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Best New Tool of the Season...
I bought a pair of rubber garden shoes at Farm & Fleet in Baraboo (brand name RICS) and they are fantastic, as well as inexpensive! Like many garden shoes, they are a "clog" style, but they have a heel strap that can be worn around the heel, or flipped in front for a slip-on shoe. They are so light-weight, you almost have to check to see if they are on, but still provide very good support for your feet. ~ Submitted by Becky Gutzman
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Lawn Mower Checklist
Replace that old stale gas and change the oil. If it will be a month or so before using, add fuel stabilizer to the new gas.
Sharpen your mower blades and clean the underside of the deck. Also, make sure the air filter is clean.
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Now is the time to get the bulbs ready for forcing.
Tulips and daffodils make great late winter bouquets of color. Your amaryllis bulbs should be planted for color too. Can't have too much color this time of year.
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Don't Toss the Poinsettia, Replant It
Wondering what to do with that poinsettia plant that you hav the holidays? Well after it stops blooming you can keep it as a green house plant and transplant it outside in the spring. It will continue to grow with annual pruning and become a fairly large plant. It must be kept from freezing, so you will have to dig it up and bring it in for the winter. It will not flower unless you use a totally dark area with timed 12 hours light and 12 darkness.
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Storing Bulbs & Tubers Over Winter
To keep bulbs and tubers over winter, I store them in vermiculite. This is available at your favorite garden center. Tubers such as dahlias, tuberous begonia, glads, and others can be placed in a container with about 2 inches of vermiculite on the bottom. Place your bulbs and tubers inside the container, then pour vermiculite over the top of the bulbs and let it work down and fill to the top. Place in cool spot (not freezing) and they will be ready next spring.
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Fall Checklist
•Clean and lightly oil your shovels and spades to prevent rust.
•Sharpen your hoes, pruning equipment and saws.
•Drain your watering equipment.
•Clean and service your lawn mower and tiller.
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Mulching Tip
When adding a mulch around shrubs and trees, never put plastic or weed barrier fabric under the organic product. Plastic or weed barriers work well under inorganic material such as stone or lava rock. Under bark mulch or other organic material they do not work well. The mulch will break down over time and create a growing media on top of the plastic or weed barrier, so all your work and money are lost.
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Do you have problems with those pesky ants and wasps cleaning out your hanging hummingbird feeders? Here are a couple tips...
Wrap doublesided tape abound the hanger wire. The ants will not cross the tape.
Dab some vegetable oil on the "feeder" part. This is usually a little plastic flower. The wasps do not like this and will not obther the feeder. (Note: just on the flower part and not the whole thing.)
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Lawn Mowing Tips
The best way to keep your lawn looking good is to keep your lawn mower in top condition. This does not have to be a major task. First service your machine according to the owners manual. This usually means oil change and clean air filter. After that is finished, clean under the deck and sharpen the blade. A good clean cut does less tissue damage to the grass plant. It also can prevent "ragged" edges on the leaves. Then raise your cutting height to 2 1/2" to 3". Cutting your lawn at higher levels reduces water evaporation and helps choke out weeds. It is also a fact that longer grass grows a little slower. And remember, if you let your lawn go dormant, do not apply any fertilizer. This will burn the lawn and just be a waste of money.
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Make-it
Yourself Watering Jug Turn
that old liquid laundry detergent container into a watering
jug. After using all the detergent, rinse several times.
Then use a small drill (or Dremmel tool) to drill about
a dozen small holes in the cap. Then cut or drill a hole
in the top of the handle for filling or venting. Filling
can be done by just removing the cap. Use the container
for watering your plants. Add your liquid fertilizer and
away you go!! This tip was submitted by Anna Krause
that she found in "Ready Made" Magazine. |
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Want
to start a new flower or shrub garden but are not sure of
the size or shape? Here is what I did...
Lay out your new
bed with garden hose. You can make it any size or shape
to fit your needs. After the size and shape are final, what
I like to do is use "upside down" marking paint
(available at most home center and hardware stores). That
way lines can't be moved and you can prepare to spray and
prep the soil. |
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Spraying Tip
When
spraying a new or old bed, and using a product such as Round-Up,
I like to add a coloring agent to the mix (a product called
Turf Mark). This way I know where I have sprayed and do
not skip areas or waste product by too much overlap. This
product is available at commercial turf supply stores. Note:
Mix should be mixed 1-2% stronger when using this additive.
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Have
trouble storing your hanging baskets in the off season? Here is what I did...
Take 2 bicycle
hooks (the kind you hang your bikes from the ceiling), mount
them on your garage or garden shed ceiling, about 8-10 feet
apart. Purchase a closet pole (any lumber store) and hang
in the hooks. Place hanging basket hooks over closet pole.
An 8-10 foot pole will hold many baskets. I think I have
about 20-25 on mine. Of course they are emptied and cleaned
before hanging. In spring they are ready for new plants.
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Planter Watering Tips
To keep hanging
baskets from drying out so quickly, I use about 1 1/2 -
2" of cocoa bean mulch on top. On a 10-12 inch basket,
this will decrease watering by at least 50%. On southern
exposure full sun, I find that I can water 2-3 times weekly
rather than every day. This is handy if you are away for
a weekend.
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Planting Aggressive Species Suggestion
When planting
aggressive species that you want to keep in check, such
as pampas grass, cut the bottom from a 5 gallon pail and
set it in the ground, level with the top. Plant species
inside. The roots will be kept in check from spreading.
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Some thoughts...
Astilbes hate any kind of sun. My shade garden was sunnier
than expected. My sun garden had too much shade. Water new
trees like mad. The new wave petunia varieties make great
ground covers. Buy them mid season at half price. |
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Epsom salts -
sprinkled on zinnia beds - give the plants sturdy stems
and nice green leaves. I used it every 3 weeks and grew
killer zinnias and glads. Try espom salts on any plant that
looks too yellow or needs strong stems. I used it in Flordia
as a magnesium source for palm trees that were "yellowed
out". |
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Create nice fluffy
mulch from dried leaves (and seedless grass clippings) by
putting the leaves in a plastic garbage can, then mincing
them with a string bladed weed wacker. Do about half a can
at a time. Think of it as a blender for your leaves. The
resulting mulch doesn't become a hard matted surface. |
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Blood meal helps
to repel rabbits but a rabbit fence really keeps the little
critters out of your garden. I have a dogless yard, so I
have LOTS of rabbits. The green enamel coated wire fences
are really worth the extra money if you have smaller gardens
that you want to look decorative. Also, you can cover the
wire fencing with lacey heirloom vines that don't block
the view. |
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Simple
Slug Trap Costs Just Pennies
The following
tip was on a garden tiller advertising insert in a garden
magazine. Submitted by Ardyce Piehl
If slugs
have beheaded your prize marigold or reduced your lettuce
seedlings to stumps, other gardeners know how you feel.
Have you battled slugs in your backyard for years, tried
several common methods...including hunting them down with
a salt shaker and using traps filled with beer. All of these
methods seem time consuming at best.
Helmut Brodka of
Renton, Washington found the ultimate weapon against slugs;
he calls it the "slug-o-matic". The contraption
is easy to make, mess free and costs just pennies. The only
materials needed are an empty 2 liter soft drink bottle,
a few staples and slug bait purchased from a garden center.
To make one yourself,
cut the top third off the empty bottle. Drop a spoonful
of slug bait into the bottom portion of the bottle; push
the top portion into the body of the bottle. ( Pointy end
first) Be sure the cap is removed since it will be inside
and you will not be able to remove it afterwards. Put enough
staples around the rim to hold in place. 3 staples should
do. This design also keeps the poisonous slug bait away
from kids and pets. It won't take long for the slugs to
find their way into the bottle, However it's difficult to
find their way out. Most will perish from the bait in the
meantime. Keep the bottle for several weeks then toss and
make a new one. It's clean and it works - guaranteed - Helmut
says... |
