Martinis and Marigolds - Refreshingly Quick Tips for Home and Garden

Caring For Spring Flowering Bulbs

Caring For Spring Flowering Bulbs

After a long winter, seeing the daffodils blooming along our roadways really lifts my spirits. And I do see some tulips emerging in time for Easter. If you have spring bulbs in your yard,  you might be wondering how to best take care of them.

In this week's tip, I'll give you a few easy steps to caring for your spring bulb plants so that they keep flowering every spring.

Posted in daffodils, flower gardening, flowers, garden, garden planning, garden tips, gardener, gardening, gardening tips, spring bulbs, spring gardening, tulips

Spring Gardening Questions and Answers

Spring Gardening Questions and Answers

 

Spring is finally here so the amount of questions popping up in on-line gardening groups is increasing. I love participating in these groups, trying to answer questions and/or give advice.

There are a few questions that keep coming up over and over and at least one that I never thought about. 

Read on for the questions and my answers!

Posted in beginner gardener, container gardening, flower gardening, gardening tips, herb gardening, low maintenance gardening, spring gardening, vegetable gardening for beginners

It's Too Hot to Plant - Now What?

It's Too Hot to Plant - Now What?

The heat of summer is upon us in most of the US. While it might be tempting to continue planting, the next optimum time to plant perennials and shrubs is fall.

So what' a gardener to do besides maintenance chores?  (And hopefully by following our tips you don't have too many of those!)

Read on for 5 of my favorite gardening-related and relaxing things to do now that the rush of Spring planting is over. 

Posted in beginner gardener, flower bed, flower gardening, flowers, garden, garden design, garden planning, garden tips, gardener, gardening, gardening tips

Don't Forget The Foliage

Don't Forget The Foliage

As you’re planning your summer garden, don’t forget the foliage! Foliage plants are chosen for the beauty of their leaves, rather than their flowers. Some foliage plants have colorful leaves, such as coleus. Others have striking geometric patterns, like the canna lily (which also has showy flowers). Still others are selected because of their unique shape, such as cactuses or succulents.

Read on for three great ways to use foliage plants in your garden.

Posted in annuals, garden, garden design, garden planning, garden tips, gardening tips, landscaping, new garden

Getting Started with Growing Vegetables - A Beginner’s Guide

Getting Started with Growing Vegetables - A Beginner’s Guide

Although I’ve been gardening for almost 40 years, I’ve never really been a vegetable gardener. I played with a few tomato plants in pots on my deck but never anything more serious than that. Maybe it’s because I spent my teenage years helping my parents in the huge vegetable garden they planted every year. I personally would have preferred to use that field to house a horse, but that’s a whole other story!

But this year, I decided to give vegetable gardening a try.  It’s been a really fun journey despite the heat this summer offered and in this article I’m going to share the steps I took.

If you’ve never grown vegetables before, read on. I hope I can inspire you to give vegetable gardening a try!

Posted in beginner gardener, gardening tips, low maintenance gardening, vegetable gardening, vegetable gardening for beginners

Veggie Garden Roundup

Veggie Garden Roundup

For those of you who have been following me this year, you know this year was my first real attempt at vegetable garden. If you missed that post, you can review it here.

I decided to start small with a raised bed. And I tried to choose plants that were pretty easy to grow and did not take up a lot of space. I planted 3 different types of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, jalapeño peppers, green peppers and cilantro.

Read on to find out which varieties I planted, how they faired at the end of the season and what I'm going to do differently next year.

Posted in beginner gardener, gardening tips, vegetable gardening, vegetable gardening for beginners, vegetables