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. Because you will need flowers for the sun areas, and flowers for the shaded areas.

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. And wildflowers are the hardest so don’t be disappointed if they don’t show up.

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 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
http://www.burpee.com

Other catalogs:
http://www.leevalley.com
http://www.gardeners.com
http://www.GardensAlive.com
http://www.deerbusters.com (all types of animal control)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Container/pots/window boxes needs:

All need holes in the bottem for water drainage,
Potting soil that comes in bags,
Slow release fertilizer for flowers (not for green plants), 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.

Here is an excellent link to check out for color combinations and plants that look good together:

http://www.fernlea.com/awesomeaccents/recipes.html

GardenersCardiff answers:

Yes, that’s me 🙂 I always plan my garden for the coming year in winter time. It’s nice to look at flower catalogs and try to match them together (growing conditions, colors, etc), it’s a good way to be active during winter.
Mostly I grow my plants from seeds except perennials that only available as potted plants or slow growing. I already got 12 catalogs: Burpee, Parkseed, Jungseed, etc and with that many catalogs to look at, it’s hard to choose which ones I’m gonna try 🙂

Here is my list so far:
Begonia Queen White, Petunia Avalanche, Aster Bouquet Powderpuff, Baptisia Australis, Miss Lucy (Double) Oriental Lily, Rudbeckia Prairie Sun, Echinecia Baby Swan, Laurentia and some bicolor gladiolus (Flaming Meteor, Blue Frost)

GardenersCardiff answers:

Lakeside Collection has a nice variety and low, low prices on home and garden , gadgets and other stuff. I always enjoy looking through this catalog, although I don’t always buy.
Ginny’s is mostly home and garden and has an easy-to-get choose and charge plan.
Seventh Avenue is affiliated with Ginny’s and has similar items.
Collections Etc. Has a lot of fun, seasonal items, most things are less than $20.
There are tons more catalogs available but these are some of the ones that I enjoy. Google ‘catalogs’ for lots more choices.