If you are like me, your water bill is going to equal your mortgage payment after this dreadfully hot and dry summer.
The New York Times asked Todd Forrest (what a perfect name!), vice president at the New York Botanical Gardens, for his advice. If you are like me and you have used up all your free visits to the Times on line, you won't be able to just click on a link and see what he said.
So I will paraphrase his advice here.
But now is the time to shop for deals at nurseries, which may be trying to clear out rough-looking plant material to make room for new fall plants.
Check the websites for local nurseries like Behnkes in Beltsville and Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, and you will see lots of sales. You might want to spend some time this weekend looking for bargains.
The plants may be looking a little rough right now, but don't worry. They should perk up with your TLC.
Marie Iannotti, who writes a gardening blog for about.com, has some tips for selecting mid-season plants. Here is her advice.
One of the best things about the Internet is, you can ask it a question, and get an answer.
That's true for gardening questions, too. So, after working in my garden for a couple of hours, I came inside and typed a question in the Google box on my laptop:
"How do I prune my beautyberry?"
I planted two Calicarpa americana last year after seeing their beautiful pale green leaves and lavender berries. Beautyberry for sure.
But I wasn't sure whether this year's spring blooms and fall berries would arrive on new or old wood.
I got my answer on the Internet. I should be pruning it to the ground now. But this isn't the only shrub or perennial that needs pruning and I am timid about using my pruners. What if I wreck things?
The concensus seems to be that vodka and aspirin do not make a significant difference in the life span of a Christmas tree, but they might make the business of buying one and putting it up easier on the humans in the equation.
At this time of year, there are lots of myths and old wives's tales about how to keep a Christmas tree from dropping its needles like rain. They involve everything from boric acid to lemon juice.
But it may be that you just need to water your tree. A lot. They can take up more than a gallon a day, whether it has sugar in it or not.
Here are some other tips:
If you haven't purchased your Christmas tree, you'd better get cracking. This weekend, the tree stands will probably be mobbed, and by Sunday night, the selection could be pretty well picked over.
Here's a look at the three most popular kinds of trees for Christmas.
The Fraser Fir is considerd by many to be the perfect Christmas tree and it is the one most often chosen for the White House Blue Room. There is more space between the branches, and that makes it easier to decorate.
The Douglas Fir has excellent needle retention and a wonderful scent and its soft fine green needles can support lots of lights.
The Nobel Fir is also popular because of its shape and its blue green needles. And it has good spacing, like the Fraser.
Look for more about Christmas trees here on Garden Variety.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Amy Davis
I am writing about poinsettias in the AT HOME section of The Baltimore Sun, thanks to the folks at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, who allowed me to visit their greenhouses, with literally acres of plants, and to watch staff member Kerry Kelley "paint" poinsettias in magical colors.
Thanks also to Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis for her wonderful photo gallery of poinsettias.
Since the topic is poinsettias, I thought I'd share the advice of the folks at Ecke Ranch in Southern California, one of the premier growers of the holiday plant, on how to choose and care for your poinsettia:
My colleague Chris Kaltenbach is all about Christmas trees in the LIVE section of The Baltimore Sun.
He is writing about the Festival of Trees at the Timonium Fairgrounds, an annual extravaganza of decorating.
Plus, he has all kinds of advice on how to take care of your tree.
Me? I have the cutest artificial tree. I know. That's bad for a garden writer.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Barbara Haddock Taylor
If you waited this long to bring in some basil, you are in trouble.
But it isn't too late to repot some heartier herbs and bring them inside so you can enjoy them during the winter months.
The blogger behind North Country Maturing Gardener, who lives and gardens in New Hampshire, offers this advice:
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Barbara Haddock Taylor
Although we have a fireplace in the living room - in perfect working order and positioned nicely across from a very comfortable couch -- I think my husband and I are going to use his birthday present much more often that we use the fireplace.
I bought him a fire pit.
It cost less than $50 at Home Depot and I purchased an asbestos mat to place it on so it doesn't do too much damage to the grass (or start a raging brush fire.)
We pull out our portable camping chairs, invite some neighbors, open a couple of bottles of beer or wine, and we are set to go. As the nights get colder, the fire is wonderfully cozy.
The only problem? What do do with the wood ash, which can pile up pretty quickly in the dish.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jed Kirschbaum
Just when you thought there could be no more subjects worth blogging on....
Meghan Shinn, the editor of Horticulture magazine, is blogging about her leaf-raking strategies this fall, and she is asking readers to share theirs: bit-by-bit? or all-at-once.
Here's mine, but please don't tell my husband....
Photo credit: Associated Press
This time of year always presents the same problem for me in the garden.
Where, exactly, are the spring bulbs planted?
I need to know, or remember, if I am going to add to the mix in a visually pleasing way - and not dig right into a patch of sleeping bulbs.
But that never stops me from buying bulbs and tip-toeing around the garden, trying to find a spot for them.
Here is some bulb advice I have collected. But the most important is: Get busy. It is time to plant.
The catalogs in your mailbox are your first clue - it is time to purchase spring bulbs.
Garden catalog people know that few of us actually tear out the order forms, fill them out and mail them in. The catalog is simply a reminder to go on line and place your order.
Garden centers have not traditionally been a good place to find a healthy selection of spring bulbs, although they are improving, their prices can be good and there is no shipping fee. But the catalogs have it all over them in terms of exotics and new varieties. But if you just want a few red and yellow tulips and some regulation daffodils, you can find them there.
What bulbs are tempting you this year? And where will you order them from?
Later today, I will share some tips on buying and planting bulbs. Stay tuned....
Photo credit: Chicago Tribune
Anne Raver, Maryland resident and garden writer for the New York Times, writes this week about using newspapers to hold down weeds in the garden -- an old idea to which she gives some new twists.
Yet another good reason to subscribe to newspapers!
Try doing this with your Blackberry...
I decided to take some of my own advice this weekend, and went looking for bargains at the lawn and garden retailers in my neck of the woods.
And did I luck out!
At Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, I found good-sized Knock-out roses, in white and yellow, on sale for half price at only $16 each. (All their roses are on sale half off.)
I know what I have said about roses. And it is still true that they are a lot of trouble for me. But one Knock-out seems to be doing very well under my front windows and so I will replace shrubs I lost in the snowstorms with two more and see that happens.
And I bought echinecea "Harvest Moon" and "Sundown," also on sale for 50 percent off. And I picked up a gorgeous sedum "Limelight" for $5.
While the roses took some trimming and dead-heading, the Echinecea were perfect specimens: Full, heathy and blooming. So was the sedum.
Continue reading "Gardening with a credit card: done and done!" »
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Lloyd Fox
It is hard to think about adding new plants to the Mid-Atlantic garden on the cusp August, traditionally our hottest and dryest month.
But now is the time to shop for deals at nurseries, which may be trying to clear out rough-looking plant material to make room for new fall plants.
Marie Iannotti, who writes a gardening blog for about.com, has some tips for selecting mid-season plants. Here is her advice.
New York Times garden writer - and Maryland resident -- Anne Raver has a lovely essay on summer in the garden, and she includes some tips to help the garden survive the heat and drought and more ideas on what to plant in the vegetable garden for the fall.
Her advice? Keep adding compost to the soil. It helps manage the moisture and the microbes help the plants defend against pests and disease.
And you thought that was something you just did in the spring...
I shared some tips from Horticulture magazine about pruning hydrangeas, and lamented the poor state of my own right now.
Bud from Glen Burnie, Md., was inspired to share this photo of his hydrangea, which has the benefit of his sprinkler system, he said. And he offered this advice:
White hydrangea bloom later than blue. Also, if you plant them in a spot that is only sunny part of the day or mostly shady, it will delay the blooms from sprouting until mid-late July. They will last longer as well.
Barbara Pierson, head gardener at White Flower Farm, is offering some advice for gardeners in the New York Times.
Heat and drought have caused insects and diseases to thrive this summer, while stressing plants so badly that they cannot fight them off.
She suggests horticultural oil for just about everything, from blackspot to mildew, and she says it makes plants unpalatable for insects.
Pierson has some other tips as well for the mid-summer garden. Check them out.
Photo courtesy of University of Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture
This shrub is the first to fade in the heat of the garden - and the first to perk up after a nice long drink. But despite my best efforts, the blossoms and the leaves actually look crispy.
It is a shame because the hydrangeas held such promise this spring. Forty inches of snow and the absence of a late freeze made for lots of growth, and lots of blossoms. Hundreds, as a matter of fact.
Now those blossoms are spent and it is time to think about pruning. Only the cone-shaped flowers on my oakleaf hydrangea, now a dramatic bronze color, are worth preserving.
Faithful Garden Variety reader Holly asked me to remind gardeners to water their young (and old) trees during this hot spell.
"I am keeping my flowers watered each night but finally looked up at the branches of my beautiful 5-year-old red maple and felt like a guilty neglectful parent," Holly writes to me.
"More than half of it's leaves were crinkled from not enough water! I am in a frenzy each day now to give it a good long drink and I hope it isn't too late to save it! "
It was a wake-up call for me, too. And I am putting the Tree Gator back on my 2-year-old maple. Filling the 20-gallon bag once a week allows the slow watering the tree will need to get it through this summer.
Gardening guru Andre Viette was at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville over the weekend, dispensing plenty of garden advice.
Homestead blogger Susan Harris, who also writes for Garden Rant, was there to capture his wisdom, and her report is worth reading.
Among the highlights from the veteran nurseryman and gardening radio host?
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Amy Davis
I am a writer who gardens, I tell people. And I have the landscaping skill of a lab puppy looking for a squirrel.
But my friends at Garden Media Group know what they are doing. Or, rather, they know people who know what they are doing in the garden. And they collected these tips for those us who might be design-impaired:
If your garden has issues:
Hiding an unsightly air conditioning unit, adding privacy and changing boring views to beautiful ones are issues that many of us face.
Look around your garden and focus on three things you'd like to change. Create privacy with a flowering plant so you get more than just a green screen. Try adding unique plants to give your own personal touch.
Do your homework:
Tear out favorite pictures from gardening magazines, and start making a file on what you would like for your dream garden. While not everything might be possible for your garden, it will give you or your landscape designer a visual starting point.
Make a list of your favorite plants and color combinations. Don't forget about hardscape such as patios, decks and fencing.
It is as much a spring scent as that of the first grass clippings: that dusty smell of mulch.
Crews can be found in every neighborhood and around every business about now, piling the brown stuff around trees and in gardens.
Huge piles of the stuff sit in driveways, waiting for the homeowner there to dedicate an entire weekend to spreading the stuff around the yard.
And I haven't even ordered mine yet.
Timing the application of mulch can be tricky.
Put it down too early and the ground will take longer to warm up.
Put it down before the spring rains have come and gone and you won't be sealing in as much moisture, which is what mulch is designed to do.
Put it down before the perennials have emerged and you might be burying a weak sister for good.
But if you wait too long to put your mulch down, the gardens will have filled in, making it that much harder to work safely around all that plant material.
What's a gardener to do?
Ginny Smith, who writes about gardening for The Philadelphia Inquirer, is one of the smartest garden writers in the country, and she is showing why today.
Ginny also writes the blog, Kiss the Earth, and today she is talking about big box stores, whose uniformed sales people are encouraging the purchase of warm weather vegetable crops, and garden center experts, who know well enough that this warm spell will not last, and it is too early to put your tomato plants in the ground.
Daffodils, after all, are still in bloom.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Callie Lipkin
It looks like the weather in the Mid-Atlantic will burst into spring this weekend, with temperatures expected to be in the high 60s and low 70s.
It is irresistable gardening weather, but gardeners may have to do just that. Resist.
Barbara Damrosch, writing in the Washington Post today, says that garden soil is probably still too wet to work and doing so will certainly compact it, shutting down the worm tunnels and air pockets that plants need. Compaction is particularly harmful in the clay soil we have in many parts of Maryland.
She is writing primarily about vegetable gardening, but even lawns (yes, the much-hated lawns) will suffer if you walk on them when they are this wet.
How wet is too wet? If you sqeeze the soil and it stays in your hand in a clump, it is too wet to work.
The time to improve your soil, Damrosch writes, is actually in the fall. Add compost and other soil amendments then, with the soil is dry and it has time to take in the nutrients. Don't try to do that now.
But what about clean-up? Can't we just go out and start to clean up the mess left by this damaging winter?
I was just about to ask the guys at my favorite Starbucks ("extra-hot grande skim latte, please") when they would begin putting aside spent coffee grounds for us gardeners when I looked down and saw the familiar silver bags waiting for me.
Those coffee grounds are more a sign of spring for me than any robin. It means I can begin to get my beds ready.
Ground coffee is high in nitrogen, making it a very good for fast-growing vegetables. It is especially good for tomato plants, both for the nitrogen boost this heavy feeder needs and and for coffee's ability to help suppress late blight.
But I sprinkle the coffee grounds everywhere.
Last spring, I didn't bother with the little silver bags.
Continue reading "A sure sign of spring: Starbucks coffee grounds for the garden" »
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer
There is nothing like a cyclamen to brighten the gray days of winter.
Their red, white and frilly pink petals look like butterfly wings, and their leaves are traced with shades of green and paler green.
And then they are dead.
Cyclamen, like primroses, start showing up in the grocery store florist aisle at this time of year. But the florist version of the plant - there is a perennial variety - seems delicate and fussy and does not survive long in my kitchen.
Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images
The concensus seems to be that vodka and aspirin do not make a significant difference in the life span of a Christmas tree, but they might make the business of buying one and putting it up easier on the humans in the equation.
At this time of year, there are lots of myths and old wives's tales about how to keep a Christmas tree from dropping its needles like rain. They involve everything from boric acid to lemon juice.
But it may be that you just need to water your tree. A lot. They can take up more than a gallon a day, whether it has sugar in it or not.
Here are some other tips:
Oh, and by the way. Just guessing, but I don't think spray painted trees like these will last very long.
Gonzalo Gonzalez began customizing Christmas trees about seven years ago at his Compton, Calif., nursery when a customer asked for one in blue.
Los Angeles Times photo by Ruben Vives
There is a formula for a perfectly trimmed Christmas tree, one that is known to the professionals out there, like garden blogger Helen Yoest.
According to the garden coach and designer behind Gardening with Confidence, who trims trees for clients' homes and offices, this is the math for a perfect tree: 100 miniature lights per foot of tree; 15 ornaments per foot of tree, and 10 feet of garland per food of tree.
According to that formula, a 6-foot tree would have 600 lights, 90 ornaments and 40 feet of garland.
I'm in trouble.
My tree has 600 ornaments, 90 lights and no garland.
But I am one of those people who likes the stuffing more than the turkey and the ornaments more than anything else.
Clearly, however, the number of wine bottles on the tree is a personal choice.
Photo of Kennedy Krieger Institute's Festival of Trees submitted by (jwtheiv) to our reader photo gallery.
In today's garden column in The Baltimore Sun, I write about forcing bulbs (that sounds so barbaric) during the winter months, and I admit to purchasing some paperwhite kits (they are everywhere!) myself.
I have always thought of forcing bulbs as AP Gardening. Something you do after you have gotten really good at getting flowers to bloom during the right season.
But I was convinced to try after getting encouragement from Scott Kunst in his newsletter from Old House Gardens, which sells heirloom bulbs. Scott says forcing bulbs is something gardeners regularly promise themselves they will try - but never get around to it.
Paperwhites are easy to force. They don't require the 10-16 week hibernation period that other bulbs do. Just plant and water.
But when Scott sent me pictures of these antique hyacinth vases, I realized what I have been missing. How lovely and old-fashioned!
If you'd like to learn more about forcing bulbs -- and see some antique illustrations -- go to the Old House Gardens Web site.Then stop talking about forcing bulbs and take the plunge.
Continue reading and you will see photos of two of Scott's favorite hyacinths for forcing, the pink Lady Derby and the pure white Linnocence.
The spray is designed to protect the plant's cell walls from expanding in the cold and breaking down.
I promised I'd try it and report back.
Well, it worked!
I sprayed the annuals and the dahlia in two deck containers and waited for the first frost. That frost arrived last night, and I woke this morning to a silver glaze on the grass and on all my gardens.
But the containers were perfect!
You can see for yourself later today when I post some pictures. I have a crazy day of errands today, so I will download the pictures this evening. Check back!
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kenneth Lam
Day Two of myth busting for gardeners, courtesy of the U.S. National Arboretum's Scott Aker.
Plant the largest size tree stock you can. That way, you will have a big tree, faster.
"A big tree in the beginning does not mean a bigger tree in the end," said Aker. A large caliper tree will loose 70 percent of its root mass in the transplanting and will spend much of the rest of its life in shock, Aker explained.
He recommends planting a tree that has a caliper of 1 to 2 inches. The tree will become established quickly and grow quickly.
When planting, handle plants gently and don't disturb their roots.
Plants look roots every year and they replace them," said Aker. "They need to do that to have good function."
Aker recommends roughing up the soil wall of a potted plant with a garden knife or the edge of a trowel to prevent root girdling.
Ailing trees and shrubs should be fertilized to "perk them up."
"Here we go again," Aker said, "personalizing our plants."
In fact, if you fertilize an ailing tree, shrub or plant, you may actually burn the roots.
And, he said, "trees make up their own mind whether to live or die and their death probably started five years ago. Decline starts slow and it is irreversible."
Aker recommends "air spading" for trees. Compressed air is shot into the root system to open it up for oxygen, water and nutrient flow. This can often give trees a boost.
Deep fertilization is good for trees.
Tree roots are not a mirror of the treetop, Aker said, dispelling one more myth. They go out, not down. In fact, they form a kind of "pancake" only 12 to 18 inches deep. "Because that's where the life and the oxygen is.
Aker's advice? "Don't fertilize at all. Use organic mulch. If you must fertilize, use a slow release fertilizer on the surface in the fall.
Fertilize your grass in the spring.
Fertilizing in the spring can actually set up your grass for disease. It is better, Aker said, to fertilize in the fall when root growth is more active.
He also suggests that you mow 5 inches high (if you can find a mower that will let you set it that high!) and let the clippings lay on the lawn.
Mowing close to the ground, he said, does not slow lawn growth (that is, you won't be mowing less often), it encourages weed growth because they are suddenly getting the sunshine they want and "besides, mowing is very stressful for turf."
All plants do best with lots of watering.
"Use water sparingly and judiciously," said Aker, who is not a fan of all the watering going on in gardens. "Don't over react in times of drought."
Aker believes that irrigation systems, that automatically water 20 minutes a day, are killing more lawns and gardens than they are saving.
Every two to three weeks, he said, gardeners should water 6 to 8 inches deep. This takes time and patience. And it isn't accomplished by dampening the top of the garden every evening for a few minutes.
If you are concerned about runoff, water for 20 minutes, and then turn off the hose for 15 minutes. Continue this process until, when you check the soil, it is watered to the 6 to 8-inch depth he recommends.
More mulch is better.
Mulch to a depth of only 1 or two inches under shrubs and trees, but maintain it, Aker said.
And mulch may actually be bad for your perennial beds. The decomposition of the mulch draws nutrients out of the soils and if it gets in the crown of the perennial, which is likely to happen during the spring mulching season, it can harbor moisture and encourage disease.
Photo of Monticello vegetable garden by Amy C. Evans
I tell people I know just enough about gardening to make me dangerous.
I am not a Master Gardener. I am more of a makeshift gardener. And the danger is that you will learn something from me that is wrong.
There is already plenty of garden misinformation out there, and Scott Aker, horticulturalist with the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., is determined to keep people like me from making matters worse.
At a recent symposium, Aker addressed what he called "garden myths."
Here are some of them.
Double digging is the best way to improve soil.
"Save your back," said Aker.
The fact is, the more you dig, the more damage you do to the quality of your soil because you are disturbing the oxygen and organic matter that is near the surface of your garden. The more you disrupt the soil layers by digging, the more likely you are to bring the infertile sub-soil to the top.
My garden has great draining. The water runs right off!
In fact that indicates very poor drainage, said Aker. The water is not working its way through the layers of soil, because it can't. There is no internal drainage.
To improve the drainage in your yard or garden, add organic matter to ease the soil compaction. Plant in raised beds. Or install perforated pipe, Aker said.
Fertilizers with lots of phosphorus stimulate the growth of roots and flowers.
"Phosphorus doesn't make your plants more energetic," said Aker. In addition, phosphorus doesn't leach out of the soil. If you used it before, it is still there.
The best thing to do is have your soil tested (Everybody says this, but hardly anybody does this), and find out what amendments the soil needs.
The best practice? Aker advises using a slow-release source of nutrients and the best source of that is organic matter, such as compost.
Beans don't like onions.
Aker laughed openly at the notion of companion planting - that certain flowers and vegetables do best when planted near each other, and others do not.
"Gardening is not that complicated," he said. "Plants aren't like our children who don't get along in the back seat of the car."
Instead, he advises, plant with diversity in mind. And rotate your crops.
Tune in to Garden Variety tomorrow and, with Aker's expert help, we will do some more myth-busting.
I don't know about you, but my garden always looks better in the spring - and it isn't just the season. The energy I bring to my garden after the dormancy of winter means that I am choosing and planting things that are in bloom in the spring and early summer -- never thinking that in August, September and October there will be nothing to look at. I am determined to do better, but I will need some help. David Salman, chief horticulturist for High Country Gardens, a catalog that features the kind of drought tolerant plants that would do well in the (usually) dry falls of the Mid-Atlantic, is a big fan of pairing perennials with similar bloom times, but shockingly different bloom colors: purple and yellow or orange and lavender. Here are some of his favorite pairings:
It's that time of year.
Garden centers and catalog purveyors are offering discounts and advertising sales on plant material as the gardening season slowly comes to a close.
Here are a few I found on the Internet. If you know of others, or if there are any Mid-Atlantic garden centers planning big sales, let me know and I will post them!
Jackson & Perkins, the rose people, are advertising groundcover roses. The more you purchase, the more you save. We've talked about groundcovers before on Garden Variety, but not about using roses in this role. Interesting! J&P also has a bunch of sale items for as much as 75 percent off.
Dutch Gardens is offering $25 off orders of $50 or more, including sale items. Check out the Estate Collections: as many as 750 tulip bulbs for $554. To place your order by phone, call 1-888-821-0448 and mention code MKA7033B. The offer expires Sept. 3. Dutch Gardens is also offering its reblooming daylily collection - five plants for $29.95.
And Wayside Gardens is offering 25 percent off Internet exclusive trees, shrubs and perennials if ordered by Aug. 22. There are also a number of trees, shrubs and plants on sale. In addition, if you can name the mystery plant shown in a partial photo, you might win a $100 gift certificate. The winner will be chosen from among all correct entries.
Photo credit/Dutch Gardens
In today's Baltimore Sun, I write about crocuses and suggest that you order your bulbs soon because the crocus corms, planted only 3 or 4 inches deep, should go in the ground early enough to allow their root systems to develop before cold weather shuts things down.
I asked Scott Kunst of Old House Gardens and Becky Heath of Brent and Becky's Bulbs if they suggested planting crocuses in the lawn - and I got two different answers.
Scott said he had seen it done, but most often in England, where the grass resembles a putting green.
"Any guy worth his salt here in America has a big, beefy lawn," he said. "Crocuses might not be able to compete with that lawn."
Becky disagreed and, as a matter of fact, the photo that accompanies my column in today's Sun is of crocuses planted in the lawn.
"With all the different colors, you can design rainbows, stained glass, make happy faces," she said. She also recommended involving children in gardening by planting crocuses to spell their names.
If you think your grass might overwhelm your crocuses, try planting some among groundcovers, such as lamb's ear or sweet woodruff.
The crocus at right is the heirloom bulb tommasinianus Pictus, one of the "tommie" crocuses that are somewhat rodent resistent, and Scott's favorite. The one below is of chrysanthus "Advance," which Becky likes because it is actually two colors - peachy-yellow when it is open in the morning and lavender and white when it is closed in the evening.)
..... is another man's compost.
Gardener's Supply fall catalog is out, and it is all about composting.
It is the perfect time to start this project .... fall leaves are a gardener's gold. And if you begin composting now, you are likely to have some good stuff to work into the soil next spring when you begin planting again.
Gardener's Supply has variety of compost bins, plus lots of extras. Everything from the $399, 14-cubic-foot, self-aerating composter that does not require turning to the $40 "Big Bin" composter that is pretty much just for leaves.
There is also a compost pile additive for $18.95 that gives the heating process a jump start; an attractive counter top canister for your kitchen scraps (remember: no meat and no dairy); as well as biodegradable liners for the canister and biodegradable bags for your fall leaves, should you choose not to compost.
There is an electric composter that you keep in your kitchen for quick action on kitchen scraps and a worm composter that produces rich worm casings for the garden. Even a thermometer to check the heat of your compost pile.
I started composting years ago with a free bin made of recycled plastic. It was just slats, and plenty of assembly was required. It was open to the elements on top, and it became a hangout for critters from the woods nearby. The sides eventually pulled apart from the weight of the material.
I have since graduated to an enclosed bin that has a screen on the top and bottom to keep the creatures out and ventilation for air and rain. It produces about three wheelbarrows full of compost each spring.
I am not religious about turning it. It is a hard and smelly task. But every now and then, I pull the wheelbarrow over and use my pitch fork to unload some of the junk on top -- down to the fully decomposed compost -- and then I fork it back in. Seems to work.
Compost bins are like rain barrels. They are a good thing for the environment, the garden and your peace of mind. Even if you just toss in leaves and grass clippings and don't bother collecting all those kitchen scraps, you will have rich material to add to your soil.
Photo courtesy of Gardener's Supply
It doesn't take much imagination to say that a gardener's hands are his most important tools.
Even with the finest gloves and the fanciest hand tools, our hands still take a beating. By the time I am done in the garden on a weekend day, it looks like I have been digging for my food.
Short nails and a good nail brush are a good first step.
But I am also a big fan of Crabtree and Evelyn's Gardener's Hand Therapy Cream. It is a thick and rich shea butter mix with a distinct herbal fragrance, and it sells for about $14 a tube.
C&E also has a hand scrub with pumice. It is a liquid version that replaces an earlier dry version which seemed almost like shaking sawdust on your hands. Nevertheless, it was a quick and effective cleaner.
The new version sells for about $15.
And while we are talking skin care for gardeners....don't forget to soak in a warm bath with 1 to 2 cups of epsom salts. It will take the itch and sting out of your skin and the pain out of your muscles.
Remember to rest for 20 minutes after you finish bathing, and you will feel like a new person.
Garden centers and the big box stores are going to be putting their plant material on sale soon -- perhaps as soon as this holiday weekend.
It is a great time for bargains, especially if you choose wisely and have a little patience.
Don't expect much out of this plants this season. Just try to keep them going through this summer and they will have a chance to shine next season.
The folks at Better Homes and Gardens offer this advice when choosing among the bargain basement plants:
Photo credit: Chicago Tribune/Warren Skalski
Not everything in the garden is beautiful and inspiring.
Some things are absolutely disgusting. Among them, the dog stinkhorn fungus. A
nd I have enough of them in mine to fill up the brass section of a major orchestra.
I assume the fungus arrived because of all the rain. There are more than two dozen of this creepy finger-like fungus among my Echinacea and my Russian sage in a bed next to the garage. I was deadheading and weeding when I found them. I have to say it was a bit of a shock.
I was going to do what my neighbor Ruth did when she found them in her garden. "I just pretended they weren't there and they went away," she said.
But the damn things gave me nightmares, so I went to see James at Bowens Farm Supply on Riva Road in Annapolis. James knows everything.
When I told him how many I had, he pursed his lips and looked concerned and said I should "harvest" them with rubber gloves and then spray the soil surface with an anti-fungal.
Harvest? Yuck. Ewww.
The fungus emerges from a golf ball-sized collection of white cells, sends up a red finger with a black tip that attracts flies. The spores are on the black tip and the flies carry them off and deposit them elsewhere.
They don't stink as badly as they are reputed to. But they are absolutely disgusting.
Photo courtesy of Fairfax County Public Schools
Here's a look at the steps for planting your container garden. For a short cut, keep reading.
Photo credit: The Baltimore Sun/Algerina Perna
Photo credit: Susan Reimer
We've talked about deer in the garden and squirrels in the garden.
What about ducks in the garden?
Only a problem if you have waterfront property - which tells me you don't have ANY problems.
But seriously, the little quackers can do some damage.
One of the homeowners on last weekend's Secret Garden Tour had a fun solution: a floating duck dock planted (not sure exactly how) with greenery the ducks would like, making it unnecessary for them to tromp up into the yard.
In this picture, Momma and her babies stop for a snack.
You can make this easy.
Or you can make this hard.
After reading the volumes written on how to prune a hydrangea, that's my conclusion.
There's just so much information, I decided to make it easy on myself and just prune what isn't greening up.
There are buds on all my hydrangeas now, from the Oakleaf to the mopheads. And there are plenty coming up from the crown of the mopheads, too.
So I have been inspecting the shrubbery and pruning any wood that isn't showing signs of life, or pruning back stems to the point where the buds begin.
Some of this is old wood. (And by this, I mean, really old wood. Not the branches that have been there since last season. They are also called "old wood," which makes things pretty confusing. But they are the ones that will produce the flowers this year.) And some of it is curling mishapen tendrils. But neither is budding.
Now is a good time to prune the mopheads. Not only because you can see clearly the unproductive stems, but you don't risk harming the "new wood" that is coming up from the crown and will hold next year's blooms.
I could leave it all go. And I have.
For the first couple of years, I didn't prune at all, out of fear that I would discourage growth and blooming.
But my mophead hydrangeas suffer in the heat of the summer, even though they are in part or full shade, and wilt badly in the afternoon. So I decided I would do them a favor and give them less foliage to support on those hot days.
I leave my Oakleaf hydrangea alone in the spring. It is best pruned in late summer, and I accomplish this by cutting blooms with a stem of about six inches. It is supposed to make the plant that much stronger.
Here are a couple of other hydrangea tips I picked up.
For more information about pruning your hydrangea - and help determining what type you have - see this how-to article from Fine Gardening.
And speaking of Fine Gardening. I have a tote bag from the magazine that I would be delighted to send to one of you. I will choose someone at random from those who comment on this post. Please include your e-mail so I can contact you for a mailing address. Don't worry. I won't share it with anyone else.
Photo credit: Melissa Lucas/Fine Gardening
They look like ghosts in the forest at this time of year. Or like brides.
Their white blossoms, which appear before those of dogwoods or apple trees, are in stark contrast to the evergreens and the grey/black trunks of the still naked trees around them.
They are Bradford pears trees, and they are everywhere.
Prized by suburban developers for their quick growth, their perfect shape, their spectacular (if stinky) blossoms in the spring and their wonderful range of leaf color in the fall, Bradford pears were a popular street tree choice after they were formally introduced in the 1960s.
But the tree proved a disappointment for two reasons. It has become invasive and it is fragile.
The fruit - more like hard little berries - that the tree produces is softened by frost in the fall and favored by birds, who have deposited the seeds everywhere you look, pushing out other native trees. You can see the evidence on your drive to work each morning.
Also, the angles of the branches off the trunk are so narrow - and the foliage so dense - that it is rare to see a Bradford pear that hasn't been split by a wind storm or shredded by an ice storm.
I confess to being one of those who purchased and planted a Bradford pear in the front yard of my new house 25 years ago, for exactly the reason developers liked them. They grew fast and their blossoms and foliage were beautiful.
But my husband and I returned from the movies one weekend afternoon - a storm had broken over Annapolis and we could hear it raging from inside the theater - to find our Bradford pear split down the middle as if someone had taken a mighty meat cleaver to it.
The half of the tree that remained upright eventually filled in. But it did not survive long. Another storm took it down.
It is rare, arborists say, to see a Bradford pear more than 25 years old. Ours did not make it that long.
Marc Montefusco, writing for the Frederick County master gardener program, suggests another cultivar, Cleveland Select, also known as Chanticleer or Stone Hill, which isn't as vulnerable to wind and ice.
Or choose another flowering tree, such as a crab apple, and feel free to go to the movies.
Photo credit: Susan Reimer
For those of you who asked for advice about keeping various creatures from eating your vegetables before you get a chance to eat them, I recommend: Deer-Resistant Landscaping: Proven Advice and Strategies for Outwitting Deer and 20 Other Pesky Mammals by Neil Soderstrom.
It is available through Amazon.com
Want to know what to do with all that chickweed in your yard and garden beds this spring?
Try a little olive oil and garlic.
Chickweek seeds itself in the fall and flourishes during warmer, moister winter days and goes completely crazy in early spring.
It forms mats of shallow-rooted green matter with white flowers, and it is pretty easy to pull it out, especially when the soil is damp. If you let it go, it can choke out other flowers in your garden and grass in your lawn.
But instead of cursing it, you might try cooking it. Or rubbing it on your skin.
This weed is widely prescribed by herbalists as a remedy for both internal and external inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatism and eczema and psoriasis. It does a good job of relieving skin irritation, and can be used to relieve the pain of burns, insect stings and skin rashes.
It also has mild diuretic and laxative qualities and is often recommended as a fat reducer!
Claims include its use as a "blood cleanser," when cooked and eaten, and for soothing sore throats and stomach ulcers.
There are all sorts of chickweed recipes....as a pesto, in salad dressings and as a salad green and sauted in olive oil and garlic like spinach.
All of this makes chickweek a little less contemptible, but not any less annoying.
Photo courtesy of Scotts Miracle Gro
The economists are telling consumers that this is not the time to cut back spending. We are something like 70 percent of the economy and if we stop buying, eveything grinds to a halt.
It is also true that this is not the time to cut back on the annual investment you make in your lawn and gardens. If you ever want to (or have to) sell your house, it is important that it look good from the street.
April is National Lawn Care Month and the folks at the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) offer a few tips to hold down expenses without sacrificing the value of - and the pleasure you get from - your yard.
Those nice folks at my favorite Annapolis Starbucks - the one in Harbour Center - know when it is spring.
I switched to iced lattes, and I beg for their used coffee grounds.
As a gesture to the community, some Starbucks will bag up their used grounds in a reuseable coffee bean sack and seal it with a nice stamp, leaving it in a bin out front for customers to take home for free.
I am not so picky. The staff simply knots off the top of the garbage bags in which they dump the grounds and hand them over the counter to me. By the time I am ready to put the mulch down, I will have spread hundreds of pounds of coffee grounds around my beds.
And I add pounds of coffee grounds to my compost pile and turn it thoroughly to heat up the pile and jump start the decomposition.
Roses and hydrangeas especially like the grounds. And because it is so high in nitrogen, it is good for fast-growing vegetables, especially tomato plants. I have read that coffee grounds also retard tomato blight.
This year, I plan to put lots of grounds - and some crushed egg shells - around my hostas. I understand that will keep the slugs out. We will see.
I don't have azeleas, but I understand they love their coffee, too. And so do the worms.
It looks like I am not the only one who likes my coffee in the garden.
It contains more than 350 money-saving gardening tips, plus lots of advice about creating container gardens and making over your own gardens on a budget. Among the tips: turn your garbage can into a low-cost rain barrell and your own grill into a potting table. And make your large containers lighter by using crushed soda cans at the bottom of the pot for drainage.
I could go on and on. One idea is cuter than the next.
And if you haven't got the mature trees in your garden on which birds can perch, reader Norma Berry of California suggests collecting old, long-handled garden tools, like rakes, spades or cultivators, and stick the handle end in the ground around a bird bath or feeder.
Apparently there is one more thing you need to do regularly - in addition to flossing.
Prune your hollies.
Watch the video of Mike Dudderar, landscape supervisor of Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, and his crew as they give my Nelly Stevens holly a pretty dramatic hair cut.
Mike explained that a Nelly Stevens wants to grow to 35 to 45 high and extend about 12 to 15 feet at the bottom. I was a rookie gardener 25 years ago when I planted this holly about 6 feet from the corner of the house.
Mike also explained that pruning the holly at this time of year - between February and May - will cause it to release hormones that will sustain a growth "flush." That means the holly will quickly fill in any bare spots that might reveal themselves during such a close cut.
That's the good news. The bad news is, the growth spurt also means this holly will probably need another trimming in the fall to get it into is attractive cone shape. I waited too long - about 2 years - between prunings.
When choosing a tree for your yard, Mike advises, not only look for trees that do well in your area, but take a look at how large they become. That will help you know what to choose and how to place it near your house.
PS. Don't try this at home. You will need professionals to help you shape a tree this size.
Guest blogger Joannah Hill on hellebores:
If your hellebores look particularly tatty this year they are likely suffering from winter burn. The harsh winds and temperatures we experienced this winter can leave the foliage looking brown or even black. Cut the damaged leaves off at the base to make room for new growth and flower stalks.
Photo credit: Joannah Hill
Photos of raised bed, potato bag and self-watering planter courtesy of Gardener's Supply
It looks like the folks at Gardener's Supply, one of my favorite gardening resources, have been swamped by questions from all the first-time gardeners who are jumping on the grow-your-own bandwagon this season.
Here's a look at their advice.
1. Where Do I Put the Garden?
For optimum health and productivity, most vegetables require at least eight hours of full sun each day. The more sun, the better, so it makes sense to locate your garden in the sunniest part of your yard. Since your garden will need to be watered at some points during the growing season, you'll also need access to a hose -- or be prepared to carry watering cans.
2. How Do I Start? Do I Just Start Digging?
New vegetable gardeners may want to start growing in either a raised bed or in a container that's specifically geared toward growing vegetables. Gardener's Supply's self-watering Organic Tomato Success Kit or Potato Bins, for example, can be used to grow tomatoes or a number of other vegetables in a small space.
A self-contained raised bed garden that's approximately 3' x 6' will accommodate a dozen different crops in a small space - and more beds can be added as enthusiasm and experience grow. There are a variety of raised bed styles to choose from or you can just purchase the Raised Bed Corners and make your own.
If you have a small space or deck, containers may be the best choice for you. If you have a sunny spot on your lawn for a raised bed, that will help create a space for a variety of crops.3. What Do I Need for Soil?
Good soil is the single most important ingredient for a productive organic garden. The importance of good soil can not be emphasized enough. One of the benefits of containers and raised beds is that they can be filled with a soil blend that's vastly superior to the native soil in your yard.
This high-quality soil will ensure that the roots of your plants can grow freely and find the water and nutrients they need to be healthy and productive. If you're planning to dig up your yard, it is possible to purchase a soil testing kit and then amend your soil with the proper ingredients. But for beginners who just want to get growing immediately, filling raised beds and/or containers means you can purchase and fill with great soil right away.
4. What Should I Plant?
Fill your garden with vegetables you like to eat. If you're big on salads, you'll want to plant things like lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. If you love to cook, you may want to plant onions and peppers, leeks, potatoes and herbs.
Many first-time gardeners plant too much, and then get frustrated and exhausted by July. It's important to start small and not go overboard. It's much better to pick 5-6 different crops and learn by caring for them and watching them grow, then expand the following year.
5. Is it Better to Use Seeds or Transplants?
Though most of the vegetables you'll want to grow CAN be started directly in the garden from seed, in many cases it's best to start out with a plant. Starting with a plant can speed time to harvest by a month or more. You may also find that if you're only putting in one or two plants of a particular type of vegetable (such as two tomatoes or one parsley plant), sometimes it makes more sense to purchase a couple of plants rather than buy an entire packet of seeds.
Some crops such as carrots and beets, as well as beans and peas do not transplant well, so they are usually sown directly into the garden from seed. In the case of salad greens, you'll probably want to grow quite a few plants, and it is more economical to buy a packet of seeds than to purchase multiple six-packs of lettuce transplants.
It is s Sunday. You've spent a long weekend in the garden and I bet you are sore. Really sore.
I swear, gardening should have a pre-season – like spring training when baseball players gradually work themselves into shape and none of the games count.
I started grabbing the occasional warm day in February to begin cleaning up my beds (I have too many and they are too large.) And I broke my garden down into what I thought were bite-sized sections.
But still, at the end of the day, I felt like I had fallen down the steps. And there is still so much left to do.
There are two ways to ease the pain of the start of garden season, and a hot tub and a glass of wine is one of them.
The other is to soak in a hot bath of Epsom salt – the same salt you might be putting around your roses – for at least 30 minutes. Use about two cups.
Epsom salt contains magnesium sulfate and when it is absorbed through the skin, such as in a bath, it draws toxins from the body, sedates the nervous system, reduces swelling and relaxes muscles.
It will also help you soak out thorns or splinters. After your soak, rinse off, pull on a soft robe and rest for 20 minutes.
If you are like me, the resting for 20 minutes is the hard part. There is always something more to do in the garden.
Oh, and drink plenty of water to rinse the toxins out of your muscles.
Any other home remedies out there for the pains of the spring garden?
Yesterday, Amanda asked for our help: How do you keep your rooftop garden watered?
Carrie Lyle, my colleague and an exceptional gardener in her own right, reminds us that one of last year's garden contest winners was Greg Bathon, who has a penthouse balcony garden in Federal Hill.
He uses an Israeli drip irrigation system, something he found pretty inexpensive and easy to set up.
In this video, you can listen to Greg describe his oasis high in the sky and explain his unique irrigation system.
Fellow gardeners, Amanda has asked for our help. How in goodness' name do you water a rooftop garden?
I am thinking of planting herbs on the roof of a bird house, but Amanda is much more ambitious than I am.
Any help out there?
And, hey, Amanda. Can you post a picture of your garden perhaps from last season? I'd love to see it.
Susan Reimer has spent 16 years writing about raising kids - among other topics - in her column for The Baltimore Sun. And every time son Joseph or daughter Jessie passed another milestone - driver's license, college, wedding or a move to a new military duty station - she has planted another garden. Now she will be writing about those gardens - and yours - here on Garden Variety. 
Sign up for the At Home newsletter 
The home and garden newsletter includes design tips and trends, gardening coverage, ideas for DIY projects and more.
