All posts tagged: gardening

Zone 4 Annuals and Perennials in a Boarder Garden

How to Design and Prepare Your Own Garden For Planting

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Creating a Garden Border: When should I start in the spring? You can start planning indoors on paper in January Outdoor work can begin as early as March in the Midwest, or as soon as the ground is thawed.  The layout work can be done as long as there’s no snow on the ground so you can see what you are doing. Planting is best to be done in the spring for Herbaceous Perennials.  Trees and shrubs can be planted in the spring, or fall for the best success rate.  You can still plant in the summer, but you have to be religious about remembering to water to protect your green investments! 10 Steps to Getting That Garden Started: Be sure to have all your utility lines flagged before you start! Lay out the flower bed with a garden hose to achieve the shape. Then spray Roundup on the grass now to kill it off. Or, if you don’t want to mess w/Roundup, lay out the bed w/garden hose…spraypaint the border, Rent a sod cutter …

How to Prepare Soil For Your Garden and Why You Should Do It

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Why Good Soil is Key in Protecting Your Investment: If you don’t have good soil, you might as well just throw your money out the window and watch it blow away. Plants living in good soil with lots of organic matter and good drainage will grow twice as big as plants planted in clay, or backfill from when the builders built your home.   3 Ways to Make Healthy Garden Soil for Healthy Plants                                                              Add Compost:  If you have poor soil that is hard, or sandy,  or clay like, and poorly drained amend the soil with about 4 inches or more of composted compost (the black compost) or topsoil, and then till it in down to 6 or 8 inches deep. Why? Compost is filled with nutrients your plants need to grow big and strong and to have lots of blooms.  Not only is it nutrient rich, …

Work

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Work Always behind Never caught up The more work you get done. The more work you make up. Weeding Planting Staking Baking Picking Pinching Seeding Raking Where did the time go? Where was it spent? Tree leaves are falling On my cement. Zinnias are gorgeous. Morning Glories are glorious One Glory survived, Now we’re victorious! The one that survived and beat all the odds: Vine chewing rabbits Seed eating birds Sprout stomping dogs My childrens’ feet Not one of these were able to defeat. Could not defeat this defiant Morning Glory This lovely blue flower That gives me satisfaction and power. The power to see That all this work: The planting The waiting The rejuvenating The digging The pinching The pruning The trimming Replanting Reseeding Removing Repeating That all this work is never done. That all this work can be quite fun That all this work makes life more grand Without it my yard would be quite bland Without it I would lack for stories For stories of Morning Glories who fought to survive The …

Iris and Daylilies: Are They Dying?

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  It’s August.  It’s Iowa.  It’s hotter than a monkey’s pattoot.  Why do my Iris and Daylilies look like crap? Yes, we are in a bit of a drought right now, but even though you are watering, your Iris and Daylilies still might look a little worn out….and you know what?  That is okay.  Stop worrying, cuz every little thing is gonna be all right. While Irises and Daylilies give us great blooms in May and June, they too, have a life cycle. You don’t look perfect all the time, and neither do Irises and Daylilies….and that’s ok! This is normal.  At this time of year, these plants start going dormant, so they will start slowly having their leaves dry up. All you need to do is grab the yucky leaves, and with a downward and out tug, pull them off of the plant. Voila, your plant just got a facelift, and all is right again. Remove the leaves as they appear, and your garden will look more fixy, and manicured. If you don’t remove …

What to do before bringing your house plants, like this hibiscus, indoors, in the fall.

Houseplants: 8 Things to Remember When Bringing Them Indoors For the Winter

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Fall is here, and the house plants you set outdoors for the summer are looking beautiful….how do you continue this beauty trend after you bring them indoors for the winter? Read more…