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askwhatsforlunch · 1 year ago

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Growing and Gardening: Growing Potatoes

I had attempted to grow potatoes before, and even harvested a few; but no attempt was as successful as this year’s! And I’m not even done digging yet!

It all started on a cold January day. A local farmer was going around neighbourhoods in my town, selling his produce. A bit pricey perhaps; but excellent quality, and because he only sold in large amounts, I ended up with some twenty-five kilos of potatoes (in addition to fifteen of carrots, ten of white and five of red onions!)

It kept rather well in the garage, and the vegetables were delicious. But even in the dead of Winter, there are so many potatoes two people can eat!

Thus they started shrivelling and growing sprouts! Perfect, I thought; then, I could plant them!

And so I did! On the 29th of March, I prepared the place I would plant them in, a large iron garden bin, where I had grown and harvested the last of the Mesclun. One thing to always remember when growing vegetables is to rotate your crops; you cannot grow the same type of vegetables in the same spot two years in a row. The previous crop will have taken most the the nutrients they need, leaving very little left in the soil, and your next harvest, if any, might not be as bountiful... Luckily, different crops need different nutrients from the soil they grow in; hence the rotation. Tubers (like potatoes), for instance, will appreciate a soil formerly hosting brassicaceae (like cabbage, kale, etc...) or leafy greens (like lettuce or spinach).

I tilled the soil thoroughly, and mixed in good soil and compost to amend it. I left it for a few days.

Then, on the 4th of April, I planted my sprouted potatoes. I had eight (8) of them, and arranged four (4) on two levels, so the bottom ones would not be right underneath the top ones. There was about 15cm/5.5″ of soil mixture between both levels.

I covered them with about as much soil mixture (15cm/5.5″). I watered thoroughly. It is also important to have a good drainage, if you grow potatoes in a container, or they will rot. A few years back, I had hammered in four holes in this iron bin, and it wasn’t easy; but very much worth the effort!

Then, I watered regularly only when the April showers were scarce! After a couple of weeks, potato stalks and leaves were starting growing in the bin.

And after a month and a half (on the 16th of May), they were tall and luscious and very leafy!!! From then on, it is very easy to take care of them. Water when the soil gets dry to the touch, trim the leaves a little when they become yellow.

You can also sow herbs at the feet of your potatoes. They may improve their taste and protect them against aphids. Cilantro and thyme are good companions. I only managed a very small bunch of Cilantro. Because they are in a bin, and the Cilantro stalks are significantly thinner and smaller than the potatoes’; they do not get as much light as they would if you planted and sowed in a Veg Patch.

That said, harvesting potatoes in a bin is heaps more convenient! You know where they all are; you just need to dig them out!

I dug about 840 grams/1.85 pound New Potatoes (harvested about three and a half month after planting); and left the greenest, leafiest stalks in the bin to harvest later, and perhaps have bigger spuds! I might also try to sow more, as there is enough light for it now!

I am so happy with this harvest of small (some really tiny!) to medium Garden Potatoes, though. Their skin is thin, and once scrubbed, don’t they look pretty?And their flesh is beautiful and tasty!

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petri808 · 4 years ago

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From The Shadows

Inukag AU drabble

There it is again. I know I’m not hallucinating because I’ve seen the white blur running into the forest whenever I try to catch sight of it. Since I live next to the woods, the occasional animal comes by, rutting in my garden or digging through the compost heap. But this one is strange. There’s never any real evidence come morning. Well, except for the bits of white fur.

I find them in the shed so I surmise it’s using it for shelter. My instincts tell me it’s a wolf or dog based on the fur type. They could be a problem, but it’s never made an attempt to attack... just hides. As long as it doesn’t bother me, I guess it’s not such a bad thing. Perhaps it’s very presence will scare off other animals looking to turn over my garden.

So I go about my daily life as if this creature doesn’t exist. It wants nothing of me, so I shall return the favor. Then again... the strangest feelings have begun to creep over me in those moments between wake and sleep. It started just a couple days ago, two weeks into this new arrangement. The feeling of being watched makes my witch senses tingle.

It’s probably just the New Moon’s approach in two days that has me on edge. It’s a time for new beginnings, but also when the shadow world gains strength. The waning energy stirs both the magical and non-magical worlds. Ruffians use its darkened skies to do evil deeds. But I should be fine. My barriers will hold if any try to get through.

The next day was a still one. No winds or even birds chirping. It puts me on edge, but so far I sense nothing around me. The blue skies were clear, so I push down my concerns and set about in my routine. My vegetables won’t tend to themselves and the chickens need to be fed.

I pick what I need for dinner and fill my basket, then grab what I can of wood for my hearth. With such a clear night ahead, it shall be a chilly one. Suddenly, as I turn away from my shed I’m grabbed from behind.

“Don’t fight me woman,” the deep low voice speaks close to my ear. “I’ll take my fill of you and leave you alive as long as you don’t fight back.”

Oh no! Someone must have been hiding in the shadows of the shed! I try to scream, but he covers my mouth. I try to struggle, dropping my belongings in the process, but he’s just too strong and I’m over powered quickly.

“Someone as pretty as you tis a fool to live alone.”

He drags me into my cottage and shoves me to the ground. I claw at him, uncaring if he kills me; I’d rather go down fighting! But he’s using his legs to pin mine and his hands are so large they bind my wrists with one hand.

“I told you woman! Fight, you die!”

I spit back. “I’ll never submit!”

The man reaches back a fist ready to swing, when out of nowhere a flash of white invades my vision. A large dog pounces on his back, digging its claws into the man. Screams and blood thirsty growls fill the air. I’m released and scramble away, watching with wide eyes at the scene unfolding in my home.

A weapon is pulled out by the man as they stare each other down. It was surreal and happening so quickly! The man lunges forward with the dagger raised high to strike while the dog swipes with its extended claws. I hear a guttural scream as the man’s legs are knocked out from under him, blood splattering the earthen ground from being hit by the claws. A yelp also pierces the room. Oh no! The dog was hit too!

I use this advantage to scramble to my feet and race over to my bows. “Get out of here!” I scream at the man. When he sees my arrow nocked and trained at his head, he struggles, limping as fast as he can out of my home.

“Oh my are you okay?!” I toss my bow to the ground and rush over, kneeling next to the animal. It looked bad. The knife had hit it close to its back near the haunches. It growls and tries to get up, but collapses. I see blood flowing, staining it’s white fur.

Tears pool in my eyes. “D-dont move!” I rush to my supplies and rifle through them, pulling out herbs and bandages to quickly make a poultice. The dog was fading in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood.

This was surely the creature that’s been hanging around, but I have no idea why it decided to intervene. I’m grateful, it saved my life, and I’ll do everything in my power to do the same.

I manage to stop the blood flow and stitch up the wound. Then I cover it with medicines and wrap the area tight. I pull out a heavy blanket that I use for winter and roll the animal onto it, and drag it near the hearth. That was a struggle in itself. This dog was a lot heavier than it looked. By now it was completely unconscious, but it’s breathing and heart beat was strong. If it makes it through the night, it has a chance.

That was all I could do for now. With the last remaining daylight, I quickly gather my discarded belongings outside and prepare the fire to keep us warm along with my dinner. Just as I finish the meal and finally sit down to take a break, those tingling sensations return.

What’s going on?! A warm light covers the animal and as I watch in shock, the dog is transforming into a human male! I gasp, “a shapeshifter?!” My eyes widen. He’s naked!

I rush to pull the blanket over the man’s body, wrapping him in the heavy fabric. He needed to stay warm and I needed to save my vision. Well, at least now I know why my senses were picking up on something.

This was such a crazy day! Attacked and now I have a naked injured man in my home. Once I calm down, I sit beside him, taking in all the details. As a dog he was completely white, but in it’s human form, it had long black hair. It certainly looked human. All the features were there.

Oh this is too much, I think, as a yawn lets me know how tired I was becoming. I’d spent all night fussing and checking the wound and cleaning the blood off the ground. It would be smarter to stay awake in case he wakes up, but my eyes have a different idea in mind. So I stoke the fire to make sure it doesn’t go out, then curl up on my own bedding a few feet away.

Good night I say to the creature and close my eyes, ready to end this harrowing day.

Bright and early the next morning, the sounds of a rooster crowing wakes me. I look over and see the blanket empty, the dog/man was gone. So I sit up and scan the room. It was empty save me.

It was impossible, the wounds were too grave. How was it able to move so soon? That’s when a shadow falls over me from behind. I turn quickly and scramble back. “W-Who are you?!”

“The guy you saved.”

He stood before me in a pair of pants, no shirt, and no shoes. The expression on his face was stone-faced with no hints of emotion to tell me what he was thinking. But what struck me, was this is no mere human. The long black hair was now white with canine ears perched on top his head, and it’s nails were sharper and fingers more claw like.

I’ve heard of hybrids before. Could that be what this creature was?

“O-Oh. Um, I should be the one thanking you for saving me.”

“It works both ways.” That was true.

“Do you have a name?” I ask, my voice a bit trembling but sincere.

“Do you?”

Okay this was getting frustrating.

“My name is Kagome.”

“Inuyasha.”

“May I ask, how is the wound? I’m surprised you’re up so soon.”

He turns around and a let out a gasp. I can see the mark where the knife hit him, but the wound was fully closed up. “H-How?!”

“I heal quickly. Would have healed immediately if it hadn’t been a damn New Moon.”

“But you turned human last night.”

“Yeah, I turn human on one night of the month and lose all my abilities.” He turns away as if to leave.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I have no reason to stay.”

“Then why have you been hanging around my home for a few weeks?”

He stops dead in his tracks. “You knew?”

“Yes,” I smile. “I sensed something around, but knew not what. You’re welcome to stay... I don’t mind.”

“Humans don’t like my kind.”

“Well I’m no ordinary human.”

#inuyasha #inukag #inukag drabble #inukag fan fic #kagome higurashi #inukag AU #shapeshifter #more birthday drabbles #im writing these directly on tumblr #so im not paying attention to grammar lol

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hortascountrysidenotes · 5 years ago

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Reasons to be cheerful part 4

Lots of reasons - first of all Maigold is coming out and she is a tonic. She has been here for 30 years, never fails to disappoint, and when the sad day comes that she no longer feels inclined to live, she will be missed like a dear old lab for the joy she brings.

Second, I finished my painting of the lovely Primula Guinevere and got what I think would be the equivalent of an A from my teacher with best composition yet, red ink gold star - so it is being sent to my sister for her birthday next month.

Thirdly, I have come late to the story of Captain Tom, but was fully alerted to him during a moment of intense scrutiny of the BBC website, when I saw his tie - Hello I thought, that looks like a Duke of Wellington’s Regimental tie - Blood and Steel - and sure enough on further investigation it turned out to be so. Not only that but he fought in Burma and India and my brother who commanded the Dukes, is now investigating to see if he could have fought alongside our father during the same campaign. Further investigations into the story have brought information as to the difficulty the Yorkshire Regiment (as they are now called) are having, with the logistics in Covid time of providing the guard of honour and dealing with all the unexpected media! I gather Captain Tom quite rightly has politely told some of the media to buzz off as he wants to talk to the soldiers! Great chap.

Fourthly - well lots of small reasons really, the continuing quietness in the countryside and the time to watch the birds and natural world. Each morning whilst doing my PT down the bottom of the common I have been watching a delightful pair of Bullfinches in the blackthorn bush beside me - picking off the buds and chatting to each other. His red shirt looks so smart against white blossom and azure sky. This morning a chiff chaff, swaying on a high stem dishing out Chiff Chaff Chiff Chaff with the energy of an opera singer.

Asparagus is coming on and we have had two very small helpings. The roses are recovering from their deer attack and new shoots are forming up. Peonies that have been blank for years have got fat buds so I am continuing to water them. Even the disease ridden Pyracantha outside the back door which normally looks like its got measles looks better - could it be because I watered it prolifically three weeks ago with a tonic of iron and seaweed - maybe it has a stay of execution.

I have also given a bucketful of the same to the Star Jasmine - Trachelospermum jasminoides under and around the sitting room windows. I find this plant, despite being Mediterranean, needs a decent amount of water which being against a house wall it does not get. It also gets attacked by scale insect which leaves a horrible black sticky secretion on the upside of the leaves. I have therefore sprayed it with soft soap - actually Savon du Fer which comes from Marseilles - is black and treacly, but when mixed with hot water and dissolved, forms a brilliantly organic (semi) spray against all kinds of insects such as aphids. It has also been used this time on the sage against capsid bugs who leave those horrible little holes in the leaves of all the salvia family and indeed dahlias. Another fellow being pursued currently is our smartly turned out visitor THE LILY BEETLE - they are a real pain but jolly sporting - they sense you coming and leap off, falling upside down so as not to be seen with their undercarriage being black. But years of practice have taught me how to creep up on them. As an experiment I have squirted the last drops of the soft soap on the plants - today I shall go a hunting, and see if I can see any. I am particularly protecting my martagon lilies which are doing so well at the top of the garden.

Swallows are settled and one of the nests duly repaired and got ready. A pair of jays are hunting too hard for my liking but I am trying to be tolerant - at the top of the garden I did see a blackbird chasing them off - no doubt its nest has been discovered. The Shellduck are back nesting on the farm. In the meadows and on the common Ladysmock is now out and the bluebells in the woods a delight.

The only reason not to be cheerful is the continued lack of rain - a very very little came our way on Friday night and early Saturday, not enough to even make the tiles run. So I must continue watering the new young plants and the veg. Next big job will be preparing the greenhouse for the tomato plants which I am going to do slightly differently this year. I am going to dig out the little planting strip in the greenhouse removing the old soil and refill it with some of the pond silt and fresh compost - I have 40 bags of Dalesfoot Compost coming on a pallet on Monday, as I am beginning to think grobags are not very nutritious - our tomato cropping rate compared to my genius brother in law is very low. He grows his in the special little gadgets as do I, which you fill the outer part of, with water, but allows them to root directly into the soil underneath in his greenhouse .

Once my compost arrives I can also sow the leeks in the root trainers and next spring’s brassicas. Last year’s leeks were a complete disaster as I was lazy and tried growing them direct into the soil - clearly they were gobbled up by ants or someone as we got the princely number of 2 out of 100 which is not a good rate of return!

Lastly the girls - they are so happy - Inca lies in her favoured position in front of the Holm Oaks whenever the sun is hot enough. Mavis bustles about from compost heap to bonfire and basically wherever she might find the butt end of a piece of brassica. She absolutely ADORES them, so much so, that as we walk the lanes she grazes gently on oil seed rape as she goes along - quite bizarre - she loves the fresh flower heads and comes out covered in yellow pollen! Scouty is in her dotage now - she still loves a good walk, but only once a day and makes it clear that her place is now outside the front door in the morning sun - please put my bed there - outside the back door in the afternoon and then as it gets chilly around 6 she moves to her favoured position on the sofa waiting for the evening’s entertainment to start. She looks wonderful, the fur is nearly fully back and I think she is a very happy dog with her beloved Miss Horta at home all the time. We are doing a little training most days - Mavis is loving it - yesterday we should have been doing a Novice Test at Sandringham - a shame these things have had to be cancelled, but it may get rescheduled for the autumn - Mavis might be in pup by then, not counting my chickens at all on that one, in which case we will be a non runner, but we wait and see - it is impossible to make any plans.

Jobs to do - time to sow courgettes and french beans etc if not already done. Prick out and pot on seedlings, tomato plants etc. Keep an eye for bugs and beasties now and if a plague then use the above method if absolutely necessary. Tie in shoots of climbers and make sure clematis are secure in case of high winds. Stake and put in supports for herbaceous plants. Water - if you have containers full of tulips etc - photo attached - remember they have had no significant rain and could be very dry. Lift hyacinth bulbs from pots as soon as foliage has pretty much died off, store in a sack in a dry place for replanting in autumn. Sweet peas can be planted out if not already done. Masses of veg to sow. Potatoes should appear soon so be ready to earth them up. Dont cut lawns too short while they are under stress from lack of rain. Maybe learn to live with them a bit longer - saves fuel and allows a few low growing wildflowers such as ground ivy and clover to flower for the pollinators.

HORTA

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covdiggingdeep · 3 years ago

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Lauryn and Rhys, Limbrick Avenue Allotments, Coventry. Plot taken on March 2020.

Lauryn: We started out on the plot next door, we did well for our first season and when we came to renew for the second season, the chap who has this plot asked if we’d like to have half of his. As you can see it’s already been cultivated. He would rather share with somebody that he knew than have a complete strangers here. It’s a lot better - we’ve got a compost heap and a shed, and some gooseberries! I’m very excited about the gooseberries, I’ve never had them before, I don’t know if they’re going to fruit, all I know is that I have to mulch them, so we’ll see what happens. We’ve got some raspberry canes down at the bottom as well. I put some onions in the other week and they’re just starting to get established now so we’ll take the fleece off soon. We put that on because there’s so many pigeons around here. If you put something in you can expect it to go straightaway because they treat it like an all-you-can-eat buffet. I put some garlic in as well but that's not peeking through yet. I usually come twice a week during the week - it's harder to get down here at the weekends now. I try and spend two mornings at least a week down here but this is a much bigger plot so I think I might need to up my game a bit. I’ve not been able to come so much before work as it’s been so busy but I’d like to get back into the habit of that as I find it really clears my head in the morning. Rhys has been brilliant, as you can see he’s very busy digging. The plot’s actually in his name because when we came to sign for it I was talking to somebody and he decided to sign and hand the money over. We took the first one on in March last year so this is our second season. Rhys has got more into it as time’s gone on. Rhys: I like growing radishes. Radishes. Radishes! I sort of just do what I’m told. Lauryn: Our neighbour has all of his dug so we’re turning the ground over at the minute. Because we’ve got space we’re going to do sweetcorn this year - hopefully anyway. We need a lot of room because we need to plant them in a grid because they’re air pollinated. Somebody said that every time you walk past them you should give them a little shake. Rhys: I did a lot of watering last year. I keep an eye on the insects and whether they’re reproducing. They’re all at the bottom of the tank at the moment. I always hear birds but you don’t know where it’s coming from. They’re like invisible stalkers. You always hear the pigeons saying: “You’re so, so stupid!” You put netting over and bricks on the sides so it stays down and the birds can’t get in but they always find a way. They laugh at us! Lauryn: This plot is a blank slate. I left stuff for the new people. I’ve never got a plan. I dig a bit and plant a bit. I’ve got onions and garlic and I’ll probably do spring onions as well. I’ll rake that bed over as it’s chunky at the minute and we’ll put Rhys’ radishes in there. Here I’m going to do a row of broad beans and a row of peas. We’ll extend it and do runner beans and sugar-snap peas. I have a vague plan! Rhys: You’ve just got to be careful when digging not to murder worms. Lauryn: The plot keeps me sane, I have some health problems with migraines but I hope I won’t have to ever give it up.

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livingcorner · 3 years ago

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Supercharge Your Soil This Spring!

Soil – it’s not much to look at but when it comes to growing healthy fruits and vegetables, there’s nothing more important. Soil that’s in top-notch condition is the secret behind successful harvests, and now’s the time to prime your soil for the coming growing season.

Read on our watch our video to find out how to supercharge your soil for spring.

You're reading: Supercharge Your Soil This Spring!

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Add Organic Matter

Organic matter is the gardener’s cure-all, no matter what your soil type. It will make heavy clay soils lighter and improve drainage, and it will help retain both moisture and nutrients in sandy soils. Simply put, organic matter of any kind is great news for your soil – and the plants you grow in it!

Organic matter is simply decomposed plant or animal matter – for instance, garden compost, animal manure or leafmold. When added to your soil, organic matter will improve its structure and feed the essential microbial life within it. Compost and animal manure are also naturally packed full of nutrients that will increase the fertility of your soil.

Read more: Hatton Garden Heist leader ‘found sick pics of Tory child abuser’ in 1971 raid

To incorporate organic matter into your soil, first lay it on the soil surface. Be as generous as you can – really pile it on! Spread it out evenly before forking it in to the top six to 12 inches (15-30cm) of your soil. Within a few weeks you’ll notice a boom in your soil’s earthworm population – a surefire sign that all that goodness is getting to work.

Lay Organic Mulch

If your soil currently has crops growing in it, you can spread organic matter as a thick mulch two to three inches (5-7cm) deep in-between plants. The worms will ‘dig in’ the mulch for you, improving the soil for the vegetables to follow.

An organic mulch is the best way to improve fertility and soil structure around perennial plants such as strawberries and fruit trees, bushes and canes, because you don’t want to risk damaging their roots by digging. These robust plants can cope with lumpier or less refined organic matter, including bark chips and shredded prunings. It will also ‘lock in’ moisture, helping you conserve water and making your plants resilient to hot dry weather.

Consider No-Dig Growing

Many gardeners swear by the no-dig method of growing. Leaving the soil undisturbed encourages a thriving soil ecosystem, which can enhance growth. No-dig growing suits narrow beds, such as raised beds, where all the cultivation is completed from the sides. This way there’s never any need to step on the soil and risk compacting it. If you don’t compact the soil, you don’t need to dig it!

If you’d like to try no-dig growing this season, begin by smothering any weeds with a layer of cardboard before spreading a thick layer of organic matter over the top. This should be at least four to six inches (10-15cm) thick. The secret to an established no-dig system is regular additions of organic weed-free mulches, which will be incorporated by the thriving worm population.

Go Easy on the Weeds in Winter

By winter it’s too late to sow a cover crop or green manure. However, many overwintering annual weeds will, just like a cover crop, help to protect the soil from erosion and heavy rain. Weeds such as chickweed and bittercress, plus self-sown salads like winter purslane (claytonia or miner’s lettuce) and corn salad will create a mat of foliage. Leave these in place until the spring, when they should be hoed off before they get a chance to set seed and spread. The foliage can then be dug into the soil or removed to the compost heap.

Read more: 25 Enchanting DIY Fairy Garden Ideas for Your Backyard

Plant a Comfrey Patch

Get ready for the growing season by planting a clump of comfrey. Comfrey is a leafy plant with long roots that draw up minerals from deep in the ground. The leaves are full of plant-nourishing nutrients, which can be cut and used for feeding your soil and plants. Look out for the variety ‘Bocking 14’, which won’t spread like other varieties, and plant it into prepared ground, usually on its own or next to your compost heap.

Once established, you can simply lay the cut leaves around hungry plants such as tomatoes as a mulch, or dig leaves into the soil to break down over time. A clump of comfrey is also great for making your own liquid fertilizer, which can be diluted with water and used to feed fruiting crops such as peppers, tomatoes and squashes.

Supercharging your soil for spring is all about incorporating plenty of organic matter so the plants you grow in it have the very best chance of success. If you have a sworn-by method of improving your soil we haven’t mentioned, please don’t keep it to yourself – share it below.

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/supercharge-your-soil-this-spring/

#livingcornernews

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arplis · 5 years ago

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Arplis - News: My 14 Goals for 2020

Goal #1 – Take Full Advantage of Having My Husband Home 24/7 The HH found me a heart shaped rock. Goal #2 – Take Better Care of Myself. I got to go on a mini adventure with my friend Heather, the HH finished the kitchen tile, and I made some new pottery pieces. It was a good week! Goal #3 – Get Organized I am a week behind on my painting goals… Whatever. Playing in the garden trumps EVERYTHING. And that’s all I have to say about that. There are two rainy days in the forecast for next week though so I should be able to get some painting done then. The plan: March 1 – 7 Finish Up Hooking Projects for Etsy Update and Finish Tile in Kitchen HA HA HA March 8 – 14 Paint Kitchen Walls, Trim Doors and Office Door {Find new project for HH to get started on} March 15 – 21 Paint Master Bedroom Walls, Trim and Doors March 22 – 28 Make/Hang Window Treatments March 29 – April 4th – Finish up New Etsy listings Goal #4 – Get Proper Window Coverings on All Our Windows. Well, I still have 6 Roman shades to make for the sun room while I know I need to get those finished before the weather starts to warm up {to block the afternoon sun/heat coming into that room, I also found some great curtains at the Home Depot this week that I think I’ll be using on all the upstairs windows. Goal #5 – Master Bedroom Make Over The rug I ordered for the master bedroom looked so good in the family room that I decided to put it there instead. I also ordered some cheesy mermaid pillows {totally out of character for me} and hey, what do you know, the room is almost done now. Goal #6 – Kitchen Update He chose the Snow White grout! I wanted a light and bright kitchen, and I got one. The HH thinks he did a horrible job. I think he did great {and especially for his first time}. This week I plan on painting the rest of the kitchen white and fixing the shade over the sink and then it will be done and I won’t have to think about it ever again! I think it looks SO MUCH better than before! Mini makeovers are just that. MINI. If this was our forever house we would have bought new cabinets and changed out the flooring. But it’s not our forever home and so for around $1,000 we were able to update the hardware on the cabinets, install new light fixtures, change out the backsplash, add a Roman shade and bought white paint to cover up the yellow walls. Goal #7 – Install Vegetable Garden On it!! Yesterday I pulled up the back patio area to make way for the new garden boxes the HH is going to build me {next week I hope}. The beds will be about 4′ 6″ x 6′ 6″ which I think is a pretty decent size for growing vegetables. I also rounded the corner on the espalier bed and will now be working on digging up a gazillion clumps of Iris {and moving those to along the back fence} to make room for my vertical growing area {slender bean tepees and black eyed Susan vines} as well as what will be the new back patio/bbq/eating area. The giant compost heap at the back of the property is still frozen so I’ll get to that as soon as I can. The plan is to clean up the back of the property {currently littered with a ton of old stumps and rotting wood rounds and weeds} and get that leveled off in the next month so I can plant a row of hosta along the back fence area and some Canadian Hemlock trees along the side of the fence to hid the neighbors backyard. It feels SO GOOD to get my hands in the dirt again. FYI: If you still haven’t ordered your seeds, Botanical Interests is currently offering 30% off online seed orders with code SEEDS30 at checkout. Goal #8 – Explore More of Maine Looking forward to my next day trip with the HH! I think it will have to be on a cold or rainy day though because I want to save my sunny days for working in the garden. On the radar for exploring Maine this month: Bar Harbor, Maine Lincolnville Center General Store in Lincolnville, Maine Wallace’s Market in Friendship, Maine Alewives Fabric Store in Nobleboro, Maine Harpswell, Maine and Bailey Island Goal #9 – Host Some Sort of Get Together I think it will be a summer BBQ. Goal #10 – Read/Listen to 12 Books This week I listened to The War I Finally One {having already listened to The War that Saved My Life last year} while working on pottery. I also popped by our local library and picked up a few books to tide me over until they re-open again {they are taking it on a week by week basis}. This week I’ll be reading: Vertical Gardening Front Yard Gardens The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook Beach House Style Other Books I’ve Picked Up From the Library This Year: Olive Kitteridge Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites Natural Color: Vibrant Plant Dye Projects for Your Home and Wardrobe The New Bungalow Kitchen Container Gardening by Stephanie Donaldson A Piece of the World The War I Finally Won Goal #11 – Learn A New Skill or Craft My neighbor has been learning the art of fused glass {and coming up with some really cool pieces} and I’m hoping to learn how to make stained glass pieces soon. I also went over and checked out their greenhouse and will be starting the tomato seedlings over there in a few weeks. I’m excited! Goal #12 – Visit 12 Museums, Historical Homes or Botanical Gardens {and bakeries too!} January Maine Maritime Museum Maine Mineral and Gem Museum The Island Market Cafe DiCocoa Hungry Hollow Country Store February Two Fat Cats Bakery Portland Museum of Art Speckled Ax�� Atlantic Baking Company Rockland, St. George, Cushing and Port Clyde Maine March Bar Harbor and Desert Island Adventures Day One, Day Two and the Summer Cottage Rental Tour. A Really Awesome Bakery {that I’ll tell you about in a few days} Goal # 13 – Reach 5,000 Etsy Sales by the End of The Year As of this morning, I have made 3229 sales on Etsy. That’s up from 2804 on January 1st. I didn’t hook a single thing last week but I did update my Etsy shop with a bunch of new wool bundles {and will add more today + a few patterns}. Goal #14 – Once a Month Menu Planning {for 2} The fridge and freezer are stuffed to the gills and gardening season is fast approaching and we need to get a few freezer meals done before the chaos starts! Finding time though…. Gaaa. It’s a little hard right now. Have YOU made any goals for this year? If so, DO TELL! We all want to hear about them. Have a great Sunday everyone, ~Mavis Mrs. Hillbilly’s Update No update The post Week 11 of 52 appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month. This content was original published at One Hundred Dollars a Month and is copyrighted material. If you are reading this on another website it is being published without consent. Comments I have wondered the same thing. Maybe she will address this for ... by Kathy Wolfe I used King Arthur's. The sandwich rolls were fine, but the ... by Mel Awesome! Do you have a link to the brioche recipe you use? by Christa H. I voted for the dark grout, but I have to say the white on ... by Holly I'll ask about the greenhouse. 🙂 by Mavis Butterfield Plus 5 more... Related Stories Week 12 of 52 Week 10 of 52 Week 9 of 52 #12GoalsForTheNewYear

Arplis - News source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Arplis-News/~3/5jMMhTUI5mU/my-14-goals-for-2024

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zealoptics · 5 years ago

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Isolation Bloom

by Sandrine Hamel

When we first started hearing about the possibility of a complete country lockdown, I got flown home to Canada from an ocean racing training camp in South Africa. I remember how my mental performance coach reached out straight away to see how I was holding up. At that time, our world series was being cancelled, racing events and goals for the year were crumbling one after the other. She couldn’t stress enough the importance of referring back to the Maslow pyramid and kept reminding me to only “control the controllable”. It seemed pretty obvious and straightforward at the time, yet it nearly took me 4 weeks of quarantine to find the space to reflect and take the time to adapt to this new reality.

So here’s how I found a little bit of grounding in all this uncertainty.

My lifestyle usually involves traveling around the globe all year round, chasing the biggest swells and the most pumping winds so I can keep learning and improving my skills in the ocean. And here I was, with less than 24 hours’ notice, landlocked in Canadian winter and absolutely no idea how to survive! So I’ve spent the past few weeks growing roots (literally ha-ha), learning to slow things down, discovering and exploring new pathways and finding curiosity for things that I never really looked into. It eventually got me to see this isolation differently, getting excited for things I never had the opportunity to do when I was on the road. I dusted my mum’s old gardening tools and decided to start educating myself on ways to be more sustainable and eventually, ways to become self-sufficient. I wanted to learn how to use organic growing methods to be able to create a smart and eco-friendly home garden. Filled with enthusiasm, I kicked it off and set up my very own first vegetable seedling operation, mid-April, in a snow storm.

In a way, I hope this inspires you to find a new epic skill to learn, to invest your energy in something you never really took the time to achieve or to take one step towards creating your very own sustainable home garden.

How to start your home garden

What you will need

- Seeds (They’re very easy to find online. Make sure you buy and support local and prioritize native plants!)

- Pots (We used egg containers. It’s such an easy way to recycle them! Or else you can reuse any small fruits container. Get creative! This is a good opportunity to give a second life to some products that could go straight to landfill.)

- Potting mix made for seedling (Again, fairly easy to find. If in doubt, this is a great opportunity to phone your mum or your grandma for a quick catch up!)

Important things to remember

For the most successful growth, make sure to have a sunny location, a good soil and a stable environment. The rest is all fun and games!

We start our seeds indoor to gain a few weeks since our growing season is very short here in Canada, but if you’re in a warmer climate, don’t hesitate do get straight outside and into that garden! You will see also a few tips and tricks on how to make your garden a little more sustainable. Remember it’s all about taking small actions towards being as eco-friendly in your growing as possible, don’t sweat it if you haven’t got all of them covered at first! I know we haven’t. But it’s a brilliant vision to engage in.

Step by step

Get your home made pots ready. If you’re upcycling different purpose containers, create small holes under each one to make sure the water can drain.

Fill in your containers with a potting mix that is already moistened. Pat it down for the soil to be compact enough so that your seeds won’t float back up to the surface when you water them.

Start planting your seeds! Press gently each seed into the soil at the required depth for each vegetable. It usually varies between 6mm and 13mm, but you can easily find it on the seeds packets or online. Make sure you plant a few extra seeds in each pot and get ready for some losses! Don’t stress about planting more than what you think you would need. Once they start growing, you will pick and choose the strongest seedlings to transplant into your garden. If you want to take your sustainability to the next level and save heaps of money each year, collect the seeds your plants will produce each year before they dry out and store them in a cool space for the next seedling season!

Kook of the day segment! Do not – forget to identify each vegetable, herb and flower. Sounds silly, but we’ve made the mistake once and it can be very challenging to identify each seedling after a few days!

After everything is planted, make sure you water everything consistently. You want to keep the soil moist 24/7, so instead of using plastic covers to keep the humidity, place your containers is a very warm area of your home and gently spray your seedling with water every few hours. This way you’re saving on some non-necessary plastic and staying mindful of your little garden’s growth!

As soon as your seedling start coming up, move your containers to a bright location. A window with direct sunlight for 6 to 8 hours is perfect. And once they start looking a little stronger, you can move them to a cooler location - maybe a few hours a day outside, maybe in the garage - to get them used to the outdoors temperature.

Once they start showing a few leaves, it’s time to pick the strongest, healthiest looking seedlings and transplant them into your garden! Now is also the time to show off your compost game. If you aren’t composting yet and are thinking of growing a garden, consider looking into a home green waste system. It’s probably the best sustainable gardening practice, plus you get your own organic fertilizer for your new seedlings.

Et voilà!

I tried to keep this user friendly as I am by no means an expert, but I truly hope this inspired the most curious of you to dig in even deeper and educate yourself on sustainable home gardening!

What now? Well, now is the perfect time to set back, listen to our planet calling us to slow everything down and grow some roots. Grab your isolation buddy to start planning out your garden’s design and hopefully use this space to reconnect and create some new healthy habits. Ultimately, none of us can wait to get out there and #exploremore, but if we can shift our focus and bring it closer to ourselves and our people, as a community, I know we can find many epic ways to grow and learn without leaving our #armchairs!

#garden #homegarden #sustainability #organicgardening

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garymacoy33-blog · 5 years ago

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City Dweller? You Can Still Grow A Garden!

Long, before mega-marts came out giving two-thousand different types of food, people had been entirely self-reliant and increased their own own produce for nourishment. These days, whether is actually to get healthy or perhaps save some money, everyone is returning to those older days associated with organic gardening. Read these tips and come across out how you can certainly grow to be an excellent gardener. In case you would like for you to create an eye-catching fall back garden with a lot of elevation and contrasting colours, attempt planting spiky plants just like the New Zealand flax, the yucca or extra tall ornamental grasses. Add drama with structure and colour by adding chartreuse plant life like the Golden Spirit smoke cigarettes bush or typically the Tiger Face sumac. To be able to contrast typically the chartreuse coloring, plant pink plants together the cottage plants just like the Black Lace elderberry or Loropetalum. To avoid too much water your plants, abide by weather reports as much because possible. If rainwater is expected, there is simply no need throughout watering your garden. This will save money on your waters costs and avoid watering your vegetation exceedingly. In the event dryness plus heat are usually expected, water your own personal crops accordingly.

A great idea to having a wonderful garden is to turn out to be realistic. When buying typically the glossy packages involving seeds are very appealing, nevertheless many of them merely grow in distinct climates. Be realistic to what expands in the location and do not flower items that do definitely not increase well. It will be so disappointing in order to seed a garden and still have practically no fruits and vegetables come from the idea. If digging holes to your plant life, don't be a nice freak. Don't dig openings that are perfect, along with factors that are just as smooth just like be. An individual are actually making it considerably more difficult for the origin system of the new herb to take maintain around the soil. For greatest results, keep your openings a little messy. When you need to regulate weed progress, pick your weed killer properly, plus always follow the guidelines. A lot of weed criminals have got compounds that are dangerous to people credit rating certainly not applied properly. They may be specially harmful to young kids if the children enjoy around a location that features recently been treated. It is vital that you not forget for you to water your garden on a good regular basis, specially whenever it is popular. In case your plants do certainly not get good enough water, origins stay near to the surface which usually can kill the vegetation or cause them to be able to get even longer for you to grow. Concerning an in . of water a 1 week is satisfactory. Choose a unique compost ahead of period somewhat than purchasing it. Incorporating compost to your garden presents your plants the needed boost in order to increase effectively. Begin economizing your turf cuttings, raked up finds, egg covers, and body from fruit and vegetables in a tough bin 6 weeks prior to your own growing plants season. Your fragment may then be ready to mix in with your filth on planting day time. To help make nutrient fertilizer via stuff you have all around the home, look in what you own for morning meal. Both old coffees reasons and tea totes create an excellent fertilizer, particularly if it comes to vegetation that like acid. Eggshells add alkaline to your own soil, and bananas can be the best source involving the potassium that carnations thrive with. Keep your self safe, it's the right off the bat to know about farming. Wear protecting eye-wear when handling mowers and additional garden machinery. Have on safety gloves when you are operating in this dirt. This will keep you safe in case there is an incident together with guard your body by different elements in often the environment. You can get time period by renewing the bedrooms with this process: slice within the turf and even turn that above. Protect it with timber poker chips and wait a couple weeks. Anyone can then use this particular bed to help plant your current perennial flowers. The ground you have turned over should be made thicker from the turf that can be under that. As the good general training, anyone should make sure in order to plant your current seeds several seed-widths deep into his or her containers. best time to fertilize lawn in spring There are quite a few plant seeds, however, that an individual should not cover in all, since they will need natural light to germinate. Petunia and ageratum seeds need direct sunlight, for example. If you are unsure in regards to the specific needs of your own personal seeds, you should talk to your local garden center or maybe conduct further homework on-line. Important things to glimpse for consist of water demands, ideal soil type, and even recommended sun light exposure. In the event that you follow right natural and organic growing conditions you might find that you will be better suited market your generate on the local fruit stalls plus farmer's markets. Natural produce is very popular now due to the fact people are beginning to find out all the health advantages of ingesting an natural and organic whole foodstuff diet plan. An individual can get the more out of the period you dedicate to the organic garden by retaining all of your commonly-used tools handy. Pick farming clothes with plenty associated with sturdy pockets for your tools. A bucket or perhaps tool seatbelt will in addition make a new effortless residence for those tools you use most frequently. If anyone plan to begin your current organic garden from seed, be sure to start well in advance in the gardening season. Start plant seeds indoors so that you will have established baby plants ready to put around the ground following your final frost. Follow the instructions found on the back again of your seeds bouts to determine the correct a chance to start the seeds to your climate. When starting up your own personal organic garden, some sort of excellent tip is in order to use an old laundry basket for washing all of your current fruits and vegetables. Often the basket are going to be like some sort of strainer, which will create the idea easier for you to wash off each of the dirt from your benefits and vegetables. When you use an open compost pile to combine and build your backyard compost material, place this in an region that will is not too next to your garden. It is most beneficial to leave from minimum six feet of available area between the compost heap and your lawn. Planting outside the house too in close proximity to the compost stack, where the idea can come in connection with immature compost, can cause your seed roots to be broken. There are many factors one may wish to get to the opposite direction of recent technology and rising approaches. Regardless of the reasons, you can utilize these organic gardening suggestions to grow several of the best make ever. Focus on just what you've realized here together with implement these tactics.

#best time to fertilize lawn in spring

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gardenfurniture101 · 4 years ago

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Chasing Lockdown Blues Away With Greens

How to Transform Your Garden in 5 Simple Steps

Keeping ourselves positive and happy through the current COVID-19 lockdown is certainly a challenge. The alarming news reports along with the inevitable cabin fever can be enough to drive anyone crazy!

In these times, we all need a reminder of how delightful life can be. And there's no better way to do that than rediscovering our love for growing and gardening!

You might think, "That's a terrific idea, but my hectic schedule before has left my yard looking brown and lifeless." Don't fret; your garden can be refreshed with a little work and a lot of TLC! You can take advantage of your time in quarantine to bring your garden back to its lush, vigorous look.

To guide you along, we've come up with 5 easy steps you can follow to give your garden a complete transformation. The best part is that you won't need to buy new tools or supplies; you'll have everything you need for your garden makeover around the house!

If you are interested in a formal course or want to get certified as an expert on all things about gardening, we recommend looking into professional bodies and colleges in gardening and floristry such as the American Institute of Floral Designers of the AIFD (www.aifd.org), the National Gardening Organization (www.garden.org), the American Floral Endowment (www.endowment.org), the American Horticultural Society (www.ahsgardening.org) and other similar organizations offering programs specializing in floristry and horticulture.

Prune and weed

Nothing says "neglected garden" quite like unpruned bushes and weeds sprouting every which way. So the very first step to revamping your garden is giving it much-needed caring which includes a lot of careful pruning and weeding.

Start with pruning dead or diseased leaves and branches to prevent infection and rot. Gardening professionals encourage using bypass secateurs for cleaner cuts, pruning at a 45 ° angle to be sure you cut away from the bud, and making sure you don't snip more than half of your plant so you keep enough foliage for photosynthesis.

The next step is to eliminate weeds by hand. Dig deep to be sure you pull out the roots and take out the buds of the weeds to prevent further growth. A good tip is to water your soil before weeding, as wet soil makes weeds a lot easier to remove.

You'll be delighted at what a huge difference these basic tasks make! These are important methods to reviving your lifeless plants and flowers. Keeping a healthy, attractive garden can be tiring, but you'll surely enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Create a landscape

Landscaping isn't as difficult as it seems! There are several ways to create a pleasing landscape without spending very much or exerting a lot of effort.

The fundamentals of landscaping comes down to aesthetics and functionality. Lay out your landscaping blueprint first based on the amount of space, the type of plants, and the look your garden has. For example, if you have a humble garden, visualize how you can maximize your space. If you want a playing spot for kids or a dining space for outdoor meals, find a suitable space to leave empty.

You can start carrying out your landscape plans by grouping plants with the same light, moisture, and soil needs together. Then, you can place them in new beds or islands and arrange them artistically. For example, you can organize them from shortest to tallest, biggest to smallest leaves, or brightest to darkest colors for a balanced look.

Creating clean lines is your next step to landscape gardening. The best way to accomplish this is by refurbishing your boundaries and installing edges.

Start with restoring your fences and panels to their tiptop condition. This is a good project that will get you working with your hands. You can renew old, faded, or rotten wood fences by washing, repainting, and applying oil stains.

Afterwards, you can design edging for your garden beds and even your potted plants. Don't be hesitant to get imaginative with this! Use decorative or composite rocks and old bricks, line up chipped plates, or-- if you're feeling particularly inspired-- pour concrete into beautiful curves. This will create a clean, well-maintained, and gorgeous look for your garden!

Enrich soil

It might not be at the top of everyone's list when it comes to revamping gardens, but improving soil is critical to creating and maintaining a stunning garden. Plants and flowers get almost all their essential nutrients from soil, meaning how well they thrive is very much based on soil health.

One of the most effective ways to enrich your soil is by making compost. Dried leaves, branches, stems, peels, coffee grounds, and shredded brown paper bags are carbon-rich items (" brown" items) that make top-quality compost. Manure, green leaves, and leftovers are nitrogen-rich items (" green" items) that can be added to your compost. Bear in mind that there should be 2/3 of carbon items and 1/3 of nitrogen items.

For optimum results, water your compost pile every once in a while to keep it damp. Turn it every few weeks to let enough oxygen in. Make sure you cover your compost heap with plastic or wood sheets to lock in moisture and heat. Check the quality of your compost: good compost usually smells earthy, has a fine and crumbly texture, can hold water, and attracts worms, insects, and microorganisms.

Grow and regrow

Once your garden is all fixed up, you can start growing new plants and filling in empty patches in your garden. Fresh seeds may be hard to find during the lockdown, but fortunately, there are a great deal of plants you can regrow from scraps! Before you toss out your leftovers, consider these choices for regrowing:

Stem plants - Celery, leeks, green onions, bok choy, cabbage, and lettuce are a few plants that can regrow from stems! Just trim 1-2 inches off the base (make sure the bottom is intact), put in a bowl of water, expose to adequate sunlight, and transfer to a pot with soil once the roots grow.

Herbs - Basil, cilantro, parsley, mint, thyme and oregano not only bring flavor and zest to your dishes, they can also be regrown! Some herbs should be put in water to let their roots grow before putting them in soil, while others can be directly transplanted into the soil. You can also put more than just one cutting in a pot; just keep the soil damp and place it in a warm area.

Seeds - Tomatoes, avocados, peppers, cucumbers, and pumpkins can regrow from seeds. There are also different regrowing techniques for seed plants, so try to research on their specific needs. For example, tomatoes can be planted into soil directly and placed near moderate light, while avocados can be half-submerged in a jar of water with toothpicks.

Other plant and flower seeds may still be available in select grocery stores, so you can take a look around if you 'd prefer different plants. Nonetheless, growing your own food is surely a smart choice during these times. Not only can you minimize waste, you can also guarantee your family eats plenty and healthy even with limited supplies outside!

Add fun decorations

Your garden makeover won't be complete without a little flair! Unique decorations add life and color to your garden. You don't even need to invest in new decor; you just need to be resourceful!

For instance, old bathtubs, buckets, chairs, watering cans, baskets, painted tires, bikes, and even a wheelbarrow can make attractive garden containers. If you would like a more natural look, go for wooden ladders as a multi-level planter or use a log of wood for your flower beds.

Repurposing old home furniture to make garden organizers is also a creative and functional way to keep your garden neat. Old dressers or potting benches can make great storage for garden essentials or outdoor dining needs.

You can also do DIY decoration projects for the entire family! Kids would love painting rocks with ladybug designs or family names, while you and your special someone can work on repainting your old furniture or your tool shed.

With all the misery and distress surrounding us today, it can be difficult to find hope within ourselves. But at times the answer to our troubles is in nature! So take in some fresh air, get your hands dirty, and find that new spirit of peace and joy by bringing life back to your garden!

Click here to read about How to Reinvent Your Home Inside and Out.

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wendyimmiller · 5 years ago

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Gardening When You Really Don’t Wanna

The most dreaded thing I’ve ever had to face was to be dragged along while my mom took my sisters shopping. Any time this happened, it was beyond awful. A purgatory of boredom and sadness that could last anywhere from endless to eternal.

Picture it this way: I’m an otherwise happy, well-adjusted 5-8 year old boy, but I’m being held hostage in a cavern of clothes racks at some store for the 6th or 7th hour and my arm is being held straight up above my head. All the blood it ever contained has drained from it hours ago, my wrist is gripped white-knuckled tight by an unbelievably strong, terrifyingly frustrated, and appallingly unsympathetic mother, and she is yanking my arm right and left to emphasize each and every syllable–my whole body violently following each yank–from some variation of a sentence that starts with “Mister, you had…” and ends with …”something to cry about.”

Any expedition to go buy clothes was like this. Totally unendurable. But the worst of the worst death marches were treks for Easter outfits. Worse than that? Shoes. Easter outfits? I want to cry right now just thinking about it. What absolute zero is to physics about describes the absolute misery caused by Easter shopping. But, somehow, shopping for shoes was even worse.

There is no telling the amount of pain that went into making this photograph possible.

If I remember right, the main issue with shoes was that one of my sisters had skinny little feet and, for her, there were always several choices of adorably cute shoes. Amazing how much time could leave the universe while deciding exactly which pair, but at the end of the day she went home with nice shoes. On the other hand, my other sister had wide feet and needed “corrective” shoes. This was the double whammy of terrible luck for her and me. The best she ever found were shoes that nuns wouldn’t even wear. Me? A fate that consigned me to dangle from one arm in store after store after store as my mother led us all–wild in sorrow–in an ever widening migration of despair, shoe store to shoe store in what we all knew was a vain pursuit of a cute pair of wide “corrective” shoes.

The sound of this misery–moaning, whining, complaining, crying, and my mother’s hissing, cursing attempts to make it stop–steadily built to a crescendo of unhappiness that–thinking about it–NASA should have recorded and then perpetually beamed into space so as to deter hostile aliens from having any interest in our planet.

Anyway, this is how I spent somewhere around a quarter of my childhood.

And this same level of misery about describes a quarter of my gardening chores. That’s right. Gardening ain’t all wine and roses. You see, I’m not in it for the motions. I don’t garden because I like to push a mower around the yard in a certain pattern. I never have a hankering to go turn a compost heap, or haul brush to the woods, or spread 15-20 yards of mulch. I don’t like trying to figure out why my well-pump isn’t working, and it’s been a very long time since I found anything compelling about digging a hole.

Those activities are merely a means to an end, and the end is a beautiful garden with all the benefits therein: a backyard oasis, a refuge for wildlife, and a safe place to enjoy the sweetest kind of peace on Earth. Bonus credits for a contented wife, adulation from strangers during garden tours, and for a green vegetative kind of privacy that allows open, carefree peeing in the middle of the backyard at any time on any given day during the growing season.

Indeed. All this, not pulling weeds, is why I garden.

And yet even as we speak, here in football season, I have sacks and sacks of bulbs to plant before the ground freezes. It’s been a hard year, I’m kind of gardened out, and no matter how much I try to focus any ESP powers I’ve got, those bulbs just are not going to plant themselves. This, all because I heard Brent Heath speak back in May, got all excited, and placed a big order.

So I will do what I’ve always done: make excuses, put the task off, and try not to think about it too much. And I will do these things for week after week. In certain times when I’m feeling the urgency more greatly, I’ll quietly wish for an injury or a breakdown that will serve as an adequate excuse for failing to get them planted. Eventually however, the day will inevitably come when there’s no room for even one more second of procrastination.

And there I’ll be, on my knees, cold, slimy soil chilling me to my bones, a bitter wind rasping at my face, trying not to smell the dog crap that got on my jeans because it was camouflaged in the leaves, and suffering strange, phantom jerking motions in my right arm. Inside, on TV, The Ohio State Buckeyes are defeating Michigan again. There’s guacamole on the counter. Beer in the fridge. But I’m not inside. I’m outside, and cursing the hell out of that smooth talking Brent Heath.

Another time it’ll be summer. 100 degrees out. And I’ll be cutting down a skanky old crabapple and every single twisty, pokey, gnarly, and ugly branch will have made up its mind to fight me every step of the way. Whatever I want, they’ll want the opposite. They’ll gouge at my eyes. They’ll gash my skin. Nasty, itchy stuff will fall down the back of my shirt. I’ll be sweating, bleeding, and pissed off. There will be no easy angle to position for any single cut. Brush will tangle underfoot. Each of a hundred logs will not stack without a brute force battle of wills, and not one piece of brush will go into the truck and stay there until I’ve discovered–by endless repetition only–the mystical combination of cuss words that will unlock the system. And it’ll suck.

A crabapple displaying full on winter interest in the middle of summer.

Or, it’s mid spring in Ohio and like a complete freakin’ idiot I again jumped the gun and planted out a bunch of tender stuff. I get home from work after dark, it’s 35F and raining, and they’re calling for a hard frost. And, like a damned soul in a Renaissance painting, I’ll inconsolably drag myself outside, and for the next fours hours I will–in fits and starts–construct the world’s twelfth largest shanty town in the backyard from whatever little bits of scrap wood, chunks of rock and rubble, some string, tape, old sheets, blankets, and filthy leftover plastic sheeting I can find in a panicked effort to save a bunch of annuals, tropicals, vegetables, and some expensive fern that Tony Avent said was hardy to Zone 7b, (at least) from a cold, lonely, continental, Z6a, untimely death.

Fun times.

Here’s what follows that: You drag yourself back inside, take a forever long hot shower, down a few shots, and, sitting there as surly as sin, you think really dark and dirty thoughts. Other people aren’t doing this shit. Other people live in condos. They have their thermostats set at “Giant-Ass Carbon Footprint.” So warm they’ve been forced to strip down to teddies and speedos. They’ve over-eaten a fabulous dinner and drank a bottle of wine they don’t even know enough to appreciate. Yep, you were having a cold, wet piece of plastic that smelled mind-blowingly bad whipping back and forth across your face as you, both hands engaged, tried to tack it down over a row of tomato plants, and those condo people were living a bacchanalian existence. And you loathe them.

And, yet, you garden on.

Honestly, I’m mystified. Where does the fortitude come from that gets gardeners outside to suffer through odious tasks under miserable circumstances simply because they need to be done? I don’t know. Really don’t. But I’ve done it. Over and over and over again. And my gardening friends have all done it too. I don’t know, reminds me of something that parents used to toss off at you with a smirk: “Hey, it builds character.” Maybe gardeners have that.

But, I will say this. Winter is long and it dies hard. It rears its ugly head again and again before it’s finally defeated, and there ain’t no better tonic for that than the almost tearful joy a garden full of blooming bulbs brings. They fill the heart, God bless them, combating cold and gray with color and fragrance.

And then comes summer. Hot and humid. Sometimes you just want to run from the house to the car, from the car to the office, and then back again. A/C to A/C. An inside, artificial existence devoid of anything that stokes our human nature. But under a shade tree you’ve tended for years, you can enjoy a tall drink and the hordes of butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds that come to visit that Lantana you saved. And then can pick some of your own tomatoes right from the vine and bring them in for the BLTs you’ll have for supper.

Some other time you’ll find yourself looking at the empty space where a scabby, rusty crabapple once lived, and you will take huge and vicious satisfaction in knowing that it was living its hideous existence and then you sawed it down. It was ugly and now it’s not. It’s gone. And you’re totally responsible. And, yet, you live as a free man. You feel no guilt. Nope. You feel joy. It poked your eyes. It raked your skin. It hurt your back. But all that’s over now. You’ve got a drink, and you’re smiling almost fiendishly as you enjoy the lovely aromas of ribs roasting in its smoldering wood.

You just try not to think too much about the stump you chose not to grub out. Nor that day sometime in the future when you’ll roll in a 400-pound, balled and burlaped, plant du jour that some speaker at some conference got you all excited about. Yeah. Sure enough. That day will come, and it will be woeful. But that’s just how it is. That’s how it’s meant to be. To have this, you gotta do that. And you’d have it no other way.

Gardening When You Really Don’t Wanna originally appeared on GardenRant on September 25, 2019.

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turfandlawncare · 5 years ago

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Gardening When You Really Don’t Wanna

Picture it this way: I’m an otherwise happy, well-adjusted 6-8 year old boy, but I’m being held hostage in a cavern of clothes racks at some store for the 6th or 7th hour and my arm is being held straight up above my head. All the blood it ever contained has drained from it hours ago, my wrist is gripped white-knuckled tight by an unbelievably strong, terrifyingly frustrated, and appallingly unsympathetic mother, and she is yanking my arm right and left to emphasize each and every syllable–my whole body violently following each yank–as she repeats some variation of a sentence that starts with “Mister, you had…” and ends with …”something to cry about.”

Any expedition to go buy clothes was like this. Totally unendurable. But the worst of the worst death marches were treks for Easter outfits and shoes. Easter outfits? I want to cry right now just thinking about it. What absolute zero is to physics about describes the absolute misery caused by Easter shopping. But shopping for shoes was even worse.

There is no telling the amount of pain that went into making this photograph possible.

If I remember right, the main issue with shoes was that one of my sisters had skinny little feet and, for her, there were always several choices of adorably cute shoes. Amazing how much time could leave the universe deciding which pair. Ridiculous. But so much worse was this. My other sister had wide feet and needed “corrective” shoes. This was the double whammy that consigned me to dangle from one arm in store after store after store as my mother led us all–wild in sorrow–in an ever widening migration of despair, shoe store to shoe store in what we all knew was a vain pursuit of a cute pair of wide “corrective” shoes.

The sound of this misery–moaning, whining, complaining, crying, and my mother’s hissing, cursing attempts to make it stop–steadily built to a crescendo of unhappiness that NASA should have recorded and then perpetually beamed into space so as to deter hostile aliens from ever having any interest in our planet.

Anyway, this is how I spent somewhere around a quarter of my childhood.

Yes. All this, not pulling weeds, is why I garden.

And yet even as we speak I have sacks and sacks of bulbs to plant before the ground freezes. And it’s football season. It’s been a hard year, I’m kind of gardened out, and no matter how much I try to focus any ESP powers I’ve got, those bulbs just are not going to plant themselves. This, all because I heard Brent Heath speak back in May, got all excited, and placed a big order.

A crabapple displaying full on winter interest in the middle of summer.

Fun times.

And, yet, you garden on.

Gardening When You Really Don’t Wanna originally appeared on GardenRant on September 25, 2019.

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tychsenkumar57-blog · 6 years ago

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How To Succeed At Growing An Organic Garden

Changing your lifestyle all around together with ensuring that your own family often has healthful meals, ensures that you should make better food alternatives. Turning to organic produce is a great method by which you can make all those healthy modifications. For many great organic horticulture tips that you can easily employ, check out often the information below. Merging different selections of plant life in a garden region retains the interest and provides to the entertainment involving the viewer. Mix different plants to craft intriguing combinations. Add big foliage plants with fine tea leaf plants and combine associated with plants distinct in texture and color to develop the best eye catching in addition to interesting landscape garden. Flowers that cause a larger render should be bigger with your priority list when planning the garden. A herb which is resistant to disorder, as well as the one that is tolerable of extreme weather conditions, will certainly deliver a higher yield. When the vegetable year has concluded, grow the get time crop if probable. Fruits just like strawberries or even raspberries pay off very beginning or really late in the season before as well as after the summer veg seeds take over together with can be planted. Raspberries can be planted to help bear fruit in this fall and strawberries can certainly be planted to carry fruits in the springtime. Take care of weeds right away when anyone see them develop right up. Weeds can raise very quickly, and they may take around your garden if they are quit untreated. That is much easier to keep weeds beneath control when the weeds will still be relatively young. Big weeds have deeper sources and so are more difficult for you to remove. Divide large clumps of perennials. Many perennial plants lose energy source together with flower less well if the clump becomes as well large. Plants like Shasta daisies, bearded irises, phlox, chrysanthemum and coneflower gain from being divided any 36 months. Without category they become overloaded, and the center of the heap will begin to die out and about. Basically dig the overall plant out there, keeping this root ball unchanged, together with divide the idea into items using the spade. By doing nasiona konopi łuskane , you will certainly have with minimum a couple of or three new flowers! Look at your store bought dirt for infestations. If an individual buy from big home development stores, your ground may possibly have pests such as aphids. To kill this insects and their larvae, place the soil in a metal mineral water pan and place it protected within a 400 degree stove for 20 to half-hour. Let cool before applying. Weed the garden often and early. Plan on a filtering schedule regarding the garden at the very least a few times. The first ought to be 5 to eight nights right after sowing, together with once again seven to ten times after that. The third time period should be three to be able to four weeks immediately after planting, by this time typically the crops should be started well enough to include mulching and enough results in for you to shade the surface. If you have many potted plants, perform not liquid them just about all the same way. Several plant life do well together with plenty of liquid, whilst other plants might desire a drier garden soil. Over-watering can do as far harm to a plant as under-watering. So, be conscious of what types involving plant life that you include in the pots, and water them suitably. Getting beautiful bulb plants is usually fun while it can last, but once they have bloomed you are stuck with bulb plants of which is not very desirable. Try to flower light bulbs among plants that may expand up and over lighting bulb leaves. This way, once the lilies or maybe daffodils are expended, the particular old appearance will get hidden by means of the innovative growth of additional vegetation. Make sure your crops can be always evenly spaced by means of turning your rake as well as shovel handle throughout to some sort of measuring stick. Simply lay a good yardstick next to your shovel and copy the white markings to the handle together with a permanent marker. The particular next time you're ready to put in new crops almost all you'll need will be your shovel. Mulching all-around your plants is a wonderful liquid saving tip. You should use acquired mulch, but it is straightforward to make your unique from the things you find within your yard. Apply fallen leaves, pine cones, supports, and tree bark, and lay them out and about greatly around your vegetation in the dirt so of which drinking water does definitely not go consequently easily after you water. To ensure you're receiving some sort of levels edge any time pruning your own personal bushes, work with a good part of rope or perhaps a series. Simply batten the rope to 2 pieces at the approximate height you'd like often the bush to be at. Seeing this bush down this straight line is going to make it very visible if it's level at a glance. Use your own plant seeds for garden in down the road seasons. This lets you make certain that your plant life can be organic from seed to fruition. Acquire an earlier season of plants and allow all of them to head to seed before you remove them. This means that not only are your own personal plant life growing without pesticides or herbicides or maybe chemical fertilizers, typically the seed products were grown devoid of them possibly. If a person are experiencing a new issue with slugs or maybe other insect pests, a fantastic organic make contact with pesticide is diatomaceous globe. You can buy this specific at most yard locations, and it can be purchased in some sort of white powder contact form. The idea is an abrasive product that may kill the critters simply by damaging the skin area of the slugs and joints of the pesky insects. Composting is a great way to power your current garden. You can increase pretty much something, similar to grass clippings, destroyed documents, coffee grounds, and much more. Generally, you can use something that had been living on one time (but make an effort to stay away from animal products). If you do buy some worms and preserve the compost bin around a warm, warm location it will transform into completely dark and wealthy earth in no time. A single of the best things about the tips you've study in the above article is that they're all pretty simple to implement. You won't have to be present at Cornell to be remembered as a great organic gardener. When you can employ what you might have learned in this article, your garden are going to be great.

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hobbit-home-companion · 7 years ago

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There and Back Again

There and back again, I’ve moved back home to my mother’s farm after several years living in the city. This little hobbit missed the fields and trees and living with my fellow hobbits. This morning while I was grabbing my walking stick and basket I announced that I was off on an adventure and my mother asked if I were trying to be Bilbo, I hadn’t actually intended for it to come out like that, (I was going berry picking and it’s easier to move brambles out of the way and climb over downed trees with a walking stick) but I laughingly replied that we are part hobbit and I am a Took. (My surname is very Took-ish, and all through high school my teachers playfully called me “fool of a took”, although I’m also named after a stone, so we can’t ignore the dwarvish part of the family either.)

It’s been a bit of an adventure moving back, I’ll miss the friends I made and my life in the city, but it was almost a physical relief to be home again. My family are all happy to have me back, even if things in our little hobbit hole are a bit more cramped with the addition of me and my kitties. It’s a good time to move back too, I never used to like summer, I’m much more a fan of fall but summer is blackberry season and the farm is just covered in berry brambles. So, needless to say I’ve been out berry picking every afternoon. I have so far made and canned blackberry preserves and tomorrow my friend and I are embarking on an adventure in winemaking. My grandmother has promised me a recipe for her grandmother’s blackberry pudding, and I’ve promised a few pints of fresh berries to my stepmother. I think I will also be bringing berries and preserves to fair this season. It’s funny because I don’t actually like blackberries, I don’t like the seeds, but I love picking them. Even though blackberry brambles are the worst, their thorns go through everything and I always come back from berry picking bloody. I joked the other day that blackberries demand payment for their fruit and the only currency they accept is blood, but it really is true. If someone has made you something from wild blackberries, they have paid a blood-price for that item and you should feel honored that they have gifted it to you.

I’ve been digging into country life with full gusto in the week since I’ve been home. Along with berry picking I checked on the other fruits and plants that grow around the property. In a few weeks the grapes will be ready to harvest, they run wild throughout the stone walls that border the farm and the wild apples on the tree in the back field are coming along nicely. The stinging nettles are also getting tall and I should start putting some of them up for retting next year. It’s too late to work on a garden, but I’m plotting one for next spring and have started a small compost heap. I’ve talked to my mother about laying out a patio with a fire pit and the possibility of getting chickens again. We used to raise them, along with ducks, pigs, and a few cows. All we have anymore is a lonely old goat and I miss having fluffy dinosaurs following me around. I would love to get some Bantams as they’re my favorites even if they lay tiny eggs. It’s almost like I was deprived of these things for so long and I feel like I have to aggressively make up for it. I may have also been eyeing purchasing a beat up pickup truck…

Anyway, I will be retting and spinning the nettles I dried last year and will definitely be posting about the endeavor. I’m rather passionate about the weed and I’m thinking that if I have time I’d like to do a series of posts about different plants, their uses and lore.

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thehowtostuff-blog · 7 years ago

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Organic gardeners grow healthy, high-quality foods and flowers without using any synthetic chemicals. Organic methods are healthier, better for the environment and wildlife, and are less expensive because there are no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides to buy. All of this is accomplished by working with nature, instead of against it. Best of all, you can be an organic gardener with only a few square feet of sunny space for your garden. Done right, established organic gardens can be easy to maintain.

EditSteps

EditCreating Your Garden Site

Get started early. Get a jump on your gardening effort at any time of year by choosing a site for the garden, buying containers for a container garden, planting seedlings, building garden boxes, and making compost for your garden.

Choose a small site for your organic garden. Think small, especially at first. Find a spot in your yard that gets at least 6 hours of sun a day.[1] A well-maintained garden can furnish all of the fresh vegetables that one person will eat.

Even a window box or a few containers can be a starter garden.

Think about using your lawn as a garden. A pristine lawn is a lot of work and, depending on your climate, may require a lot of fertilizer and water to keep green. It's also a mono-culture that is difficult to maintain. At the very least, consider letting clover and other plants in, and don't panic if a few weeds spring up. Consider planting something besides lawn or making your lawn smaller, especially in arid climates.

Consider a container garden. Try growing in pots, boxes, or buckets on a patio. Even growing herbs in one of your south-facing windows to garnish your favorite dishes and soups is great fun.[2]

Even if you don’t have a sunny backyard or patio, you may be able to grow parsley, mints, garlic/green onions, chives, or even small tomatoes this way.

buckets can be easily converted to gardening containers by adding a layer of pebbles to the bottom and drilling 3 or 4 holes on the bottom for drainage.[3]

EditMaking Organic Soil

Make a compost pile. Compost is the main ingredient for developing rich organic soil. You can use almost any kind of organic material to make compost that will enrich your soil, but the best things to start with are usually right there in your garden:[4]

Fallen leaves

Weeds (preferably before they go to seed)

Grass clippings

Old fruit and vegetable trimmings

Don't use anything containing oil, fat, meat, grease, feces, dairy, or wood chips.[5]

Test the pH of your soil. Test the pH of your soil by buying pH test strips from a garden store. Stir a handful of soil with lukewarm distilled water until it's the consistency of a milkshake, then dip the pH test strip in. Hold it there for 20-30 seconds, then compare the strip to the test kit's key.

The pH (acidity versus alkalinity) of your soil should be somewhere between 5.5 to 7.0 for plants to thrive.[6]

If your soil is too acidic (below 5.5), buy dolomite or quick lime to add to the soil, then retest.

If your soil is too alkaline (above 7.0), add more organic matter, like peat moss or compost, then test the soil again.

Measure your soil's drainage. Dig a hole in your garden or container wide. Fill the hole with water and wait 24 hours. Then, fill the hole with water again and measure how fast the water drops with a tape measure. The ideal rate is per hour.[7]

Adding a few cups of compost or peat moss will help soil that drains too fast and soil that drains too slow.

For a less scientific test, moisten your soil and grab a handful of it. The soil should hold together, but fall apart when you poke it with a finger. If your soil holds its shape or falls apart without a poke, add more organic matter (compost or peat moss) to improve its drainage.

Add organic soil from your compost heap. The key to organic agriculture is great soil. Add as much organic material to your soil as you can, preferably from your compost heap. Soil that has been built up with plenty of organic matter is good for your garden for a lot of reasons:[8]

It will nourish your plants without chemical fertilizers.

It is easier to get shovels into—and weeds out of—enriched soil that isn't packed hard.

It is softer, so plant roots can penetrate more easily and deeply.

It will help water and air spend the right amount of time in contact with roots. Clay soils can be heavy and will stay wet for a long time. Sandy soils can drain water too quickly. Compost mitigates both conditions.

EditPlanting and Maintaining Your Garden

Choose plants for your organic garden. Think about what you like to eat and how often you want to eat it. Plants like tomatoes, peppers, and squash will keep producing all year long, while vegetables like carrots and corn will only produce once. Buy seedlings from a garden store or farmer's market.[9]

Be sure to buy seedlings that haven't bloomed yet, and make sure to ask if they've been treated with chemicals. To be a true organic garden, your plants should be completely free of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Plant your seedlings in full sun after the last frost. Plant seedlings into your organic, compost-rich soil and set them in areas where they'll receive full sun: at least 6 hours a day.[10]

Plant thickly to prevent weed growth. Companion plantings can fill in spaces in vegetable gardens, too, and will help you make the most of a small space. Spaces that are planted thickly enough will discourage weeds from growing between plants that you want.

Mulch areas around plants deep. Organic mulches, including bark, wood chips, grass clippings, and mulch, gradually break down and enrich the soil.[11]

In the meantime, they control weeds, help to moderate soil temperatures, and slow evaporation, meaning that you can water less.

Water your garden in the morning. Water in the morning, when the temperature is cool and there's less risk of evaporation, which will deprive your plants of water.

Watering in the evening isn't ideal, as it keeps your plants wet overnight and encourages mildew. It's still preferable to watering in the middle of the day, though.[12]

Weed your garden every few weeks. Regularly taking off the green portions of weeds will deprive them of the nourishment they need to continue growing. Weeds are any plant you don't want growing in an area, and may include invasive ornamental or productive plants, such as ivy and mint.[13]

Use a hoe and keep it sharp. Try a Dutch hoe or scuffle hoe instead of a conventional gooseneck style hoe. Hoe each area frequently enough to keep green weeds down.

Hand weed to remove the roots of perennial weeds that grow back. Also hand weed carefully around established plants, to avoid uprooting the plants you want.

Try heat to control weeds in cracks, in the form of steam, a heat gun, boiling water, or even a small blowtorch, carefully applied.

Attract helpful creatures by adding seeds, compost, or flowers. Many creatures can help your garden. Arrange the conditions of your garden to encourage them by:

Putting out seed for birds[14]

Adding compost to your soil to attract worms[15]

Planting alyssum, sunflowers, lemon balm, and parsley to invite beneficial insects[16]

EditVideo

EditTips

The key to pest and weed control is to act early and often and keep them from becoming a problem.

You can use almost any kind of organic material to make compost that will enrich your soil, but try to avoid materials that have been treated with chemicals, like grass clippings which have been sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.

You can also add leaves and grass clippings directly to your garden as a weed-suppressing mulch, which will enrich the soil.

Make your planting beds small enough that you can reach the whole thing without stepping on your plants.

Aphids (tiny soft-bodied crawling insects that multiply in the spring and early summer) can be removed from your plants with a strong stream of water.

Try the square foot gardening method! You can grow more with less space, you don't need to worry very much about soil, and it reduces weeds.

Organic gardening differs from conventional gardening because it does not rely on synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Instead, it relies on healthy soil, careful variety selection, and physical barriers (such as mulch and hand-removal of insects.)

You don't really need compost bins or tumblers; just pile up your material and wait for it to decompose. If you want to speed things up, "turn" the pile every once in a while to mix it up and incorporate air.

If insects attack your plants, the best way to control them is to pick them off by hand. Practice crop rotation, permaculture methods and companion planting. These systems can greatly reduce pests, and in some cases render them non-existent.

Try IPM (Integrated Pest Management); it's an effective way of handling pests. http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/factsheets/ipm.htm

EditWarnings

Don't ever use bark mulch. It might look good, but it robs nitrogen from the soil as it rots, and will keep almost anything from growing well. It also attracts termites.

Don't use the following for your compost pile, even if it's organic:

No meat, flesh, bones or fat of any kind.

No oil or grease.

Avoid large amounts of watery fruits or vegetables such as tomatoes, oranges, cucumbers, melons, prepared foods, etc. (press, drain, to dry them some if you want to use them).

No feces (poop) from any animal that eats meat, especially from dogs or cats (people too).

If your house ever had lead paint, lead might be in the soil. Lead leaches out of weathered paint for many years and remains in the soil. Never plant fruit, veggies, herbs, or fruit-bearing trees in the soil next to your house if you know—or suspect—that it was painted with lead-based paint.[17]

EditRelated wikiHows

Start an Organic Vegetable Garden

Hoe Weeds

Compost

Build a Tumbling Composter

Find Free Compost Ingredients

Use Your Home Built Tumble Composter to Create Rich Compost

Make a Compost Tea

Create Urban Rainforests

Make a Garden With Native Plants

Compost in a Tumbler

EditSources and Citations

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thecrazyotic-blog · 7 years ago

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Fall Gardening Checklist

Before we wrap up this Fall Gardening Checklist series we wanted to give you a few more valuable and important tips. These are things you should also be preparing to take care of during the autumn and before the cold arrives.

VEGETABLE STORAGE Beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes (late) must be stored in a cool place. All except the potatoes could stay outdoors for a longer time by ridging soil over the rows in the garden. Other means of storage are pits dug in the ground and the vegetables covered with boards and hay. For small lots bushel baskets, or boxes submerged in the ground will do. Celery can be kept by covering with soil in the row. Cabbage is best dug and put in a cold cellar or pit.

Eggplant, peppers, and pumpkins must be stored where the temperature is mild. Tomatoes picked before frost and individually wrapped in newspaper will ripen in 2 weeks.

Radishes, lettuce, endive and other greens can be carried along in the garden for some time by covering each evening with cardboard, burlap, or the more enduring plastic sheeting.

COMPOST AND HUMUS All but diseased and insect-infested material can be composted. Burn all questionable material.

Leaves can be put in a separate heap if there is space, or all materials mixed in one pile.

Begin with a bottom layer of coarse leaves, corn stalks, or dried stems. Next spread layer of the mixed materials 6 inches deep. Sprinkle a pound or more of any fertilizer, compost activator, or dried cow or chicken manure over 4×5 foot surface, then a thin layer of soil. Wet thoroughly.

Repeat layer by layer to build the pile. A 5 foot height is enough. The pile can be as long as desired. Keep the width to 6 feet. Mulching attachments for power tools are handy for fall work.

The humus supply in the soil is increased too, by sowing rye, or rye grass seed on areas left vacant by removal of crops in the garden. Three pounds per 1,000 square feet is ample. Rake the seed in, as in lawn making. Rolling is not necessary.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT Before hard frost threatens, dig the soil and leave rough over winter. Where manure or compost is available, spread and dig in. Stiff soil is especially benefited. If soil needs lime, this is applied as ground, or pulverized limestone, 3 pounds per 100 square feet. It is merely spread over the surface after digging.

Soil on sloping ground must be covered to prevent washing. A cover crop of rye, a layer of compost, leaves, hay or the like will prevent erosion. Fall is a good time to dig in soil conditioners.

PROTECTION In winter protection of outdoor hardy and semi-hardy plants, no covering is applied until all growth has ceased. Growth is ended by frost which opens tissue and prepares the plants for winter. Roses can be covered after several frosts, by mounding the soil up and around the base of the stems. Not all northern rose growers agree on covering, but I prefer it. The pink spirea (caryopteris), shrubs like the crape myrtle of the South, and those of similar tenderness are also covered.

The stems are tied loosely together with soft twine or burlap strips and wrapped with burlap. Where winters are severe, hay is used inside first, then burlap, or chicken wire surrounding the shrub. Fill with dry leaves and top with a piece of canvas. An inverted bushel basket stuffed with leaves is the best for low plants.

Climbing roses are protected where the winter temperatures go below zero. The stems are taken down from their sup-ports, tied together, laid on the ground and covered with 3 inches of soil.

It’s a practice in extremely cold sections to loosen the roots on one side and tip the whole plant over into a trench. No bending can be done when the stems are frozen. They will snap off. So do it early. Pansies and English daisies are covered with marsh (salt) hay.

EVERGREENS These are protected in a different way and for a different reason. Exposed to winds, the leaves dry out, especially if the roots are in frozen soil. Protection consists in covering the root area with a mulch of leaves, and using a wind barrier of some sort. Burlap attached to stakes, branches of pines pushed into the ground, or smaller ones tied to several stems of the plants serve to break the wind.

PERENNIAL PROTECTION Last to be covered are strawberries, hardy perennials, and rock garden plants. This is best done when ground is frozen. Covered while still soft, the plants will rot.

Soft crowned plants: delphinium, columbine, liatris, anchusa, are best covered with a cone of coal ashes, or 3 parts of soil mixed with one part of sand.

Others are covered with a light layer of marsh hay held in place with light twiggy branches. Provision must be made for water to drain off and not collect around the plants in prolonged wet weather.

Beds of spring flowering bulbs must also wait until they are thoroughly frozen before being covered else mice may harbor there for the winter.

SNOW PROTECTION Bushy evergreens are, in regions of heavy snows, prone to injury when deep snow collects in the interior splitting them apart. Strips of burlap wound spirally around will give some protection. Tying the stems to each other in the interior is still better.

TREE PROTECTION The stems of fruit trees, especially those newly planted, are in danger of having the bark peeled off by rabbits and mice during winter. Surround these with a band of close meshed chicken wire 2 feet high. Newly planted shade and flowering tree stems are wrapped with burlap strips, or the special craft paper used by tree men. This is protection against frost injury and the action of freezing winds.

Be prepared and ready to go with your fall flower gardening protection plans. You will be thankful you did come next spring!

How To Protect Plants From Frost & Bugs

More Fall Flower Garden Protection Tips

Mulching: Spread Organic Materials In Fall To Protect Plants

Mulching: Spread Organic Materials In Fall To Protect Plants, Improve Soil. Mulching is the simplest and most advantageous thing you can do for your garden. And it needn’t be pricey — whatever of the prizewinning mulching materials. Leaves: Collect leaves in the fall. Chop with a lawnmower or shredder.

How to Protect Plants in the Winter: Tips for Protecting Plants

Wrapping Plants in Cloth Will Also Help Protect Them During the Winter. Using old blankets, burlap sacks, sheets, towels or other thick fabric will help to protect tender plants from frosts and high winds.

How To Protect Perennials And Roses For Winter

But the sun will get lower on the horizon and the leaves will turn red and fall from the trees. Winteris inevitable. It’s time to plan and prepare before that first frost. Protect. Gardens need protection in the winter. In the north, the snow cover acts as a thermal blanket. But it isn’t the cold that kills the plant or shrub. It’s the drying winds and the freezing and thawing.

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