Ideas, Info, Tools & Technology to Create Your Dream Garden
gardening
Bulbs, Rhizomes And Corms
Feb 11th
There are both summer and fall varieties of these types of plants. In the spring everyone knows of the daffodils, tulips, and crocuses, but there are many others that you could plant.
Summer plants include iris, fritillaries, dahlias, elephant ears, caladiums, etc. These are the ones usually ordered in the spring. They, too, will be sent to you at the right time to plant in your area.
With all these plants make sure you plant them according to the directions. Some are planted on the soil surface, other just under the surface, and some so deep you’ll be sure they could never More >
The Much Overrated Grass
Feb 7th
Grass. If seen by aliens that just landed here they would think we worship it. We have all kinds of gadgets, tools, fertilizers, poisons, etc. to make the perfect lawn. Personally I think lawns are way overrated. Having a small lawn for playing on is fine, but expanses of lawn as far as the eye can see just shows a lack of creativity.
In some areas of the country spring is the time to put grass in. In others it won’t be until fall. If you plan to put in a lawn make sure when you should do it. As planting More >
Seed Chart Readied
Feb 4th
One of the best things you can do is be prepared for the growing season, which for some is about to start (only in the deep south is it already started). Put together a list of the seeds that need to be started indoors and plan to start them 6-10 weeks before the last frost.
Next, pull out the growing chart you got from the Ag Extension and make up a list of seeds and start dates month to month. This will be for seeds you start directly in the garden.
Then organize your new, beautiful, enticing seed packets in some sort More >
Don’t Forget The Flowers
Jan 28th
Flowers can be planted at more variable times that the food bearing plants. Perennials, plants that come back every year, can be planted almost anytime the soil is not frozen or in the middle of the summer heat. Of course spring and fall are the best times, as the soil is more easily worked and the plants have ideal growing conditions
Annuals are usually planted in late spring after the last frost. Most garden centers will get annuals in only after it is safe to plant them in your area, but ask if you’re not sure. You can also start them More >
Nut Trees
Jan 24th
Nut trees require a lot of room. I haven’t heard of any dwarf nut trees, yet. If you want to have nut trees you will need a fairly large piece of property as most trees need to be placed at least 20’ apart and some even further. On our one acre lot we have three pecan trees. That is all the room we have for nut trees.
Be careful to make sure the nuts will bear in your climate. There’s a lot of variation in climate tolerance with nut trees. Some nut trees are tropical.
Lastly nuts trees are a long-term investment. More >
Fruit Trees
Jan 21st
This is also the time to order bare root fruit trees. They’ll be shipped to you at the proper time for planting in your area. Bare root trees are usually small, but they will very soon catch up to the larger, more expensive and hard to ship older trees. Also, for some reason they seem to be more resilient to transplanting. I’ve lost fewer bare root saplings than their two or three year old siblings in pots.
Make sure the varieties you want will do well in your area. Trees require diligence in pruning, fruit removal and processing (once they get More >
Berry Bushes
Jan 18th
If you want to grow your own berries now is the time to order them. You can get decent plants at your local home improvement center, but be careful on varieties. They just buy a whole bunch of one berry and ship it all over the US, whether it will do well or not. Refer to all the info you got from the Agricultural Extension. (Do I sound like an ad for them or what?) Also, they arrive in the stores too soon, so try to buy them before they sprout or you’ll have to keep them indoors until all More >
Purchasing Seeds
Jan 15th
In the last couple blogs there’s a huge list of seed companies that were gleaned from internet searches. What to do with 65 seed companies?
It’s a good idea to try to grow seeds that have been produced in your climate or a climate similar to yours. One of the reasons I use Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is they cultivate seeds from around the world. Some of them come from hot humid climates, which is the climate I grow in. So, when looking at the locations, see if the company is near you. This doesn’t guarantee that the seeds were produced More >
Seed List Continued
Jan 12th
34. *Bountiful Gardens
http://www.bountifulgardens.org
35. Environmental Seed Producers
36. *Harmony Farm Supply and Nursery
37. The Natural Gardening Company
http://www.naturalgardening.com
38. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
39. Redwood City Seed Company
http://www.redwoodcityseed.com
40. *Botanical Interests, Inc.
http://www.botanicalinterests.com
41. Comstock Ferre & Co.
42. New England Seed Company
43. E.O.N.S., Inc.
44. Growin’ Crazy Acres
http://www.growincrazyacres.com
45. Nature’s Crossroads, LLC
http://www.naturescrossroads.com
46. Ferry Morse Seed Company
47. FedCo Seeds
48. The Heirloom Garden of Maine
http://www.theheirloomgarden.com
49. Orchard House Heirlooms
http://www.orchardhouseheirlooms.com
50. BLM Enterprises/Markham Farm
51. Italian Seed and Tool
http://www.italianseedandtool.com
52. Plants of the Southwest
http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com
53. New York Botanicals, LLC
54. Sow True Seed
55. Companion Plants, Inc.
http://www.companionplants.com
56. Boondockers Seed Company
http://www.BoondockersFarm.com
57. Goodwin Creek Gardens
http://www.goodwincreekgardens.com
58. Wild Garden Seed
59. Heirloom Seeds
60. Seeds for the South
http://www.seedsforthesouth.com
61. Hometown Seeds.com
62. The Cook’s Garden
63. Dirt Works
64. Garden More >
List of Companies That Signed “The Pledge”
Jan 7th
Here’s a list of some of the companies that have signed the pledge. The one’s with asterisks in front of them are companies I have bought from and had good experiences with their seeds. This is a long list and I do not endorse any of the companies that don’t have asterisks by them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. I’ve just never done business with them before.
1. Abundant Life Seeds
http://www.abundantlifeseeds.com
2. *Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (0ne of the best companies!)
3. Cubit’s Organics
4. Garden Medicinals and Culinaries
http://www.gardenmedicinals.com
5. Golden Harvest Organics
6. Gourmet Seed International
7. Terroir Seeds LLC/Underwood Gardens
http://www.underwoodgardens.com/
8. Granny’s Heirloom Seeds
http://www.grannysheirloomseeds.com
9. More >