Tofu Fairy's Brain Pile

How To Make Your Garden Grow:  Planting Tips

photo by ME!

I  have been gardening since I was in diapers, working alongside my parents in their yard.  Now, fully grown plus some, I have my own gardens and have found, through trial and error, the best ways to plant to see success in your garden.  In this article, I am going to list five planting tips for your garden.  I hope you find this informational and educational, and that, in the end, you have a gorgeous garden to show for it!

Planting Tips:

1)  Know your hardiness zone.  It is important that you know what plants will thrive in your particular climate.  For example:  I live in Ohio and am in hardiness zone 5.  If I find a plant I like, I have to make sure it will thrive in zone 5 or higher.  It is also a good idea to make sure it will thrive in a zone below your current zone, or zone 4 for my yard.  That way if you have an especially cold winter, the plant will not die.

2)  Know your last and first frost dates.  For my area of Ohio, the last frost of the year usually comes by May 9th and the first frost of the year usually comes after October 9th.  Knowing these dates is important, as some plants, like bulbs, must be planted before the first frost.  Conversely, annuals, seeds, and some other plants may not be planted until the threat of frost is over in the spring.

3)  Know your soil.  Do you have great black gold soil that is rich and fluffy and ready to grow anything?  Or do you have hard clay soil that is full of rocks and will need amended?  Before you can even start picking plants to add to your garden, you have to know what soil type you have and what soil type the plant needs to thrive.

4)  Know your planting depth.  All plants have a preferred planting depth.  For example, most spring bulbs like to be no more than 6 inches below the soil.  Seeds like to be almost on top of the soil, just barely covered with dirt.  Trees and shrubs need to be planted in a whole that is larger than their root ball but slightly shallower than the height of their root ball.  All of these factors must be taken into consideration before planting can begin.

5)  Know your plant’s fertilization requirements.  Some plants require constant care and fertilizing.  Other plants require little to no care or fertilizing.  In order for your plants to thrive, you must follow the guidelines for that particular plant.  This also means you may not want two particular types of plants planted together, as one may need lots of nutrients while the other needs none.

I hope these tips help you to plant your garden and make a thriving landscape for you and your family and wild animal friends to enjoy!

Notice:  I was originally paid to ghost write this article for another website, so, while the writing is my own, the copyright may belong to another.  I am publishing here for personal use only.

and

Copyright © 2012 Tofu Fairy’s Brain Pile
- All Rights Reserved — for any photos labeled “by me”

Perfect Gifts For Your Gardener

image via  http://images.meredith.com/

If you are looking for a gift for someone you know is a gardener, I have a great list of suggestions for you!  As a lifelong gardener, there are items that I MUST have for my garden or myself.  Here is a list of five suggestions (please note that I offer some brand suggestions here but am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with the brands I suggest).  I hope it helps you in your quest to share the joy of gardening with someone through gift-giving!

1)  Gardening clogs:  I wear mine ALL the time during the summer/spring/fall.  Here is a link to the ones that I like, but there are many, many brands out there to choose from.  Just be sure that you get ones that offer true support to the foot, as gardeners spend a lot of time on their feet!

http://www.birkenstockexpress.com/Products/Style.cfm/collection.Birkis/style.Super%20Birki%20Clog/id.270420090601-326251

2)  All natural sunscreen:  Gardeners spend a lot of time outside in the sun.  Because of this, smart gardeners go through sunscreen like water.  A gift of a nice selection of natural sunscreen products will make any gardener happy and shows that you care about their well-being!

3)  Knee pad:  Gardeners stand on their feet a lot, but they spend just as much time, if not more, on their knees and bottoms on the ground.  Getting a easy to move/carry knee pad is a great gift.  Here is one that I enjoy using, but again there are many, many other brands and styles available almost anywhere you shop for gardening supplies.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Large-Kneeling-Cushion-94216974/dp/B0002YTVJA/ref=pd_cp_hi_3?pf_rd_p=413863601&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00004SD7K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1K4KD61S2R3MNXCX79A5

4)  Good pair of gardening gloves:  A gardener’s hands are used and abused.  And if your gardener is like me, they go through several pairs of gardening gloves a season.  Because I refuse to buy leather gloves for ethical reasons, I prefer to buy the fabric and latex dipped gloves.  These allow the tops of your hands to breath through the fabric, but keep your hands and nails dry and clean because the fingertips and palms of the gloves have been dipped in rubber or latex.  You can often find these gloves in six packs at a garden or home center.   This works well, as if you rip one glove, you have another one available!

5)  Gardener’s hand salve:  Because gardeners spend so much time using their hands and abusing their hands, even when using gloves, their hands need extra TLC during the growing season.  A nice hand salve application is a wonderful end to a long day working in the yard.   Here is a link to my favorite brand of hand salve, but there are many on the market now to choose from.

http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=-82&categoryId=10006&subCategoryId=-98&catalogId=10051&storeId=10001&langId=-1

I hope these gift ideas will help you on your next shopping adventure!

Notice:  I was originally paid to ghost write this article for another website, so, while the writing is my own, the copyright may belong to another.  I am publishing here for personal use only.

Nearly Fool-Proof Flowers For Your Garden

photo by ME!

I have been flower gardening since I was a small child working alongside my parents in the yard.  To this day, the lessons I learned from my parents still steer me in the right direction in my gardening choices for my own adult gardens.  One thing I learned early on is that there are some plants that are hardy and some that are not.  I choose to work with hardy plants the most often, as they tend to be carefree and nearly impossible to kill. 

In this article, I am going to share with you some of my favorite, easy to grow, hard to kill flowers—both perennials and annuals.  I have worked with these flowers all my life and they have never failed me or my other family members.  These flowers will have your garden blooming for many, many years to come.

Perennials

photo by ME!

Choosing gardening flowers can be overwhelming at first.  If you go to a local nursery and are bombarded with hundreds of choices, you often have no idea where to begin looking.  If you are a novice gardener, there are many flowers you can buy in the perennial group, flowers that get larger and come back every year, that are easy to care for and hard to kill.

My favorite hardy perennials are flowers in the Daisy, Coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, Dianthus, Sedum, Mint, Hosta, Phlox, and Lavender families.  Each of these families of flowers will grow in just about any type soil, do not require much, if any, fertilization, and, with the exception of the Hosta, can grow in full or part sun to part shade.    There are many varieties within these families, and any worker at a good nursery should be able to show you the plants in these families that they offer and that are tolerant of your particular planting zone.  Most of these flowers are hardy to zones 4 or 5 and can stand all the way up to zones 8 or 9.

Annuals

photo by ME! 

Every year, it is a tradition on Mother’s Day weekend for my family to clean out the shed in the backyard and plant the dozens of ceramic flower pots we have full of annuals for the summer season.  This is something we look forward too all winter and we enjoy the flowers we plant from May until, if we are lucky, mid-October.  I have a rule that I try one new annual a year, but the rest are tried and true favorites that I know will take little care and put on a gorgeous floral show in my yard and on my deck and patio.

My all-time favorite hardy annuals are from the Marigold, Snap-Dragon, Petunia, Tobacco, and Zinnia families of flowers.  Marigolds come in a variety of shapes, heights, and colors and are super easy to grow.  They dead-head (removal of spent blossoms) quickly and love the sun.  The same is true of Snap-Dragons and Zinnias.   Petunias and Tobacco flowers are easy to dead-head, but they tend to get leggy and need trimmed back mid season.  This is a little more effort, but worth the time for the beautiful show and wonderful scents these flowers give you.  I would recommend any of these annuals to any gardener, but especially to a novice who is just getting their feet wet.

Have fun flower gardening!

Notice:  I was originally paid to ghost write this article for another website, so, while the writing is my own, the copyright may belong to another.  I am publishing here for personal use only.

and

Copyright © 2012 Tofu Fairy’s Brain Pile
- All Rights Reserved — for any photos labeled “by me”

Picking The Right Garden Plants

pic courtesy of http://gardennaturally.wordpress.com/

Whether you are new to gardening or gardening is old hat for you, picking the right plants for your garden is something that every gardener must do at one point or another during the gardening process.  There are many things to consider when choosing your plants.  In this article, I will give you pointers on some of the most important considerations when obtaining new plants for your garden.

Location, Location, Location

I am sure you have heard the saying that the key to a successful business is location, location, location.  The same is true for a successful garden!  You must match your plants with your location on all levels:  soil, light, water, etc.   Not doing this and just putting any plant anywhere will most likely create less than desired results in your garden and can end with the death of your plants.

Spreading or Clumping

Another important fact about plants is that they either spread or they clump.  If you are limited on space and want a tidy garden, opt for clumping plants.  Clumping plants multiply each year by getting larger in size but generally staying in the same clumped area of your garden.  If space is unlimited and you are wanting a more eclectic looking garden, spreading plants may work for you.  Plants that spread do so by shooting roots or runners underground off of the main/host plant and creating a new plant close by or far away from the main/host plant.  Some spreading plants just spread out like a blanket in your garden, while others will show up who knows where each season.

Flowering or Non-flowering

Not all garden plants flower.  Some plants flower, but very briefly, and some plants flower prolifically from spring through autumn.   When you are planning your garden, you need to know what you want.  Do you want a flower garden?  You will want to go with the plants that are known for their showy flower displays.  Are you wanting a mixture of greens and color?  Buy some showy plants and some plants that are known for their beautiful foliage alone.  You are in control of how  many or how little flowers are in your garden, and you can plant accordingly to get just the right feel that you are wanting.  A rock garden with noting but ornamental grasses and evergreens is gorgeous, and it contains no flowers; however, a perennial flower bed tucked up against a shed in your backyard will bring butterflies and bees and lots of color to your world.  The choice is up to you!

These are but a few of the considerations you need to make and allow for when choosing the plants for your garden.  Your yard is really like a painter’s canvas.  You, through research and decision making, can paint whatever picture you want in your garden.  The palette is up to you!

Notice:  I was originally paid to ghost write this article for another website, so, while the writing is my own, the copyright may belong to another.  I am publishing here for personal use only.