Posts Tagged plants
Garden Pot Tower
Posted by Jeffrey Scott Thomas in Craft Projects, Decorating, Gardening, Home, Car, Yard, and Pets, Outdoor on May 2, 2013
Items Needed:
Garden stake 4′ tall
5 small Terra Cotta pots
1 large thick plastic dish
Small plants/Flowers
Garden soil
Directions:
Hammer the plant stake into the ground and make sure it is secure because it will need to hold a lot of weight. Place the first pot onto the stake and have it go even onto the ground. Fill with dirt. Next pot goes on but this time let it lean to one side. Fill with dirt. Next pot goes on and tilt o opposite side and then fill with dirt. Do that for the last pot as well except this time you fill with gravel and balance the plastic bowl onto the top and fill with water. Once this is done and the pots are filled it is very very sturdy. Plant small flowers and plants in your pots and appreciate how simple this is to make. It will be a nice addition to your garden. You can paint your pots with vivid colors also to add even more design. If you choose you can “goop” glue your plastic bowl onto the top but the gravel does need to go in first as the weight of this is what keeps the whole thing nice and tight.
Pomegranate Seed Harvesting – Quickly
Posted by Jeffrey Scott Thomas in Dieting, Food, Gardening, Health & Medical, Holiday, Other, Recipes, Snack, Tid-Bits & Funnies on December 31, 2011
Love, pomegranate seeds but hate to have to get them out, or need them for a recipe…. heres some quick help with this pesky task:
1: Gently roll the pomegranate in your palm against the counter… but not too hard, you don’t want to squish those juice delicious seeds and make them no good.
2: Slice in half – on cutting board…. juice can stain a light colored counter.
3:Pry out seeds in handfuls and transfer them to another bowl.
Then eat the sweet delicious little seeds or have them ready for that special recipe.
Paper Towel Tube – Reuse
Posted by Jeffrey Scott Thomas in Gardening, Tid-Bits & Funnies on February 3, 2011
They make good plant propagators. Cut then into 2-inch strips, stuff with newspaper, and fill with soil, then put your germinating seed in. When the plant gets bigger, they can be pulled apart easily or planted straight into the ground and will biodegrade.
Gardening Tips
Posted by Jeffrey Scott Thomas in Gardening on September 25, 2010
•Most perennials stay in bloom for about three to six weeks. So, the secret to enjoying them to their fullest is to select plants with staggered bloom times for a bed full of color throughout the season.
•Carefully choose your color scheme. Red makes a flowerbed seem larger and closer, while blues will make it appear smaller and more distant. Pinks combine well with purple, and red with violet. White is a good complement for any color.
•Prepare planting beds by digging the soil to a depth of 12-18″. Work in plenty of peat moss, leaf mulch or compost to ensure good drainage. Space plants properly, as crowded plants grow less vigorously.
•Get your perennials off to a good start by fertilizing lightly when planting.
• Some easy-to-grow perennials for any area of the South include: phlox, candytuft, dianthus, daylily, rudbeckia, salvia, hosta, purple coneflower and verbena.
•Now is also a good time for harvesting a variety of vegetables. For that “homegrown” quality and taste, be sure to harvest at the best stage of maturity and carefully handle vegetables that will be eaten at any time later than the same day harvested.
• Weeds—Pull as many invaders out of your flower and shrub beds as you can before they produce seeds (and therefore more weeds). You’ll find that they are easier to pull after a rain. If your forecast is dry, use a sprinkler the day before you plan to work in the garden. If you have a lot of weeds to pull, try using a long-handled scuffle or stirrup hoe to save your back and knees.
• Slugs—These pests can be especially damaging to hosta foliage, leaving it marred for the entire growing season. To be sure the problem is slugs, look for the dried slime trail on the leaves. Slugs feed at night, so you rarely see them during the day. Although effective, slug bait pellets can be poisonous to children, pets, and birds. You might find a saucer of beer or a sprinkling of fireplace ashes in the mulch around the plants just as effective, cheaper, and safer than commercial baits.
• Water—As the weather gets hot, remember that new additions to your garden will need watering more often than established plants.
• Lawns—This is a good time to patch warm-season lawns such as Zoysia, St. Augustine, improved Bermuda, and centipede with sod of the same type grass. You can also sow seeds of turf-type fescues or cool-season blends to thicken bare or thin areas of your lawn.
• Shade—Protect new transplants from direct sun for about a week until the roots get
settled in their new location. A light layer of pine needles or hay will help, or you can construct a small shelter from a mesh plant tray supported by sticks or dowels.
• Petunias—Pinch back plants several inches to prevent long, stringy stems and to encourage repeated bloom through the summer. You may need to pinch a couple more times during the season. Fertilize with timed-release granules, such as 17-17-17, or water with liquid 20-20-20 every other week.
