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Gorse clippings placed in the drill can help deter mice and rodents. Drench cut turves with a light brine solution and then lay them out grass-side up for the birds to clear the bugs and worms. Once this is done, sow the seed in thick lines on each turf, covering them with fine soil. Keep the frame closed until plants begin to appear. To plant seedlings in March or April, lift the turves from the frame and place the strips in the prepared ground.
Shore them up with soil and stake them in your preferred manner.
Top 10 Foods to Grow for Survival. A bed for two rows of asparagus plants needs to be about 3 to 4 feet wide with a trench of about 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep between the beds. Plant the asparagus about 4 inches from the top with the roots spread to each side of the ridges. Do this quickly as their roots are very sensitive to the air. The rows should be inches apart with at least 9 inches from the edges of the bed. There are two common methods to stake and train your runner beans.
The first way is to place pairs of foot stakes at intervals of 1 foot.
Each pair should be crossed approximately 6 feet from the ground and then attached to a horizontal cross bar or stake. Use twine to secure them. Tie pieces of twine from the top wires to the bottom at intervals of about 1 foot. To plant a tree, dig a hole about a foot deep that is about a foot wider than the roots themselves. Allow for adequate drainage by forking up the bottom, adding 6 or 7 inches of good soil as you go. Before adding the tree, make sure the roots have been soaked and that any stragglers or damaged rootlets have been removed.
To settle the tree, shake it occasionally as you are backfilling the hole and tread the ground lightly to pack the soil. Apple trees in bloom, especially when trained to act as an espalier or hedge between gardens are a lovely addition. Plant two-year-old espaliers with four to five branches already in place in a sheltered location with good soil.
Proper pruning of young fruit trees is important to encourage strong branches that can stand a heavy load. This may mean no harvest for the first two years but will ensure years full of fruit after that. Plant the apple tree in the fall. That winter cut the branches back to about 18 inches to encourage bud growth in the spring.
Make the cuts just above a bud that is pointed in the direction you will want the new branch to grow. Store dessert apples in a cool, moist location such as a cellar or a small shed with a dirt floor and thatched roof to preserve these late fruits. By wrapping each apple in oiled paper and placing them in either a wooden box or storage tray, you can save them for months. Every September it is common to see bands of grease-proof paper ringing the trunks of fruit trees. The caterpillars that hatch from these eggs can destroy entire crops. Cordon fruit trees with their one to three stems are welcome in small and large gardens alike.
They can be trained to grow on a trellis or against a fence or wall. Root pruning is advised as well or the tree will begin to bear less fruit even while growing well. This is best done in late October or November by exposing the thick roots and trimming them back to within about 15 inches of the base.
Cover again with fresh soil to protect them. To encourage growth for the next summer, newly planted canes should be shortened and thinned out to a maximum of two suckers.
It is always the wisest course to not allow too many suckers to grow as they will weaken the plant and cause a light crop. Keep only the strongest canes and thin the rest in following years. Proper pruning of raspberry canes is the key to a heavy crop. Summer-fruiting raspberries are pruned twice a year. After harvest, the canes are cut to the ground with four or five of the new shoots being tied to the support as their replacements. The fall-fruiting varieties are to be cut down in March. October to the end of January is the best time to prune gooseberries.
All wild growth and straggling tips must be removed while leaving the center of the bush open. During the winter the ground needs to be worked up, manure added if needed, and all weeds removed in order for the water and nutrients to sink in. December is when any weak growth or dead wood should be cut away from black currant bushes.
You can propagate black currants in two different manners. Take 8-inch cuttings with the buds removed from the lower half and plant them at about 4 inches deep in November. The second method is removing and then replanting any suckers from October until pruning time in December. Out in the open black currant bushes need about 5 feet of space between them. Hard pruning of newly planted red currant bushes is required in winter to ensure well-branched bushes full of fruit buds in the spring.
If the pruning is done lightly, the bush will only grow on top and leave the lower half bare. If they are being planted in the winter or early spring, prune them before planting. Scrape your nails into a soap before working with your garden soil or potting mix, if you do not want to use gloves. This helps in cleaning your hands easily later on and also the dirt wont enter into your nail beds.
Make a Cello Tape Trap.
Wrap the cello tape in reverse on your fingers and use the sticky part to touch on leafs infested with pests like aphids and whiteflies. Use Dirty aquarium water to fertilize you plants. When you are performing a periodic clean-up, do not throw away the water and the filter waste, just pour small amounts of it to your plants.
It contains helpful bacteria and trace nutrients that can help your plants. Similarly Use Cooking Water to Fertilize your garden. When you boil or steam some vegetables, do not pour the water in the drain, instead once the water has cooled, water your plants with it. Its contains many essesntial nutrients for your plants.
Mix some mineral oil mixed with a pail of sand and insert your garden tools after use to keep them sharp and rust free. Sprinkle fine Cinnamon powder on your seeds and seedlings to protect seeds and seedling from rot. For Acid loving plants like Azaleas and Roses, use Alum 5gm in ml of water once every 10 days and this will boost the growth and flowering. Remove Clay Rich Soil using this simple Hack: When you bring your plant from a nursery and start repotting, most often you find they have stuffed the plant in a clay-rich sticky soil.
Here are tips from 13 new gardening books; read about those 13 books at www.farmersmarketmusic.com books, which cover vegetable. We're right in the middle of spring, the perfect time to start planting flowers, vegetables, herbs, and more! Gardening season is upon us and it's.
You can remove this soil without damaging the roots by soaking the root ball in water for few minutes till this soil dissolves. Then you can repot this plant in a well-draining potting mix. Do not forget to water this newly repotting plant with Epsom salt — about 1 teaspoon in 1 liter of water to counter this Transplant shock. Loosen up your roots: When you remove the root ball for repotting, loosen up or free up some roots at the bottom and sides.
Use a Table cloth or any large bedsheet to drag heavy weight like your potting soil bags, and any large heavy garden items.
If you have already experienced rodent and animal attacks on your garden, you will definitely realize the importance of this tip. Mix it well and leave it for 24 hours. Do a patch test on a leaf and check the leaf for wilting if any so that you can dilute this accordingly and use it on your plants safely. Another simplest way to repel Some animals like cats , dogs and rabbits — is to soak a some pieces of cloth with vinegar and stuff them in some areas of your garden.
These animals cannot withstand the smell of vinegar and may not return if you repeat this process for few days. To Promote more blooms and growth of your flowering plants, do not hesitate to perform these three tasks: Pinching that is cutting the growing tips of stems and branches to promote more branching , b. Pruning the plant promotes more growth and makes the plant bushy.
Discover a Free Seed Germination station: That is the Top of your Refrigerator. You can place your Seed trays on top of a refrigerator to get the heat and produce faster germination of your seeds. Organize unplanted or left over seeds in the sleeves of an old photo album. Easy method to check Viability of your seeds: Pour the seeds in a bowl of water and If the seeds are floating, this means they are dry and not viable.
Discard them and use only those seeds that sink to the bottom. Another method to check viability is using a wet toilet paper method which I have already shown in part 2 edition of Gardening Hacks. You can use Silica Gel packets which I am sure most of us have seen. Instead of throwing away these tiny sachets, use them for in your seed storage container as dessicants which can increased your seed life and protect them from fungus. You can also use a mixture of 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 32 parts water to improve your plants root system by watering with this solution weekly once.
You can make a Humidity Tray by using Small pebbles installed in a large tray surrounding the plant and pour some water in the tray. This really helps to maintain humidity levels and help your plants grow. If you do not have perlite or vermiculite, you can also use red brick powder. This helps to make a well draining soil. Do not throw away Kitchen left overs: Grow plants from left over veggies and fruits like onions, pineapples and so on.
This also keeps away some animals and rodents. Use liquid dish wash soap in any pesticide you make, to act as surfactant and coating on the plant leaves and branches. You can also use any handwash liquid soap or any soap solution. Use unwanted or old plastic forks or plastic spoons to label plants with a marker if you do not have professional markers.
Use some herbs like Citronella, catnip, basil, marigolds, eucalyptus and many other plants to deter mosquitoes. You can watch my video on a big list of mosquito repelling plants from link in the description and also here at top right corner of this video. But first lets complete this video. Take any straight stick and mark with inches or centimeters to evenly plant your seeds or plants specially useful if you are planting in a raised bed garden or if you do large space gardening.
Do not throw away banana peels, Bury them around flowering plants into the soil to provide potassium content to the plants and improve flowering and overall plant health. You can also make a banana peel liquid fertilizer using these peels. Do not throw away your Broken umbrellas, you can make a garden trellis with the umbrella frame to support your plants.
Tobacco is an age-old natural organic pesticide for Aphids, Whiteflies, Spider mites, Leaf miners and many other worms like slugs and caterpillars. If tobacco or tobacco leaves are not available your can use this hack.
If you are a smoker, or anyone in your family or friends, You can make a Cheapest Tobacco Pesticide Spray for your plants from Left over Cigarette Butts. To prepare this Nicotine Pesticide Spray, take half a cup of used cigarette butts and add to one litre of water. Mix well and and crush if necessary and leave this for one hour. Then strain out and discard the solid stuff. Take the liquid portion and optionally add few drops of some dish wash liquid soap and also 1 teaspoon of garlic paste into this to make it more potent.
Then load into your spray bottle and use it on the affected plants.
Repeat after a week if necessary or use in conjunction with neem oil spray alternately if you wish. One point to note is: Tobacco spray is natural but still dangerous to beneficial insects of your garden. I am in central Oklahoma and live on a hill!!!!!!!!!!! Martie, Leo secured our obelisks to the ground by driving two 2-foot long round metal stakes into the ground beside the obelisks. He ran some coated wire through the holes and around two of the lower rungs of the obelisks.
You may be able to see one of the stakes in front of the obelisk if you look closely at the photo above. I love this time of year as i get to see your beautiful gardens and property…Love the way you used the obelisk for the climbing roses….
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