If you enjoy working in your yard and garden then you have come to the right place.I share with you tips on growing flowers and herbs, designing specialty gardens, and ideas on ways to improve your curb appeal, Also product reviews and recommendations.
Now
that the peak heat of the summer is here I make a point to get up at dawn so
that I can get whatever yard or garden work completed. During
this time I can weed the gardens, deadhead the flowers, and water the
plants. However, I need to wait a few
hours to use any of my electric or gas-operated garden tools.
Watering lilac shrubs in summer
I
was going to use the electric grass trimmer to manicure around the flower gardens
but decided to hold off on this project until next week when the weather will be 20
degrees cooler. At 9:00 this morning, the temperature was 89 degrees and I thought
it was too hot.
Other
than that maintaining the garden, I find it is a full-time job to keep the container and specialty gardens hydrated. The plants get a good watering in the
am with a soaker hose but come noon the topsoil in containers and garden beds looks
like dust. So I am outdoors again in the
late afternoon to water the hosta, coleus, and fern plants because the heat of the summer is causing them to feel stress.
Cosmo flower-like hot weather
Zinnia flowers grow best in the hot sun
The only plants in my garden
that are flourishing are the zinnias, cosmos, and four o'clock flowers. These heat-seeking plants are producing
multiple flowers and the plants do not bolt when the summer weather gets hot.
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.
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:
Cut back spent flower
blooms
Remove all weeds and
grasses from flower gardens by doing a hand pull
Prune spring-blooming
shrubs
Cut back overgrowth on trees
Plant zinnia flower seeds
Update Moroccan tile planter gardens
with heat-seeking petunia wave flowers or sun-loving herbs
Add a thick layer of
organic mulch to all gardens, around shrubs and trees
Use a vinegar solution to
kill weeds growing in garden paths and flagstone patio
Remove spring tree droppings from gutters
Control yard and garden
pests; mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and chiggers with organic pest control; garlic or DiatomaceousEarth food grade.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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