by Melinda Myers Pot them up, give them a chill and enjoy spring flowering bulbs indoors or outside on a patio, deck or porch. Forcing spring-flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths and crocus is a great way to use those bulbs that didn’t get planted in the garden or were on sale late […]
by Melinda Myers Add a bit of seasonal beauty to your front steps, window boxes, and other outdoor spaces with winter containers. Fill them with greenery, berries, cones, baubles and more. You’ll find many of these items in your own backyard and more at your favorite garden retailer. Collect a few evergreen stems, interesting seedheads […]
by Melinda Myers Gift the gardeners in your life with tools that are sure to make them smile as they put them to work throughout the coming years. No matter your budget, you are sure to find the perfect gift for your favorite gardener. Help gardeners track the weather and rainfall in their backyard. You […]
by Melinda Myers As temperatures rise, some annuals slow down or stop flowering due to heat stall. They will recover as temperatures cool but may leave your gardens or containers looking less colorful. Take some time now to evaluate annual flowers that are thriving in your garden and those that may need to be left […]
by Melinda Myers Keep your flowers blooming longer and your garden a bit tidier with deadheading. Removing faded flowers can promote repeat bloom on some plants, encourage fuller, more compact growth, and tidy up the garden. Use a bypass hand pruner, garden snips or other dead-heading tool to remove faded flowers. Bypass tools have two […]
by Melinda Myers Now is the time when many of us are busy ordering seeds. We often end up with many seeds, some new ones we needed or wanted and perhaps a few duplicates of those we have left from past seasons. It is easy to overlook some of these as the indoor and outdoor […]
by Melinda Myers Each gardening season seems to offer new growing challenges. Our gardens are exposed to more drastic and variable weather with changing weather patterns. Floods, droughts, wind, temperature extremes, and unseasonable weather episodes can have immediate and long-term impacts on our plants. Monitoring and noting these occurrences will help you diagnose immediate and […]
by Melinda Myers Soil is the foundation of a healthy garden, but let’s be honest, most gardeners don’t like spending time, energy, and money on it. It’s more fun to show off pretty flowers or share tasty vegetables. But creating a healthy soil foundation will increase your growing success which means more beautiful flowers, larger […]
by Melinda Myers You’ve probably read you should remove and dispose of insect pest-infected and diseased plant material to reduce these problems in next season’s garden. This is not as easy as it seems. Most compost piles do not heat up and maintain hot enough temperatures to kill weeds, weed seeds, disease organisms, and insect […]
by Melinda Myers Welcome spring and create continuous color for several months with a collection of spring-flowering bulbs. After planting in the fall, you’ll enjoy an array of flower colors that combine nicely with other spring-flowering trees, shrubs, and flowers. Start the season with early blooming snowdrops. As winter fades watch for the dangling white […]