Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Main resolve – water thoroughly every day in summer. Two times of day to water – preferably in the early morning. If that doesn’t work for you, in early evening. (Never in the heat of the day, unless your plants look like they might not survive until evening and then water underneath them, so the water doesn’t scorch their leaves when the sun evaporates them.) Tomatoes might need watering twice a day during the hottest part of the summer.

Research each plant you want to grow to learn all about what it needs.

When you get hooked on gardening (and it sounds like that happened last year lol), start learning. Rule of thumb – the more you know, the greener your thumb becomes. 😉

Learn fertilizer, sun conditions, micro-climates, soil, tools, routines, why I said when to water, and everything else pertinent to your particular garden and needs. (I’m a container gardener, which is different then gardening in ground soil. Some plants like sun – like all of your choices – some like some sun, some like shade. Some plants like acidic soil, some like neutral, some like base…. So much to read, so little time.)

GardenersCardiff answers:

Here are some helpful gardening tips for you

• Cutting tips. Before cutting tall, damp grass, spray the cutting blade of the lawn mower with vegetable oil spray, so wet grass won’t stick. Be sure blades are sharp. Dull blades will rip rather than clip the grass and cause leaf tips to turn brown. Great State push-reel mower and Rust-resistant Hedge Shear are both ideal for small lawns since they are lightweight and easy to use.

• Organize. Hang a removable tote basket from the handle of the mower. You can either fill this with debris as you go along or use it as storage for your garden tools, so you save time and effort while mowing.

• Say goodbye to grass and weeds. A more practical solution than an afternoon of mowing and weeding is to sprinkle salted boiling water on unwanted weeds. This effectively kills grass or weeds growing between sections of cement walk.

• Nuisance control. To keep screws from loosening and vibrating noisily on power motors, apply some weather strip-sealer to the ends of screws. The screws will hold tight, but may easily be removed when necessary.

You can read my full post (11 useful tips) at http://gardeninggarden.com/2009/04/04/11-helpful-gardening-tips-for-any-sized-gardens/

Hope this helps 🙂

-Michael

GardenersCardiff answers:

I have a bunch of articles that I wrote on this topic posted on my website which you can look at. Basically in the Outdoors section ( http://ecojudge.com/category/eco-tips-and-ideas/outdoor ) is where you can find all of your information, like:
Companion Planting: http://ecojudge.com/content/eco-tips-and-ideas/outdoor/companion-planting
Natural Incecticides: http://ecojudge.com/content/eco-tips-and-ideas/outdoor/ourdoor-living/natural-insecticides
Natural Gardening: http://ecojudge.com/content/eco-tips-and-ideas/outdoor/gardening/natural-gardening
Ways to green up your lawn: http://ecojudge.com/content/eco-tips-and-ideas/outdoor/lawn-care/greening-your-lawn

Good luck!