Our empty raised garden beds appear to be a favorite restroom spot for cats in our neighborhood (and there are many). Planting seeds or new plant starts is a crapshoot... literally! We came up with an easy, inexpensive solution.
In today's podcast we'll give some tips on gardening in containers, with the focus on vegetables. What can you grow, how do you get started, and what pitfalls should you avoid? All that, and much more, on today's podcast!
Big, bold and beautiful. Sunflowers make a grand statement.
The home we purchased six years ago came with extensive landscaping, complete with lava rock mulch. We wanted to replace the lava rock mulch with something more biodegradable that would break down and add nutrients to the soil as it decomposed over time. However, the thought of digging out all the lava rocks that had become deeply embedded into the soil over the years seemed a formidable task.
Using a cordless reciprocating saw with a pruning blade is often easier (and safer) than using a chainsaw or even loppers. This article describes how we use a recip saw around here as a garden tool and provides several illustrations.
I'd like to add two words to the ATP Glossary: Deciduous and Herbaceous
So this week in Florida it has been dry. You know we Floridians are used to nice, high humidity, and most of the time in winter it's even pretty good. But when a big cold front reaches down this far, the air gets mighty dry for us tropical folks and our tropical plants.
Grow your own food to get the most bang for your buck!! Not just saving money but time and energy. We're going to talk about the easiest and most important edibles that you should consider growing this year.
Often, we want to propagate a special or valuable plant but find seeds are hard, if not impossible, to find and/or have failed at rooting cuttings. Air-layering may be the answer to this problem.
Need a quick easy fix for those climbing peas or shorter vines? Simply use some bamboo stakes.
After having installed several PVC-based irrigation systems in my Utah yards, there had to be a better way. There is, and I found it. This article describes a nearly painless way - using a tool that I invented - to install black poly irrigation pipe with little impact to the lawn or gardens. It's been an incredible sweat/labor-saver for me.
Do you need an easy and inexpensive way to make sturdy and long-lasting arbors that can be used to grow most climbing plants? I've got just the project for you!
Because it is flat and narrow, a palette knife can be a useful tool for seed starting.
An easily accomplished way of adding interest and color to your winter garden is by planting winter fruiting shrubs.
In this week's episode we talk all about our favorite techniques of seed starting, including the paper towel method. We also discuss important information: preventing damping off, soil selection, etc. Trish shares from her pinboard of bad ideas, and gives us an inspiring look at garden poppies.
Plant Sister is at it again, using almost every part of something as food. [center] She says, "I learned from my mother about many things: Do not throw away food or let it go to waste". Written by Plant Sister and greene
If you need mulch and lots of it, contact a local tree trimming company. Usually they're willing to just give you the mulch for free if you can come and pick it up, or they'll charge you a nominal delivery fee if they're in the area.
Lots of plants seem to root well in water. When you pot them up, however, they seem to decline, or fail to grow at all and die.
Some gardeners mourn the end of their growing season when plants die back. Some gardeners work hard in the fall, cleaning out their beds and cutting everything back for tidiness. While there are reasons to cut back some plants, I've come to love my winterscape when things are left as is.
Previously I wrote about light spectrum ranges and how those ranges affect plants. This light range is measured in nanometers, or what's called Kelvin (the K number is printed on fluorescent tubes/bulbs). What is also important is the light intensity. If the light intensity is not great enough, it really won't matter much what the Kelvin number is. Light intensity is measured in lumens.
Anchorage, Alaska, has a pretty short growing season, which is cool (55-65 F) and tends to be overcast much of the time. So, having a greenhouse would be great. Not having enough room for one on my urban lot, I fortunately discovered raised beds, and to extend the season, hoop beds. Hope you will enjoy my journey into new gardening worlds.
Seed starting is easy when you reuse those garden center cell packs.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe. But I’d argue that the phrase is six words too long. Beauty is. It just is. And if anything needs to be tuned, it’s the beholder’s eye. That’s true in my case, at least. This article illustrates how my vision has changed…or, better, maybe I’ve opened my eyes to things I was blind to previously.
It's cold and everyone is posting photos of their winter interest plants. In today's episode we'll talk about our own favorite winter interest items: both plants and other gardening elements. Enjoy the show!
All week ATP members have been posting their best winter interest photos. In fact, at the time of this writing, exactly 200 winter interest pictures have been posted to the database. Here are some of the best, along with some links to discussions about them.