Gardening Tips | Landscaping Tips | Gardening Ideas

Cleaner Times

Green Mountain Energy has come up with several ideas to keep your yard healthy and friendly to the environment at the same time. They suggested:

1. Keep your grass at a higher length.
   Higher grass mowed by sharp blades will prevent weeds from taking root and make a healthy lawn with little pest control necessary.
2. Make use of manual tools.
   Lightweight hand tools with no emissions, such as reel push mowers, will come in handy during minor yard work and create less air pollution.
3. Know when to water.
   Short periods of sprinkles early in the morning allow the soil to retain water throughout the day. If your footprint stays after walking on your lawn, it is time to water.
4. Utilize grass clippings.
   Leave the grass clippings after mowing your lawn. Aside from supplying nutrients to the soil, dried clippings also serve as mulch for compost piles.
5. Work with nature.
   Don’t be afraid of letting a few insects into your garden. Birds or other insects that feed on pests may reduce your use of pesticides.

I agree with most of them besides the reel mower. In some parts of the world that may work, but unfortunately in Houston with the St. Augustine it would take days to mow. With that said the other ideas are great especially number 3, “Know When to Water”. So many people over water. At the end of the day, your lawn only needs about an inch a week, sometimes less depending on the temperature. One long watering a week will keep your roots deep and your grass healthy. You can measure this by putting a rain gauge in your yard, and then timing how long it takes to get an inch.

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Taming the Unruly Garden: Gardener’s Supply

Kathy LaLiberte at Gardener’s Supply Company has written a great article about keeping your garden under control during the long hot summer. In Houston, we are at about 11 inches above normal for our rainfall this year, so it has become even more of an issue for us than years past. Plants that in the past stayed within their boundaries have taken advantage of the extra rain, and have decided to explore other parts of the garden. Kathy listed several things that you can do to keep your gardens under control. A few of them are:

• Setting Boundaries - Put in edging and mulch to keep grass and weeds at bay. It also helps to keep your plants healthier and less stressed.
• Identify friends and foes - Figure out which plants are fitting in and which are too agressive and taking over parts of your garden. Also try to identify the weeds as quickly as possible and pull them out.
• Seating Assignments - Are your plants in the right place? Do you need to move them? Look through your garden and make sure that all your plants are in the right place.
• Fresh Blood - Add benches, purgulas, landscape stones and other features to help draw the eye, and keep things interesting.

Check out Kathy’s Unruly Garden article to get more ideas.

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Scotts put out a good overview about Mosquitoes and how to keep them out of your backyard. I agree with most of what they are saying about keeping standing water to a minimum, keeping your grass short, use yellow bulbs. They then, of course, tell about some of their chemical sprays that are available, and I just can’t go along with that. I have a two year old, and I do not want him running through mosquito chemicals when he is playing in the backyard. Instead I have found that there are a few plants out there that mosquitoes do not like. For example, there is the Mosquito Shoo Geranium from Burgess Seed and Plant. According to Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor, there are several other things that you can spray that are not toxic. These include garlic pepper tea, Garrett Juice plus citrus oil and Garden-Ville Auntie Fuego. He also suggests putting on lavender and vanilla to avoid getting bit. All great ideas to avoid chemicals. I think chemicals may have their place in some applications, but I try to avoid them when I can.

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I came across a post on GardenWeb where people were listing the types of vegetables they were growing, and what was and was not working. The majority of people who posted were from Texas, but it seems that their insight and recommendations would work anywhere.

The post is “Please list the most veggies you have had success with…” It is so cool how gardeners will share their secretes, and the amount of wisdom that is out there.

Enjoy the post.

I did not add mine to the list, but I am currently growing:

• Cucumbers
• Cantaloupe
• Bell Peppers
• Asian Melon
• Cherry Peppers
• Tomatoes

If you live in Travis County, TX you will find one of the postings has a document(Word document) outlining the best vegetables to grow in that county. They also provided a link to Texas Masters Gardeners of Travis County and Texas A&M Fall Gardening Guide. Great information.

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Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor - Ontario, CA

Being in Houston, TX, I sometimes forget about the issues people are having with droughts. We usually get more rain than we know what to do with, and many of us take that as a reason to waste and water excessivley. For the most part, I water responsibly, but I have been known to forget to shut the water off, or allow it to water the sidewalks. It is strange how it has never grown.

A group in Michigan has developed a plan that revolves around native plants for their specific area. Native plants require less maintenance and water, and usually are healthier than “transplants” from other parts of the world. It is tempting to bring in plants from other locales, but with that we risk bringing in disease and sometimes using more water to keep these strangers alive.

Check out your local nursery, or contact your county extension group to see what natives are available and the best way to plant them. It will help us all in the long-run.

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ContraCostaTimes.com - GARDENING FOR KIDS

Here is a good introductory article for getting your kids involved with gardening. I have a two year old who likes to help me out in the yard. He does not quite get the concept of gardening, but he understands what a worm is and how to move dirt from one spot to the next.

Gardening should be fun and exciting for children. Their lives have become so clean and tidy from the clean freak movement. This is unfortunate. How can a child understand where their food comes from or how flowers are grown unless they do it themselves? Gardening offers lessons in creativity, delayed gratification and responsibility. Plus it is fun.

The National Gardening Association has put together a great Web site called kidsgardening.org. The site offers great resources and information on getting your kids involved with gardening.

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Expert Village is a new Web site that provides expert advice on thousands of topics through video. I have been keeping track of them for the past several months, and have been impressed with their gardening section. They have a very comprehensive organic, herb and beginner areas. Gale Gassiot is one of my favorite experts. She has been involved with organic gardening for over thirty years, and is very good at explaining her techniques.

Other areas of interest are:

• Basic Tips For New Gardeners - by Allan Watts
• Landscaping Ideas: Free Online Gardening Tips For A Beautiful Yard - Carolyn Holt
• Planting and Fertilizing - Craig Morrell

This is great stuff, and really is worth your time. The best part is that this is all free advice, and by people who have been qualified as experts. Most are professionals in their field and use the techniques they talk about in their own business practices.

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The Ottumwa Courier - Gardening in containers is just blossoming

Here is a great article on container gardening. As it states, container gardening is used for people with limited space or no outdoor space. For those who are fortunate enough to have yards, and the ability to work in them; container gardening is excellent for changing and enhancing the look of your hard without having to do a lot of digging and bed building.

Below is an exerpt explaing the best pots to use when gardening.

Dark-colored plastic pots absorb solar heat so are a good choice for tomatoes, cannas or other warm-natured plants in a cool climate. But, they heat up in hot summer areas and cook the roots. To prevent overheating, shield pots with foil.Light-colored containers reflect solar heat, helping keep plant roots cool. Dense concrete or thick terra-cotta pots hold heat. Tall narrow containers like strawberry planters as well as small pots and shallow containers heat up and dry out quickly. They are a good choice for sedums or other succulents.

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A garden of memories

The yard is home to over 250 different kinds of hostas, a hand made 2,500-gallon pond filled with nine colorful Japanese Koi that sits below a small waterfall, and a beautiful rock wall that surrounds the middle of the yard.

This is a beautiful story how a man and his wife developed their yard into beautiful landscape dream that is now modeled after gardening clubs.

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