Plant Gardens 101

The Philodendron is the most common of house plants; one can hardly go into someone’s home that has plants and not see one. Simply planting them in a rich organic matter potting soil that is well draining makes them easy to grow because they are low maintenance and will grow in just about any home environment.

Philodendrons’ require a low light level which gives them the ability to grow easily in hanging baskets or just placed in pots and placed practically anywhere in the home. If your home is particularly dry in the winter mist your plants using a mister or just wiping them down with a soft damp cloth or sponge, this will also rid the plant of dust that has accumulated on the leaves and bring back the shine on their leaves. (more…)

Spider plants, like the Philodendron is an excellent house plant to have. This particular plant will thrive in nearly any condition, it is easy to care for and make beautiful hanging basket plants as they grow and the baby spider plants hang down.

Spider plants love rich well draining potting soil, but not “wet” soil and when fertilize every two to four weeks they will grow exceptionally well in a low light condition. They do however benefit from a sunny window twice a week or so but the like most other plants do not like drafts or the cold. (more…)

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Taking advantage of the fall as soon as the weather becomes cool is the perfect time to plant a perennial garden or some cool weather vegetables. Short season lettuces, quick maturing Kales and some fast maturing mild flavored onions, a home gardener favorite such as yellow, sweet Spanish or white also now is also a good time to sow some garlic for next spring’s garden. Plant the garlic in individual cloves so that when it comes up in the spring you will have fresh home grown garlic to enjoy.

Fall is a very under-used season that many people don not take the advantage to enjoy when it comes to gardening. Many novice gardeners don’t realize what crops can be planted late in the season because of their climate zones and miss taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and consistent rains which provide plenty of moisture to the plants. By planting as soon as you have cool nights and frequent rains you can start a perennial garden for the next spring. (more…)

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The Aster flower is an easily grown sun loving perennial. It comes in a variety of colors and shapes. If you already have asters then you that they are easily grown from divisions, this is simply dividing the plants into smaller sizes for replanting. They do extremely well when planted then divide every two or three years. Simply thin, them out and replant in another sunny location.

Asters can be started from seeds directly into the ground or indoors and later transplanted into your garden when the warmer weather arrives.. If you start them indoors and, start them in pots and then transplant the young plants outdoors in spring when all danger of frosts have passed, If you choose to plant them outdoors, plant them early in the season ( after danger of frost ) covering them lightly with soil and water them well. (more…)

For an extremely beautiful and colorful Fall Flower Garden try planting Pansies. Pansies will give you a huge display of every color in a rainbow for your fall flower garden. In some of the warmer regions in the south where the winters are considerably milder pansies have bloomed for as long as six months, from fall through winter and even late spring. Pansies grow better in the fall because the night temperatures are much cooler; they can survive temperatures as low as 2 degrees in the winter.

Pansies come in a wide variety of colors, from pansies with faces to pansies of solid colors and grow too many different sizes making your garden intriguing eyesight to behold. Pansies range in size from the smaller version called multifora, which has blooms of 1 ½ to 2 ½ inches in size to the larger sizes which can have blooms as large as 3 ½ to 4 ½ inches in size. The smaller variety can withstand heat and poorer soil conditions better than the larger flowering pansy. (more…)

As fall approaches and your garden slowly starts to die down and fade away, think of how lovely your garden would be to look out at if it were planted with amazing asters. Asters are an easy growing perennial flower that don’t need much care. They need full sun and grow well in average soil. Asters have a daisy like appearance and come in shades of blue, purple, several shades of pink, white, lavender and red. Their yellow centers are actually tiny flowerets. Asters vary in size from less than 1 foot tall to 2 feet tall or taller, depending on the variety. Asters produce large delicate clusters of blossoms and again depending on the variety they will fair quite well in northern climates making a wonderful addition to your fall garden. TheNew England variety of asters will bloom profusely during August and through the month of October. (more…)

Shredded leaves make excellent and effective mulch for your spring garden. Making mulch from your fallen fall leaves is not difficult. Leaves can be shredded with your lawn mower or a leaf shredder. Shredding leaves and piling them into compost bin or if you don’t have a compost bin a large heavy plastic yard bag works well too. Add the leaves in layers and on each layer add a handful of either urea, ammonium nitrate, or bone meal, either is found in your local garden center. Any of these will provide the needed nitrogen to help break down the leaves.

Continue to add leaves to your bag and when full add water enough to only saturate them ( not soak ) them. If you used a compost bin cover it with a heavy tarp or heavy plastic in the winter and mix it in early spring. If you used a heavy plastic bag, turn it occasionally during the winter. In the spring simply add your leaf mulch to your garden soil. If you notice white spots on the leaves, don’t worry, it’s a leaf fungus that adds a nutrient to the mulch. Leaf mulch is very light in weight and easy to apply and your garden soil will have the added benefits of carbon rich leaves and high nitrogen compost when mixed right into your garden in the spring. (more…)

One of the most popular plants for a fall season of garden is the mum. Flowering fall mums are often called Hardy Mums partly because they are winter hardy and not difficult to grow and also require very little care. Mums come in a wide variation of colors, sizes, shape and types. Easily grown they can be planted in garden beds or containers. They are usually disease and insect free. Mums are drought resistant and low maintenance making them very easy to grow. Mums are generally purchased and planted in late August and into September.

Fall mums prefer to be planted where they will receive a full day o f sun, although at least a half day of sunlight will be fine. Plant them in well draining fertile soil for the best results. For optimum growth of young plants, plant them 18 to 24 inches apart, while larger more mature plants may be planted closer together, but far enough apart so not to crowd each other. If you opt for planting in above ground containers they should be planted in the ground before the hard frosts begin. (more…)

Before you begin cleaning out your garden in the fall, a simple way to make sure you haven’t missed doing anything is to make yourself a checklist. As you are sitting and enjoying the last days of the summer months and your garden while also waiting for your fall garden to blossom, start noticing little thing that you will need to do and make a list of them. As you fall garden begins to die down you can start to:

1. Clean around the base of your plants (especially the roses) diseased debris can hold spores and insect eggs. 2. If you are planning on planting new shrubs, now is the time, the weather is still warm enough for them to get their roots established before winter arrives. 3. Water your shrubs and trees well, remember that winter is coming 4. Once you have cleaned out the garden and flower beds start amending the soil in them, adding fertilizer, compost and manure to them, then tilling it under into the soil 5. Get your spring bulbs ready for their fall planting (more…)

Do you already miss those fresh garden vegetables that you grew in your outdoor garden over the summer? Would you like to grow those same vegetables indoors? Of course the rules for indoor gardening are a bit different from growing outdoors, but it can be done and with a lot of success.

Gardening inside requires you to consider the temperature, light sources and pollination and the type of vegetables you plan to grow. There are some vegetables that can be easily grown indoors even on windowsills. A room that gets southern exposure sunlight, slightly used will make a good place for an indoor garden.

An enclosed heated porch is also a good alternative since some plants require daytime temperatures in the mid to upper 60’s and 70’s and nighttime lows of upper30’s to lower 60’s. An ideal room is one that you can provide with supplemental lighting which will provide the needed heat and warm up well from the daytime sunlight. Your plants will need at least 6 to 8 hours of lighting so using cool white or warm florescent lighting will help keep the plants warm during the cold windy days in winter if you keep them near the light source. (more…)

It’s almost time to begin your fall garden clean-up. Before long that spectacular summer garden will be gone and the time will be here for that fall garden clean – up. With the cool brisk days of autumn close, cleaning the garden for next years planting will be easier when you have had that fall head start. Begin by removing your dead or dying flowers a little at a time. By doing this slowly it will help to keep you garden neat, tidy, and having a presentable appearance before the frost sets in. Instead of letting your garden become overgrown and ugly, as the season starts to change, keep your leaves raked and your trees and shrubs pruned back.

Cleaning away old plants and plant matter will also help to prevent organisms such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and insect eggs from wintering in during the winter months spoiling your soil for next years spring garden. If some of your plants became infected over the summer months, remember you will need to remove the old mulch as well; it too may be infected with disease spores and insect eggs. if you have plants that did not do as well as you expected, or multiplied to more than you want, now is a good time to either discard them or thin them out and replant them somewhere else in the garden. (more…)

Fall is the best time to till your garden but when you wish to till is still a matter of preference. I prefer tilling twice a year, fall before the first frost and again in the spring after the thaw. Each time you till your garden you should add organic matters such as shredded leaves or peat moss. When composts are added and decompose they also add needed nutrients to the soil.

These added nutrients help to build strong healthy plant roots. As your soil is turned it allows for better air circulation and helps with the decomposition of any added organic matters.

Fall temperatures and the soil moisture are more favorable to tilling because they too help with the decomposition of added composts. Fall tilling also helps to prevent the growth of new weeds in the spring and prevent garden pests and insects and their nests from over wintering in the soil. (more…)

The Christmas cactus is easy to grow, but it is difficult to get it to bloom. To be certain of a healthy plant there are some things you should know about the plant to help its blooming process. Medium light and a soil high in organic matter such as cow manure, wood ashes, leaf mold, garden loam and clean coarse sand (not beach sand) will make the ideal soil for your cactus. Christmas cactus retain water well and can be kept a little dry in the fall, but don’t allow them to dry out, water when the surface feels dry. Use any good fertilizer for houseplants; (weaken it a little) following manufactures directions.

Long cool nights are essential for the indoor blooming process, because they tend to bloom when the night temperatures are around 55 degrees and the day time temperatures are around 65 degrees. If the atmosphere is dry place the plants pot on a tray of pebbles and keep the pebbles moist with water in the tray. During October give the plant no water and carefully start to water it again in November being careful not to over water because this will cause the stems to get flabby. (more…)

If you a re an avid gardener, then you are already programmed to get your roses ready for winter. Protecting your roses for winter mostly depends upon the climate you live in. In mild winter climates more than likely your roses will need little if any covering or protection. If you live in a region where the winters can be long, cold and harsh for long periods of time, then you will want to give them some sort of protection during this time.

Begin the winterization by pruning back your roses as soon as they have gone dormant, usually a week or two after the first hard frost in your area but before any hard freezing begins. Cut the long stems back by at least half their length and the shorter ones by at least a third, this will reduce the bulk and make them easier to cover and tie with rose cones, which will protect them from the cold winter winds. After pruning they back spray the pruned stem with a sealant to prevent moisture loss, and the thawing and re freezing which occurs during the winter months. (more…)

One of the most essential jobs come fall when it comes to cleaning up and out your garden is the removal of any and all damaged or diseased materials. When plants have had a fungus or bacteria over the summer growing season they can over winter on the roots and stems that have been contaminated.

When removed properly it will reduce the chances of diseases in your next year’s garden. How much of the plant you should remove depends upon your garden type, so naturally anything that was infected with a disease should be completely removed.

If you brought your house-plants outside for the summer, now is the time to start bringing them in. Some will more than likely need to be re-potted and or cut-back if the grew well during the summer growing season.

Be sure to check them for insects and diseases that may be on them so as not to contaminate any other houseplants. Bring them indoors in plenty of time to re-adjust to their indoor environment.

Now is the time also to lift and harvest your young bulbs from plants such as Dahlias, Gladiolus and Begonias, three of my favorites. After lifting them and leaving the foliage around the roots intact, the proper storage of them is equally important. (more…)

House plants have problems just as your outdoor plants do. They can range from diseases and insects to over and under watering or over and under fertilizing. Knowing what cause the problem is the first step in curing it. With house plants if the base of the plant stem is soft and seems weak, then more than likely the cause is from over watering, simply allow your plant to dry completely out before watering again or re-potting with a good draining soil with a little sand mixed in will also improve your plants.

Leaf Drop “drooping leaves” are another common house plant problem commonly caused by an over exposure to cold or drafts, over fertilizing or to much sun. You should stop fertilizing for three to four weeks and move the plant to a window with a little less sun and check the rooms’ temperature and for drafts also the cold from the window at night. (more…)