Spring Gardening To Do List (and More)

Everyone likes to give their house a good spring cleaning to look fresh after a long winter. It is the same way you can take good care of your garden to prepare it for summer. A perfect picture spring landscape can be overwhelming sometimes, even when snow and ice have melted.

That’s why we have provided a checklist that will assist you to pace yourself while you prepare for flower beds, shrubs, trees, and other places that need cleaning in the yard. We have made it much easier for you to plan your list, because we broke it into early, mid, and late spring.

Early Spring To Do List

It has been a while, and now you want to get back to your garden after the long winter. It will help if you put some important things for your garden to be ready for the spring and the growing season.

Clean up flower beds

Winter storm debris from the soil surface that you anticipate planting flowers and veggies should be cleared out. Try to remove the protective winter mulch from the perennials and ornamental grasses.

If you want your grass clumps to look clean and inviting, you need to trim off the hedges. While working with plants with prickly leaves (lungwort), don't forget to wear your gloves. Putting on gloves helps to protect your hands from cuts and scrapes.

Divide perennials

Before spring growth, that is the best time to divide many perennials. A budget-friendly way to fill your garden to share with friends or with many plants is by dividing perennials. It is also an excellent way to keep perennials existing healthy.

Most times, it is expected that the middle of plants that grow in a large clump will thin out after a few years, which will leave a bare spot. But, when you divide the clusters, you are helping the plant to generate growth.

Add fresh mulch around perennials

Your yard will look when you add fresh mulch to garden beds. It is an excellent way to retain soil moisture for your plants.

Plant veggies

Please plant cool-season vegetables during early spring when you notice the soil is thawed. It will be ready for early summer.

Mid-Spring To Do List

Your spring landscape should start coming to light because more shrubs, bulbs and other things have taken place. This is when you should add new plants to your garden.

• Clean bird feeders.

• Make notes as you watch the spring show.

• Plant new perennials and cold-hardy annuals.

• Add new trees and shrubs.

• Apply mulch.

Late Spring To Do List

Late spring is the period when you start cleaning up the bloomed flowers

Deadhead bulbs

Plants tend to store energy when removing the blossom from spring flowing bulbs. Allow the foliage to die by itself; try not to remove it until the color is yellow complete or when it dries up.

Shop for summer annuals

Petunias, zinnias, and impatiens are usually the best summer annuals; hence, try to pick them out.

Start warm-season veggies

Transplantation of seedlings of warm-season crops can take place. For example, pepper, herbs of all kinds and tomatoes are warm-season crops.

Plant summer-blooming bulbs

It is usually in the fall that spring-blooming bulbs are planted. Once there's no more threat of frost, it is wise to plant summer blooming bulbs.

If you follow the checklist above, you will have one of the best clean and good-looking gardens. Take pride in your garden and beautify it as you would in your home.

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How to Keep Squirrels (and Other Animals) Out of Your Garden

Some people have gardens where annoying little squirrels can cause some damage. This article discusses safe ways you could keep squirrels and a variety of other animals from disturbing your beautiful plants. Here we go!

How You Can Keep Squirrels Out of Your Garden

You could get a dog: Lots of dogs enjoy chasing squirrels around. You could put your dogs to patrol for squirrels and scare them away.

Attack their sense of smell: Squirrels are consistently offended by the things that deer find offensive. Make use of repellents like deer repellent. This works very well. You could try out little coffee grounds layers. You might tuck in a bit of dog hair and keep this under some of your plants.

Surprise them: Squirrels are very active and fast, but no one likes to be surprised. You could shop at them or startle them away. You could spray them with water using a motion-activated sprinkler or use a motion-activated air that can blast them with some air.

Employ natural predators: You could make use of attracting owls or hawks, which are the natural predators of squirrels. If you have small animals in your yard that you like, then this method isn't recommended.

You could create a barrier: You do this by shielding ground crops using row covers. This creates an enclosure using chicken wire. You could even create your greenhouse, which would protect the plants in your garden from these squirrels. You should create any fence form and place it afoot through the ground. This would reduce the rate squirrels would try to dig underneath to get into your garden.

Try making use of companion plants: Plant mustard, nasturtiums, marigolds, and mint. This discourages squirrels.

You could make use of crowned imperial bulbs, also known as Fritillaria. These are recommended that you always plant them away from areas that are inhibited. These areas include porches or patios as a result of their strong smell of skunk.

How do you safely deter squirrels from destroying your garden?

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How to Make Gardening Boxes

Building a gardening box (also called a raised garden bed) is a lot simpler than it looks. First, you need to decide on the materials to use, such as the wood. You will also have to decide how tall your box will be and whether you want to use pre-made corner braces. 

Common Questions on How to Make Gardening Boxes

What kind of wood should I use?

When looking for way on how to make gardening boxes, the most common and widely used is cedar wood. This is because the cedar is naturally resistant to rot. How long will the wood last? That depends on the type of cedar. For example, red cedar used to build boxes has lasted up to 15 years in some cases.

How tall should the box be?

You can build your box to your desired height, but the most common height is 11”. This requires a height of two stacked 2” x 6” boards. If you want a taller box, it is vital to remember that the weight of the added soil will put pressure on the sides and force them to bow outwards. Therefore, you include cross-supports to prevent that in boxes that are higher than 18” or longer than 6”. You must also take note of the soil depth requirement for the plant you want to have.

How wide should the box be?

The best course of action will be for the box to have a width no wider than 4”. In other to be able to reach the center of the box from all sides. This measure measurement will also prevent you from stepping on the soil bed because that will compress the soil.

Tools and Materials 

• Lumber: Use of cedar wood is most recommended using "2 x" boards for the sides like; 2" x 6" etc.

• Fastenings: 3.5” #10 coated deck screws are the most typical to use. You will need six for each corner and two for each mid-span post.

• Cross supports: Get variable lengths of ½” aluminum flat stock. It is easy to cut and screw.

• Tools: You’ll need a hand saw, square, screwdriver, carpenters level, hacksaw, drill, etc.

Construction

Step one:

First cut then assemble the basic frame, block it up to level. Clear the area where you plan to build your box. Mark the ends and saw your boards to the desired length. After that is done, screw the ends of the wood together to make a box.

Step two:

Drive in the corner poles and fasten the boards into them. Cut and set the first post into the corner of the frame and drive it a few inches into the ground.

Step three:

Seal in the boards to the ground then saw the post top flush to the sides. Then add the bottom row of boards to the ground level. This might mean that you will have to dig into the ground. Using a hand saw, cut the post that sticks up, so that they are flush at all sides.

Step four:

This step includes the addition of cross-bracing. If you have a box 8” longer, use cross-bracing to prevent the bed from bowing outwards in the center of the span. Cut the aluminum flat stock with your hacksaw to the width of the bed and then drill a hole across each end attach the cross-brace to the opposite side.

Step five:

Cover the bed with soil and start gardening. You can do this with your garden soil. Pull off any rock you may find. Add soil amendments like fertilizer and manure.

Gardening boxes are great for growing small plots of veggies and flowers while keeping pathway weed from your garden soil. They preventing soil compaction and provide the necessary drainage, serving as a barrier for pests. These are just some of the reasons you should learn how to make gardening boxes for yourself.

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How Do You Select Flowers for Your Garden?

It’s almost National Gardening Week (June 6-12)! The presence of garden flowers helps in making your home beautiful. That's why I love planting a flower bed. You should make use of these tips. They would help you create your very own extraordinary spring landscape. 

What the Best Designs Include

The best flower bed designs include lots of flowering plants. These include annuals, perennials, seasonal bulbs, and vines too. Before you get started officially, you can adequately research the textures and colors you prefer. You should also check for climate limitations and special care they may need. These are all important for your flowers to grow very well, and for them to look beautiful too as they grow. 

After choosing your flower garden’s size, shape, and design, it is now time for you to put your plant research into action. It would be best if you also thought about adding gorgeous show stopping plants to increase your home’s curbside appeal. These plants have fantastic color combinations. They look awesome all through the year with epic flower sizes and colors as great focal points. 

All garden beds, it does not matter how small or big, require focal points, which give the garden a personality. This could mean that you could anchor your large bed using shrubs on the corners. You could put a flowering shrub in the center. You could also plant a mass of a single flower type in between a skinny border. 

Don't forget about the height of the plants when you make your selections. If you have a garden that's a border along your house, the plants would need to be toward the back. They should not be so high, though. If they are relatively high, they will end up blocking your doors and windows. If you have tall plants, they should stay in the middle part. Make sure you take flowers individually into consideration as you organize and select flowers for your beautiful garden. 

Select Flowers for Your Garden 

Have you ever heard of the queen of the night?

Growing up, we didn't have a garden in our home. But my Dad loves flowers, so he got us some queen of the night plants and planted them around our place. At night, they release this grand aroma. This made us enjoy sitting outside the porch with him. We would stay outside, and he would give us tales about these lovely flowers. 

Too bad I'll have to be ending this piece here. It's nice for you to plant great flowers in your garden. Keep that place alive and well! 

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How to Keep Birds Out of a Garden

Everyone that has a vegetable garden would honestly not want birds eating their poor plants. Different gardeners typically plant certain shrubs and beautiful flowers using the intention of getting birds into their gardens. Birds add music and color to your garden. They also aid in controlling pests and assist in pollination, which are wonderful for gardeners. Birdscaping or arranging your garden to support or attract local birds is a movement that’s growing in the gardening world. Not all gardeners are in favor of bringing several different birds into their space used for gardening. 

What is Garden Netting? 

For one to create barriers available in your garden, you could make use of garden netting. This is an effective way to stop birds from entering your garden and spoiling all the hard work and energy you have put into growing those beautiful plants. Butterfly netting protects the plants available in your garden, but it lets in small insects like bees and butterflies, which need to gain access to your plants for cross-pollination purposes. For you to avoid injuries to other wildlife and other birds, you need to put a lot of thinking into your netting type. You could make use of netting that has holes that are smaller than a centimeter. 

It is really important for you to invest in very high quality netting. Make use of UV-resistant materials for netting. Some could serve as hazards for small wildlife, especially when they start to deteriorate and fray. So be careful.

Try Chicken Wire 

You could put some chicken wire on the ground. This would serve as a guard to the seeds you just planted or your bee tubers from getting damaged from birds or chickens, which peck and scratch the soil. These seedlings would soon start growing, the wires get lifted off the ground using stakes for your plants to get more protection. 

Guard Crops using Garden Fleece 

Garden fleece is usually installed and it guards crops against colds during their months. It could also serve and get used all through the year. You could make use of white materials to cover your lettuce. Use bok choy, chard, and salad greens too. These are all awesome to keep the birds in your neighborhood from harvesting in your greens before you might have a chance. You could weigh the sides down using pegs or rocks, and then you could roll back the fleece when it is time to harvest. 

So now you know the thing you can do to prevent birds from destroying your beautiful garden. Using the ways listed above, you’re good to go.

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How to Compost Food for Your Garden

The amount of compost available makes the drainage of soil and water retention abilities increase. If you’re new to composting, you could wonder how to compost the scraps of food. You could start saving cramps and join me, let's begin. 

Composting from the kitchen can be done in several different ways. One could save old food and then trim the kitchen counter. One could call all of that garbage. Brand new efforts are being done for the entire public to gain an education. These have all trained us in reducing waste and making use of organic items again. 

How to Compost Food Scraps 

Gathering the waste from the kitchen could be very simple. It could be like burying food scraps into the dirt or making use of a three-stage tumbler or a composting bin. The end parts of these have soil additives that have more than enough nutrients that aid in increasing the rate of porosity, which helps to hold valuable moisture in the soil. These items which break down the fastest in the kitchen would get composted and turn into leafy greens. Pieces that are smaller get compost faster than others. 

The technique you could use to compost these kitchen scraps would not need you to stretch using the truth to tell you that you would need things like a patch of dirt and a shovel for kitchen waste composting. You could dig the scraps for at least eight inches down and then cover them using dirt so animals wouldn't want to eat them. 

You could also chop up these scraps using a spade or a shovel. Smaller pieces have surfaces that are open for anaerobic bacteria to strike. This makes the entire composting thing increase in speed. 

You could also invest in a three-bin system where the first bin is made out of nothing but raw compost very fresh or kitchen scraps. The second bin would be broken down partially and then turned properly. The third bin could fully get composted which would make these ready for your garden. You could also simply just make a pile using a location that’s quite sunny. You could also layer the scraps using soil, grass clippings, and leaf litter too. You could convert the compost material weekly using water mist as you compost your kitchen waste. 

More on Composting

Well, composting needs warm temperatures of about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, moisture that's moderate, and more than enough space to turn the pile into compost. 

The results at the end are way better using bins that make use of a rotating tumbler. Piles available on the ground used for mixing into garden beds would yield chunkier and more robust compost. 

So there we have it. Now you know how you can compost food for your garden. It is fast, easy, and eco-friendly.

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How to Improve Soil Health to Improve the Crops in Your Home Garden

One of the most exciting things to have in your home is a beautiful garden, because it doesn’t only give you something to eat, but it also gives you a sense of responsibility. Ensuring that this garden is fertile for your crops is another essential part of this process, which is why you should consider your soil health.

This article will show you all that you need to know about your soil health and how you can improve it for a more productive garden. Follow me through this article; there’s so much to learn.

How to Improve Your Soil Health

Below are some trusted ways to care for the physical, chemical, and biological properties of your soil and improve your soil health in no time.

1. Reduce tillage or don’t till at all

Yes, tillage helps to loosen the soil for preparation for planting; however, there are side effects to that. Using the tillage tools might make the job quite easier for you, but it also makes your soil a little unhealthy. Tillage is favorably used in large farms where tilling with your hands may be impossible. In your home garden, tillage can result in your soil being blown away by wind or washed off by the rain.

2. Always add organic matter

Don’t be in the habit of planting on your soil immediately after clearing the garden. You cannot make healthy crops from unhealthy soil. Ensure always that you apply some organic matter that can help to boost the health of the soil. Aside from having to harvest only a little, unhealthy soil is easily infested by pests.

3. Tap into the benefit of cover crops

Cover crops do more than just cover up your garden during the no-planting seasons. They also help to keep your soil fertile, hydrated, and provide some helpful nutrients. They will also help to keep you constantly aware of your garden. Most cover crops die during winter, giving you some space to plant your crops for the springtime.

4. Create a pathway in your garden

One of the major challenges that face your garden is you constantly stepping on the soil. Stepping on the soil makes it easier to get compacted, thereby reducing tilth. Create special and permanent beds for planting and never walk on them. A pathway will also help visitors stay away from the beds.

5. Add some aged animal manure

Manure is one of the most important things that your garden will need for your crops to come out healthy. Note that you have to start adding manure to your soil even before the planting season comes to prepare the soil for planting.

Every one of the methods listed above has its specific advantage on your soil, which is why you have to use a combination of some or all of them to keep your soil always active and healthy for planting. Also, note that it is safer to apply these methods prior to planting. 

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How Gardening is Good for Your Mental Health

Have you been feeling depressed lately, or it's just been a regular thing now? Did you know that gardening is a way of relieving a person from depression and loneliness? Gardening has been researched to be one of the many ways to relieve a person from a low mental state. Horticulture has so many benefits and ways it can improve a person's mental well-being. Let’s take a look at what gardening is and the benefits of it.

Effects of Gardening on Mental Health

A British study shows how just spending as little as 10 minutes a week gardening can greatly improve the health of a person and reduce the risk of heart disease. The best part is that not only can you get a green thumb with gardening outside but also inside as you can also nurture your chosen indoor plants, herbs, and flowers in the comfort of your home.

It has become very clear that gardening is more than just a trend or recreation, as it has helped many in escaping from their depression and loneliness. It has a lot of key benefits and so many ways of improving the emotional and mental health of a person. Here are a couple of benefits of how it can relieve a person from depression, loneliness, and anxiety from just getting green-fingered.

Benefits of Gardening

Research over the years shows how it has greatly improved the feel-good hormones in a person. As it involves hand in effort and nurturing, in turn giving the person a sense of pride and achievement from nurturing their plant. It also releases stress.

Relieving a person from stress is one of its many main benefits. Research has greatly shown how just relaxing in gardens, outdoors, and a green environment in general greatly improves the mental health of a person as their minds travel far and are less focused on the cause of their stress.

Gardening can give an individual a welcome break from their work day. Results show how those who spend time gardening have a lower stress level than those who spend time working on the computer.

Help Gain Vitamin D

As an activity that involves coming in contact with direct natural sunlight outdoors, gardening helps in strengthening your immune system and providing you with the necessary vitamin D to help a person to resist any chronic disease or illness. Also getting your hands in the soil will help in staying fit and healthy, and it involves partaking in little handwork or exercise, in turn helping people to remain fit.

These are a few of the ways to benefit from gardening. It's an activity that's fitting for all, as it’s a low-cost activity and doesn't require much to start. So if you have a balcony or window, you can start now and make this trend the remedy to your depression.

You can also check out some nice herbal and mood uplift products like Gaia Herbs’ Mood Uplifter and New Chapter’s Mood Support Probiotics, which may help balance your mood.

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Why is My Plant Dying? Tips on Growing Lush, Green Plant Life

Nothing breathes life into a room like lush, green houseplants. If you have a naturally green thumb, then keeping them alive and thriving is no issue. However, not all of us were blessed with a knack for plant life, and we may find ourselves befuddled as to why our plants keep dying.

In reality, there is really no such thing as a black thumb, and with a little education and some common sense anyone can have a home full of beautiful, thriving houseplants.

Keep reading for a few reasons your plants aren’t surviving, as well as other tips for growing lush indoor plant life.

Why Your Plants are Dying

Here are 5 reasons your plants aren’t doing so hot as well as tips on how to save them!

Over or Underwatering

One of the quickest ways to kill a plant is to give it too much or too little water. When you bring your plant home, you have to do the research to understand its watering needs. Plants like succulents, for example will die with overwatering, while plants like ferns should only be left with dry soil briefly before watering.

Fertilizing

Similar to understanding your plant’s watering schedule, you should have a basic understanding of its fertilizer needs. Most potting soil contains the nutrients needed to encourage lush plant life. However, after a few months your plant can deplete the nutrients in the soil and may need a fertilizer to replenish them. Many companies make plant-specific fertilizers, and each product should advise you on fertilizing frequency.

Just the Right Light

Just go back to basic biology, plants need light and water to thrive and complete the cycle of photosynthesis. If you are placing a plant which needs full fun in a shady spot, it won’t do well. Likewise shade-loving plants can wilt and die in a hot and sunny spot. If your plant is not doing so well, make sure you’ve placed it in the right lighting conditions and make needed changes right away.

Pot Problems

If your plant is in the wrong size pot, or the container you’ve planted it in doesn’t have proper drainage, your plant life will start to droop and die. If your plant has grown out of the pot you purchased it in, repot it carefully in a new container with proper drainage using fresh, high-quality potting soil. If your pot is sized correctly, but doesn’t have drainage, repot your plant into a proper container so the root ball never sits in standing water – a sure-fire killer for many plant species.

Bugs and Mites

If you’ve noticed bugs or mites on your plant or in the dirt surrounding it, it’s time to take action. Start by getting a closer look at the pest in question, and once you’ve identified the bug you can take the next steps. Some common indoor bugs are spider mites, aphids, fungus gnats, and russet mites. Each of these pests can require a different treatment, so a local plant expert or an online search can help you take the next steps.

However, one universal way to prevent indoor pests from munching on your plants is to ensure your new plants are pest free. Additionally, once you notice pests, isolate that plant right away so the infestation doesn’t spread.

What are your favorite houseplants? How do you keep them healthy and thriving? Share your favorite plants and best gardening tips with us in the comments section below.

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