Garden insects: know your friends & foesLearn to identify and manage three basic types of garden pests
Why is it when 97% of the world’s insects are considered to be either beneficial or harmless, your garden attracts only the remaining 3% that are considered PESTS? Although it may seem this way, there are both “good” and “bad” insects in your yard.
There is a constant battle going on to maintain a balance between these two groups. Toleration of some pests should be allowed as they provide a food source for the beneficial insects, allowing them to thrive in your yard and keep the pests in check. However, even in the best of gardens, uncontrolled outbreaks do occur. Preventing an infestation of bugs is an important part of gardening. By taking several precautions and putting forth a little bit of effort in the beginning, you will hopefully be rewarded with (almost) pest-free veggies and flowers.
Why are some bugs in your yard a good thing? A vast majority of the insects in your yard provide many services that improve your garden and lawn. Insects Read More…
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How to Identify and Manage the Basic Types of Garden Insects
Posted in Gardening 
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Comments OffHow to Start a Garden
How to Start a Garden
Planting a garden can be easier and more enjoyable with these gardening tips
Planting a garden, whether it is a vegetable plot or a flower bed, is an adventure where your creativity and patience are put to the test! You are directly responsible for the beautiful rose blooms or the delicious tomatoes that develop in this section of the land. Therefore to have the most success you need to determine where you plant!
The location of the garden should be determined by several factors: sunlight, soil conditions, water and wind exposure. Take notes on when this area of the yard is exposed to sunshine. This can determine which plants will thrive there. Test your soil to see if conditioners are needed to bring it up to optimum growing conditions. Pay attention to whether water collects in this section of the lawn. Some plants do well in soggy locations, but most need well-drained soil. Strong winds can dry out soil and plants, so try to locate the plot out of direct winds. Once you have determined where you will Read More…
Posted in Gardening Tags: activity, adventure, annuals, Area, assistance, attention, beautiful rose, bed, bloom, choice, climate, color, Compost, creativity, delicious tomatoes, Digging, dirt, Don, drought, drought tolerant plants, earth, employee, excitement, exposure, flower, flower bed, flowering plants, fun, Garden, garden location, Gardening, gardening tips, Gloves, growing zone, hazard, heart, Hose, House, how to start a garden, Invest, Land, lawn, leisure, location, look, masterpiece, nation, native plants, number, nursery, patience, Pay, personality, Piece, Plan, Plant, plant a tree, Planting, planting a garden, Plot, pruners, Pruning, quality, rake, rest, rose blooms, seasonal color, section, Select, several factors, shade, shovel, size, soil, soil conditions, Start, strong winds, success, sunlight, sunshine, test, Time, tolerant, tree, Trowel, Vegetable, vegetable plot, water, wind, wind exposure, Yard, zone Comments OffBeing Green, Gardening and Why I Blame my Kid
So often you hear “Its all my parents fault” occasionally I even hear m mother taking the blame for my occasionally caustic personality thought I’m fairly certain I’ve never blamed her for my questionable vocabulary and sharp tongue. Not that she’ shy by any means just a little more diplomatic.
In this case I’m blaming my kid instead of the other way around. It all started in the spring while the youngest was I the second grade. She came home all wound up about needing to save the earth. In fairness I’ve been a pretty green guy for years. I’ve used Organic lawn care products long before I most people had the environment as top of mind. Speaking of organic I’ve bought organic when its available for the past decade and local all my life. What I wouldn’t say is that by any means am I an environmentalist. In fact while I’ve claimed to be a lot of things an environmentalist has never been one of them. Buying green due to a fear of cancer and a shorter Read More…
Posted in Green Garden Tags: 2x4, accident, act, attention, basement, Basil, Being, bell, Blame, bronze, Building, cage, cancer, Care, carpenter, case, chalk, Chatting, chocolate, committal, composting, conscious act, contraption, creation, daughter, decade, distraction, dog, due, earth, environment, environmentalist, evidence, fact, faerie, fairness, Fall, family, farmers market, father, fear, fine, Foot, fresher, Garden, Gardening, Gift, gospel, grade, granddaughter, Green, green guy, guy, Harvest, Herb, hole, Home, horse, husband, I, Idea, July, June, karma, kid, kite, kite string, ladder, Land, lattice, lawn, lawn care products, Lemon, lesson, lettuce, life, look, lot, manure, market, mind, mixture, Money, mother, mothers father, nail, nature, need, nine years, Nothing, Organic, organic lawn care, patch, pepper, percentage, personality, pig, pig tails, pile, place, Planting, Pound, practice, Preferably, process, put, quality, questionable vocabulary, rain, reason, right, rock, science, science teacher, second grade, sense, sharp tongue, shot, side, soil, Speaking, spot, Spring, statement, statistical evidence, statue, stone, string, taking the blame, Talk, teacher, thing, Thyme, Time, tongue, top, video, way, well meaning, wife, wood, World, year Comments OffPlant Disease – ?garden Creep?
One thing you either might have to watch out for or embrace is something I call Garden Creep.
This is the ability of certain gardens, let alone the plants in them, of slowly growing and spreading or even multiplying over time.
Any dedicated gardener can explain to you the visible symtomology of the disease. New garden growths appear almost randomly at times as new outbreaks of gardens pop up in sometimes rather unexpected corners and sections of the area.
This problem is also seen in certain plants as well. When they have managed to obtain a foot hold in an area, where the available space for them, is inadequate for their realistic size. You will find these plants spilling outwards or upwards into space they were never intended to occupy. This causes constant problems for entryways & walkways, as well as air space occupiers like power lines. These planbts then have to constantly attacked and kept back within their territory, often at great cost in time and money to their garden owner.
Lawn areas and sometimes even pathways in it’s Read More…
Posted in Gardening Tags: ability, air, air space, amp, Area, available space, boundaries, cost, Creep, Disease, Foot, footpaths, Garden, garden areas, garden owner, Gardener, Gardener's, hold, infect, lawn, lawn areas, little space, Money, owner, pathways, period, Plant, Plants, power, problem, realistic size, road, size, something, Space, spilling, symtomology, territory, thing, Time, time and money, unexpected corners, upwards, verges, viral disease, walkways, way Comments Off
