How to Water Your Plants Correctly in the Garden?

Garden Plant Care

How to Water Your Plants Correctly in the Garden?

Learning how to water is an essential step for gardening success. Discover why overhead sprinklers aren’t the best option and the ten watering strategies that will help ensure your garden plants stay healthy and hydrated.

If you want a successful garden, you need to know how to keep it irrigated. Fruits and vegetables are more than 90% water, and plants immediately start to suffer when they can’t get enough of it.

However, watering plants in the garden takes skill and knowledge if you want to do it right. The wrong techniques may lead to shallow roots, diseased plants, and even more wilting than before.

Here’s what you need to know to water plants in the garden for the best results.

How Much Water Do Plants Need?

Most garden plants will thrive with at least 2.5 centimeters of water per week, though many need more during hot, dry spells. This averages 225 liters per 30 square feet of garden space or about 90 minutes per week with a regular sprinkler.

You can install a rain gauge to monitor weekly rainfall and determine when you need to start watering.

Four Types of Garden Irrigation Systems

Here’s an overview of the most common ways to water plants in the garden.

Watering Can

Watering cans let you pour a slow stream of water directly at the base of your plant. They are portable and ideal for container gardens but can become cumbersome for watering large spaces.

Watering Wand

This hose attachment lets you direct water to hard-to-reach places like hanging baskets. They also allow you water directly at soil level without bending over, though you’ll need to walk through your garden rows to use it.

Overhead Sprinkler

Overhead sprinklers usually consist of a rotating sprinkler head attached to a pole, so the water projects out and covers a larger space. While an overhead sprinkler is one of the easiest ways to water a big garden, it also comes with the most downsides.

First, watering plants from the top down means less water reaches the roots before it evaporates. This means much of the water is wasted before the plants take it in. Likewise, overhead sprinkles make it hard to direct the water’s flow, which means you irrigate the paths and weeds in your garden as well as your plants. Finally, wetting plant leaves creates habitat space for bacterial pathogens and fungal spores, which increases the risk of disease.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation can be expensive and time-consuming to install, but it provides the easiest, most efficient watering method. You’ll run the drip tape around the base of your plants, which contains small holes that allows water to leak out slowly. Water leaks through these holes, saturating the soil and reaching plant roots directly.

10 Tips for Successfully Watering Plants in the Garden

Here’s some helpful advice if you want to keep your garden plants well-hydrated.

1. Apply Mulch

Mulching around the base of your plants offers many advantages. It moderates the soil temperature, prevents fungal spores in the soil from splashing onto plant leaves during rain, and slows down evaporation to hold moisture in the ground. For best results, apply a layer of organic material like wood chips at least three inches thick.

2. Test the Soil Before Watering

Watering whenever you feel like it won’t help your plants. Before pulling out the hose, check the soil’s dryness by sticking a wooden dowel six inches down. Wet soil will stick to it, but it will come up clean if the soil is dry and needs water. You may find that the top layer is dry from wind and evaporation, but the soil below is still wet so the area doesn’t require watering.

Prefer a higher-tech solution? Stick a moisture gauge into the soil for a real-time readout of whether you need to water.

3. Adjust Your Watering Strategy by the Season

he time of year affects plants’ water requirements, even when they are kept indoors. That’s because shorter days and chillier weather slow down photosynthesis and prevent plants from needing as much water. Adjust your watering habits accordingly so you don’t stress your plants.

4. Water Early in the Day (Never in the Evening)

Early morning is the most efficient time to water outdoor plants. You’ll lose less moisture to evaporation, and the soil will have a sufficient store of water to help plants withstand the midday heat. Plus, any water on the leaves will have time to evaporate before nightfall, which reduces the chance of fungal and disease problems.

5. Water Deeply (but Infrequently)

You’re doing your garden a disservice if you water it for ten minutes per day. Daily shallow waterings promote shallow roots because it keeps water near the soil surface, making plants less resilient and more susceptible to drying out.

Instead, water deeply a few times a week so the water permeates the soil and encourages root development so plants can better withstand drought conditions.

6. Avoid Overhead Watering on Windy Days

Watering the garden on windy days is a waste of effort, as most of the moisture will evaporate before it reaches the plant roots.

7. Be Aware Of Container Garden Water Needs

Potted plants are extra sensitive to water issues because their soil tends to heat up faster and dry out more quickly than those in the ground. This means you need to monitor the plants more often to prevent them from getting stressed. Generally, the smaller the container, the faster it will dry out.

8. Don’t Forget to Water Trees and Shrubs

While the vegetable garden rarely gets overlooked for watering, many gardeners forget their newly planted trees and shrubs also need a hydration boost. Make sure new plants are thoroughly soaked at least three times a week for the first month after planting and weekly throughout their first two growing seasons.

9. Don’t Overwater

One common gardening mistake is assuming that wilting plants always need more water. In fact, overwatering can cause the same kind of droopiness because too much water prevents plant roots from getting enough oxygen. If your plants look limp, check the soil moisture before assuming they need a drink.

Note: Disease and insect problems can also make plants wilt, so pay attention to other potential causes besides watering issues.

10. Avoid Misting

While a fine spray of water can revive a plant quickly, it’s one of the easiest ways to spread disease by transferring spores into the air, so they migrate to healthy plants.

Water is a crucial component for healthy plants, so perfecting your watering practices will lead to less waste and better results in the long run.

Plant Vegetables: Do the Planning First

Garden Plant Care

Plant Vegetables: Do the Planning First

The best gardeners put in plenty of work before planting season even begins. Learn what it takes to plan out your garden, from choosing the best seed varieties to deciding on a garden style and setting up a planting schedule.

When it comes to having a successful garden, much of the hard work needs to happen before the growing season even starts. If you don’t have a plan in place for what you want to grow, you might find yourself with the wrong kinds of plants and possibly overwhelmed with weeds in the middle of the summer.

Here’s a guide for planning out your vegetable garden to ensure you start the season out right.

How to Choose Seeds

Your first task when planning a vegetable garden is deciding what to grow.

Plant nurseries and seed catalogs contain more varieties than you could master in decades, so it’s important to practice restraint and make practical choices. In fact, the most common mistake beginning gardeners make is trying to grow too much at once. Every plant has different needs, so committing to more than you can maintain can ruin your enthusiasm before the season’s half over.

Keep yourself from getting overwhelmed by growing six or fewer varieties your first year and adding up to three more every growing season after.

What should you plant? That depends on what you want to eat. Tomatoes are a popular choice because they are relatively easy to grow, come in hundreds of varieties, and are versatile for canning and cooking. Besides, once you taste a home-grown tomato, you’ll never want to return to storebought.

Salad lovers should consider growing various greens, while those with more space may enjoy mastering melons and winter squash. Pay attention to the characteristics and growing requirements for every variety to make sure it fits your garden conditions.

This is also the time to calculate how many plants you need. Think through how much your family will eat over the summer, how much you would freeze or preserve, and how much you want to give away, and plan how much you plant accordingly.

How to Make a Garden Planting Plan

Next, it’s time to determine how you will set up your garden. Popular strategies include row cropping, planting in raised beds, and setting up a small-space container garden.

Row Cropping

The traditional method is to plant each vegetable in rows approximately four feet (1.2m) wide. This provides plenty of space for each plant while still making it possible to reach across the whole bed for weeding.

  • Pros: Best for large spaces, makes it easy to fit rototillers and other tools, easiest to set up
  • Cons: May have lots of weed problems, adding compost and amendments gets expensive because they disperse
Raised Beds

Raised beds make it possible to start your garden from scratch. You build or buy a structure, add a quality growing mix, and plant directly into this new soil. Gardeners love raised beds because they make it possible to grow lots of plants in small spaces, and they raise the soil height so you aren’t bending over to nurture the plants.

  • Pros: Space-efficient, defines the growing space, soil tends to heat faster than at ground level, easier maintenance (less bending down), makes it possible to garden if you have poor soil
  • Cons: Expensive to set up, raised beds may need to be replaced after a few seasons, soil tends to dry out quickly
Container Gardening

For those low on space or who need to keep their garden portable, growing plants in containers is a surprisingly productive way to produce food. Many plants like tomatoes thrive in containers, meaning you can maximize any unused corner of your yard for gardening.

  • Pros: Adaptable to any space, easy care and maintenance, possible to bring plants indoors on chilly days
  • Cons: Limited planting space, doesn’t work well for root crops, pots dry out quickly
How to Set Up a Summer Planting Guide

Now that you’ve decided on the varieties and gardening style, it’s time to plan where each plant will go. Again, this stage takes careful planning for the best results. Here are the steps to follow to determine what to plant where in your garden space.

1. Sketch Out Your Garden Area

First, make a blueprint of your total growing space, adding dimensions where you can. You can do this by hand on graph paper or a computer if you want a reusable template.

2. Pay Attention to Spacing Needs

Next, look at the spacing requirements for each plant variety and write those down. This gives you a sense of how much of each plant type would fit in each part of the garden so you can optimize it for what you most want to grow.

3. Add Your Top Priority Crops

It’s now time to add plants to your sketch. Start with the crops you care most about to ensure you have enough space for them. You’ll fill in the other varieties around these top priorities.

4. Give Space to Vertical and Vining Crops

Next, plan for the crops that have special requirements. For example, squash plants start small but quickly can take over a square meter or more in trailing vines, and cucumbers and pole beans do best with sturdy trellising. Factor these spacing elements into the garden to keep things organized.

5. Plan for Crop Rotation and Succession

As your garden progresses over the growing season, you’ll start pulling out one-time producers like heads of lettuce and carrots as you eat them. This leaves space for new plants, so plan out what your next growing round will be, so you use the space efficiently all summer.

A Note on Plant Spacing

Many beginning gardeners make the mistake of attempting to cram too many plants in one garden bed. Plants start small, so it’s tempting to pack them in tight to maximize the harvest. However, this strategy only harms your garden in the long run.

As the plants grow, they will start competing with each other for soil nutrients and sunlight. The result may be a garden bed of mediocre plants rather than a few standout super-producers. In short, resist the urge to overcrowd and give each plant the space necessary to thrive.

Eager as you might be to start digging in the dirt immediately, a well-planned garden is the best way to get results. Take the time to plan your garden in advance, and you’ll reap the rewards all summer long.

How to Control Common Houseplant Pests

Houseplant Care

How to Control Common Houseplant Pests

There are a number of pests that can infect your houseplants from time to time. These are mostly sap-sucking insects and fairly easy to control. Have a look at these five different pests that might be infecting your houseplants and how you can easily control them.

Although pests on houseplants aren’t as prolific or common as the pests you might find on your plants outdoors, they do still occur. And when they do, you want to control them as quickly as you can to avoid any damage or them spreading to other plants.

Wherever possible, it’s a good idea to use organic controls for your houseplants to limit the amount of chemicals that you spray in your home. In saying that though, we’ll be discussing both eco-friendly controls as well as chemical controls so that you can have the choice.

Here are 5 common pests that you are likely to find on your houseplants.

1. Aphids

Although more common on your outdoor plants, aphids can make their way inside and feast on your precious houseplants. Aphids are sap-sucking insects that generally attack new growth. They’re quite small and can be green, black or gray in color.

You’ll usually find them on the undersides of leaves or on new flower buds. Because they tend to congregate in large clusters, they’re very easy to spot. Aphids also exude a sticky honeydew type substance that is easy to spot on the lower leaves.

If left uncontrolled, leaves and young stems will start to turn yellow and new growth will become distorted.

Treatment

Aphids are fairly easy to control with a spray made from dish detergent mixed with water in a spray bottle. Spray the plant liberally making sure to cover the aphids with the mixture. What this does is coat the aphids so that they die.

Leave the mixture on the plant for around 5 minutes and then wash it off. You can do this in the shower or even under some running water in the sink. You may have to repeat this a couple of times to ensure you’ve removed all the aphids.

If you need something a little stronger, you can use a proprietary product that contains pyrethrin or neem oil. You’ll usually find this in convenient spray bottles at your local garden center.

2. Mealybugs

Mealybugs, like aphids, are sap-sucking insects. They’re small, white and look slightly furry. Mealybugs also cluster together and are really easy to spot. At a quick glance, they look like there’s some cotton wool on your plant.

If you don’t get rid of them, the leaves of your plants will eventually turn yellow and drop off.

Treatment

You can easily dislodge the offending mealybugs by spraying them with water. In the shower is best. If there are only a few, you can gently scrape them off, wearing gloves of course.

Otherwise, you can use the same dish soap spray method that we discussed for controlling aphids.

For a chemical control, look for a product that contains natural fatty acids or a surfactant.

3. Red Spider Mites

Red spider mites are one of those houseplant pests that are quite difficult to control. They’re actually related to spiders and do, indeed, spin tiny webs all over your plants. However, they feed on the sap of the leaves. The tiny webs are there to protect an entire colony of spider mites.

You should be able to see the webbing on your plants if there are red spider mites present. However, the most prominent symptom of a red spider mite infestation is that the leaves will start to look mottled with tiny brown dots. This is actually a form of necrosis in the leaf.

Treatment

Because red spider mites hate water and humidity, placing your plants in the shower once a week will gradually reduce their numbers. Make sure you use tepid water. On the days between showering, mist your plant daily to increase the humidity around it.

If you have a very large infestation that you can’t get under control, it is possible to purchase predatory mites that feed on red spider mites. These predatory mites are known as Phytosieulus persimilis.

If you want a chemical treatment, choose a houseplant insecticide that contains a surfactant or natural fatty acids such as white oil.

4. Scale Insects

Scale is another insect that can be a little difficult to control. In fact, if you have scale on your plants, they may not look like insects at all. This is because these insects have an outer shell that is quite hard and adheres the insect to the plant’s leaves and stems.

Initially, these look like tiny brown nodules on the stems and leaves of your plants. Scale also produce a sticky, honeydew substance that will stick to your plant. This eventually turns black and looks just like a sooty mold.

Treatment

Scale insects can simply be rubbed off if there are only a few. But, because the young are mobile, you’ll have to be vigilant for a couple of weeks to ensure that you get them all.

Another thing you can do is dab a little alcohol onto each scale insect with a cotton swab. The alcohol will dissolve the insects. Alternatively, using the soapy spray that you use on aphids will soften the hard shell of the scale insects. Then you can simply wipe them off with a damp cloth.

If you’re after something a little stronger, try an insecticide containing permethrin or malathion. However, don’t use these chemicals on ferns because of their sensitivity.

5. Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats are those tiny little fly-like insects that you often find on fruit that’s been sitting around for too long. They’re actually not harmful to your plants but they are a nuisance to have in the house.

You’ll find fungus gnats flying around your plants, but their larvae exist in the soil just under the top surface. They feed on organic matter and love moist soil.

Treatment

To encourage fungus gnats to leave your plants, make sure that you remove any dead foliage that’s ended up in the pot. You’ll also want to let the surface soil dry out. Consider watering your plants from the bottom instead until the gnats have disappeared.

You can also use yellow sticky paper that you can buy from your local garden center.

If you want to use a chemical control, try a spray containing Pyrethrin. You’ll have to do a follow up spray once the larvae emerge from the soil.

Final Thoughts

Houseplant pests are not as common as the ones that you might find on your plants outdoors. However, they do need to be controlled if you find them.

Most houseplant pests are sap-suckers and can easily be controlled with a spray containing dish detergent and water. You might need to apply this more than once but you should eventually rid your plants of these pests.

How To Deal With Plant Disease Problems

Houseplant Care

How To Deal With Plant Disease Problems

There’s nothing worse than watching a plant start to wither and die because of a disease problem. Learn how to spot the early signs of disease so you can keep your plants in pristine condition all season long.

Your plants looks so good, but suddenly they start to turn brown and wilt. The weather is perfect, and everything is getting adequate water, so what’s the problem? You may be dealing with disease. Pathogens can infect plants quickly and show up as a range of symptoms that are tricky to address, meaning you need to know what to look for right away.

Here’s an overview of plant diseases and what you need to know to better protect your green friends.

Plant Disease Defined

A plant disease is an impairment in a plant’s normal state that affects its functioning, usually in a negative way. All plant species are susceptible to disease, but cultivated plants tend to have the most problems. That’s because they’ve developed over time through human intervention and didn’t evolve the genetic defenses to fight them off as their wild counterparts did.

The Two Types of Plant Disease

There are thousands of plant diseases that could infect your plants today, all of which are split into two categories: infectious and noninfectious.

Infectious diseases are caused by a pathogenic organism that infects the plant material. They can be a fungus, bacterium, virus, nematode, or even a parasitic flowering plant. These pathogens are capable of reproducing within the host and spreading from one plant to another, which makes them highly contagious.

Noninfectious diseases, in contrast, come from unfavorable growing conditions like temperature extremes, inadequate moisture levels, and nutrient deficiencies. They won’t spread from plant to plant, but plants growing in similar situations are likely to develop them.

Factors That Affect Plant Diseases

Environmental conditions make a significant difference in the development and spread of plant diseases. Here are some factors to be aware of.

Temperature: Every disease pathogen has an optimal temperature for growing, which may vary based on the development stage. Generally, warmer weather leads to more plant diseases, as it encourages germination and spore production that causes them to spread.

Humidity: Warm, wet conditions lead to rot and fungal spore production, so high humidity is a leading cause of most leaf and fruit diseases. You can slow down the spread of disease by lowering the air humidity (if indoors) and avoiding spraying plants on their leaves.

Soil Moisture: Saturated soil keeps plant roots wet, which contributes to root rot and other fungal diseases. Refrain from overwatering so you don’t raise the carbon dioxide levels in the soil that encourages the growth of these pathogens. Likewise, other plant diseases are most problematic when the soil stays too dry.

Soil PH: The acidity of your soil affects the kinds of pathogens that proliferate within it. A soil test will give you a sense of its natural pH for information on what diseases are most likely in your conditions.

Soil Type and Fertility: Soil fungi and other pathogens all have preferences for certain soil types. Some thrive in heavy clay, while others need high concentrations of organic material. Elevated levels of certain nutrients can also influence the development of diseases like powdery mildew and leaf blight.

Signs of Plant Diseases

The best way to know whether you’re dealing with plant disease is to look closely at the plant.

Start by looking at the leaves and other foliage. Irregular coloring, size, shape, or signs of blights and lesions are all indicators of fungal or bacterial pathogens. In the early stages of a bacterial infection, you’ll likely see dark, water-soaked spots with distinct margins, almost like a halo. Look for dark specks in these dead areas, as these may be signs of mold growth or fruiting bodies filled with spores.

Viral diseases, like mosaics, show up as discolored, yellowing patches and sections that look dried out.

Next, inspect the plant’s trunk, stems, shoots, and branches. Any sunken, swollen, or discolored sections may be caused by bacterial canker infections, and they can lead to plant wounds that become infected by other pathogens. Galls, overgrowths on the stem, trunk, or branches, are often a sign of crown gall infections.

You can assume the plant is diseased rather than injured from insects or another cause if the change occurs gradually and there isn’t a clear distinction between the healthy and the unhealthy parts.

Below the soil line, root diseases are prevalent and can have consequences for the entire plant. They can come from soilborne creatures known as nematodes as well as bacterial or fungal pathogens. You might see stunted leaves, poor coloring, wilting and dieback, or sudden declines in your plant’s vigor and productivity.

Note: Many of the symptoms associated with plant diseases can be caused by a range of other factors like frost, heat, nutrient deficiencies, and more. In these cases, treating the “disease” won’t have any effect because you aren’t addressing the real symptoms.

One way to tell whether a plant disease is really to blame is to see whether multiple plant species in an area seem to have the same symptoms. Most plant diseases are highly specific and will only affect closely related plant species.

How to Treat Plant Diseases

Treating and preventing plant diseases comes down to proper identification and determining what is causing it in the first place. This process takes careful observation and attention to detail to ensure you make the correct diagnosis.

Once you know what kind of pathogen is involved, you can take steps to eradicate it from your plants. In many instances, a topical spray will help kill off the pathogens and restore the plant to full vigor. You may also need to provide it with nutrient-rich compost to give it the strength to fight off the attack. Sometimes, the only option is to cut off the diseased portion to prevent it from spreading throughout the entire plant.

Dealing with plant diseases is an inevitable part of gardening, but they don’t need to be discouraging. Monitor plants closely and understand why infections occur, and you can prevent your plants from suffering from devastating outbreaks.

5 Ways to Use Geometry in Garden Design

Landscaping

5 Ways to Use Geometry in Garden Design

Geometry plays a big role in every great garden, from ratios to proportions. Learn how to use 5 simple tricks to design a classically beautiful, balanced garden.

You know how some gardens feel just right? In a well-designed garden, everything seems to harmonize, and it isn’t a coincidence. Exceptional gardens don’t just happen—they are rooted in solid design principles, wise plant selections, and good old geometry. That’s right, geometry. Don’t worry if math isn’t your thing, because garden geometry isn’t about calculations. Garden geometry means using volumes and shapes so that your garden feels balanced and beautiful, rather than chaotic and thrown together.

Garden designers use form, function, lines, and symmetry in their work. The end result might seem like magic, but it isn’t. You can use and apply these well-understood ratios and easy-to-follow guidelines to your own gardens. The basic rules and principles of garden geometry are covered in detail below.

Using Form in the Garden

Form refers to shapes, starting with the built environment—your house, fence, shed, pool— then garden elements—trees, shrubs, trellises, pathways, and ornamental plants. To create a garden with good geometry, look at the form of the buildings around it and design garden beds that complement the overall shapes and dimensions. Large evergreen shrubs and small trees are often referred to as “foundation plantings” because they visually anchor gardens. Use foundation plantings to create focal points and to give an overall sense of entry, enclosure, and dimension to your garden.

Line in the Landscape

Good use of line is what separates amateur gardens from professional ones. Beneath the lush growth and wildness, a “regulating line” is what gives a garden a sense of order and structure. You can use any part of the built environment to establish a line: A swimming pool, the edges of a deck or patio, a fence, gate, or exterior house wall. The line is an invisible ordering mechanism that you use to organize the garden. Use this principle to decide where elements such as pathways and borders start, end, and intersect.

This is not to say that you must use straight lines, certainly not! Establishing regulating lines gives you a framework to guide where all of the elements should go. A curved path or a round fire pit and seating area should be in a harmonious relationship to the lines governing the flow of the garden. Design elements can be centered, off-set, or aligned to the regulating lines. Play around with lines, marking them with ropes or landscape paint to see how they look before you commit to them.

Repetition and Pattern

One of the most powerful ways to apply geometry in your garden is through the use of repetition. There are many different ways to establish a pattern, including color, shape, texture, and even with building materials. For example, if your home has a red brick exterior, you could install pathways using brick pavers, or use brick in the construction of your flowerbed borders. You can also lay out a garden on a formal grid or repeat the same plant palette throughout the garden to establish rhythm and pattern. These cohesive elements make a garden feel intentional and will give your garden a more professional overall look and feel.

Working With Scale

Understanding scale in the garden can be a little tricky, especially if you are a beginner. It can help to imagine the garden as a room in a house. First comes your foundation: the walls and ceiling, next you have furniture, and last you have decorative items. In the garden, you have your buildings and your foundation plantings; next pathways, fire pits, seating areas, and swimming pools; and last you have your ornamental plantings. In a vegetable garden you might have walls, fences, and fruit trees; then trellises and raised beds, followed by veggies and flowers.

The most critical thing to grasp about scale is to “stack” elements from large to small so that taller things are in the background and smaller plants and elements are in the foreground. You want to create transitions between smaller garden elements and larger ones by having plants of intermediate height in between. You’ll notice that in professionally designed gardens, this effect makes it feel like you are in a room or series of rooms. You can also use scale to visually draw attention to a focal point—like a statue or a colorful Japanese maple—by placing it in an area with low groundcover plants or hardscape so that it is the most prominent feature.

Symmetry and Balance

Symmetry and balance are at the heart of creating gardens that are pleasing to the eye. The ultimate example of symmetry in garden design is the crisp, ornate parterre garden at Versaille. While a garden of this level of sophistication isn’t possible without full-time staff, it is possible to take inspiration from it and apply it to your own garden. Consider planting solid borders of one ornamental plant and then filling the border with masses of color in an orderly, symmetrical arrangement.

Some people have an innately good sense of proportion and are able to intuitively arrange large and small elements harmoniously. The rest of us can create balance in an asymmetrical garden by using the classical “golden ratio”. Used in garden design, this ratio of 1: 1.6 becomes the “golden rectangle.” Put simply, if a rectangle has sides A and B, then to achieve the golden ratio it should measure A÷B = B÷(A+B). The math is simple, and it is the reason why you see garden beds that measure 5 by 8 feet (1.5 by 2.4 meters).

Even if you’re just a beginner, using these principles of garden geometry will give your garden a professional look. If you’re an experienced gardener, they can help you improve or reinforce what you already know.

Carnations: The Official Flower for Mother’s Day

Trends

Carnations: The Official Flower for Mother’s Day

Who doesn’t love to receive a beautiful bouquet on Mother’s Day? But, did you know that the official flower for Mother’s Day is, in fact, a red carnation? The history of how this came to be is fascinating and you can read about it here.

Unlike Father’s Day, initially celebrated with a red or white rose, Mother’s Day was and is still hugely associated with bouquets. While you could give your mother anything from a professionally arranged bouquet as an adult to a handful of dandelions as a child (or vice versa), there is one official flower for Mother’s Day: the carnation.

The Official Mother’s Day Flower: The Carnation

The official Mother’s Day flower is a red carnation. While this may seem like a cheap choice when there are fancier flowers, the carnation has been the official flower ever since the holiday’s inception. (And no, shockingly, Hallmark didn’t make it up.)

The story starts with Ann Jarvis in the 1800s. Having lost 8 of her 12 children, Ann organized coalitions to combat childhood illness, raising money for medicine, providing nursing care for the sick, and inspecting food and milk. During the civil war, the coalitions cared for wounded soldiers. When the war ended, Ann organized a Mothers’ Friendship Day to bring together mothers from both sides to encourage reconciliation. All this while raising her remaining four children, including her daughter Anna.

Anna and her mother were quite close, and her mother’s death in 1905 devastated her. Anna pledged to establish a national day to honor not only her own mother, but all the mothers for the contributions they make to society. She organized a memorial for her mother at her mother’s church and passed out 500 white carnations. Why white carnations? They were her mother’s favorite flower.

After that, Anna wrote to local, state, and national politicians to gain their support for making Mother’s Day a national holiday. Unlike Father’s Day, which took decades to receive national recognition, it only took 10 years for 46 states and other nations (including Canada and Mexico) to adopt the celebration.

Carnations became the official flower of Mother’s Day. Over time, white carnations became reserved for honoring mothers who had already passed on, while pink carnations represent gratitude and red carnations represent admiration.

(As for Mother’s Day cards, Anna Jarvis was so firmly against the commercialization of the day that she then lobbied for the end of the holiday.)

How to Honor the Memory of a Deceased Mother?

To honor her memory, then either wear a white carnation pinned to your lapel or place a white carnation bouquet in your home or on her grave.

How to Arrange Carnations

Carnations have an undeserved reputation as a cheap, filler flower. That’s not true at all! Arranged with style, they can have a romantic or vintage style to them. And since carnations come in a variety of colors, there’s no end to the color combinations!

For a stylish bouquet, skip the grocery store bouquets and head to your local florist for an arrangement. Or try arranging your own for that extra-personal touch. Look for any local or online flower arranging workshops for tips. Locally grown and organic flowers are a great environmentally friendly option!

Carnations will last two weeks with proper care. Change the water daily to prevent bacteria from growing. If you receive a wrapped or tied bouquet (as opposed to a pre-arranged in a vase), then cut the stems at a 45-degree angle before putting them in water. This helps the flowers absorb the water and last longer.

While carnations may be the official flower, they’re not the only option. Like Anna Jarvis, think of what your mother’s favorite flower is. She’ll appreciate the extra thought.

Time to Remove Weeds! What You Need to Know

Garden Plant Care

Time to Remove Weeds! What You Need to Know

Letting weeds get out of control is a common mistake for beginning gardeners. Learn why you need to remove them, the best time of year to weed your garden and the right tools to make the process easy.

By the time the weather starts to warm, your plants should be growing great. Unfortunately, so will the weeds. Once the days get longer and the weather heats up, it’s time to get garden weeds under control so they don’t overwhelm your flower beds and choke out your plants.

Removing weeds may feel overwhelming when you begin. But, take the time to do this garden task well the first time, and you can keep the weeds in check and reap the rewards of your hard work for the rest of the summer.

Here’s what to know before getting started.

Why Remove Weeds from the Garden

Most plant lovers agree that weeds are a constant nuisance. Every square inch of garden space contains weed seeds lying in wait for the right conditions to sprout.

If you disturb the top few inches of soil, you’ll bring these weeds to the surface and spring them into action. Within a few weeks, they will sprout into an eruption of unwanted seedlings that crowd out your plants.

At first glance, these tiny weeds might not seem like a significant concern. They start small and barely take up space in your garden bed. But, give them time to get established, and they will outcompete everything you’ve planted. That’s because weeds have evolved to thrive in almost any growing condition and need very little to thrive.

So, if your garden is subject to cold, excess heat, drought conditions, or other growing complications, chances are your plants will suffer, but you will still grow a healthy crop of weeds.

When to Remove Weeds

The ideal time to get rid of weeds in the garden is when they are large enough to grasp but too small to hurt your plants. For most species, this is when they are between 1-6 inches tall (2.5-15 cm).

Don’t wait until the weeds tower over your plants, as they will shade them out and siphon away water and nutrients, so they end up stunted.

Strategies for Removing Weeds

The best way to remove weeds depends on the setup of your garden. Follow these instructions based on your growing conditions.

In Raised Beds

Raised beds tend to have fewer weeds than other gardening systems because the growing medium isn’t in direct contact with the ground where weed seeds dwell. Likewise, the potting soil typically used to fill them is usually sterile and weed seed free.

Remove weeds by hand whenever you see them to keep the bed clean. Take care to grab each weed by the base around the ground line and pull up slowly so that the roots come free of the soil without snapping off.

Consider using hand tools like a claw rake or hook neck weeder to make this easier. Digging knives like a hori-hori will help to dislodge stubborn roots.

In Garden Rows

While it’s possible to weed large garden rows on your hands and knees, you will save time and your back by using cultivation tools instead. Consider the following:

  • Garden hoe: This traditional tool has a long handle and angled metal blade for slicing weeds at soil level to shear them from their roots to stop them from sprouting.
  • Stirrup hoe (hula hoe): Stirrup hoes have an oscillating blade that shuffles through the soil when you use it along a garden bed, making it ideal for removing delicate weeds in loose soil.
  • Tine weeding rake: This tool has long tines that can fit around plants to remove weeds just as they emerge from the soil.
  • Flame Weeder: Similar to a blow torch, this tool lets you direct scorching heat at tiny weeds to kill them quickly.
In Mulched Beds

Weeds that sprout in mulched beds tend to have strong taproots because they needed to work harder to break through the woody material and reach the sunlight. Make sure you pull the entire root out of the ground by pushing the mulch temporarily aside, grabbing the weed by the base, and pulling upwards. If the root doesn’t budge, use a hand fork to loosen the soil around the stem.

You can save your knees by getting a foam gardening mat to kneel on.

11 Ways to Prevent Weeds for the Long Term

Removing garden weeds is a constant challenge, but taking these steps can reduce their spread so you can more easily stay on top of them.

  • icon_number_1@3x Disturb the soil as little as possible to minimize bringing weed seeds to the surface.
  • icon_number_2@3x Add two inches (5 centimeters) of mulch over the bare soil to deprive weed seeds of light and reduce the chance they germinate.
  • icon_number_3@3x Use landscaping fabric when establishing new garden beds to “bury” weed seeds below it and prevent them from getting access to light. Cut a small hole in the material for every new plant you add.
  • icon_number_4@3x Weed only after a rain or when the soil is wet as the roots will more easily come out of the ground.
  • icon_number_5@3x Always weed before the plants have formed seed heads, so you don’t scatter the seeds through the soil as you remove them. If you’re pressed for time, cut off the weed’s flower heads as they form so the plant won’t produce seeds. You can then remove the roots and stem when convenient.
  • icon_number_6@3x Weed each bed thoroughly so small weeds aren’t left behind.
  • icon_number_7@3x Never use weeds in your compost, as you may accidentally introduce a new generation of weed seeds into your garden beds when you use it.
  • icon_number_8@3x Avoid overfertilizing and only add fertilizer once the bed is weed-free, so you don’t nourish the weeds by mistake.
  • icon_number_9@3x Plant a ground cover over your garden bed to cover bare soil and minimize space for weed seeds to sprout.
  • icon_number_10@3x Use drip irrigation to target your watering and avoid watering weed seeds.
  • icon_number_11@3x Keep the area surrounding your garden mowed and weed-free to prevent weed seeds from blowing over from neighboring plants.

If you want fast results without putting in manual labor, consider spraying a foliar herbicide over your garden bed to kill off weeds quickly. They should brown and die within a day or two. However, most of these sprays will kill every plant they touch, so use them carefully and only as a last resort.

An Introduction to Keukenhof Tulip Show

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An Introduction to Keukenhof Tulip Show

Simply blooming marvellous, Keukenhof Tulip Show is a flower display with a difference. Within this article, you’ll find out all there is to know about this striking spectacle, and you’ll even discover how you can be a part of it.

Are you a tulip lover? Do you admire all things bright and beautiful? If so, the Keukenhof Tulip Show is the ideal place to go. In this article, we’ll talk about:

  • What’s the history of the Keukenhof Gardens?
  • What is the Keukenhof Tulip Show?
  • What can it offer you (including its facilities)?
  • When is the best time to visit?
  • How can you get your hands on some tickets?
History of the Keukenhof Gardens

Would you believe that the history of Keukenhof goes as far back as the 15th century? It all began with Countess Jacoba van Beieren, commonly known as “Jacqueline of Bavaria”, who collected fruit and vegetable for the Teylingen Castle kitchen from the kitchen dunes (Keukenduin).

In 1641, Keukenhof Castle was erected, surrounded by land in excess of 494 acres. Louis Paul Zocher, alongside his father Jan David Zocher, both landscape architects, redesigned the gardens in 1857 and paved the way for Keukenhof’s style of today.

The mid 90s saw a visit from 20 people with a vision. Flower bulb growers and exporters alike generated and executed a plan to make Keukenhof a spring park, opening the public gates in 1950. It became an instant sensation.

Now, Keukenhof prides itself on being a worldwide attraction, luring visitors in from all over the globe.

Keukenhof’s vision? To uncover the full glory of the Dutch floricultural sector, and to allow the 100 companies that partake to show off their incredible array and continual hard work.

What Is the Keukenhof Tulip Show?

Every year, Keukenhof Tulip Gardens puts on a show that isn’t to be missed. Based in Amsterdam, Holland, this vibrant display of tulips covering 32 hectares (around 79 acres) is sure to take your breath away. They plant 7 million bulbs annually, including 800 different tulip species, to show the variety, uniqueness, and true essence of this incredible family of flowers.

And if the prospect of walking among a multitude of tulips isn’t blissful enough, Keukenhof even puts on an annual theme, so you can expect a distinct experience each and every year.

What Can the Show Offer You?

Keukenhof isn’t just a phenomenal flower show, it has breath-taking ponds, terraces and pavilions. If you’re a nature lover, Keukenhof Tulip Show offers a peaceful sanctuary to stroll at leisure and process your thoughts. You could even find a quiet spot to do some mindfulness!

Would you rather get active? Try cycling around the grounds, or hiking the 15km trail for stunning floral views. If you’re feeling peckish, the gardens offer a range of eateries, including restaurants, cafés, and pop-up food stalls.

Keukenhof is a fantastic day out for all. Not just one for the adults, it also offers exciting facilities to keep the children entertained all day, including playgrounds, a petting farm and a scavenger hunt. If you fancy getting lost with the family, Keukenhof’s maze will do just the trick.

And last but by no means least, Keukenhof Gardens is a place to network if you’re in the floricultural business. With 500 flower growers, and thousands of budding anthophile visitors, you are guaranteed to find people with common interests and hopefully some money to spare.

When Is Best to Visit?

Unfortunately, due to COVID and the lockdown restrictions, the public weren’t able to witness Keukenhof’s display in person in the 2021 season. However, 20 million people took the time to view the gardens virtually.

With 2022 looking up, Keukenhof is hoping they will be able to open their gates to the public once more from March 24th – May 15th. The gardens will be open from 08:00 – 19:30 every day of the week during this period.

The gardens experience 3 flowering periods:

  • icon_number_1@3x First period: this sees an appearance from indoor tulips and outdoor daffodils and crocuses.
  • icon_number_2@3x Second period: once the daffs and crocuses have wilted, the gardens come alive with hyacinths and early tulips.
  • icon_number_3@3x Third period: in this final season, all of the outdoor tulips will be in bloom and the trees will be a vibrant green.

Of course, the timeframe of these blooming periods is dependent on the weather.

Keukenhof Gardens is an easy place to get to, accessible by public transport, car, taxi, bike or walking. You can also book a guided tour from Rotterdam, Amsterdam, or The Hague. For more information, check out the FAQ section on Keukenhof’s website.

How to Get Your Tickets

Tickets for the 2022 show aren’t yet available, however, be sure to snap them up in November 2021, as this is when they will be on sale.

Zodiac Flowers: Taurus

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Zodiac Flowers: Taurus

As a Taurus, have you ever wondered about what your zodiac flowers might be? Learn all about these lovely zodiac flowers and how to easily grow them in your own garden.

If you were born between April 21 and May 21, then you’re a Taurus. Taurus is the bull, and its constellation is one of the oldest in the world, originating in Ancient Mesopotamia as the Great Bull of Heaven. This constellation marked the time to plow and plant vital plants, and to this day, represents the element of earth. So what better way to celebrate your birth sign than with growing these four Taurus birth flowers?

Tauruses have a steady, patient, and generous personality. With your endurance and stubbornness, you’re in it for the long haul, dedicating yourself to seeing projects and relationships to the end. These positive traits can turn against you if you stick with something long after it stopped being a good idea.

Here are 4 Taurus birth flowers and their meanings!

Poppies for Persistence

Today, poppies are most often used to symbolise the massive deaths in World War I, since they thrived in barren fields churned up by fighting and shelling. That’s because poppies are resilient. While other plants struggled to return, poppies sprouted and grew everywhere, standing their ground. Like poppies, Tauruses are persistent and resilient, keeping going even when faced with monumental challenges.

The other, more historical association with poppies is opium, which added pleasure and oblivion to its meaning. They’re also incredibly beautiful, representing a Taurus’ love of being surrounded by love and natural beauty.

Poppies will bring beauty in warm reds and oranges to your garden year after year. It’s best to sow seeds in the fall or early winter as they require stratification. They will self-seed.

Cut poppies are rather delicate and require careful handling. Pair them with other wildflowers, with the poppies facing different angles so that you can fully appreciate their beautiful petals and black underside. Or wait until poppies go to seed and use the seed pods as accents.

Roses for Relationships

Like Taurus, the planet Venus rules over roses, making roses the primary birth flower for Taurus. Today, we mainly think of roses as flowers of romance. You give your special someone a bouquet of roses on Valentine’s Day.

But depending on their colour, roses symbolise many aspects of relationships, from the romantic (red), to perfect happiness (pink), to friendship (yellow), to unity (red and white), to gratitude (peach), to mourning the loss of someone (dark crimson). As a Taurus, you dedicate yourself to your chosen relationships.

Roses are a fantastic, fragrant addition to the garden. They’re much easier to grow than commonly thought. As a gift, consider a miniature potted rose so they can enjoy their fragrance in their home.

As a cut flower, they’re best as a single flower bouquet with baby’s breath for contrast, or mixed in with other bold flowers.

Foxglove for Practical Creativity

Foxglove represents insincerity, and sometimes, when you’ve got your head done grinding away, you come off to others as not expressing your genuine emotions. But you can also be wildly creative, intuitive, and magic, just like foxglove.

Foxglove contains a chemical called digitalis. When taken in correct doses, digitalis heals many heart conditions. But when taken in excess, it can prove deadly. Likewise, as a Taurus, your greatest strength — your endurance and persistence — can be your greatest weakness.

In the garden, foxglove makes a magical addition to flower beds with its bell-shaped flowers. To grow, press seeds into the soil in the autumn (no need to cover with soil). Foxgloves will reseed themselves each year.

Unlike the other flowers, foxglove is better in your garden than in a bouquet, as it can be quite toxic when ingested. Keep it away from children and pets.

Roses, poppies, daisies, and foxgloves. All seemingly different, but adding up to the determinate, persistence, practicality, creativity, and valued relationships that Taurus are most known for. Plant one of these Taurus birth flowers for yourself, or give as a gift to a Taurus friend.

Daisies for Determination

Daisies are actually composite flowers, meaning each one is actually two flowers combined into one. This gives them the symbolism of true love, as two flowers complete each other, and represent a Taurus’ devotion.

In the 1800s, “ups-a-daisy” was coined to encourage children to get up when they fell, which has become “oopsy daisy” or “whoops-a-daisy”, another callback to a Taurus’ tenacity. When you stumble in a challenge, you get back up and keep persisting. Daisies also represent fresh hope and new beginnings.

Daisies are a perfect low-maintenance addition to your garden as a simple pleasure. They’re rhizomatic, so they spread quickly once planted.

As a cut flower, you can either keep the bouquet to just daisies (put the tallest ones in the centre), or add to a mixed flower arrangement. Giving your special someone a gift of red daisies means that you’re utterly devoted to them.

How to Prune Spring Flowering Shrubs

Garden Plant Care

How to Prune Spring Flowering Shrubs

Pruning your spring flowering shrubs will reward you with lush new growth and a lot more flowers next year. Many shrubs will only flower on new wood. It’s important to encourage this new growth.

Spring flowering shrubs kick off the gardening season with spectacular displays of flowers. Lilacs (Syringa sp.), mock orange (Philadelphus sp.), and forsythia are often considered beloved old-fashioned shrubs that can live for generations. Over time, however, the quality and quantity of bloom can decrease as plants grow too woody and mature. This guide will explain how to prune and maintain these beloved spring shrubs to ensure loads of flowers to enjoy for years.

Why Prune Your Flowering Shrubs?

Flowering shrubs, such as lilacs, mock orange, and forsythia, are all woody plants that bloom best on what horticulturists call ‘new wood.’ Generally, quick-growing shrubs will produce too much old wood or become over-run with suckers, and eventually will not bloom. Hard pruning is in order, but few gardeners will want to cut the shrub entirely to the ground.

Professional horticulturists practice a method called the ‘One-Third Rule,’ which involves removing one-third of the oldest branches every spring at ground level. This method ensures a continuous renewal of branches that will produce flowers in abundance.

When to Prune Flowering Shrubs.

Timing is everything, especially with spring-blooming shrubs. The window is small, between just after flowering and 2 or 3 weeks after. One should remember that the plant’s entire annual growth will happen in a month or two after flowering.

Never prune spring-flowering shrubs in mid to late summer, fall, or winter. Pruning must be done in early spring or immediately after they bloom to ensure that the shrub can produce flower buds for the following year. This applies to deciduous shrubs such as lilacs, mock orange, spirea, most woody roses (Rosa sp.), forsythia, deutzia, honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.), butterfly bush (Buddleja sp.), and weigela.

Pruning is very beneficial to some hydrangeas, though not all (see below). Furthermore, pruning should be avoided on evergreen shrubs such as rhododendron, camellia, and even deciduous azaleas as they will not benefit from such treatment.

How to Prune Flowering Shrubs.

There are multiple goals when it comes to pruning deciduous blooming shrubs. First, remove any dead or damaged wood. This could include branches that cross over each other or simply branches that have died or look too old. Second, pruning should allow air and light to reach through the entire shrub while being aesthetically pleasing. A common mistake is to try and shape such shrubs into a topiary, a standard, or a ball. Most blooming shrubs don’t comply, given their natural upright or vase-shaped habit, which one should encourage.

Remove one-third of the oldest branches to near ground level and any suckers. Avoid reducing the rest of the shrubs’ established stems that may impact future flower buds. Younger shrubs may benefit from just reducing the current years’ growth (such as with lilacs). In this case, cut just above a pair of leaves, as this is where flower buds will form and eventually stems next year.

What About Hydrangeas?

The trick to pruning hydrangeas is demystify them first. Common names and groups abound, if you don’t know the difference between a smooth hydrangea and a bigleaf hydrangea, a few tips will help.

First, research the species if you know what it is. Hydrangea macrophylla (commonly referred to as a ‘bigleaf hydrangea’) blooms on old wood and should only be carefully pruned to remove dead growth every spring. If you live in a mild climate and your hydrangea has colorful flowers, blue mop heads, or bright pink flowers, you probably have H. macrophylla. These hydrangeas often suffer in severe winter conditions.

On the other hand, if your hydrangea has large white flowers with big leaves, it’s probably H. arborescens. The names are familiar: ‘Incrediball’, ‘Annabelle’, ‘Little Lime’. These flowers don’t blush to pink but usually turn lime green through late summer and eventually buff-colored in fall. All H. arborescens must be pruned hard every spring to 6 inches above the ground. This will stimulate the strongest and most robust branches and the largest flowers. If you skip pruning them for a year, the flower will be smaller but still abundant.

The third group of common hydrangeas is often called tree hydrangeas: H. paniculata. The leaves are pointed at the tips, and the cone-shaped flower heads generally emerge completely white but age with a blush of pink or mauve tint. These can be trained to a tree form (a standard) or as a shrub. The cultivar names too are familiar (‘Pinky Winky,’ ‘Pee Gee,’ or ‘Limelight’). All H. paniculata bloom on new wood, so pruning is encouraged. Hard pruning will result in longer stems with flowers great for cutting. Light pruning (or none at all) will result in shorter stems and smaller flower heads.

Other hydrangeas, such as oakleaf and lacecap, require slightly different care. Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) blooms only on old wood, so prune carefully just after bloom and only if needed. Lacecap types can be either H. macrophylla or H. arborescens, so you may need to do some research to identify what species you have. Hydrangea macrophylla ssp. serrata tends to be slightly more hardy in the north, blooming from previous buds in pink and blue. Flowering may be sporadic in cold climates, so prune only when winter-kill is present.

However, some cultivars of H. arborescens produce lacecap flowers, which should be pruned hard every spring before their buds break. This includes the summer blooming cultivar ‘Haas Halo,’ which can produce lace-cap flowers up to 14″ in diameter after a hard pruning nearly to the ground every late winter.

Best Tools for Pruning Flowering Shrubs

Hand Pruners- Hand-held pruning sheers or secateurs are best for the cleanest cuts. Look for brands that cut with a blade (known as bi-pass pruners) as they will produce the cleanest cut. Clean cuts are easier to make and reduce stress and damage to the shrub.

Loppers – Long-handled loppers (the kind that requires two hands to use) are essential for larger branches.

Saw – A shard pruning saw is often necessary for old or dead branches with a diameter of 2″ or more. Dead wood is often more challenging to cut with lopper or pruners.