Gardening Tips | Landscaping Tips | Gardening Ideas

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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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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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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