Fall bulb planting (Video)

Its getting around that time to plant your spring and summer bulbs, so here are some reminder tips on the do and do not when planting them.

Remember to label your plants because as much as we would like to believe we will not forget which plant went where – we do forget.

Make sure you plant bulbs where the drainage is good, and watch you do not over fertilizer – bone meal should be used according to the label.

Plant bulbs the required depth and spacing to get the best blooms. Remember the foliage and leaves need to be healthy in order for bulb to feed from at the end of the season for next years blooms.

If you can not plant your bulbs when you get them because of bad weather or to wet ground, store them in a cool, dry place with good ventilation to avoid mold or mildew.

Planting Bulbs in Fall The Bulb Lady (Dutchbulbs.com

Planting a rain garden

A rain garden is a good way to divert rainfall and storm runoff to another place more desirable. There are two types of rain gardens – under-drained and self- containing. Which type depends on the volume of water that needs to be diverted, what your existing soil is like and how much you can afford. To be effective, a self-contained rain garden should be able to divert one inch of water within a four hour window. A under-drained rain garden should be able to divert heavy storm water within a two hour window. In both rain garden systems the ground needs to be excavated to a depth of, ideally 2' – 3' in depth, but a minimum of 8” and planting materials are best started when they are small so they can adapt to the growing conditions over time, as some times the area will be wetter then the norm. 

A rain garden is a very attractive way to hide a draining system that can last for years and with the right planting materials it will attract birds and butterflies. It can be used to show off native plants of the region or be planted every year with annuals for a cottage garden look. For a complete look at what a rain garden is, how to design one and all the do's and don'ts, check out this link from Low Impact Development.org.

How to Install a Rain Garden
H20Milwaukee





Key Ideas for Installing a Rain Garden
backyardfarmer

Pruning Tomatoes

Found this video on how to prune your tomato plants to encourage a better yield.  Thought I's share it with my readers - Enjoy.

Pot up a vegetable garden

Pixabay/Public Domain/CC0

Nothing can beat the taste of home grown #vegetables and with today's rising price planting your own little garden can save you a fist full of money.   Even if you do not have a yard, with today's container plant systems you can have a garden almost anywhere, even hanging off a ceiling.  Plant and seed companies now offer space-saving plants that cut the need of plant area almost in half; so the biggest worry is to find the right plants for your climate, figuring out placement, so that the plants get the required amount of sun and shade each day and finding the right size containers for your plants.

When growing vegetables in #containers one rule to remember is bigger is better.   Most vegetables have a more expansive root system than flowers, so the deeper and wider your container, the greater your success of growing a healthy plant that will produce high yield of produce.   When selecting your vegetables to grow look for varieties that state they are “compact,” “bush” or bred for container planting.  Below is a list of some varieties suitable for a container garden.

The type of soil you use is also important – garden or pure topsoil might be your first chose but they can harbor weeds, diseases and pests and does not drain as well in containers.  Potting mixes are better, especially if it contains water retaining particles to save on watering (great if your the type that forget or don't have time to water); since watering is essential, another way to retain moisture longer would be to top off your soil with one inch of mulch.  Plus potting mixes are formulated to ensure good water drainage for those times when you just watered and it starts raining.

Here are some varieties I have plant with success:

• Tomatoes - Pixie, Sweet 100, and Red Cherry – for dwarf plants you will need a pot that is 12" deep, for regular standard plants like Husky Red or Gardener's Delight a 24" deep pot;
• Cucumber - Spacemaster, Burpee Pickler container should be about 20" wide, 16" deep and water, water, water;
• Lettuce - Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Little Gem, container 8" wide, 6-8" deep
• Peas - Little Marvel, Snowbird, container 12" deep
• Carrots - Nantes, Little Finger, container 10" wide, 10" deep
• Beans, Lima - Fordhook Bush Lima in container 12" wide, 8-10" deep