Create your own bird sanctuary
How can you make your garden feel like home from a feathered viewpoint? Cynthia Newby shares her pointers: Go native. Native plantings attract insects that frequent your region. And birds will be waiting with beaks poised to snatch them up for dinner. Plant berries. Beyond summer-bearing berries (such as blueberries and vibumums), plant berries that need repeated frosts to become edible, such as winterberries. They’re dazzling in autumn, and they provide food for birds that stay put and brave winter weather. Go for roses with good...
read morePot Labels
Forget those plastic tags that look cheap sticking out of the dirt. These painted on labels and a piece of chalk will help you keep track of what you’re growing and can be used again when you’ve harvested your crop and replanted the pots. Download the plates from going hometoroost.com (click on DIY Projects). Cut them out with an X-Acto knife or scissors and trim the edges so they will wrap around the side of the pot. Use painter’s tape, attach the stencil to the pot, keeping it as straight as possible. Try aligning the...
read moreSecrets to succulents
Drought-tolerant and low-maintenance, succulents are stunning by themselves, but they also combine nicely with other plants. Designer Monica Mroz shares her tips and her favorites. Good companions for succulents include Phormium (New Zealand flax), lavender, trailing rosemary, licorice plant and bougainvillea. “Just check the environmental needs to be sure they all share the same requirements,” she says. To soften the hard edges of agaves and aloes, combine them with ornamental grasses like blue fescue or Mexican feather grass....
read moreHiring a Landscape Designer
Not only can a landscape designer deliver a scene far beyond your fondest expectations, he or she can also engineer it to make it work smoothly. Tracey Kimball shares some suggestions for putting together a dream team.
read moreGarden Pests Part 2
Lawn Disease—Brown Patch PROBLEM Brown patch can be found throughout the country and attacks Kentucky bluegrass, centipedegrass, Bermudagrass and bentgrass. Likes high humidity and shady spots. Starts as a small brown circle, then grows. Spreads outward, often to several feet in diameter. SOLUTION Use a lawn disease control product that can be applied on all types of lawns to prevent and cure all major lawn diseases. Once you know that you have brown patch, you can ask for a treatment product in a garden center. Lawn Insects—Ants, Fleas,...
read moreGarden Pests Part 1
Weeds, bugs and diseases can destroy all your hard work in the yard and garden. Here are some proven solutions to taming the wild and tackling nature’s pesky invaders. Stubborn Pavement Weeds PROBLEM All kinds of weeds invade walkways, patios and driveways around the home. Weeds invade small cracks and crevices and multiply quickly. Their stubborn, twisty root systems are hard to pull out between bricks and paving stones. They are common in all parts of the country. SOLUTION Nonselective weed killers (which kill everything green) should...
read moreSummer Fruits
Almonds, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches and plums, all botanically related members of the genus Prunus. Their fruit can be eaten fresh or dried or can be used in cooking and preserves. The fruits contain a hard, often pitted seed. Stone-fruit trees can be added to the garden year round but are best planted during early winter as grafted, bare-rooted plants. Autumn is the ideal time to prepare the ground for planting and order your trees. The selection of cultivars during winter isoften better than at other times of the year. Certain...
read moreAloe vera
This must be one of the easiest of all plants to grow — it just grows. Aloe vera is a small succulent plant with spiky green leaves. It originated in Africa but, as there are no known populations in the wild, it’s diff icult to pinpoint its exact origins. It has naturalised through much of Africa and around the Mediterranean region. Obviously, its ease of propagation and its perceived medicinal benefits have seenit widely cultivated for centuries. Today it’s grown around the world and is readily propagated by detaching off shoots from a...
read moreLettuce
Every garden should have a patch of lettuce. It’s fast growing and highly productive, plus you can grow it year round in many areas so you get an endless supply of fresh leafy greens Growing If you plant lettuce from seedlings, most varieties will be ready to harvest in as little as 5–6 weeks, some a little longer. Put seedlings in the ground every few weeks to ensure a ready supply of fresh greens throughout the year. Growing conditions: Lettuces prefer full sun and good drainage. They are shallow-rooted plants, so keep the water up. They...
read moreThe miracle of organic matter
Did you know that organic matter will act as a buff er in soils that have acidic pH readings? So, instead of changing your pH, just add organic matter in the form of compost and well-rotted manure and the plants will still grow and come to fruition. For the home gardener, it’s important to know what your soil pH is, but as long as it’s around the slightly acidic to neutral range you should be right to grow most vegetables — with a bit of tweaking for those that like it a bit more acidic or slightly more alkaline. Grouping your edibles...
read moreImage Gallery
