Eastern Snowball Bush

Eastern Snowball Bush

Viburnum Opulus Roseum

Masses of pure white snow-ball like flower clusters make a showy display each summer.  Bright green leaves have a purplish red fall color.  This makes a spectacular landscape specimen.  This deciduous bush grows in full sun to part shade.  Can grow to 12 ft. tall by 10 ft. wide, and is hardy to minus 30 degrees fahrenheit.

Compost Tumbler

Building a Compost Tumbler

You can build a compost tumbler to make compost at home.  All you need is a large food grade drum some plumbing parts and a wood frame.  You can get your drum from a restaurant or a restaurant supply company.  I got mine from a friend who works with restaurants. 

Drill a large hole in the bottom of the drum insert a 3" pipe with holes in the side of the pipe for aeration.  Insert an axel through the drum for turning the composter.  For more instruction you can search youtube.com for building a compost tumbler.  There a lot of designs and you can have fun with yours.  

Poinsettias

Nothing says Christmas more than the poinsettias.  But do you know how a plant naive to Mexico became associated with Christmas?  Legend has it that when a poor Mexican child wanting to bring a gift to a church manger scene did not have any money for a gift.  After talking to an angel she picked some weeds which turned into beautiful red blooms of the poinsettia plant.

Poinsettia or Euphorbia pulcherrima need to have their moisture level checked often.  Plants in high light and low humidity may need water daily.  When the soil is dry to the touch water until water runs out the drain holes freely.  Poinsettias need plenty of light and warm humid temperatures.  In Hawaii I have seen these plants grow to six feet, the plant can get as tall as 16 feet.  I suggest purchasing new poinsettias every year.  Just getting the plants to survive till the next year is hard enough, but the process to create the red bracts is quite involved.  Many mistake the red bracts for flowers but they are actually modified leaves which turn red when they have 12 hours of darkness each day.

Cleaning your garden clippers

It is very important to clean your clippers on a regular basis in order to keep them in good working condition.  For many years I used 3-in-1 oil to both clean and oil my clippers.  But when the bottle ran empty I tried a new product.  I reached for a bottle of Goo Gone, to my amazement it worked better than any other product ever I tried before.

What you will need is a bottle of Goo Gone and a steal brush.  Coat the cutting end of the clippers up to the hinge in the Goo Gone.  Then use the steal brush to clean the cutting end of the clippers.  This will take only few minutes of brushing.  After cleaning, it is a good idea to sharpen your clippers.  Sharpening is much easier than you probably think.  From the hardware store get a hand held knife sharpener with hand guard.  This should cost you less than 10 dollars.  Run the sharpener across the cutting edge of the clippers a few times.  The sharpener will come with directions on its use, follow these instructions.  You can also use a file, just remember never to file on the flat back side of the cutting edge. When you are done cleaning and sharpening your clippers you will need to wipe them clean of excess Goo Gone and file shavings.  Doing this will keep your clippers in good working order.  A good pair of clippers should last a very long time.  I have a pair of moderately priced clippers that have lasted more than ten years.

Noble Fir

Noble Fir Abies procera Rehd.

Noble Firs are the most popular Christmas Tree in the US.  One look at its beauty leaves little to wonder why.  Its soft needles and stiff branches make for perfect perches for your Christmas ornaments.  This wonderful tree looks great in your garden too.

Description: In the wild, the trees are tall, beautifully symmetrical and grow to over 200 feet in height. The bark is smooth with resin blisters when young and changes to brownish-gray plates with age.  The needles are roughly 4-sided (similar to spruce), over 1 inch long, bluish-green but appearing silver because of 2 white rows of stomata on the underside and 1-2 rows on the upper surface. The needles are generally twisted upward so that the lower surface of branches are exposed.  The pollen cones are reddish and the seed cones are large (often over 5 inches long), heavy cones concentrated in the tree tops. They are erect and the cones scales are nearly concealed by shaggy-edged, sharp pointed bracts. The cones dissipate in the fall to release their seeds.  The original Latin name Abies nobilis had to be changed when it was discovered another tree already had been given this name. However, the common name has persisted because of the magnificent proportions of the tree and the large, heavy cones.

Cool Weather Vegetables

Asparagus
Perhaps the ultimate gourmet vegetable, asparagus spears are at their best when freshly harvested.  Plant asparagus roots in the spring.  As a rough guide, ten well-established plants should yield about 7 pounds of spears each season.  Learn more about asparagus here: Asparagus


Beets
Beets are one of the easiest crops to grow.  The large seeds are easy to handle, making it a fun crop for kids too.  Beets will store in the ground well until you are ready to use them.  Sow seeds in early spring for a early summer crop.


Broccoli
Broccoli is an unusual crop because you actually eat the immature flower buds.  If you leave one unpicked it will burst into a mass of bright yellow flowers.  Broccoli is packed with vitamins and nurtrients, which are claimed to help prevent cancer and heart disease.

Carrots
Carrots are a trouble-freebackyard crop, as long as the soil conditions are right.  Sow seeds in early spring or fall.  Carrots store in the ground well, but if you remove them from the ground cut away the stems right away.  Learn more about carrots here:Carrots

Lettuce
Lettuce is the mainstay of a good salad, and growing your own allows you to appreciate it at its freshest.  There are many very different kinds of lettuce and you will have to find your favorite.  Lettuce can be divided into two main catagories head and loose-leaf.  All can be planted in fall or spring, you will want to harvest before the summer heat.






Cabbage
Cabbage takes up plenty of space so give it some room.  It is a cool-weather crop, but you will love to cook with fresh cabbage out of your garden.  


Cauliflower
Growing cauliflower can be very rewarding.  The sweet, white curds taste much better straight from the garden.  Plant this vegetable after the danger of frost.  Protect cauliflower from bugs using organic bug sprays.  


Peas
The best tasting peas are straight off the vine.  Many peas have edible pods that are just as tasty as the peas themselves.  These can be planted in the spring or the fall.  Not only are the peas great but the flowers are nice to look at.


Chives
One of the easiest herbs to grow, chives have edible hollow leaves and pretty mauve flowers, which also can be eaten. 


Garlic
Garlic is unique among vegetables.  It never produces seeds, so the only way to propagate it is by saving cloves.  Fortunately, each clove you plant divides into a bulb containing 12-15 new ones.  This vegetable is very easy to grow, making it a favorite of those who love to cook.


Onions
Onions can easily be grown from seed or sets.  Onion sets are the small babies that onions produce.  Growing your own onions will provide you with onions year around.  Unused onions are easy to dry and store for later use.  The best part may be that onions do not need much room.


Radishes
Radishes are so quick and easy to grow that you can enjoy several crops through the year.  Because they take up little space, radishes are the perfect fill-in crop.  You can fit them in between large or slower-growing vegetables.  The pods on radishes are edible too, and they can add a hot crunch to your salad.


Rhubarb
Rhubarb is a perennial vegetable that you can use to make sweet dishes.  This vegetable likes to take up space, so give it some room.  Rhubarb is one of the lowest maintenance vegetables making it easy to grow for the novice gardener.  


Scallions
Scallions or green onions are quick and easy crops that you can fit in any spare ground.  These vegetables grow quickly so sow several crops through year to give you plenty of supply.


Turnips
Turnips are another quick and easy crop to grow.  They make a great fill-in crop around cabbage and lettuce.  You can grow them in the spring or the fall.

Gardening Kit for Beginners

Gardening Kit for Beginners

The tools you use in garden are many and can be quite expensive, that is why I have narrowed down the gardeners kit to six tools you will definitely want to have in your garden shed.  You will want to grow your garden tool collection as your skill and knowledge grows.  But for now you can focus your hobby to these few tools.

The most valuable tool you will ever purchase is a good pair of garden pruners.  I have a small pair of corona pruners.  They are not the most expensive nor are they the cheapest.  You should be able to purchase a good pair for around $ 30.00.  You can pay upwards of $ 70.00, but I have had the same pair for over ten years.  You will want to clean and sharpen your pruners on a regular basis, this will help them to last longer.  I have a scabbard so that I can have two free hands while working in the garden.

You will want to have a good weeding tool at your disposal.  It really doesn't matter which weeding tool you have.  But I use what is sometimes called a weeding knife. This also comes with a scabbard making is easy to carry around the yard.  You can find these at specialty tools companies.

The first shovel you will want to purchase is the the round tip shovel.  You will use this tool in almost every gardening project.  You will find that the round tip shovel is more versatile than the square tip shovel because it is better for digging.  The square tip shovel is quite important and I in fact have one, but it is not the first shovel you want to purchase.

The pick mattock (pictured center above) is a great tool for digging in tough clay and rocky soil.  You will find this tool useful for loosening soil, digging weeds, and cutting tree roots.

The Grass rake is my favorite rake.  I use it for raking up leaves and pine needles.  Use it to pick-up weeds you pulled and put them in the trash can.  The soft tines are perfect for raking in and around your landscape.  Metal rakes are great in the garden for flattening out soil, but you can use the back side of the mattock for this.

The last tool you will absolutely need in the garden is the most boring: a bucket.  Any bucket will do, I like an old paint bucket or and one that holds water for when that is needed.  You will use this to carry in vegetables from the garden or holding weeds until you have a chance to to dump them in the compost pile.  You can also carry your tools in the bucket.

Planting a Living Christmas Tree

Planting a Living Christmas Tree


1.Transition your tree from outside to in, place your tree in the garage or under the eves 
of your home for a day or two to help your tree going from a cold wet environment to warm dry one. And do the same when transitioning the tree to the outside to protect it from shock. Living Christmas trees are outdoor plants and need to be taken outside every so often to keep them happy and healthy. You should take your living Christmas tree outside once every two weeks. Some people will leave the tree outside until just before Christmas then bring it inside for the holidays. 


2.Remember you have a living Christmas tree and it needs to be watered often. 
Woodstoves and heaters make for very dry conditions in the home. Check your living Christmas tree daily the soil should be moist but not soaking wet. Placing a tray of ice cubes on the base of the tree daily is an easy way to water without creating a mess on your floor.


3 Your living Christmas tree does not need to be planted right away, but leaving it in the pot requires that you water it more often. Your live Christmas tree can stay in the pot until springtime, but it is better to plant the tree before it comes out of dormancy. Being in a pot means there is less soil to hold water and feed the tree. Do not remove tree or shrub from Ball & Burlap. By leaving the plant in the Ball & Burlap you do not disturb the root system of the growing plant, this helps in preventing shock, and insuring healthy happy plants. 


4.Place plant in planting hole. Cut strings away from the base of the plant and pull 
burlap back until top portion of ball is showing. Bury remaining burlap in with tree, and amend soil with Garden & Bloom compost. 


5.Make sure to water immediately after planting to lessen the chance of shock. And add 
water once a week in the winter and daily in the summer.

Carrots

Carrots

Carrots are a trouble-freebackyard crop, as long as the soil conditions are right.  The soil needs to be light (add compost if you have heavy soil), loose, deeply dug to 12 inches, and free of stones.  For a gourmet treat, you can pull  carrots as soon as the roots are as thick as a pencil, leave them a little longer for fresh full sized carrots, or keep the in the ground through fall.  If you have a small space, harvest them young for the sweetest baby carrots you'll ever taste.


Sow


For fresh carrots, choose an early variety and make several sowings at intervals from early spring until early fall.  Sow seeds directly into the soil.  Make a seed furrow 1/2 inch deep.  If the soil is dry, water the furrow; let it drain.  Space rows 12 inches apart.  Scatter the seeds thinly to avoid having to thin them out later.  As a guide, space seeds every 1/2 inch.  Then cover with soil and lightly water.


Grow


Keep down weeds down until the carrot plants are well established by pulling weeds by hand.  Thin the seedlings to about 1 inch apart.  Wait until they are large enough to handle and avoid disturbing the remaining plants or you risk attracting bugs.  One way is to cut off tops with scissors.  Water deeply once a week to keep the soil evenly moist at a good depth, which will encourage deep rooting.


Harvest


You can start pulling roots as soon as the tops of the roots reach 1/2 inch across.  Either carefully pull up the larger roots, leaving the rest to grow, or dig sections of a row together.  Use a garden fork to loosen the soil and avoid breacking longer roots.  If you don't use carrots immediately, cut off the tops or the roots will wilt.  They should keep for a day or two in the refrigerator.  The best way to store carrots is to leave them in the ground.  If temperatures are expected to drop below freezing, mulch with straw or leaves to extend the season. 

Asparagus

Planting

Perhaps the ultimate gourmet vegetable, asparagus spears are at their best when freshly harvested.  Plant asparagus roots in the spring.  As a rough guide, ten well-established plants should yield about 7 pounds of spears each season.  Because asparagus is such a long-term crop, spend some time getting the soil right.  Asparagus prefers a light, free-draining soil with neutral pH (6.5-7.5); add lime to your soil to make the your garden less acidic.  Cultivate the soil as deeply as you can, working in at least an inch of compost.  Take care to remove every scrap of perennial weed and hoe off annual weeds couple of times.  Add generous amounts of potassium and phosphate fertilizer.  Dig a trench 6-8 inches deep and 12 inches wide.  Make a ridge of compost down the center of the trench.  Space the crowns 18 inches apart, straddling the ridge of the compost so their roots spread down either side.  Cover the crowns with soil and gradually fill the trench once the shoots start to appear.

Grow

If you want more than one row, space them at least 3 feet apart.  The major work involved in growing asparagus is keeping the weeds under control.  Mulch with a weed-free compost around the plants.  Or hoe between rows but not too close to the base of the plants.  Water newly established beds regularly - setting up a drip system is most efficient.  After two years, the plants will not need to much care.  Feed the plants in late spring or early summer when you stop cutting.  Apply a balanced fertilizer or dress with compost.  This will feed the fronds that, in turn, will supply next year's spears.  Leave the ferns until they die back completely after a couple hard frosts.  Then cut them back to 12 inches and mulch the rows.  You can pull out dry stems in spring.

Harvest

In the first year, don't be tempted to pick any spears.  Let them all grow into ferny fronds to help build up the crowns.  In the second year, you can cut spears for a limited period.  After a month, let the fronds grow.  In the third year, you can start to harvest for a full 6-8 weeks.  Wait until the spears are 6-8 inches tall and the tips are still tight .  Snap them cleanly at soil level or cut them with a knife just below soil level.  Because the spears grow so quickly, harvest every other day.  If you do not pick a sufficient amount, keep them in a refridgerator until you have enough for a meal.  If needed asparagus freezes well.  

Garden Glossary

Acid
Aeration
Alkaline
All-Purpose Fertilizer
Amendment
Annual
Beneficial Insects
Biodegradable
Bolt
Bonsai
Carbon Dioxide
Clay
Compaction
Companion Planting
Compost
Cross Pollinate
Damping-Off
Deplete
Drainage
Drip Line
Drip System
Foliar Feeding
Fungus
Humus
Hybrid
Leaves
Leggy
Life Cycle
Lime
Loam
Measurements & Conversions
Moisture Meter
Mulch
Nutrient
Organic
Peat
Perennial
pH
pH-Tester
Photosynthesis
Pollen
Primary Nutrients
Prune
PVC Pipe
Pyrethrum
Roots
Secondary Nutrients
Seed Pod
Soluble
Spore
Sprout
Stamen
Sterilize
Stress
Tap Root
Terminal bud
Thin
Transpire
Trellis

Trellis

Frame or netting that trains and supports a plant.

Transpire

The process of giving off water via the underside  of leaves. More transpiration occurs on windy days than hot days.

Thin

Cull or weed out weak, slow growing seedlings.

Terminal Bud

Bud at the growing end of the main stem.

Tap Root

The main or primary root that grows from the seed; lateral roots will branch off the tap root.

Stress

A physical or chemical factor that causes extra exertion by plants.

Sterilize

To make sterile by removing dirt, germs, bacteria.  Often done to clippers to protect from the spreading of disease.

Stamen

Male, pollen-producing part of a flower.

Sprout

A recently germinated seed.

Spore

Seed like offspring of a fungus.

Soluble

Able to be dissolved in water.

Seed Pod

A dry calyx containing a mature or maturing seed.

Secondary Nutrients

Calcium (ca) and Magnesium (mg).

Roots

Their purpose is to anchor a plant and and provide a means in which to feed and hydrate a plant.

Root Bound

Roots stifled or inhibited from normal growth, by the confines of a container.

Pyrethrum

Natural insecticide made from the blossoms of various chrysanthemums.

PVC Pipe

Plastic (polyvinylchloride) pipe that is easy to work  with, readily available and used to pipe water into a garden.

Prune

Alter the shape and growth pattern of a plant by cutting stems and shoots.

Primary Nutrients

N-P-K (Nitrogen - Phosphorus - Potassium)

Pollen

Fine, dust like microspores containing male plant genes.

Photosynthesis

The building of chemical compounds from light energy, water, and carbon dioxide.

pH Tester

Electronic instrument or chemical used to find where soil is on the pH scale.

pH

A scale from 1 to 14 that measures the acid to alkaline balance of a soil; in general most plants grow best in a range of 5.5 to 6.8 pH.

Perennial

A plant, such as a tree or shrub, which completes its life cycle over several years.

Peat

Partially decomposed vegetation (usually moss) with slow decay due to extreme moisture and cold.

Organic

Made of, or derived from or related to living organisms. In agriculture organic means "natural".

Nutrient

Plant food, essential elements N-P-K, secondary and trace elements fundamental to plant life.

Mulch

A protective covering of organic compost, leaves, or bark. Mulch can be used to retain water in the summer and heat in the winter.

Moisture meter

An electronic device that measures the exact moisture content of a soil at any given point.

Loam

Organic soil mixture of crumbly clay, silt and sand.  Gardener's gold.

Lime

Used in the form of dolomite to raise soil pH.

Life cycle

A series of growth stages through which a plant  must pass in its natural lifetime.

Leggy

Abnormally tall internode space, with sparse foilage.

Leaves

The external part of a plant attached to branches and stems for the purpose of taking in light from the  sun's energy.

Hybrid

An offspring from two plants with different ancestry.  This is usually done through a process of Cross-Pollenization.

Humus

Dark, fertile, partially decomposed plant or animal matter; humus forms the organic portion of the soil.

Fungus

A lower plant lacking chlorophyll which may attack green plants; mold, rust, mildew.

Foliar Feeding

Misting fertilizer solution which is absorbed by the foilage. Best to do in the morning.  There are many brands of foliar fertilizers, but the most famous is Miracle-Gro.

Drip System

A very efficient watering system that employs a main hose with small water emitters.

Drip Line

A line around a plant directly under its outermost branch tips. Roots seldom grow beyond the drip line.

Drainage

Way to empty soil of excess water.

Deplete

Exhaust soil of nutrients, making it infertile.

Damping-Off

Disease that attacks young seedlings and cuttings causing stem rot at base.

Cross-Pollinate

Pollinating two plants having different ancestry.

Compost

A mixture of decayed organic matter.

Companion Planting

The planting of several plants that  benefit each other.

Compaction

Soil condition that results from tightly packing soil; compact soil allows for only marginal aeration and root penetration.

Clay

Soil made up of very fine organic mineral particles. Clay is not suitable for container gardening.

Carbon Dioxide

(CO2) A colorless, ordorless, testless gas in the air necessary for plant life.

Bonsai

A very short dwarfed plant.

Bolt

Term used to describe a plant that has gone to seed prematurely.

Biodegradable

Able to decompose or break down through natural bacterial or fungal action, substances made of organic matter are biodegradable.

Beneficial insects

A good insect that eats bad flower and  vegetable munching insects. Lady Beetles, Praying Mantis, and Lacewing are all beneficial insects.

Annual

A plant that normally completes it entire life cycle one year or less.

Amendment

Fortifying soil by adding organic  or mineral substances in order to improve texture,  nutrient content or biological activity.

All-Purpose Fertilizer

A balanced blend of N-P-K;  All purpose fertilizer is used by most growers.

Alkaline

Refers to a soil with a pH over 7.

Aeration

Supplying soil and roots with air or oxygen.

Acid

An acid soil has a pH below 7.