Archive for April, 2006

Growing Irises

Sunday, April 30th, 2006


Growing Irises

In late spring and early summer, expect to see the irises begin to bloom. Many people believe that nothing can match the beauty of an iris. They come in bright, alive colors – in wide range as well – and they are one of the first perennials (plants that come back year after year) to bloom. With a little tender loving care, anyone can grow irises and enjoy the beauty they provide.

Because of their wide range of vibrant colors, irises make excellent landscaping plants. An artist with a palate of brown and blue is limited in his painting ability. However, if he is given access to a variety of colors such as yellow, blue, pink, violet, orange, purple, dark red, and white – not to mentioned many combinations of these colors – he can paint a beautiful masterpiece. The gardener can “paint” his own masterpiece as well by planting these perennials in different shapes and patterns. Use the large variety of hues to develop a “painting” that will bloom to life in the late spring.

You can also combine species of iris as well. Different species bloom at different times and have different colors. One of the things to consider about this is to take into consideration your own climate. Not every plant grows in every climate. You generally do not see palm trees in Alaska. The best way to find the right irises is to check with the Internet, books, or a local green thumb. Sometimes the latter are your best option because they know the climate and can help you overcome the difficulties there.

When you plant your irises, make sure that you use looser soil – such as soil mixed with compost. You will need to prepare to dig deep – in some cases up to a foot into the ground – to make sure your bulb stays safe and warm during the cold winter months. Most irises need dryer soil as well, but check the species that you have to make sure. Some thrive better in the wetlands.

The iris does have some natural enemies. Like many flowers, it is susceptible to mildew and rot. Ensuring the right moisture conditions will help the plants. This includes proper soil drainage. It also attracts a borer beetle that eats through the roots and causes them to rot. Every few years, a gardener should rotate where his irises are planting, taking time to inspect the bulb. If he finds sign of the beetle, he should throw away the bulb immediately,

But as long as they remain healthy – which is easy to do – irises make a gorgeous addition to any landscape. They are a joy to plant and to see bloom. Gardeners with the artistic flair can choose a variety of colors and make his landscape his canvas, painting a picture with the colors nature made. And with the ease of growing them, gardeners can have a great deal of fun just designing the terrain.

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Tips On Pruning

Sunday, April 30th, 2006


Tips On Pruning

Pruning, defined as the removal of dead, living, or unnecessary parts from a plant, has many specific purposes. Done properly, pruning improves the health and appearance of the plants, shrubs, and trees in your garden and improves the quality their flower or fruit production as well. To prune the plants and shrubs in your garden properly, however, you must first be familiar with the reasons for pruning. The possible reasons for pruning include training a plant, shrub, or tree to grow in a specific shape or form, maintaining the plant’s overall health, improving the quality of the fruit or flower the plant produces, and restricting plant growth.

Examples of training a plant to grow in a certain shape or form can be seen everywhere. Bushes are often cut into a special pleasing shape or design and many plants are often trained to grow on a trellis, up a wall, or around poles. The health of a plant is also promoted by pruning because pruning often involves cutting off the limbs of plants that have been damaged by severe weather, insects, or disease. Also, when done at the right time, pruning helps a plant produce larger, more appealing, fruits or flowers (although, another occasional consequence of pruning is a reduced quantity of fruits and flowers). Finally, pruning is useful when you are trying to maintain a certain landscape appearance and, in order to do this, you must restrict the growth of certain plants.

Once you know the objective of pruning your garden, you can then proceed to the actual task. Naturally, a gardening task would not be complete without some basic tips, and pruning is no exception. It also follows that different plants require different techniques. Hedges, for example, can be categorized into two types – those that are grown intentionally close together to form a windbreak or a high screen and those that take on a more formal appearance such as Boxwood or Privet. For the first type, pruning should be limited to cutting away dead, dying, or diseased limbs and for controlling density. Pruning for the later type of hedge, on the other hand, requires more persistent cutting and clearing.

Perhaps it is because no single authority completely agrees on the proper way to prune roses, but they are among the simplest of plants to prune. The one rule that everyone does agree on for pruning roses is that you should always cut back on old nonproductive canes. Just be sure that you have some good quality gardening shears and a pair of heavy gardening gloves to protect your hands from the sharp thorns found on most types of roses.

Evergreens are another type of plant or tree that you will find it necessary to prune from time to time. While there are several different types of evergreens, the general rule of thumb is not to prune any of them too severely or too frequently. Shrubs and vines are also plants that require little pruning since they are usually planted for their beautiful color or for their ability to drape or screen objects.

Fruit trees probably require the most attention when it comes to pruning since proper pruning will help you grow trees that produce reliable, annual crops of large, juicy fruit. For this, your fruit trees must be pruned as they grow as well as annually.

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Fall Into Fall Gardening

Saturday, April 29th, 2006


Fall Into Fall Gardening

While most serious gardeners consider the planting season to be over by midsummer, this need not be the case and, in fact, some find fall to be the best time of year of all to garden. Fortunately, there are a large variety of tasty vegetables and attractive flowers that can be planted now in time to produce a lovely fall garden.

Of course, a healthy garden depends on a number of factors which include the health of the soil, the types of vegetables or flowers chosen for planting, the fertilizer used, the amount of space available for your garden and for each plant, and ongoing maintenance.

Healthy soil is where every good garden gets its start and one of the most important qualities to look at in soil is how readily it absorbs water. Naturally, the better it absorbs water the better the soil. Good soil also drains sufficiently and should be porous. Porous soil contains more air, which helps roots grow better. Fertilizers are important to the health of the soil as well because they help encourage and stimulate plant growth and production and there are a number of good types of fertilizers available that can be applied easily. Mulching and shade cloths for the soil are also helpful because they contribute toward controlling both soil temperature and soil moisture.

Fall gardeners find the season to be a good time for gardening because the temperature is so much more tolerable than other times of the year when the heat can be unbearable. Also, the plants have a time to grow and reach maturity under the most ideal weather conditions. Some of the best types of vegetables to plant in the fall are all types of greens, such as lettuce and spinach, and arugula, root vegetables such as beets, carrots, radishes, and turnips, and, in some places, potatoes. Perennials, certain shrubs, and trees are also great for fall planting.

How much space allotted for your garden and for each plant should be carefully thought out too, as overcrowding will not produce healthy crops or attractive flowers. One option to consider if you are limited in space is to build a raised bed. Raised beds have been around for a long time and can be built from just about anything including bricks, concrete, and stones. Raised beds are relatively easy to install and prepare and they are easier to work with because less bending over is required.

Maintenance is another important aspect of successful gardening. Making sure that your garden is adequately watered but not over watered, that it has been properly mulched, and that, once plants start to grow from the seeds, the plants are not too crowded, are all essential to maintaining a healthy garden. Regular pest control, (both animals and insects) and weed control is also a necessary part of protecting your garden and ensuring that it produces the vegetable crop or flowers you are expecting. Not to be overlooked is the proper amount of sunlight – both too much sunlight and too little sunlight are the surest ways to destroy your garden.

Indeed, gardening does require patience, time, and energy and fall gardening, in particular, includes its share of challenges. Most people, however, who do garden in the fall, find the garden’s harvest to be well worth their efforts.

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