Archive for April, 2010
a gardening carnival – April 28, 2010
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to the April 28, 2010 edition of a gardening carnival.
Jim Smith presents Starting a vegetable garden posted at ohio outdoors.
MomToCherubs presents The Making Of A Garden posted at Simply Beck’s Bounty.
Christina presents Global Interior Design London – Light Up Your Garden Interior Designer Blog Entry posted at Global Interior Design London – Top Storage Solutions – Interior Designer Blog Entry, saying, “Global Interior Design London – Top Storage Solutions – Interior Designer Blog Entry”
flowers
Kristie presents Munich’s Spring Flowers posted at Norway – An American In Oslo.
gardening
Chris Van presents Plant a garden to save money, eat healthy and have fun posted at The Economic Survivor, saying, “Planting herbs, fruits, and vegetables can save you a lot of money at the grocery store, and get you out in the nice spring sunshine. Plus, it can be a fun and inexpensive family activity. Don’t think that you have to own a large piece of land to grow food. You can grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables in the smallest of places, including urban apartments.”
Renee Benzaim presents Compost Tumblers ? A Brief Overview posted at Compost Tumblers & Compost Making, saying, “There are many different methods of making compost and a compost tumbler is one of them. They can be as simple as a sphere you, or your kids, roll around your yard, or a complex gear driven tumbler with baffles inside. Whichever one you prefer, it will definitely make compost making easier.”
Talia presents 5 Step Basic Garden Prep posted at backtobasics-talia.com.
Ana Paula presents Top 100 Gardening Blogs posted at Construction Management Degrees.
Linda@NHE presents Blueberries Health Benefits posted at Natural Health Ezine, saying, “If you aren’t growing blueberries in your garden, you should be! They have some amazing health benefits!”
house plants
Cindi Albright presents Succulent Photography posted at Rustique Art, saying, “We soon found out that we both love the selection of succulents we spotted at our local garden center. I was very thankful that I had a budget to stick to as we could have bought one of every plant we saw. We settled on just a few and I’m happy to say that they are all still alive. I might go so far as to say that they are thriving. 
Of course I wanted to share pictures with you so I planted one of our purchases, a Chinese Dunce Cap, in a tiny watering can I had lying around. I am so jazzed…this plant self propagates…sweet! It makes more and they are so easy to grow.”
kids gardening
travelcat4 presents Saving Baby Trees Can Be Great Garden Fun! posted at Eco Friendly House And Garden.
Fred Lee presents Springtime Allergies and Children posted at Parenting Squad.
landscape
Bob Johnson presents The Most Complete Shed Types List, Period! posted at How To Build A Shed, saying, “A complete list of the sheds you can ever think about placing in your garden”
Donald Rickerby presents Deterring Thieves From Taking Your Garden Pots posted at All Garden Pots, saying, “Garden pots help complete your overall garden by adding valuable interest and visual focal points.”
Kristia presents Do-It-Yourself Front Yard Landscaping: Take 2 posted at Family Balance Sheet.
lawn care
Condo Blues presents Decorative Terra Cotta Rain Barrels posted at Condo Blues.
organic gardening
travelcat4 presents Learning To Identify Wildlife Can Improve Your Outdoor Fun Ten-Fold! posted at Anything For Animals.
Richard Adams presents 7 Amazingly Good Reasons Start Growing Your Own Food posted at Eco Living Advice.
patio furniture
mmter presents Manufacture a Peaceful Outdoor Setting With Wicker Patio Furniture | All Wicker Furniture posted at All Wicker Furniture, saying, “wicker patio furniture bringing that peaceful feeling to your patio dek”
Case Ernsting presents How To Protect Your Infant, Toddler and Child with an Easy Home Safety Checklist | Home and Decor posted at Home and Decor, saying, “Childproofing your furniture and protecting your children from the hazards of sharp corners doesn’t end at the front door. Make sure your outdoor patio furniture is safe for your children with these helpful tips and insights.”
vegetables
TSW Blog presents Growing Carrots In My Garden posted at The Smarter Wallet.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of a gardening carnival using our carnival submission form. The next issue of A Gardening Carnival will be available on May 26, 2010.
Technorati tags: a gardening carnival, blog carnival.
Ask the Gardener-April 26th
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Today we are going to tackle another one of the great questions our readers are sending to us. Before we get to today’s question, we just want to remind you that you can ask us any of your gardening questions here on these Ask the Gardener posts or by e-mailing us at info@successfulgardens.com. We will answer all of the questions we receive either here on the blog or in our new monthly newsletter. The first issue of that newsletter should be hitting your e-mail inboxes the end of this week! We hope you have signed up in the box in the sidebar for our newsletter. You won’t want to miss a single issue!
Now, on to this week’s Ask the Gardener quesion:
When is the best time to transplant Irises?
Photo by: dog madic
When Spring has sprung and things begin to warm up, we tend to get Spring Fever and want to do everything in our yards and gardens. Sometimes we get a little too eager and try to do things that are better off being done a little later in the growing season. Iris transplanting and dividing is one of those things.
The best time to divide and transplant your Iris is approximately 6-8 weeks after they have finished blooming through fall. So basically, anytime during the summer or fall time is a good time to transplant them. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind before you grab that shovel. You don’t want to do your transplanting when it is too hot. If it is 90+F, you will want to wait until it is cooler. Generally you will find it best in late August or September, depending on where you live.
There are a couple of things that you will want to keep in mind when you do your transplanting. When you plant your iris, make sure that the surface of the rhizome is level with the surface of the ground or just below. You don’t want to plant them too deeply or else your iris won’t flower. Also make sure that you don’t mulch over the rhizomes or water your Iris with shallow and frequent waterings. Overwatering and too much moisture in mulch could cause the rhizomes to soften and rot.
We will cover more about how to transplant Iris later when it is the ideal time to divide them.
Spring & Summer Lawn And Garden Tips
Posted by: | CommentsNow that spring is here, it is a good time to take a look at the problem spots in your lawn and garden:
- Do you notice areas of standing water?
- Do you have problems with slow or poor drainage in your yard?
- Are there areas in your lawn & garden where you see slow or weak plant growth?
Any one of these conditions could be the result of clay soil in your lawn & garden.
When it comes to your lawn and garden, the presence of clay soil can create a number of problems:
- Clay soil drains slowly. Thus, as the winter snow melts and the spring rains start, the clay soil tends to remain saturated long after average or sandy soils have drained. Wet or saturated soils do not make for a good growing environment long term.
- Clay soil is much slower to warm up in the spring. Because of its’ density, the clay soil is resistant to the warming effects of the spring sunshine. Colder soil temperatures slow plant growth. Until the soil warms up sufficiently, springtime growth will be slow and difficult.
- Clay soil compacts (pushes together or bonds to itself), making it hard for the roots to penetrate. When the root systems can’t penetrate, they become “stunted” or stop growing. This is not a healthy growing environment.
- Clay soil is alkaline (has a high pH), which is hard on plants.
- To top it off, clay soil is very heavy and difficult to work with. And messy!
SoilLogic’s Liquid “Gypsum” product (also sold in some areas as “Liquid Thrive”) can help with all of your clay soil problems. While it is not a miracle, it works very quickly. A program of regularly scheduled applications should help improve poor soil conditions within weeks. It is very easy to apply (much easier to use than bags of traditional dry gypsum), and is relatively inexpensive for the job that it does.
Liquid “Gypsum” may be just your answer for reconditioning your soil, because it can be applied on the surface soil in your flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, or on your lawn. This is easily done with the quart (32. Oz.) ready to spray (“RTS”) bottle, which covers up to 1,000 sq. ft. SoilLogic offers other sizes of Liquid “Gypsum” for larger yards and repeated applications.
What does Liquid “Gypsum” do? Its’ concentrated formula has the ability to penetrate the millions of fine clay particles in heavy or hardpan soils, and help to loosen the structure of the soil. This creates air and moisture space that gradually loosens and breaks open the soil structure, which is what your plants, trees, shrubs and lawn need for better growth.
Please note that Liquid “Gypsum” does not contain any major plant nutrients, so it is still necessary to apply it in conjunction with a regular fertilizing program. However, Liquid “Gypsum” does contain some ingredients that are very good for healthy plant growth.
To recap, SoilLogic’s Liquid “Gypsum” (also sold in some areas as “Liquid Thrive”) can help solve your common clay soil problems:
- Improve drainage
- Open up compacted soil
- Create a better growing environment for your lawn and garden!
