Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

You are gonna love gardening, don’t try to do it all in one year. Get to know where the sun shines the most, and where the shaded areas are. Veggies need at least 6 hours of sun per day. And lots and lots of water everyday if you do not get rain.

Since you are a beginner, this year start your garden with plants that you get from a garden center or nursery. They are called bedding plants and come in a six pack. Look for a little tag sticking in the six pact showing directions on how to grow the plants. If the tag is not there, ask for one or buy something else. Directions are VERY important.

Seeds are not always easy to grow.

Two good things to do for yourself is to call your local County Extension Service and ask for all the information that they have about home gardening in your area. They usually have a packet/kit of things for the home gardener.

And number two would be to pick up a couple of beginner books. You really do need to know about soil, compost, mulch and etc.

To keep from over watering or not watering enough, buy a water analyzer from a nursery or garden center. Be sure to read the directions. This will be one of your best tools.

Send for some free gardening catalogs and get use to the different types of plants, colors, and when to plant. They are filled with good informtion and pictures. And they will keep you company during the long winter months. Here is a list of just a very few. There are hundreds more:

http://www.waysidegardens.com
http://www.dutchbulbs.com
http://www.jacksonandperkins.com (Roses)
http://www.parkseed.com (vegetables and flowers)
http://www.burpee.com (vegetables and flowers)

Other catalogs:
http://www.leevalley.com
http://www.gardeners.com
http://www.GardensAlive.com (pests and insects)
http://www.deerbusters.com (all types of animal control)
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You can grow vegetables in large containers too.
All need holes in the bottem for water drainage,
Vegetable potting soil that comes in bags,
Slow release fertilizer for veggies, OR liquid fertilizer that will need to be used more often-read directions,
Water crystals to be mixed into the soil for holding water,
Bedding plants or full grown plants.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Checkout Springhill Nurseries. Their catalogs have “planned gardens” that are designed to compliment each other in color and bloom, with plants that bloom continually with plants that bloom at different times.

I don’t know if their website offers the same feature — but they’ll be more than happy to send you a catalog and a discount coupon.

These planned gardens — some for shade, some for sun, some for around a fence, next to the house, etc. Etc., will give you lots of info and inspiration. The catalog — as well as the site — will indicate the zone-hardiness for the plants they sell.

Your local garden center will also be helpful, as they will carry plants that are suitable for your locale.

Perennials will offer blooms only once, unfortunately. Annuals will continue to bloom through a season. The ideal is to create a garden with a mix of perennials and easy-to-deal-with annuals. The “exception” to this rule are roses. Hybrid bush roses will bloom intermittently from early summer to the first frost, but rarely will they have blooms continually.

All that aside, look into Columbines. They are billed as “biennials,” but are actually perennials — blooming their second or third year after planting from seed. You can get mature plants from the garden center, and they will reseed themselves, often creating offspring of unusual color. Generally, Columbines start blooming early-to-mid-May and continue through mid-to-late June. Columbines are beautiful, graceful, medium tall, and attract butterflies and humming birds, so I am always eager to suggest a gardener to get a few established in their yard.

Good luck and happy gardening.

ADDED: Laney made a good suggestion, but they are called Purple Cone Flowers, otherwise known as Echinacea. They are perennials, medium tall, and bloom from mid-summer to mid-to-late fall, so they do have a long blooming season. Another is bee balm. This is a perennial that spreads rapidly and comes in various purple to red flowers, is very aromatic, and true to its name, attracts bees and often hummingbirds. This also blooms from early-to-mid summer to late-fall. (Makes great potpourri also).

Http://springhillnursery.com/default.asp?t=xx&eid=081506&sid=411065&gclid=CNTH0aKUxZECFQUolgodJDiJ3Q

GardenersCardiff answers:

Http://gardeningzone.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=64&osCsid=2dbabafdee18f0c0b17cccea0265601c