Make This Super-Easy DIY Compost Bin in a Flash
Save money, benefit your garden, and help out the environment—all at the same time—with this simple DIY compost bin project. Making your own compost is something anyone can do, whether you’re a gardening beginner or a seasoned pro. It’s a great way to recycle yard waste, like grass clippings and dry leaves, as well as vegetable peelings and other kitchen scraps. The nutrient-rich blend of decomposed organic materials works wonders for plants, either when spread around them, or mixed into the soil. But to get started, you’ll need a compost bin. One of the easiest DIY ways to make a compost bin is to start with a trash can—something you may already have on hand—and drill several holes in it so your compost can get plenty of air and break down quickly. Then, you can tuck your new bin into a convenient spot and start adding organic material to it. MATT CLARK What You Need Making…
Blood Meal vs. Bone Meal and How to Fertilize Plants with Them
Thanks to their names, blood meal and bone meal are some of the least glamorous gardening products out there. Yet, both of these naturally derived fertilizers can provide vital nutrients to your plants. Blood meal and bone meal are commonly available in the fertilizer section of garden centers. Both are valuable soil amendments, but don’t assume they can be used interchangeably. Otherwise you might end up harming your plants. When used properly, these products help plants form strong root systems and lush foliage. Here’s what you need to know about when and how to use bone meal and blood meal before adding them to your garden. What is blood meal? Blood meal is made from dried slaughterhouse waste, and is one of the densest non-synthetic sources of nitrogen for plants. Nitrogen is key to many aspects of healthy plant growth. For example, it’s a component of chlorophyll, which is essential for converting light into…
The Ultimate Guide to Seasonal Landscape Maintenance
Break down your seasonal landscaping maintenance by the time of year, lawn-care schedule, and type of plant or hardscape for an easy to-do list. Just as your yard has four distinct seasons of growth and rest, it has four distinct seasons of landscape maintenance. What you have to do depends on the time of year and the type of tree or plant. Here are checklists for seasonal lawn care; trees, shrubs, and groundcovers; flower and kitchen gardens; and hardscape elements to make the work easy to tackle no matter the time of year. Spring Landscape Maintenance Spring Lawn Care Use a spring fertilizer for lawns once snow has melted. Repair dead patches. If crabgrass is problematic, treat with a preemergent herbicide around the time forsythia blooms in your area. Revive weak lawns by dethatching and aerating. Spring Trees, Shrubs, and Groundcover Maintenance Remove winter trunk protection and old mulch, and…
How to Plant Nursery Perennials in Your Garden So They Thrive
When you bring home a new perennial in a pot, follow these easy steps for planting it in the ground. Your garden will be thriving in no time. One of the most exciting parts of flower gardening is selecting new plants to add to your yard. There are so many gorgeous options to choose from, and when it comes to perennials, they will reward you for years to come with their colorful blooms and foliage. Spring and fall are the best times to plant perennials because the weather is cooler, giving the plants a chance to grow enough roots to deliver the water they’ll need during the warmer months. When you buy potted perennials from a nursery or garden center, it’s best to get your new plants in the ground as soon as possible. Make sure to follow these steps to get your perennials properly planted. How to Plant a Perennial First, gather…
5 Gardening Mistakes You Probably Don’t Know You’re Making
If your plants aren’t growing as well as you’d hoped, here are some simple things you can do to help them look their best. Gardening can require some trial and error. If you notice one of your plants isn’t doing well, for example, you might try replanting in a different spot, giving it a little extra water, or adding more nutrients to the soil. While you might have to try several different tactics to fix the problem, there are a few almost-universal gardening errors to avoid so you can keep your yard in top shape. Luckily, most of them are easy enough to correct; perhaps you need to adjust the way you water or switch to natural pest control methods. But if you make sure to avoid these common gardening mistakes, you’ll set your plants up for the best success possible. MARTY BALDWIN 1. Not Testing Soil Soil can vary from…
How to Build a Cold Frame to Protect Plants from Chilly Weather
Extend your gardening season with this easy-to-build miniature greenhouse. A cold frame is a bottomless box with a skyward-facing window. Like a miniature greenhouse, a cold frame lengthens the gardening season by protecting plants and seeds from the moderately cold temperatures and drying winds of late fall and early spring. With the addition of a simple heater, a cold frame can be used nearly year-round to grow cool-season flowers and vegetables, and to give summer plants an early start. The low-cost, easy-to-build cold frame presented here takes one or two weekends to build and uses widely available materials. You can place it on a deck or patio to grow plants in pots, or you can place it over a garden bed. Materials 4-x-4-foot sheet of 1/2-inch exterior plywood (or two 2-x-4-foot panels) plus scraps of 1/4-inch plywood for corner braces 18-gauge perforated steel angle — approximately 3 feet Two 1x3x8-foot clear pine for…
Your Ultimate Guide to Caring for Bulbs
Flowering bulbs provide gorgeous blooms year after year if well cared for. Grow beautiful bulbs in all seasons with this helpful flower bulb care guide. Flowering bulbs offer height and color to any garden in the spring, summer, and early fall. There are so many types of bulbs, and an increasing number of varieties of each flowering bulb species, that it can be difficult to know where to start. The most important part about planting successful bulbs is getting the timing right. Then, there are some must-know tips and tricks for taking care of bulbs after they are planted. Use this guide as a springing-off point to get perfect bulb-based blooms in your garden bed or container garden. When to Plant Spring-Blooming Bulbs The best time to plant most spring-blooming bulbs (including tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths) is in fall when the soil temperatures have cooled but before the ground freezes. Any time…
Here’s Why Raised Garden Beds Are a Must (and How to Make One)
Raised garden beds make it easy to maintain your plants and contribute to an orderly look in the garden. Here’s how to make your own. Skip the open ground and turn to higher ground for seeding your favorite plants. Thanks to raised beds, your garden can be virtually anywhere in your yard while maintaining ideal soil and growing conditions. Gardeners everywhere are embracing raised beds, and we’re sure you’ll love them too. Here are seven reasons why you need a raised garden bed—we’ll even show you how to make your own! Follow our easy instructions to make a 3×5-foot raised bed for your backyard space. 1. Easy Garden Maintenance Having a raised bed makes it simpler to tend your plants. There’s less bending over with beds that are elevated above the ground. Build them with wide borders, and you might even be able to sit while you work. 2. Better Soil Drainage Raised beds help…
Growing Perennials from Seed
Follow our step-by-step instructions for starting perennial seeds successfully. What You Need: Various perennial seed packets Perennial seed starting mix or potting mix Egg carton or other shallow container Labels Plastic wrap or a clear plastic bag Plastic cell packs Perennial Seed Instructions: 1. Beginners should start with those perennial seeds that are easiest to start at home: black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), catmint (Nepeta), perennial geranium, centranthus, aster, purple coneflower (Echinacea), armeria, snow-in-summer (Cerastium), or yarrow (Achillea). Nearly any shallow container with drainage holes can be used in starting perennial seeds (Check the seed packet to find out what time of year to start the seeds.) Here, a cardboard egg carton with holes punched in the bottom works nicely. Use a potting mix formulated especially for starting perennial seeds. Sprinkle three or four perennial seeds in each section. 2. If the perennial seed packet instructs you to cover the seeds with soil, sprinkle on 1/8 inch of…
Why Are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in Plant Fertilizer?
Not all fertilizers are the same. Here’s what you should know before you buy. Whether it’s lettuces or hollyhocks, all the plants in your garden require certain essential nutrients (17 of them) to grow properly. However, you usually only have to worry about the Big 3, called the primary or macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Look at the label on any fertilizer package, and you’ll see three numbers separated by dashes, which correspond to the amounts of primary nutrients in the product. For example, one with three of the same number, 4-4-4, is called a “balanced” fertilizer because it has equal amounts of the Big 3 N-P-K (always shown in that order). A container of tomato food ($12, The Home Depot) might be labeled 2-5-3, which indicates higher amounts of P and less N and K. Why do these levels matter, and what do nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium do for plants anyway? Here’s…