Winter Garden Tips

Did you know there are some gardeners who go crazy when they can’t grow anything during the winter? Well… crazy is probably an exaggeration, but a gardener can stand just so much of the indoors before feeling a bit stir crazy. Uh-oh, there’s that word again!  Anyway, if you can identify with this ‘C’ word feeling, I found some great information about gardening during the winter months that could help you. Check these out…

The White House Winter Garden – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com

Produce at the White House will be harvested, even during the coldest months.

Weeds & Seeds Swap » Winter Begins, But Gardening Plans Underway

This is Christmas week, and after Christmas come New Years and January, when many begin to see gardening catalogs show up in their mail boxes as they think ahead to Spring gardening…as for me, I like to do my shopping online, … Read more

Maintaining Healthy Young Fruit Trees

Making sure that your fruit tree stays healthy is very important, but not as hard as you might think. There are, however, some vital things you need to do:

Plant your  young fruit tree correctly… Ask a local nursery for planting instructions, or do an internet search… just be sure the instructions are specific to your fruit tree. But, here are some “rule of thumb” instructions:

• All trees should be planted perfectly vertical so they develop a strong structure.
• Also, the roots should be spread out to ensure stabily and maximum water intake.
• Another part of making sure that your fruit tree stays healthy is planting it in fertile soil.
• You also have to be sure that the soil suits your tree variety (dry or damp soil, sandy or clay soil, etc) Read more

How to Grow Larger Sized Fruit

New fruit tree growers are always shocked at how small their fruit is compared to what they’re used to seeing at the grocery store. While smaller fruits might be what nature originally intended, it is possible to attain larger fruits without any genetic altering or added chemicals.

On almost any tree, the success of each individual fruit depends on spacing. Usually in the early stages of fruit production, veteran growers do something called “fruit thinning”. they remove nearly a third of the emerging crop. Generally, there should not be any fruits within six to eight inches of each other. During the fruit thinning process, this is the distance you should generally aim for to optimize the amount of nutrition that each fruit gets. Hundreds of little fruits on one tree competing for the available materials necessary for growth just results in stunted fruits. The resulting crop is fewer in number, but larger in size and better in quality. Read more

Young Fruit Trees-Proper Care

If you have just recently planted a new fruit tree, I think it is safe to assume you are not yet an expert on the subject. More fruit trees die in their beginning years due to poor care habits than to disease or pestilence. Therefore it is vital that you know how to care for trees properly.

During the first stages of the tree’s life, the roots, trunk, and branches are not yet fully developed and cannot support much weight.  Unfortunately, entire branches can snap off under the weight of the fruit.

Provide external support for young fruit tree branches – prop them up with boards, or tie them to something at a higher altitude. As long as you can provide support it needs in these early years, it should grow to be independent in no time at all. Read more

Flower Garden Tips

Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health:

1. The essentials must always take priority…

Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water, sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower garden more frequently during dry spells.

When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth. When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you don’t heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop rot through overheating.

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