals can actually be planted in the fall and will bloom in the spring or summer!

Who doesn't want instant blooming results in the garden? If you buy a plant you want it to be all it can be like, yesterday, right. Nurseries know this and so you will pay a premium for larger plants. Not only is there a demand, but also the overhead on a mature plant is more than a new one (larger container, more water, etc.) But if you are patient, buy the smaller plant. It will save you a good deal of money and in a couple of months, with the right conditions and some Miracle grow your plant formerly known as small, will be a force to be reckoned with.

Autumn is a great time of year to buy your seeds on sale as well as plant those late year garden varieties in your garden. Take the time to plan an autumn garden so you can enjoy flowers late into the year.>More

Gardening Tips: Using The Internet

The Internet is a gardener's best friend You might be surprised to know that your local nursery has been charging you way too much money. Or you might be pleasantly surprised to discover your local nursery is the best kept secret with great prices and stock. The point is, shop around online as well as offline. Here is one reason why: while searching for farmers or companies that sold plants in her area, one gardener we interviewed came across a nursery she had never heard of. She called and discovered they sold directly to nurseries until June when they opened to the public, but since she was local she could look through their 12 greenhouses and buy what she wanted. She had her pick of flowers, colors, textures, and rarities and didn't have to worry about the item she wanted being sold out. Not only can you find great deals by researching, but you can also find new sources!

As well, the Internet is a great place to get ideas for next year's garden. You'll find many ideas no matter what type of garden you're growing. Check out gardening forums to see what other gardeners around the country are doing. You might find a great new garden idea that is sure to transform your garden into a neighborhood show piece.>More