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Cool Weather Vegetables and Heat Cool weather crops can take a day or two of extreme heat as long as their root system is kept moist. They basically shut down all non-essential functions and just hang in stasis. If temperatures stay hot for longer, however, cool season crops in summer heat can be lost. The longer the heatwave lasts, the greater the damage to the plants. As above, the plants first go into stasis, which means they reduce photosynthesis, don’t set flowers, or grow....

Creepy Garden Info Okay, so Halloween only comes around one time a year, but even so you can keep the spirit of this festive holiday alive all year long by creating scary gardens using plants that conjure up creepy thoughts and spooky feelings. In addition to plants, there are a number of Halloween decorations or spooktacular accessories that can be added throughout the garden to make it as creepy as you want it....

The Tomato Cage A tomato cage is probably the most common way to stake tomatoes off the ground. Frequently, people purchase a tomato cage at their local super or hardware store. These tomato cages are convenient but are rarely adequate support for a full grown tomato plant. Instead, consider investing in a homemade tomato cage made from chicken wire or concrete reinforcement wire. The tomato cage method for staking tomatoes is the best way to stake tomatoes in a medium to large size garden with plenty of storage space....

Earthworm vermicompost is the natural product yielded by garden worms. Also called castings, it’s nutrient rich and provides excellent food for your plants. Learn how to deal with vermicompost issues to ensure healthy worms and rapid break down of your kitchen waste. How to Deal with Vermicompost Issues Worm bins are simple to make, but a few vermicomposting problems arise as a direct result of an incorrectly built bin. For example, if there are not enough holes, the interior will be too moist and the food scraps will rot....

Popular Herbs for English Gardens Although you can adjust and incorporate herbs you use most frequently, there are a few traditional English herb plants that are must haves when growing English herb gardens. Sweet basil is an annual that grows to about 18 inches (45 cm.) and thrives in full sun. Borage attracts bees to pollinate all the herbs and annuals. This annual also enjoys full sun, is hardy and grows to about 2 feet (60 cm....

Everything You Need To Know About Fall Lawn Fertilizer Cool Season Grasses Let’s start with cool season grasses such as fescue, ryegrass, and bluegrass. As days get shorter and temperatures cool down, autumn is an excellent time to add nitrogen to the lawn to improve root systems and store food, without adding a lot of top growth. Then your lawn can sail through winter and be ready for an early spring greenup....

Hobby Greenhouse Necessities Installing the greenhouse is only the first step on your indoor growing adventure. There are many other things to consider like lighting, temperature and humidity control, watering, sanitation, and even the type of benches you’d prefer. Storage bins can help protect delicate soil mixes from invading pests and disease. Below you’ll find a general greenhouse supply list, broken into the major types of items every greenhouse needs eventually....

While their beautiful flowers last only one day, a mature clump can produce 200-400 blooms over the course of a month or more. Planting daylilies as single specimens or en masse as a ground cover for a slope, these lovelies will make a welcome addition to any garden, but are of particular joy to the weekend gardener who simply doesn’t have time for fussier plantings. Caring for daylilies is so easy and these plants are so hardy, that some seem to even thrive on neglect!...

Globe Amaranth Info Globe amaranth plants (Gomphrena globosa) grow from 6 to 12 inches (15-31 cm.) high. They have fine white hairs covering young growth, which matures to thick green stems. The leaves are oval and arranged alternately along the stem. The blooms of globe amaranth start in June and may last until October. The flower heads are clusters of florets that resemble large clover flowers. They range in color from pink, yellow, white, and lavender....

Tips for Growing Rosemary Indoors Most often, there are four things on the list of what kills rosemary plants indoors. These are: lack of sunlight poor watering practices powdery mildew pests If you can avoid these issues, your rosemary plant will live happily inside. Let’s look at how to avoid each. Lack of Sunlight Most people aren’t aware that the lack of sunshine is the most common reason for a rosemary plant growing indoors to die....

What is a Weeping Mulberry? Native to China, the mulberry was introduced to provide food for the thriving silkworm trade. Because the tree is unfussy and will tolerate almost any soil and even a fair amount of neglect, it soon became naturalized and considered to be more of a weed. Today’s new cultivars, from the weeping varieties to hybrid dwarf varieties to fruitless types have brought the tree back into vogue again....

Home gardening became a patriotic act of determination and faith to help us recover from a staggering era that affected the entire global population. Sound familiar? So, here’s a question. Do your kids know what a Victory Garden is? This might be the perfect time for a fun project with your kids that can create a sense of balance during these historically stressful times. It can also serve as a valuable history lesson about how we can rise up and thrive when times are hard....

When to Harvest Sunflower Seeds Harvesting sunflowers is easy, but deciding when to harvest sunflowers can give some gardeners pause. Heads picked before the proper time may have plenty of seed coats with little meat. Wait too long to harvest sunflowers and the tender seeds will be too dry to roast. Wait until the animals start sunflower harvesting for you and there’ll be nothing left for you! Harvest sunflowers when their petals become dry and begin to fall....

Winter Decorating with Succulents One of the great things about using succulents as holiday or seasonal decorations for the home is being able to use them afterward. If you start with cuttings, you can continue to grow them outside or in containers as houseplants when there is no longer need for the decorations. If this is your plan, avoid using hot glue or any other methods that might damage the plant, preventing future growth....

Vinegar flavored with fruit, or fruit infused vinegar, is a simple process as long as you adhere to a few rules. Read on to learn about flavoring vinegar with fruit. About Flavoring Vinegar with Fruit Vinegar has been used for centuries with the first evidence documented about 3,000 B.C. by the ancient Babylonians. Initially, it was made from fruit such as dates and figs as well as beer. Fast forward and vinegar is now a hot commodity, flavored with fruit such as:...

Lily of the Valley Disease Problems In many parts of the world, spring just isn’t spring without the delicate and fragrant notes of the ancient lily of the valley. These hardy plants can be used as small spotlights or huge mass plantings in your landscape; either will be completely show-stopping. That’s why it’s all the more upsetting when lily of the valley falls ill. Fortunately, there are very few diseases of lily of the valley that are of note, so you’ll know what to do if your plants do become suddenly ill if you read on....

Different hydrangea plants add different accents to your garden, so it makes sense to investigate the types of hydrangea that would grow well in your area. Read on for information about hydrangea varieties and their cultural needs. Hydrangea Plant Types Hydrangea varieties offer an expansive range of foliage and flowers, as well as different growth characteristics. If you have a particular hydrangea “look” in mind, don’t think it’s your only choice....

English Garden Info The classic English garden may date as far back as the first century A.D. when the Roman conquerors invaded Britain. It is believed that this primitive English garden included symmetrical gravel walkways, carefully planted short hedges, park-like open lawn space, and a small kitchen garden with herbs and vegetables. In the Middle Ages, when the English garden appeared in our history once more, it still contained a carefully planted kitchen garden along with an outdoor “room” of sorts in which to play lawn games....

A gardener may wonder about the wind chill effect on plants. Do plants feel wind chill? Does the wind chill factor affect plants? The short answer to both these questions is no, but that doesn’t mean your plants are necessarily safe. Both cold wind and cold temperatures can damage garden plants even if they don’t react to the wind chill factor. What Is Wind Chill? How exactly does cold air create wind chill temperatures?...

How to Use Lychee Lychee fruit has a lovely, sweet taste rather like a cross between strawberries, watermelon, and grapes, but before using lychee fruit, it needs to be prepared. The tough outer skin is peeled like a grape to reveal a pearly white interior pulp. If the fruit is very ripe, you can tear off the end of the skin and then push the fruit out. If not, use a serrated knife to cut lengthwise through the skin and around the seed....