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Picking the Best Time to Water your Roses

staff — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:18:12 +0000

Think a quick spray with the hose is enough to keep your roses lovely and blooming? Think again. How, and when, you decide to water your roses is one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of basic rose care. Here are a few tips and guidelines for keeping your roses supple, healthy, and beautiful year-round.

Tips on Moving The Moles Out of Your Garden for Good

staff — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:57:51 +0000

Moles are little mammals that are known for their subterranean living as well as their insect eating qualities. In children’s literature as well as in movies made for young children, moles are portrayed as being blind, lovable, and quite often misunderstood because of their love for the dark. The reality, of course, is a bit different, especially for the gardener who suddenly finds evidence of mole activity in her or his garden.

Train to Tame – How to Keep your Climbing Rose under Control

staff — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:57:38 +0000

Few sights are as spectacular as a climbing rose in full bloom covering the side of a house like a grand work of art, or merrily rambling along a picket fence in a cloud of color and fragrance. Since climbing roses can take several years to reach maturity, and since they are often key elements in the overall scheme of the garden, it’s important to start out with the best rose to succeed in your garden, before you invest all the time and space. There are five main parameters to consider when choosing a climbing rose: size, shade tolerance, disease resistance, rebloom, and aesthetics (color, fragrance, etc.). Of course, it should be so beautiful it makes your heart sing every time you look at it!

Bare Root Roses – Why They are a Good Choice for your Rose Garden

staff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:51:44 +0000

Bareroot roses are grown in fields and dug out in the fall of each year, when they are placed in cold storage, and then shipped to the consumer. Bare-root roses don’t look very promising – the roses are all dormant stem and brown roots and look dead – but they’re the ideal way to get your roses off to a great start since there’s no chance of transplant shock. Plant these roses in early spring in any part of the country. Some people prefer to buy their roses already potted, but you will find some big advantages to purchasing bareroot roses.

The Pros of Starting a Raised Bed Garden

staff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:51:46 +0000

A raised bed is a mound of prepared soil 6 to 8 inches high. It can be made permanent by edging with wood, stones, logs or bricks. The soil in a raised bed is more porous because no one ever steps into the bed to pack it down. This allows good drainage so that air, water, and fertilizer will penetrate to the roots more easily.

Identifying Common Diseases and Pests in your Household Plants

staff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:51:50 +0000

Hobby gardeners do not limit their enthusiasm simply to the outside, but many have been known to take their passion inside the home as well. With a surge in the popularity of household plants, it is a small wonder that even gardening enthusiasts without a garden are now indulging their passion in the small indoors. Yet no hobby comes without its host of problems, and household plants are no exception.

Your Guide to Selecting and Growing Hybrid Tea Roses for your Region

staff — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:45:56 +0000

Hybrid tea roses are the most popular type of rose and the rose that you see most often in gardens. This is because they have the largest blooms of all the roses. The blooms are borne singly on strong stems and make excellent cut flowers. Colors include pure white and shades of red, lavender, orange, pink, yellow, apricot, crimson, maroon and mauve. Most, but not all, hybrid teas have some fragrance.

Sowing your Seeds – A Little Know-how Goes a Long Way

staff — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:39:49 +0000

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the warm, moist soil is beckoning for your attention. You are ready to get out there and do some planting, except you are not planting small flowers that you have picked up at the gardening store yesterday; instead, you are determined to sow your seeds this year. You have painstakingly researched what kinds of plants will grow well in your area, and you have purchased seeds from the best and most reputable sources available to ensure freshness.

Your Handbook to Beneficial Bugs

staff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:39:37 +0000

Eek! A bug! This scream, or one very similar to it, can be hear throughout homes and gardens in the spring and summer months. Seeing that the garden is the closest many hobby gardeners get to actually spending some time in the great outdoors, it is not surprising that some are revolted if not scared by the little strange looking creatures. Usually a hasty retreat to the poison cabinet follows that scream, and the bugs are then eradicated with the help of household chemicals and pesticides.

Getting to Know Lawn Aerators

staff — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:16:58 +0000

Lawn aerators have improved over the years of their existence. From the crude and primitive types to the high end types that are being used today, lawn aerators have definitely gone through a huge transformation.