Proper watering is a crucial element of growing and maintaining perennials, or for any garden variety for that matter. But when is the best time to water them and how often should you do it?

For the majority of perennials, watering is only required when the top of the soil dries out. However, do not wait until they are dry as a bone before giving them water.

Watering is required before any visible signs of drought stress appears. If you are growing perennials in an arid environment, it is ideal to prolong the time between watering. On the other hand, if your plants are located in a wet habitat, it is best to not let them dry out completely.

Watering Problems Can Be A Disaster…

Getting too much or too little water on the soil for long periods of time causes several problems for your perennials. However, determining whether your plants are getting too much or too little can be a bit tricky since both conditions show the same symptoms. When perennials are under-watered or over-watered, their leaves turn yellowish with brown edges. They look dull, droopy, limp, and their growth is suppressed. Their leaves and flowers also begin to wither and drop off, and the plant eventually dies.

It’s Best To Test The Soil…

It’s hard to tell if you are watering too much or not watering enough by simply looking at these symptoms. So before reaching for the watering can, you must first check the soil to see if it’s too dry or too wet. When you check the soil, don’t just look at the surface to see if it’s wet or dry, because the top of the soil will be different once you go several inches underneath. When you start to see symptoms of stress from your plants, dig a tiny hole a few inches deep and touch the soil. If it feels wet, reduce the amount of water. If it’s dry, you need to water more often.

If you have clay soil, it’s a little more complicated to figure out if you’re watering too little or too much. This is because clay has tiny particles that hold in the moisture and restrict the water from getting to the plants. Therefore, the soil may feel moist but the plants are still not getting enough needed water. To solve this problem, the clay soil should be amended with organic matter.

In addition to manually checking the soil, you can also purchase an electronic moisture monitor that indicates when it’s time to water. Another simple alternative is to use a long screwdriver and probe the soil. You know that your plants are getting enough water if you are able to penetrate the soil with the screwdriver.

Tags: watering perennials, gardening, growing plants, growing flowers, flower gardening

Very few people truly like insects of any sort. In most cases, gardeners are amongst those who like them the least. Even the most pacifistic of gardeners could second guess his stance when he sees the destruction that some insects can do. A gardener could spend an entire summer pruning his flowers to look just the perfect way or helping his vegetables to grow big and strong. And when that gardener walks into his backyard to see his flowers or his vegetables destroyed by insects, he will seriously reconsider his life choices. Thus is the pattern of the Aphid invasion.

Aphids can be quite annoying to the gardener. They excrete a sweet substance that, like the soda pop left in the mini-van, quickly turns black on the leaves of the plants. And like the soda, ants love this sweet substance and will flock to it. Now your rose looks like a house after a teenager’s parents left him home alone for the first time. There’s the sweet substance from the aphid that makes the flower look dingy. There’s also an entire colony of ants marching across your hard work

Though it is tempting to squash each and every last one of these bugs, to do so would take an annoyingly (not to mention impossibly) long time. Instead, gardeners must cautiously attack the aphid invasion.

There are a number of methods available to the gardener to get rid of his aphid problem. Each one has positive effects and negative drawbacks. For instance, the suggestion to squash ever aphid is safe to the environment, but it may not be an efficient use of resources.

There are a great deal of pesticides out there as well. The key is trying to find one that is good to the environment, doesn’t harm the drinking water, and still takes care of the aphid invasion. The best way to find one of these is to go to a greenhouse and to see what they suggest.

The greenhouse workers will also know that you should not try to kill of all the aphids in your garden. It’s temping when you see them dragging their ant friends everywhere, but you have to remember that nature’s ecosystem is a balance. There are insects that eat those aphids. So if you kill them off, there will not be anything more for the predators to eat. This causes three problems. First, the predators find this arrangement extremely inconvenient. Second, their predators find it inconvenient as well. And thirdly when the next family of aphids comes in for a bit, they’ll most likely stay around. After all, you got rid of their predators.

So if you can put up with the aphid invasion, it’s best to do so. If you do need to do get rid of them, make sure to leave a few around to guard against the return of the predators.

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While most people are aware of the effects of under watering their plants, many are not aware of what happens when they over water their plants, and those effects can be just as damaging to a plant or garden as the effects of under watering. In fact, the typical reason that a houseplant dies is because it has been over watered.

While the amount of water a plant should be receiving depends largely on the type of plant it is, what the season is, what the temperature is, and the local climate, the signs of an over watered plant are generally the same. For example, gradual defoliation (where the lower leaves on the plant yellow and fall), rapid defoliation, wilting or drooping, spotted foliage, stunted plants, and fuzzy, gray mould around the flowers, leaves, or stem of the plant, are all signs of potential over watering.

Since the symptoms mentioned above can also be indicative of other problems, however, to accurately determine whether you are over watering you plants, you should carefully observe how frequently you water them. Rapid defoliation, for example, could also be caused by rapid changes in room temperature or even insufficient water. Gradual defoliation could be a result of a lack of sufficient light or fertilizer or, again, a result of under watering. Too much fertilizer or exposure to extreme cold could also cause some of the plant problems listed above. Another way to help you determine whether you are over watering your plants is to check their roots, as rotten roots are a strong indication of over watering.

As a general rule, although not always agreed upon, your garden should receive about one inch per week of water. This is only a guideline for watering your garden, though, since it is much more effective if you personally observe your garden in order to judge how much water it needs. If you do go by the one inch per week rule, remember that this amount will have to be adjusted from time to time depending on the season, climate, and needs of your plants or garden.

One of the most significant environmental factors affecting how much water your garden will need is the rate of evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration refers to the two ways that plants lose water. Evaporation is one form of evapotranspiration and has to do with the natural loss of water into the air. Transpiration is another way that plants lose water and refers to the loss of water by the plant itself, usually through the leaves or the stem of the plant.

The best way to make sure that you are properly watering your garden is to fuse simple common sense. First, instead of trying to follow a calendar that tells you when to water, examine the soil in your garden yourself to see if it is too dry and crumbly or, in contrast, too muddy. Checking the soil will help you avoid both over watering and under watering. Second, water slowly. Watering too quickly causes water runoff. Third, water deeply so that more than just the top layer of soil gets watered. Finally, water in the morning. Watering in the heat of the day can cause too much evaporation and watering late at night in humid climates can cause disease and fungal growth.
For most people, as long as they are aware of the consequences of both under watering and over watering their garden, the problem is one that is easily avoided and rarely occurring.

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I had come home from work, ready to take a taste of the glorious head of broccoli that I had had grown. When I arrived, I found it chewed down to a small green nub poking out of the mulch. Apparently, a family of rabbits had taken it upon themselves to make a feast out of my work. Words cannot describe the ire that I felt toward the hideous beasts. And so, as is my Constitutional right, I took up my arms and stood guard to defend my property against the invading hare force.

My neighbor found me there, like Elmer Fudd from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, sitting in my armchair with my weapon perched readily on my lap. I had filled the hopper with paintballs, made sure the air tank was filled, and I was ready for one of those destructive creatures to show his ugly face. Any rabbit that dared to touch anything else in my garden would feel the wrath of a flurry of paintballs.

My neighbor probably should have walked away at this point, but I think curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask what I was doing. I explained my rabbit dilemma to him and he laughed. So I shot him the foot with a paintball. He began to walk away, threatening not to tell me the safer – and saner – way to get rid of the rabbit infestation. So I apologized, and he taught me what he knew about bunnies.

The rabbits ate my broccoli, but they also eat beans and other small vegetables. My neighbor told me that the best way to keep them from doing further damage was to put up a small fence. It only had to be about two feet tall to keep the rabbits out. However, he told me to be careful and make sure that I bury a few inches of it in the ground because the rabbits will burrow underneath it. They can also squeeze through openings that seem to be smaller than themselves. With openings more than two inches wide, this is a possibility.

My neighbor disapproved of my hunting rabbits with paintballs. He said there were products out there that would humanely and safely take care of the rabbits. He first suggested dried blood. I immediately had an idea on where I could find – or make – some. However, he said that many greenhouses actually stock it. He also said that fox urine – also available at greenhouses – does the same thing. The odors keep the little bunnies away since they think a predator might be near. I wondered if they could smell me and know that I was a vicious predator too.

Though I was somewhat disappointed in my hunting excursion, I saw my neighbor’s point. He gave me some safe and humane ideas to keep my food safe from the vicious predators. And no rabbits were harmed in the making of this piece.

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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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They come swooping into your garden like a stampede of mustangs, kicking up dust, trampling everything in their path! Women and children run away screaming! Grown men find their knees weaken in terror! As if they weren’t fearsome enough in singles or in pairs, these dark nightmares come in entire herds multiplying their damage exponentially. Is there no one who can stand against the mighty invasion of the snails?

Perhaps “stampede” was a little dramatic, but the rest holds close to true. Snails tend to multiply quite quickly. You may notice one on one night, then two on then next. Pretty soon the snails have taken over the garden.

However, gardeners do not have to surrender their hard work to the slimy invaders. There are a number of ways to stop the snail army. The first way is to put up a defensive wall around the garden. Fortunately, the snail army has not yet learned how mount an air strike, so they have to traverse the ground terrain. Apparently if you had a 4-foot long foot that was covered in a mucosal ooze – which had the unfortunate side effect of sticking to every piece of litter that you came across, you would seriously watch where you are going. Snails are the same way. Grainy dusts like sawdust, coffee grounds and the like tend to discourage their trespassing trails. And you thought it was inconvenient when toilet paper stuck to your shoe?

You can also bait the snails, let them think they have the offense and then carry them all away. Snails love beer and like most frat boys, will drown in it if you leave a bowl of it in the garden. If you want to be a bit more humane, lay out some food – like a slice of bread with peanut butter. After the snails have gorged themselves, come out, pick them up, and move them elsewhere.

For those who are a bit more offensive n their approach, you can send in a sneak attack in the middle of the night. When the foot of a 200 pound person is placed on the top of a soft creature weighing less than an ounce, it has just the effect that you think it would have. The snail squooshes. Alternatively, if you want to stage a reenactment of the ending to the Wizard of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the West keeps screaming, “I’m melting! I’m melting!” then you should know that snails and saltwater really do not react well to one another. The snails start screaming “I’m melting! I’m melting!” and water starts screaming, “I’m slimy! I’m slimy!”

But whether you plan on ending the snail invasion with violence or just a peaceful protest, hopefully this article gives you some good ideas on protecting the homeland garden against pesky invaders allowing you to enjoy the hard work you put into it.

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Gardeners have one of the most challenging pastimes of all hobbyists. Other hobbies are usually under the control of one person and not subject to the various natural disasters in existence. Model airplanes don’t worry about being caught in a storm on their trip through the living room. Cross stitchers don’t have to fear wild animals coming and devouring their work (unless they have a cat with a gigantic appetite). Gardeners, on the other hand, face insects, drought, wind, storms, animals and countless other obstacles. Many of these can be repelled with a simple smell, a certain flower, or a large fence. However, few obstacles display the intellectual creativity, physical fortitude, and dogged persistence as the all-powerful squirrel.

It’s never an easy thing to see your hard work devoured by an army of vicious rodents. Squirrels seem to be able to mount a precision offensive to capture or destroy any obstacle – particularly when it comes to vegetables or flowers in the garden. And if you happen to be the lucky gardener who tries to grow tulips or crocuses, the squirrels thank you. You are now the proud bearer of the Holy Grail of squirrel-dom. It doesn’t matter if you bury the bulbs – they have maps, they can follow the clues, and they know where to find them. The worst part is, if they can’t find their grail … they go after just about anything else you offer them.

Many people wonder how they can ever hope to mount a defense against the charging ranks of the squirrel army. How will they save their hobby from the rodents’ vicious jaws, sharp claws, and terrible appetites? They try to put up a fence, but squirrels can go over, under, or through just about anything that you put in their way. That’s how so many of them end up having a barbecue after trespassing into a power transformer.

Some people try to get dogs or cats to chase the squirrels. This is as futile as the fence. The squirrel can outsmart the cat because it has been raised in the wild, while the cat has been raised in the windowsill. The squirrel an outsmart the dog because … well, it’s a dog. Both of these defenses are like trying to catch a greased pig … another useless defense against squirrel-zilla.

Some people suggest that deer repellant works with the squirrels. Perhaps they are distant cousins. Or the deer serve as the mounts for the squirrel infantry. Regardless of why, there is at least some limited intelligence that this works and it may be worth a try.

But when it comes to squirrels eating where they don’t belong, there’s one secret weapon that seems to be successful: the dreaded red pepper bomb. It appears that the squirrel army can’t handle hot foods and red pepper seems to really set them off. They’ll stay away from your flowers, but if you use this technique on your vegetable garden, prepare to be cooking Tex-Mex style for a while.

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