Gardening Bytes

Posts Tagged ‘Planting Tips’

When you collect flower seeds from your garden, wait until the seed is fully dry. Any moisture in your storage package can ruin your seed. Take dry seed, add it to a paper envelope and seal with tape to assure no moisture gets into the envelope. Write the date and year the seed was taken, all pertinent info about the growing of the plant, area you plant the seeds in your garden, and any other notes you need to keep on the plant. Store seeds in a cool area, a shoe box with small envelopes holding your seeds will be easy to sift through when it comes time for planting. Another method for storing is storing dried seed in the refrigerator in small, airtight baggies. The vegetable crisper works well, you want it cool but not freezing cold. You can use plastic envelopes from a craft store or Tupperware containers. If a refrigerator is not available a cool dark drawer or cupboard works best. Vegetable and annual seed may be stored up to 2 to 3 years in a cool area.

Annuals can be an excellent choice for filling in and brightening your garden in spring and summer months. Annuals are plants that grow from seed and bloom in a few weeks time, then dying off by the end of their seasonal life. Annuals can take some extra work to plant and maintain each season, making sure the ground is prepared well is important for optimum growth of these fast growing plants. Annuals that reseed readily are a good choice to include in your garden, thereby cutting back on your time spent planting every year. Using annuals in your garden design allows you to create a different look in your garden every year. Extend the bloom season of your annuals by deadheading regularly so the plants do not set seed and die. Annuals may need more attention with water and fertilizer than perennials in your garden since their lifespan is short and their growth pattern is vigorous.

Try these annuals for plants that reseed readily in your garden:

Alyssum
Bachelor Buttons
Calendula
Candytuft
Columbine
Cosmos
Forget-Me-Nots
Four O’Clocks
Larkspur
Lobelia
Lupine
Marigolds
Nasturtiums
Nicotiana
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella)
Poppies
Sunflowers
Sweet pea

Containers are a great way to garden, particularly in small gardens. With small gardens a number of different sized containers will give your space a more expansive look. If you plant in containers remember to plant either from the center if the pot can be seen all the way around the top, or from the front to back if placed against a fence or wall. Use one or two tall plants in the center for a 360 degree container view, then place 3 to 5 medium height plants around the tall plants to fill the center. Use 3 to 5 medium to small draping plants around the edge of the container, creating a cascading effect with the edging plant. Plants in containers against walls and fences can be planted the same way or with the tall plants in the back of the container, the medium plants in the center, and draping plants surrounding the edges of the container. Use varying heights, textures, colors, and blooms to get the most out of your container designs. Remember container plants dry out easily so prepare to keep your containers well watered every week.

For more ideas and examples of container gardening visit BBC Gardener’s World

Perennials are one of the great additions to a garden. There are many perennials that provide blooms and evergreen foliage as well as shape and structure throughout the year. Study up on the behavior of each perennial before planting to understand the flowering times for plants, whether plants die back for winter, and if leaves drop during fall or winter months. The plant behaviors may factor into when you plant and where you plant in your garden.

Achillea
Agapanthus
Ajuga
Bee Balm
Black-eyed Susan
Bleeding heart
Clematis
Columbine
Coneflower
Daisy
Daylilies
Delphinium
Euphorbia
Ferns
Forget-me-not
Four o’clock
Fuchsia
Gaillardia
Hollyhock
Hostas
Irises
Lamb’s ears
Lantana
Lobelia
Peony
Penstemon
Periwinkle
Salvia
Sedum
Sweet pea
Verbena
Veronica
Violet
Wallflower
Yarrow

If you are a new vegetable gardener, here are some helpful tools that all gardeners should have in their shed. I am not an experienced vegetable gardener but I am learning as I go. Vegetable gardening requires some different tools at times than flower gardening. Many of the tools used for flower gardening are also used in vegetable gardening. You will always be in need of a wheelbarrow for spreading out dirt, mulch, or to use to carry plants to their destination. Shovels are needed for all kinds of gardening. A hand pruner is essential because pruning is needed at times for all plants. If you are using pruners with fruit like blackberries, hand pruners are needed, along with some sturdy gloves to protect from barbs on the plant. I find a garden tools basket is very helpful to keep tools close by as I garden.

Gardening gloves for planting
Gardening gloves for pruning
Knee cushion
Garden trowels
Hand pruner
Garden fork
Long-handled hoe
Hand-held hoe
Hand-held cultivator
Round-nosed shovel
Square-nosed shovel
Garden hoses
Wheelbarrow
Plant supports
Plant markers
Garden tools basket

Spring is the time of year when flowers start to bloom again after the cold dark winter months. Spring bulbs are a great choice to fill out your garden and provide spring colors between established shrubs and plants. Many bulbs manage to naturalise once planted, multiplying your bulbs and color in your garden year after year. Here are some good choices for spring blooming:

Early Spring:
Chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow)
Eranthis (Winter Aconite)
Galanthus (Snowdrop)

Mid-Spring:
Anemone (Windflower)
Crocus (Crocus)
Hyacinthus (Hyacinth)
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)
Narcissus (Daffodil)
Scilla (Bluebell)
Tulipa (Tulip)

Late Spring:
Allium (Allium)
Convallaria (Lily of the Valley)
Sparaxis (Harlequin Flower)
Trillium (Wood Lily)

Herbs are great for cooking, but flowering herbs can also add color and definition to the gardening. Herbs make a great companion plant next to flowers in a border. Many herbs provide green for months on end in the garden and bloom as well. Here are some great herb plants that provide beautiful flowers when blooming: sage blooms with pink flowers; thyme blooms with tiny pink flowers; chives bloom with rounded pink flowers; and rosemary blooms with tiny blue flowers.

Planting under trees can be a difficult task. Finding plants that thrive under what trees where it is often dry and shady can be daunting. Early spring bulbs are a good choice for planting under trees. Good choices for bulbs to plant under trees include bluebells, snowdrops and wood anemones. Hardy bulbs such as crocus and miniature iris may also be worth trying at the base of trees.

My favorite colors grouped in the garden are blues, pinks, and purples. These are cool colors, which makes the garden area recede. Cool colored flowers give a peaceful, cool feeling to the garden. Hot colors, such as red, orange and yellow, makes the garden stand out, making a statement and brightening the garden landscape. The addition of whites, greens, and yellows are good accent colors for your garden. Consider using different tones of one color flower in a section of your garden. A trio of pink colored flowers is a great combination and an eye catching theme.

Azaleas are an ideal shrub to provide structure in your garden. These colorful, smaller shrubs have green leaves that are deciduous and beautiful flowers in spring. Azaleas require a shaded site, or a site with morning sun and afternoon shade. Azaleas prefer well-drained acid soil. You can add pine needles, oak leaves, or peat to increase the acidity of the soil surrounding your azaleas. Dig the planting hole for your azalea 6 to 8 inches wider than the roots or root ball of the plant, and dig deep enough to accommodate the root ball. Plant the azalea so the soil line on the plant is the same depth as it was in the shrub’s original pot. Apply a layer of mulch about 3 inches deep, and keep the plant moist, but not wet, until the azalea is well established.

Set up your garden to look good in fall and winter. The use of structural plants will provide your garden shape and color during colder months when little is blooming. Plant trees with interesting branch shapes such as curly willow. Trees with interesting and colorful bark, like dogwood, japanese barberry, scots pine, and japanese kerria, provide interesting shapes and texture in the garden. Include shrubs with evergreen leaves that do not drop for green throughout the cold seasons. Plants with seed pods are also a decorative choice for the winter garden.

To gain a more natural style in your garden, use a few tricks known by professional gardeners. Plant three or four larger plants at intervals throughout the garden. Use groups of smaller plants to complement these larger plants, also planting the smaller plants in groups of three or four around the large plantings. Do not line the plants up in a row, instead stagger them within each of the groups to achieve the most natural look in the garden. Using larger and smaller plants with colorful flowers will fill your garden with shape and color in an easy, natural planting look.

The winter garden can often seem bleak with few flowers or colors. Planting early blooming bulbs will provide some promise of spring. Make sure you have a few evergreen plants with green leaves to provide shape and sculpture to the garden area. Shrubs and trees that drop leaves but have interesting bark and stem shapes, are a great addition to the winter garden. Incorporate hardy shrubs in your garden like heaths and heathers that provide bloom color and leaf color throughout the winter months.

Ever thought about growing your own coffee at home? The most common coffee plants used for consumption are arabica and robusta beans. Coffee plants will do best with a combination of heavy rain and abundant sunshine. To start a plant from seed, plant a freshly picked coffee cherry. A coffee plant is able to grow under artificial lighting indoors, such as a greenhouse. Coffee plants prefer filtered sun and need an average temperature between 65 to 75 degrees to grow best. Keep the plant’s soil moist but not soggy. Once a coffee plant hits 3 to 4 years of age it is ready to produce coffee beans for up to 15 years. When the coffee cherries reach maturity you can harvest the beans, pulp, ferment, dry then roast, grind, and drink the coffee. Pulp the coffee cherry by washing with water, then fermenting in a container until the pulp falls off, made easy by rubbing the coffee bean in your hands. Coffee beans that float during washing should be discarded. Coffee plants can grow from 8 foot up to 32 feet high, so pruning to 6 to 8 feet tall for a home coffee plant is in order.

I have a tradition I have carried on from my childhood at Christmas. My father planted a small pine tree in a container, leaving it out in the garden during the year. At Christmas he brought it inside and the tree was used for a number of years as our Christmas tree. After a number of years when the tree was too large to be brought in my father planted it out in our two-thirds of an acre yard to continue its growth. This was very earth friendly idea of my dad’s, who was a true home gardener with a green thumb. Our first potted Christmas tree began life as a two foot tall gallon container blue spruce that grew to three or four feet tall in its container. When we moved we left it for the new homeowners and bought another one, this time a foot tall redwood in a gallon container. After three years our container grown redwood looks great and grows slowly, it will always need to remain a container redwood to keep the size down. After three years this holiday season the redwood Christmas tree is three feet tall and two feet wide. The needles fall off the branches into the container, providing natural mulch all year long. After the holidays the Christmas redwood sits on our deck in semi shade, making a terrific container plant the rest of the year.