GardenersCardiff answers:

Perhaps look at sunset magazine; they always have cute ideas for your garden!
Or perhaps go to the home depot and look at the magazines they have on gardening.

They are quite helpful!

Good luck!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Garlic and onions are a natural repellent for ants. Rosemary repels many flying insects (including flies and mosquitoes). When I plant garlic or shallots with my tomatoes, the vines grow much faster and thicker. Plant icicle radishes (let them go to seed) and yellow nasturtiums in with your zukes and melons to repel insects. Marigolds repel nematodes. Which kind of peas, green or “southern”? Don’t plant any member of the onion family around beans or peas. The vines will be stunted. Green peas get some protection from insects by planting them with geraniums or aromatic herbs. Southern peas like to be planted with cucumbers, corn, petunias, and radishes.

Good luck!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Well, its one of those things you learn by experience and a little reading. Generally speaking, most flowering plants love water so keep the soil moist. If you touch the soil and it gets hardish or chalky- like then they need a good watering. Rule of thumb is use good soil- you can buy top soil and composted manure from home depot. Mix it into the top 6-8 inches of soil so your plants can grow good. This gives the roots room to grow too. Check to see how much sun they need too. If you see a picture of a full sun on the plant then that means they need 6-8 hours of full sun a day. If it says partial shade then it needs 4-6 hours of sun a day. Check which zone you live in. The zones vary from Florida to Maine and they change generally about every 300- 600 hundred miles traveling south to north. The lower the zone number the colder your winters are. Zone is important for those plants or trees you want to come back every year these are called perennials. Annuals are generally planted every year thats why they are called annuals. Its not a bad idea to put mulch around plants. You can use anything from grass clippings to red cedar mulch or pine bark. This helps to keep weeds out and water in. Depending where you live if you are in northern canada your grass may be brown by now frost will kill it. Its too late right now to start a new lawn unless you are south of Oaklahoma. If someone ruined the lawn by over feritilizing it they could have burned it to the point of shock- which means it may come back in weeks time or they may have out right killed it. This is highly unusual. I really would seek the help of someone like Lawn Doctor they often will do free analysis of your soil to make sure theres nothing real seriously wrong with the soil and check for other things that may be going on. When you call around ask if they do a free analysis and call a few different companies to see how much they charge to get your lawn up to speed. You may have to tear up your whole lawn and start over by spreading seed and watering it everyday until it grows in again. I also want to suggest that you join one of the gardening groups on yahoo and if you are at the end of your gardening season- like most of us- then you have all winter to read a good gardening book from your local bookstore. I have a good dozen of them and there are some real great gardening books out there! Good Luck!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Water deeply once a week rather than frequent shallow watering. Deeper watering encourages deeper root growth, keeping the lawn green. Shallow watering makes for shallow roots which are intolerant of stress and will brown out quicker.
Or you can ditch the lawn altogether and plant something that is less of a water hog. There are many ground covers that don’t require as much water as lawn and look just as nice, which will save on air pollution from not having to mow with a gas lawn mower.

Edit: Never water your lawn or plants at night. It encourages mildew growth. Very bad for plants. The best time to water is early morning. From around 5am to 7am. You want the water to dry on the lawn and plants before 10 a.m., otherwise the water droplets act like magnifying glasses on the leaves and will burn them.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Yes, I love everything it happen all over the garden, the butterflies came all along, over some bushes with rose and red flowers, called Santa Rita , this is the name of that kind of bush, in which branches the sparrows, thrushes, and calenders too, like to rest in the middle of their wings,

GardenersCardiff answers:

Soil…. Getting the soil the best it can be is key to a great garden…. Whatever you have to do to get good soil is well worth the work in the end… A soil test tells you where to start…. Most soils need and do really well if given LOTS of compost…. It’s wonderful stuff!!..

Tools… Have what you need…. Digging is so much easier if you have the right tools…. My hubby’s helping son with a bed at son’s new house… They had a terrible time digging in the rocky soil of a new build…. But once they got their hands on my maddock/pick, the work went so much faster!!…. And that goes for any of the garden tools…. From wagons to pruners… Get the best you can and take good care of them!!….

Water…. After our drought, lots of us know that there’s water to be had in many places that we didn’t think about before…. I will save and store water often now… From rain barrels to soda bottles… Water is a big deal…. More soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems are on the list for this year…

Mulches…. This is one of the best things you can do for your garden, be it for flowers or for foods….. Mulch inhibits weeds, cools the soil in the hot sun and keeps soil temperatures more even during spring’s early warm days…. It saves on watering, keeps the soil moist with what water it has already…. Choose your mulch according to what you need it to do…. Be pretty?… Keep the weeds off the tomatoes?… Hold up the strawberries?…. Keep the weeds out of the flowers?…. Each mulch we typically use has a distinct reason….. Newspaper stops weeds …. Landscape fabric lets air and water thru…. Pine needles lets air thru…. Pine bark is slow to decompose and keeps cats out pretty good…. Hardwood looks special…. Colored mulches have their place I guess, but they’re too much for this old gal… And rubber mulch?.. Mmm… Is your garden bed a playground for kiddies???…. Straw over paper is great in the veggies…. Shredded paper is, too…

Research EVERYTHING…. Get the names of your plants and look them up… This computer will tell you LOADS of stuff about plants…. Don’t ever BUY a plant you don’t get a tag and a name with….. (unless you recognise it already)…. When you buy, pull that plant OUT of the pot and check the roots… Are they white and healthy looking or black and soggy rot?…. Do they spread out or go around the pot again and again?…. Do they look big enuff to support the top of the plant?… Then put it back in the pot!!…. Don’t buy a sickly looking plant unless you’re prepared to isolate it from everything else till it’s ‘better’……

Buy your plants from a neighbor hood nursery or grower…. Someone in your area…. Online shipping is nice but not all plants grown in PA can live thru summer in NC…. See?….

Start small and expand as your knowledge base expands…. Otherwise you get overwhelmed and give up too soon…. Plan your garden with expansion in mind for later…. I started with one corner of the back fence…. Now the only spot that’s NOT a part of the garden is the septic field!!….

Whatever else I’d tell you isn’t enuff unless you love gardening… While it’s fun, it’s wonderful… But when it’s no longer fun, but a job, then you have too much and should cut back…. Age and health sometimes decide when you have to do that…..

Happy gardening!!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Old baby gates make great trellis to support cucumbers or other heavy squash. Hammer two 1×2 posts into the ground and stretch the gate between. Use zip ties to attach. At the end of the season it all goes back into storage.
Old front bicycle wheels on top of pole trellis. This requires a pipe, slightly larger in diameter than the wheel hub’s axle (the place the skewer goes through). Drill holes in the pipe 1 inch down. Place the wheel across the end of the pipe. Lash with zip ties. Insert the pipe’s other end well into the ground. Run string down to the ground from all around the rim of the wheel. The string attaches to tent pegs or soil staples. The string will stabilize the wheel on top of the pole and support green beans or other vine.

Use old mini-blind slats for plant labels.

Put cotton balls in the tips of garden gloves to protect your nail. It also keeps the gloves from wearing out at the tips.

Old white sheer window curtains can drape plants to keep out insects or light frosts.

Disposable chops sticks from the last take out make stir sticks for mixing in the garden shed. They also make seed dibbles for sowing or for pricking out seedlings when transplanting.

Old window screen cut to fit the bottom of flower pots keeps soil in. Also used coffee filters will work.

Tuna or cat food cans with ends removed make cut worm barriers. Place over the transplants and press into the ground to prevent cutworms from chewing the seedling.

GardenersCardiff answers:

This question is far 2 big and varied to know where to start. If you can tell us what you want to do first of all then maybe some of us can help you.