Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Depends on the size of the garden and how much of it is still lawn. All of my gardening is done in pots, including my apple tree (big pot!). It makes moving stuff around easier and also a bit easier on the back, if you need to replant you can put it on a table without having to bend over so often. If they are still available pansies are cheap and colourful.

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!!