A garden journal serves as a valuable tool for documenting your horticultural adventures, learning from successes and challenges, and creating a legacy of your green haven.
Winter To-do list
Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with a dream – Josephine Neuse
Advantages of Fall Planting
Additional Color for Your Gardens and Great Root Growth We are often asked “What are the advantages of planting perennials and shrubs in the fall?” Fall is a great time to plant perennials and shrubs due to cooler temperatures which put less stress on the plant and enable root systems to grow faster and larger. When we plant in the spring, all plants, perennials, annuals, shrubs, etc. are pushed to get a healthy mass of roots established so they can …
How to Clean out a Garden Bed
If you’re a serious gardener, you’ll be out in your garden the first warm second of spring. While there is no harm in cleaning up fallen branches and debris, wait until the soil is no longer wet enough to form a ball in your hand before walking on it and compacting it. But don’t wait too long to start your clean up. It’s much easier to cut plants back before the old growth gets tangled up in the new growth. …
Reading a Plant Tag
Plant tags are your key to success when choosing and growing plants. If you don’t understand all the things you see on a label, you’re not alone. Unravel the mystery of plant label lingo – and take the guesswork out of selecting and placing plants in your yard. Plant labels may be different, but often they contain similar information. Here are some of the common words you’ll see on plant labels – and what they mean to you. When shopping …
Pruning Shrubs in the Dormant Season
Most people think of landscape maintenance as exclusively a warm-weather activity. It’s an understandable assumption as it’s easy to see what needs to be done when you are outdoors, enjoying the beauty of your landscape. However, when cooler temperatures bring you indoors, out of sight should not mean out of mind when it comes to your shrubs because the best time to prune many of them is actually in the dormant season, when plants are not growing. Why? …
Seed Technology
A seed is not just a seed. Was I ever amazed after taking a tour of the Ball Seed Technology Lab in West Chicago, IL. The hours of work that it takes and the science behind what’s needed is far beyond what I knew about. I recently attended the Ball Customer Appreciation Day in West Chicago, IL. Ball Seed is a one of our largest sources for the seed that purchase to produce our plants. For most items, we sow …
Raised Bed Gardening
Raised bed gardening is a great gardening option for many reasons. Anything from vegetables, to flowers and trees can be grown in raised beds. Advantages Better Drainage – The raised bed allows compost and other organic matter to easily be added to improve the soil structure, drainage and nutrient retention. Foot traffic is eliminated so there is less compaction of the soil. Bigger Crops – Better root growth promotes greater yields of vegetables and stronger, more lush ornamentals. Longer …
Linda Whitlock Fall Advice
We were fortunate enough to have Linda Whitlock join us the other day to lead a Quick Class. She is a wealth of knowledge about plants and how to best take care of them in this area. Linda works with the MSU Extension Service in Consumer Horticulture. I took a lot of notes about everything from the lack of water and how it will effect the trees to why fall is a great time for planting and her suggestions. It’s …
Overwintering Plants
To overwinter or not to overwinter, THAT is the question. While plant enthusiasts are blessed with many things here in southwest Michigan, we can never take for granted that the plants we have so carefully chosen are sometimes just not suited to remain outdoors for our winter season. Three big factors to consider before you bring in those pots: Light: Can you accommodate the light requirements for each particular plant? Space: Do you have the room to bring your plants …