How to Stop Birds from Flying into Windows
Keep your feathered friends safe with a few simple adjustments. The thump of a bird hitting a window is an awful sound. And unfortunately, window strikes are common for wild birds, especially during their mating and migrating seasons in spring and fall. Unfortunately, these collisions often end up injuring and killing feathered visitors. This problem has significantly contributed to the loss of nearly 30% of the North American bird population since 1970. The good news is that you can do several simple things to stop birds from flying into your windows. Understanding why it happens will help you find the best solutions for your home. Why Birds Fly into Windows “Research estimates that 365 million to one billion birds collide with buildings every year in the U.S. alone,” says Alison Holloran, Executive Director of Audubon Rockies and Vice President of the National Audubon Society. So, why do birds fly into windows so much? The…
Here’s Why Morning Is the Best Time of Day to Water Your Plants
When you water plants matters as much as how you water them. There’s an art to watering your garden. When you know the best time of day to water outdoor plants, and the tricks to watering them most efficiently, you’ll have happier plants. Even if you live in a rainy place like New Orleans or Seattle, you’re still going to need to water your garden plants at least once in a while. Every summer there will be stretches of dry, hot days between rainfalls. That’s when you’ll need to provide additional moisture to keep your plants thriving. Water is too precious to waste, so here’s what you need to know about how and when to water your plants. When is the best time to water plants? The best time to water outdoor plants is in the morning when temperatures are usually cooler. This gives the plants time to absorb the water so they can get through a…
Learn to Graft Your Favorite Plants
Grafting is a great way to propagate many trees, shrubs, and roses. Here’s how to do it. Grafting is the mad-scientist way of propagating your plants. Slice a piece from one plant and splice it onto another. Cool! Let’s see how. Many of the plants at your local garden center may be grafted. For example, many hybrid roses are grafted so they grow on the roots of a tougher variety of rose. This helps them stand up to tough conditions and bloom more vigorously. Likewise, most fruit trees are grafted onto a smaller variety’s roots. This keeps the trees more compact and vigorous. Plants trained as standards, or tree forms, are also usually grafted onto the trunk of another plant. Somebody really released their inner Dr. Frankenstein when they grafted several varieties on the same tree, so you have an apple tree that produces ‘Red Delicious’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ fruits.…
Our Top 10 Garden Tips for Lush, Healthy Plants All Season Long
Good gardening tips are essential to any healthy harvest. If you’re looking for the most efficient way to enjoy your garden, here are 10 top garden tips to garden smarter, prettier, with more flavor, and with less expense. 10 Things to Do in Your Garden Start Seeds There’s nothing more thrilling than to sow tiny seeds, then see them germinate and pop up out of the soil as small seedlings in a matter of days. Seed starting is a great way to get kids involved in gardening. It’s so easy—all you need is potting soil, a vessel (or the ground), water, and seeds. Seed starting is also the most inexpensive way to raise plants. Mulch! Adding a thick layer of mulch around your garden plants, landscaping shrubs, and trees will cut weeding time to almost nil, making it labor-saving. Use whatever mulch you like or is readily available—shredded cedar bark,…
Make More Ferns by Sprouting Spores
Because ferns don’t produce seeds, there’s a special way to propagate them: growing spores. Here are tips. There are a couple of ways to make more of the ferns in your garden. You can wait for them to grow (some spread faster than others) and divide them, or you can collect and sprout their spores. Spores are like little seeds, though they’re much smaller and slower to germinate and grow. They’re located on the fern fronds instead of in a seed pod, capsule, or fruit. Spores appear as little bumps, often black or brown, lining the underside of some fronds. Step 1: Gather the Spores To collect spores, place a mature fern frond on a piece of smooth white paper. The ripened spores will fall from the frond and onto the paper after several days. Step 2: Plant the Spores Carefully fold the paper so that the fern spores fall into the crease.…
Landscape and Garden Edging Ideas That Make Your Yard Look Sharp
Use these stone and brick garden edging ideas to lend character, definition, and texture to your landscaping beds. 1.Brick Garden Edging Brick is a common landscape edging choice: It’s classic, widely available, and relatively inexpensive. Push bricks tightly together to minimize spaces between them that turf can slip through. To prevent heaving and unevenness in your garden edging, set your bricks in a bed of sand. Note: If you set the brick just above the soil, you can use it as a mowing strip, running your lawn mower’s wheel right over the brick. This eliminates the need for trimming. 2.Diagonal Brick Garden Edging Lay old, mismatched bricks on the diagonal for a 19th-century domino effect in your garden edging. Dig a trench and add several inches of sand for drainage so the bricks don’t heave. Set the bricks in the trench, half exposed, leaning tightly one against the next, then fill…
How to Dig a Garden Bed and 7 Other Steps to a New Garden
Sometimes a garden is too much of a mess to be salvaged. Here are the steps to building a new bed or border from scratch. Step 1: Mark It Out Make your new garden the best it can be. Give it a fun shape with flowing curves, or use it to echo the lines of your house. Get it just right by laying out a hose to outline your bed. Once you have the perfect shape, mark the edges with a line of sand or flour. Editor’s Tip: Always call your local utility companies and get your yard marked before you start digging. Step 2: Get Rid of the Grass If you have grass growing in your new garden spot, dig it up If you have grass growing in your new garden spot, dig it up with a spade or sod cutter. Or, if you have time to wait, mow that…
Follow This Summer Garden Checklist to Keep Plants Healthy and Vibrant
These guidelines will help you stay on top of summer gardening maintenance, keeping your plants colorful and thriving throughout the season. Summer gardening can feel like barely surviving: The flowers need planting before it’s too hot for them to thrive. The mulch needs refreshing to stop the weeds from taking over. After the first flush, the flowers need to be deadheaded to keep the color coming. It’s a lot to keep up with, which is why we’ve created this summer garden checklist. Check off our to-do list to conquer the season with ease, maximizing the beauty and lifespan of your garden. Spread Mulch Spreading a 2-inch-thick layer of mulch over your soil is one of the best things you can do for your garden. The mulch blankets the ground, shielding the soil from the sun and keeping it cooler. That makes your plant roots happier and also prevents moisture loss…
10 Tips for Planting a Garden
Whether you are planting your first garden or getting ready to expand your plot, these 10 tips are sure to come in handy. 1.Consider a Planting Plan Not sure what to plant where? Check out our easy-to-follow planting plans here. We’re sure you’ll find a plan that is perfect for your landscape. 2.Start Small If this is your first foray into gardening, start small. A small plot means fewer weeds, less soil prep, and refined plant selection. One of the most challenging tasks for new and experience gardeners is choosing exactly what they are going to plant each season. Large gardens afford large plant palettes, but a great diversity of plants can be overwhelming if you’re just starting out. Instead, start with a small plot and five to seven plants for your first growing season. As you gain experience, add more of your favorites and try new plants. 3.Check Soil…
Tips for Watering Plants
Learn how to water plants, including tips for watering plants and ways to use water to help your plants grow faster and bigger. Change Your Watering as Plants Grow As plants grow, their water needs change. Young plants use less moisture; mature plants require much more. Irrigation frequency also varies based on the season. In cool weather, plants need less water. During summer’s dog days, it might seem like you can’t water enough, especially with small containers or pots jam-packed with plants. Irrigation Frequency Eyeballing your plants to decide whether they need watering is risky, because the same symptoms result from underwatering and overwatering. The most foolproof method to determine whether a plant needs water is to check the soil. In containers, gently push a finger into the soil to your second knuckle. If the soil is dry to the touch, water. In planting beds, check the soil at a…