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Good Morning America calls it, “One of the top new consumer products.” Grow full-size vegetables naturally on your kitchen counter 365 days a year. You don’t need a green thumb to grow your own food. The AeroGrow AeroGarden Pro 100 is a fully automated indoor smart garden with built-in grow lights that takes all guesswork out of growing plants. It uses NASA-tested aeroponic technology to grow plants in water, nutrients, and air. Aeroponics is a dirt-free growing me (more…)
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Specially designed for fast, healthy plant growth of AeroGarden seedlings, this package of 2 grow bulbs optimizes plant development for fresh herbs, chilies, tomatoes and more-in the dead of winter! The bulbs employ a special, European fitting that fits into that AeroGarden grow lamp to discourage the use of other bulbs that may cause fires and promote slower plant growth with inferior light. AeroGarden bulbs are extremely energy efficient and should be replaced after 6 (more…)
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If you have just recently planted a new fruit tree, I think it is safe to assume you are not yet an expert on the subject. More fruit trees die in their beginning years due to poor care habits than any disease or pestilence. Therefore it is vital that you understand how to care for trees in a way that will ensure their immediate success as well as future good health.During the first stages of the tree’s life, the roots, trunk, and branches have not yet fully developed to a self supporting strength. Therefore if your tree is growing fruits, occasionally the combined weight is enough to snap off an entire branch. If this is the case, you should provide external support for your branches ? prop them up with boards, or tie them to something at a higher altitude. As long as you can provide your tree the support it needs in these early years, it should grow to be independent in no time at all.
Proper nutrition is not only necessary for the production of healthy fruits, but is also necessary for the tree to survive longer than one season. The exact specifications vary with the area, climate, and type of tree, but I’ve found that there is no better source than a nursery employee. Maybe they’re just eager to sell you the right type of fertilizer, but in my experience they are almost never wrong. Just inform them about the conditions your tree is living in and how healthy it is looking, and they should be able to help you find something to improve the state of your tree.
Lots of people think that the only way to ensure a tree’s healthiness is to provide it insane amounts of water. This is not the case at all. As a matter of fact, giving too much water to a tree can be more harmful than making it go thirsty. At the best it will have a negative effect on the taste of the fruit. But at worst, your entire tree could die and prevent you from ever growing fruit in the future. So do not ever try to solve your problems by giving it lots of water! Solve your tree’s health problems at the root, so to speak. Go to where the problem originates from, and fix that.
If it is too late and you’re already starting to see unhealthy branches that look either diseased or damaged, you should always remove them. If the tree is wasting nutrients by sending them out to the branch that cannot be saved, it is practically throwing away all the nutrients that it could use on the other, healthier branches. As soon as you start to see a branch that is deteriorating or becoming unhealthy, chop it off right away. At the very least, trim down the unhealthy part but leave all the segments that still look like they could continue growing.
Once your tree has started to enter the picking stage, never leave any of the fruit on the ground that is bound to fall. Also, be careful to get every piece off of the tree. Even if it is an ugly looking fruit that you don’t want to keep, you should still pick it and throw it away. Once these fruits begin to rot, they provide a perfect home for unwanted insects or diseases that can transfer to the tree itself. So always remember to rake up these fallen fruits, and prevent yourself a lot of future grief.
Getting a fruit tree and caring for it throughout its life can be a daunting task. It may even seem impossible sometimes to keep track of all the factors that make a tree healthy. But if you just pay attention to the nutrients that your tree needs, you should be on a good path. In addition to nutrients, figure out the precise amount of watering that you should be doing to keep your tree’s thirst quenched without drowning it. Just do all these things, and you will have a great tree that produces delicious fruits.
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Are you getting impatient for your plants to grow? Well, it’s a natural reaction so you don’t need to tear your hair out over it. There are dozens of natural garden fertilizers on the market. And while it’s always good to give your plants a little encouragement along the way, try not to kill them with kindness. Use the following tips below to help ensure you are using the right amount of natural garden fertilizer for the right amount of nutrients.
Question: How do you know what’s inside the bag?
Well, there are certain rules actually that makers of natural garden fertilizers must follow when they label their products. Understanding these rules can make comparing natural garden fertilizers much easier.
First, identify the major ingredients commonly found in natural garden fertilizers. Have you noticed that most fertilizers have three numbers found on the front label? The numbers are separated by dashes, so you have something similar to this: 5-10-5. This is actually the fertilizer analysis or percentage weight of the three major nutrients that your plants need ? nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K).
So, if you purchased a 10-lb. bag of natural garden fertilizer with the label of 5-10-5, that means it contains 5% nitrogen, 10% phosphorous, and 5% potassium. That’s a total of 20% worth of major nutrients that plants need.
What does the rest of the 80% consist of? Most makers would include additional nutrients to their natural garden fertilizers, plus filler material.
Natural garden fertilizers that contain all three of these major types of nutrients are often called complete fertilizers. For most people, complete fertilizers are the best fertilizers to use when growing plants. That because the three nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, work synergistically with each other to help plants grow and stay healthy.
Among other benefits, nitrogen in natural garden fertilizers helps encourage foliage growth. Phosphorous on the other hand contributes to many fundamental plant processes, such as rooting and setting flower buds. And lastly, potassium contributes to the overall health and vigor of plants.
However, plant needs may vary, so it doesn’t always stand that complete natural garden fertilizers should always be your choice. Buying a natural garden fertilizer may depend on several different factors, not least of which is the nutrient content of your soil. That is why, before buying and applying natural garden fertilizer, the one suggestion that experts always have for garden makers is to conduct a soil test first.
Having your soil tested before starting to add amendments to it will tell you what you actually need. If your soil pH is too high or too low, your plants will not be able to access some nutrients, even if they are present in the soil. Soil, after all, is the most important part of gardening. Natural garden fertilizers are only an aid and a means, so you shouldn’t consider them as the messiah to a dying garden. It could be that the soil in your garden is just bad and need to be replaced or treated.
Secondly, fertilizer choice depends on the type of plant being grown. When you choose a natural garden fertilizer, don’t just suppose that because the bag says 20-20-20, your plants will immediately take to it. There is no one size that fits all. You will need to take in several other factors.
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There are many things that go into planning and planting a summer garden. Far too often would be gardeners do not consider the time and energy that should be spent maintaining the summer garden in order to keep your summer garden looking beauty and healthy throughout the long dog days of summer and well, in many cases, into the first frosts of fall. If prolonging the life and beauty of your summer garden is a priority then there are things that must be done in order to keep everything ship shape and in good working order.Create a calendar of things to do in your garden for routine maintenance throughout the summer growing season and follow it is closely as time and the weather will allow. Make sure this list allows for upsets such as a week of rain or a week of no rain as well as time to adjust for these inconsistencies and an inability to work in the garden when temperatures are well over the mark on the thermometer that reads uncomfortably hot. By having a list of things to do written down in a place where it can be seen it will weigh more heavily and be much more likely to be accomplished than if it were out of sight and out of mind.
Make sure you keep your garden weeded, watered, mulched, and fertilized according to the needs of specific plants within your garden. Check for leaves that are turning yellow and any pruning that needs to occur on a weekly basis. Remove the leaves and perform necessary cutting when needed and remove all weeds whenever the opportunity or need arises. If weeds are becoming a prevalent theme you may want to increase the amount of mulch being used in your gardening efforts.
Trim the areas of your lawn that need trimming in order to create a more uniform appearance between lawn and garden. You do not want to ignore the beauty of your garden because your lawn is looking shaggy and unkempt. Devote a little time to lawn care in order to keep your lawn and garden on a consistent scale with one another throughout the summer gardening season.
Make sure that you carefully study each plant that you have in your garden and are aware of any special needs that exist for one plant over another. If your plants that need shade or extra water are either receiving too much sunlight or not enough water you need to make efforts to add shade to them and get more water to them throughout the remaining months or you risk losing the investment of time and money you have already made in procuring and growing these plants.
Taking proper care of your garden during the summer months can make the fall harvesting process go a lot more smoothly while also helping prepare for the planning that will occur in the winter months ahead. Learn from the maintenance of your garden and plan the next garden with the needs you became aware of this season in mind. Always take time to learn from both your successes and your summer gardening failures for the best possible results. Learning to maintain your garden is the best way to determine whether or not you want to attempt a more or less ambitious garden in future growing seasons.
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Enjoy fresh greens at every meal no matter what the season. With AeroGrow’s AeroGarden garden kit, it’s easy to cultivate lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers, edible flowers, and more in an energy-efficient, organic-based environment right in the kitchen. This compact chef’s tool includes everything the indoor farmer needs: a preseeded bio-dome grow pod, two daylight-spectrum bulbs, nutrients, and a helpful tending and harvesting guide complete with recipes. J (more…)
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]]>Gloves protect your hands from blisters, thorns and cuts while doing rough work like digging or pruning in the garden. Investing in one or more pairs of quality gloves is a good decision.
Here are some tips on how to choose the pair that will suit you best:
1. Look for quality leather gloves with a cloth back; this will let the gloves breathe and keep your hands dry, cool and comfortable.
2. If mud bothers you, select rubber gloves with cotton lining.
3. When spraying pesticides or chemicals choose gloves that are made from neoprene. Gloves made from latex or any type of plastic may not offer the best protection.
4. When pruning roses, use gloves that reach up to the arms.
5. If you usually operate large garden machinery, buy gloves in brown instead of red as the latter may dye your hands.
6. Light cotton or even fingerless gloves may be useful for transplanting seedlings. They will allow more dexterity and so help to prevent the tiny roots from being crushed.
7. And of course, make sure that the gloves you buy actually fit your hands. If you have small hands, try the children’s gardening section. there’s nothing worse than trying to garden is gloves that are too big.
Your gloves must be comfortable as well as give protection to best serve your gardening needs.
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Many gardeners do not even consider fall gardening because of the winter frosts that might make an early appearance. On the contrary, fall gardening will result in excellent vegetables and will extend crops long after spring planted plants are finished. Vegetables produced from fall gardening are sometimes sweeter and milder than those grow in the summer and offer a brand new taste to the same old veggies.What you choose to grow during you fall gardening will depend on your available space and what you like to eat, just like spring plants. Even the crops that enjoy the heat, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be pretty late in the year in southern areas. However, there are some plants that will quit towards the end of summer like snap-beans, summer squash, and cucumbers. If these vegetables are planted around the middle of the summer they can be harvested until the first frosts as well. Hardy, tough vegetables will grow until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong will only be able to grow through light frosts. Remember that if you have root and tuber plants and the tops are killed by a freeze the edible part can be saved if a large amount of mulch is used.
When fall gardening, make sure and pick the vegetables with the shortest growing season so they can be full grown and harvested before the frost arrives. Most seed packages will be labeled “early season”, or you can find the seeds boasting the fewest days to maturity. You may want to go after your seeds for fall gardening in spring or early summer; they are usually not kept in stock towards the end of summer. If they are stored in a cool and dry location they will keep until you are ready to plant.
In order to know exactly when the best time to start fall gardening, you must know about when the first hard frost will hit your area. One of the best ways to tell this is by a Farmer’s Almanac. They will give you exact dates and are rarely wrong. You will also need to know exactly how long it is going to take your plants to mature.
To get your soil ready for fall gardening you must first remove any leftover spring/summer crops and weeds. Crops leftover from the last season can end up spreading bacteria and disease if left in the garden. Spread a couple of inches of compost or mulch over the garden area to increase the nutrients, however, if spring plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, if any. Till the top layer of soil, wet it down, and let it set for about 12-24 hours. Once this has been done, you are ready to start planting.
Many gardeners will run from fall gardening so they don’t have to deal with frosts, but if tough, sturdy vegetables are planted they can withstand a few frosts and give you some wonderful tasting produce. Fall gardening gives you the chance to enjoy your vegetable garden for at least a little bit more time.
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Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health
1. The essentials must always be given major consideration.
Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water, sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower garden more frequently during dry spells.
When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth. When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you don’t heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop rot through overheating.
2. Mix and match perennials with annuals.
Perennial flower bulbs need not to be replanted since they grow and bloom for several years while annuals grow and bloom for only one season. Mixing a few perennials with annuals ensures that you will always have blooms coming on.
3. Deadhead to encourage more blossoms.
Deadheading is simply snipping off the flower head after it wilts. This will make the plant produce more flowers. Just make sure that you don’t discard the deadhead on the garden or mildew and other plant disease will attack your plants.
4. Know the good from the bad bugs.
Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80% of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.
Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more nutrients available to growing plants.
Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphis.
An occasional application of liquid fertilizer when plants are flowering will keep them blooming for longer.
Always prune any dead or damaged branches. Fuchsias are particularly prone to snapping when you brush against them. The broken branch can be potted up to give you a new plant, so it won’t be wasted.
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