Transplanted Herb Plants During Growing Season

A couple days ago I transplanted my indoor herbs into outdoor containers because they weren't doing so good indoors and thought the natural sunlight would do them good.  Plus I like the way fragrant herbs repel mosquitoes, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

When I transplanted the herbs it was on a cloudy and cool day but today the weather had changed it is extremely hot.  Of course, this means I need to take extra steps to prevent outdoor herb plants from stress.

Read the first post about these herbs here transplanting kitchen herbs to outdoor garden

Anything planted in a container will dry out quickly and if you water the plant in the morning by midday when the sun is hot the soil with dry out.  Normally when I check with my index finger the soil is dry an inch down after a hot day. 

To prevent dry soil I generally water in the morning at the soil level until the water drains from the holes on the bottom of the container.

Applying mulch is good also as long as you do not put the mulch close to the herb stem.  Mulch is great because it absorbs the water and then releases moisture back into the soil slowly. A mulch that I use and recommend is nature scapes advanced garden mulch by Scotts  I bought this brand mulch at lowes.com, had watched sales, and got a good buy on 2 cubic feet.

What I like about this mulch is that it retains the water and slowly releases it back into the soil which means you will not need to water your flower or herb gardens daily.  On average you will save up to 30% on your water bill.  Plus you will save time and energy because you won’t need to water the garden daily.

When I get home from work I will need to check on the newly planted herb plants and will mist the leaves and stems with the garden hose because this will prevent them from wilting.

The best way to care for any newly transplanted herb in the growing season is to make sure the soil does not dry out. Keeping it evenly moist but not wet will ensure that the roots will take hold and the plant does not get stressed out.

Also helpful when transplanting during the growing season is to use a Green Light organic root stimulator.  I would not dream of putting a plant in the ground without a root stimulator.  I have bought the green light product at amazon.com and am pleased with it.

Here is a great way to keep the plant sauce full of water, thus the plant roots will never dry out.

Summer Season Gardening Checklist

Now that spring has come to an end, I find that I need to get my garden ready for summer. Today I went into the garden with a clipboard so I could make a checklist.   

Before I knew it my list was two pages long and I knew by looking at the lists of tasks that I would need my husband's help to get the gardens manicured and ready for the summer season.

My yard and garden checklist:

1. Cut back spent flower blooms
2. Remove all weeds and grasses from flower gardens by doing a hand pull
3. Prune spring-blooming shrubs
4. Cut back overgrowth on trees
5. Plant zinnia flower seeds 
6. Update Moroccan tile planter gardens with heat-seeking petunia wave flowers or sun-loving herbs
7. Add a thick layer of organic mulch to all gardens, around shrubs and trees
8. Use a vinegar solution to kill weeds growing in garden paths and flagstone patio
9. Remove spring tree droppings from gutters
10. Control yard and garden pests; mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and chiggers with organic pest control; garlic or Diatomaceous  Earth food grade.
11. Add outdoor accessories and patio lights to make the yard and garden more appealing

Note: A good way to get garden jobs done is to divide the yard into sections, then complete one section before moving on to the next one.

Preventing Bug Bites While Gardening

If I was ever going to enjoy the garden again I knew I would have to take steps to prevent the bugs from biting me.  This year the biting bugs; mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks, and fleas have taken the fun out of gardening. Two days ago while doing a hand pull in my hosta garden I was bitten by, several bugs.

I was so itchy that I stopped what I was doing and ran inside to take a hot shower with Yardley of London antibacterial hand soap, flowering English lavender herbal scent.  The hot soapy shower killed the germs and safely removed the roaming chiggers from my skin and lessened itchy mosquito and other bug bites.

Normally I spray myself before going out to the garden with deep woods off but I know that with the wildlife; deer, raccoon, skunk, wild turkey, groundhog, coyote, and bobcat coming into my yard that there are probably other biting bugs lurking.

I decided to address the bugs in my yard and garden by treating my entire yard with a concentrated garlic formula that will safely kill and repel mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, chiggers, and some wildlife from my yard. I found an all-natural product at amazon.com MOSQUITO BARRIER – LIQUID SPRAY REPELLENT -1 GALLON.  I read the reviews and they were favorable plus I liked that it was natural 100% garlic and would not harm my family or my pets.

Granted this organic pest control costs more but I will tell you it is worth it.  There is a garlic smell and it is potent but the smell is what repels and kills the biting bugs and you get used to it.

Gardening Today: Cutting back Brush

Gardening today took me to the side yard where there was a lot of underbrush as well as low-hanging tree limbs that needed to be trimmed. 

For this project, I needed my rose-trimming gloves.  I found a pair of Terra Professional rose gloves at Amazon.com that I really like because these rose gloves protect my hands and my lower arms from cuts and scratches.  When I have my hands in the brush you never know what you will find and the wild roses will really hurt if I don’t protect myself.

Then to tackle the tough weeds and tall grass that was growing under the shrubs I used my Black & Decker 14-inch curved shaft electric string trimmer.  This trimmer does a good job of taking down the overgrown brush.  When it comes to manicuring the yard I don’t mind doing the trimming as long as I do not have to use a gas-operated trimmer.

Whenever I take on big projects I always wear safety glasses because my trimmer might hit a rock and push it back into my face and that would not be good. I also wear thick weave jean or khaki pant that is tucked into my garden boots.  

It is best to dress for this garden clean-up job because of the snakes, rodents, and other garden pests.  It’s a good idea to spray your clothing with deep woods off to prevent chigger and tick bites.

I went out early to clean up the yard and it was completed by noon.  Now all that needs to be done is for my husband to follow up with trimming back the low-hanging branches by the chain link fence as they are growing in to thick and blocking the sunlight. 

I am glad the brush is cut back because while working I found mole holes.  I had some scoot mole repellent in the garage so I used the garlic and Castor oil concentrated treatment and sprayed the surrounding area by attaching my hose to the formula. The moles will move on now that I used a safe environment repellent.

Other garden cleanup posts by Author:

How to Dress when Working in Yard and Garden

Pavestone Adds Definition to Flower Garden

Today I am working on my side flower garden and decided to make it more interesting so I added 12-inch pavestone and also a pea gravel boarder. 

My husband had some stones leftover from a retaining wall that he did and I thought that the stone would add definition to my lily garden.  (See photo above).  The curving stone wraps around the lilies until it meets with the pea gravel path.

I thought about doing two layers of stone but thought that the one layer was fine.  I like the way the stone breaks up the garden. This is an easy way to add definition and also make the flower garden more eye appealing

For this garden project, I used a 12-inch pavestone retaining wall cement block that we bought at Home Depot for $1.78.  This cement block also looks good as a tree ring and outdoor fireplace ring.

See in this photo how I added a ring of pavestone cement retaining wall blocks around a host garden.  I think that you will agree that it is a great way to accent your garden.

Pavestone cement wall block around hosta garden

View other photographs of pavestone cement retaining wall block projects here:

Flagstone patio and walkway with pavestone firepit

Retaining wall in ornamental grass garden

Michigan Bulb: Honest Business and Product Review

Michigan Bulb company has been in business for 60 years and as a kid, I recall seeing their shade and sun garden collection in the circular in the Sunday paper and my Dad always said it was a good price for so many plants.  Then they came out with a mail-order catalog and a profitable online business.  

I think we all know of Michiganbulb.com because of their great sales and deals; buy $40.00 in plants and get $20.00 off.  

As a gardener who can resist a sale like that?  I could not resist the great savings on plants and when I checked out the online catalog I liked that I was not overpaying for the plants.  I thought what the heck I am going to buy from Michigan Bulb and hope that they deliver quality plants to my door.

Michigan Bulbs' motto is: “For more than 60 years, we've been providing the best plants at the best prices.”

Hands down they do have the best prices I will agree with that, but their plants are small and you will have to take care of them during their first year so that they will survive occasionally there is a mix-up in your order and you will get other clients' plants.

The order that I placed was a total mix-up as I received plants I did not order and the shipping box was damaged when received which meant the coneflowers that I had ordered were not in the best condition.

Coneflowers received from Michigan Bulb

Damaged shipping box

18-inch Dick Clark rose/did not order

The good thing is that they have excellent customer service and if you are not happy with your purchase for whatever reason they will replace your order with an in-house certificate or give you a refund that is paid to your form of payment or send out replacement plants. Whatever you want.  

Suburban Raccoon Visits Yard and Garden

For the last couple of days, I  have noticed that the mulch in my garden has been pulled away from the plants and in some cases, it is all pulled away from the plants and is in a large grouping like a mountain of mulch.  At first, I thought neighborhood kids were playing a joke on me, but I was wrong because tonight at dusk I learned that a suburban raccoon was visiting my garden.

Raccoons playing in the grass

My husband thought the little raccoon was cute because he seemed to be playing peek-a-boo behind the fountain grass in the ornamental grass garden.  But the thing about raccoons is they are very social animals and if there is one there will soon be more.   That is exactly what happened next, the kits came out of the hallowed tree and came to play in our patio fountain and our garden fish pond; washing their paws and putting leaves in the water.  Such cute behavior but not good for the pond filter.

Suburban Raccoon drinking from the garden fish pond

Raccoons are adorable but I do not want them to think my yard and garden are their hangout. That is when I knew that I had to set up raccoon boundaries so that they knew that playing in my garden was not acceptable behavior.

Planted an Herb Garden Today

Here in USDA growing zone 6 the threat of spring frost has past and now it is safe to garden. So I took advantage of the warm and sunny day and planted an herb garden.

Last week when  I did my garden checklist I noted that the harsh winter and killed many of my herbs and that I needed to replace many.  I was fortunate to have a friend with a nursery in town as she provided me with a discount.  Lucky me I was able to buy 11 herbs in three-inch pots for $3.00 each.


I found some new herbs for my garden and this year I will be growing
Mojito mint, I grow many varieties of mint and think it is a delicious plant for aromatics and for culinary uses.  In fact last year I made an invigorating soap from peppermint leaves.  So I am excited to be growing the new Motito mint.  

Another new herb this year is Kew Red Lavender for growing in full sun.  This aromatic herb looks exciting as it is covered with vibrant pink flowers with gray-green spikes.  I like that the lavender is drought-tolerant because my summers do get dreadfully hot. I am thinking that this lavender herb would make a nice bath soap and also a wonderful potpourri.

I am so happy that winter is finally over and that gardening season has begun.

Shopped Online for Garden Replacement Plants

Now that my garden has grown in I am aware of the plants and flowering shrubs  that did not survive the bitter cold winter.   Today I made a list of what I needed and shopped online for the replacement flowers for my gardens.

I needed to replace my daisy gardens and bought at Michiganbulb.com a mixture of Green Envy coneflower, Black-Eyed Susans, Every blooming purple coneflower and crazy Shasta daisies. These flowers will be planted in my wildflower garden back by my serviceberry shrubs. 

Daisy garden with coneflowers

Also from Michiganbulb.com I was able to replace the bee balm.  I bought 12 plants that were on sale.  The bee balm will bloom in early summer and continue to bloom until fall.  This plant is fast growing, perfect for borders that are close to dog kennel. The entire plant; leaves and flowers have potent mint fragrance plus it grows to 3 feet with similar spread. 

As for shrubs the oak leaf hydrangea was replaced with an elderberry black lace sambucus. This shrub will produce pretty flower blooms in the spring followed by edible fruit in the late summer. I am glad I was able to find the plants at greenwoodnursery.com as they were exactly what I was looking for as all will attract wildlife to my yard

Now all I need is some red cardinal flowers for the moist soil around the pond where nothing else will grow. 

Cottage Garden

I am looking forward to my replacement plant deliveries and look forward to spedign time in the garden.  I am so happy the winter season is over and I am  looking forward to an enjoyable summer season.

Note:  I was able to buy many plants with a coupon that I had gotten from Michigan Bulb and thus saved greatly.  Had I shopped locally I would have paid more.  When I receive the  plants I will post again to let you know the quality of plants and will share photographs.

Attribution: Cottage garden with bench: http://mrg.bz/OrmYmE

Aerated: Late Spring Lawn Care

Normally the lawn is my husband’s job but this year it has become my job.  Today when I look out at the lawn I viewed a few green patches, but other than that the lawn looks like there is a lot of thatch build up around the roots.   I decided to aerate the lawn to punch holes into the soil so that oxygen, hydration and fertilizer can get to the grass roots.

There are a couple ways to aerate your lawn, for small yards you can wear aerator sandals and walk across your lawn in the same way in which you would mow your lawn. 

I personally like the lawn aerator rake because it gets rid of the excess thatch and also loosens the soil around the grass roots.

 For larger yards you may want to look into buying Agri-Fab spike aerator push.  This aerator looks like a push mower however the blades will loosen the soil up to 2.5 inches.  Then there are self-propelled units that you can hook up behind your lawn tractor.  These aerating attachments are great especially for the homeowner with large lawns.

Clean up after you aerate your lawn with a rake, then plant grass seed or fertilize your lawn.

Other Lawn Care Posts by Sgolis

Autumn Lawn Care Tips

Buffalo Grass for No Mow Lawn

Lawn Care Tips: Crabgrass

Learn more about thatching and aerating your lawn by viewing this video: