Attracting Butterflies to Your Feng Shui Garden
To coax butterflies into your Feng Shui garden, choose flowers that butterflies love, make sure they have places to sun themselves, and supply plenty of water to drink. Butterflies get a little picky about [more…]
Using Botanical Pesticides in Your Organic Garden
Insect and disease killers that come from plant extracts are called botanical pesticides or botanicals. Although derived from natural sources, botanicals are not necessarily safer or less toxic to non-pest [more…]
Grooming Your Flower Garden
Some maintenance tasks require devotion to a regular routine during the blooming season to keep your flowers looking good. Other chores — such as getting the flower bed ready for winter — are seasonal. [more…]
Understanding the Cardinal Rules for a Bird-Friendly Yard
The best place to start watching birds is close to home. Birds are present in most yards and gardens, no matter how small or urban the space may be. But why settle for the random robin? If you provide [more…]
Overcoming Bee Sting Phobia
Perhaps the best-known part of the bee's anatomy is its stinger. Quite often, that is the biggest apprehension that people face about taking up beekeeping. You may never have been stung by a honey bee, [more…]
Deciding Where to Put Your Water Garden
Whether your water garden consists of a barrel or tub with a few plants or a naturalistic in-ground pond, gardeners often cite water features as the element that truly complete a garden. [more…]
Identifying and Controlling Insects that Prey on Roses
Before you wrestle with any insects on your roses, make sure you know what the problem is. For a start, consult the list of common insects in this article. If you need further help, contact a local nursery [more…]
Discovering the Benefits of Beekeeping
Why has mankind been so interested in beekeeping over the centuries? You can bet that the first motivator was honey.After all, for many years and long before cane sugar, honey was the primary sweetener [more…]
Getting to Know Garden-Speak
The language spoken in gardening circles can be quirky. For example, dirt isn't just dirt, it's soil. Dirt is what you make mud pies with. Soil, on the other hand, is full of promise and good nutrients [more…]
Checking for Disease/Distress When Buying Houseplants
Always give a plant a quick once-over, at the very least, before you make the purchase no matter where you're buying the plant. The following list tells you about the major signs of distress and disease [more…]
Buying a Bird Feeder
Shiny, clanky, commercially available bird feeders have a lot going for them. First and foremost, they keep the seed fresh and dry. It can be snowing like mad, covering up your bird table and ground feeding [more…]
Defending Your Roses from Insects and Disease
Successful rose gardeners are good observers. Check your roses daily for harmful insects and common rose diseases. If you find either, pesticides exist that are effective, are pretty safe to use, and have [more…]
Dividing Perennials in Your Garden
You can divide perennials whenever the ground isn't frozen, but the best time of year for division is a couple of months before severely cold or hot weather sets in. You want to give newly planted sections [more…]
Curing Chi-Flow Problems in Your Feng Shui Garden
The free and easy movement of chi (life energy) through the garden is essential to good Feng Shui. Without it, your garden doesn't produce as abundantly, and your own energy is negatively affected. [more…]
Green Living: Attracting Wildlife to Your Green Garden
One "green living" approach to gardening is to create a habitat that attracts and supports wildlife. A green garden is a haven where wildlife can make homes, feed, and breed safely without danger from [more…]
How to Choose a Garden Hose
The best, longest lasting garden hose is one that's composed of layers. The inner layer of a garden hose needs to be a smooth, flexible rubber or synthetic tube. To protect it and give it toughness, the [more…]
Finding Bird Hotspots
Birds may stop by a place where they see other birds (that's why ducks check out a pond with decoys), but if that spot doesn't supply their needs (food, water, shelter, a place to breed), they move on. [more…]
Watering and Feeding Perennials
How often you water perennials depends on the usual factors: climate, soil type, sun and shade exposure, and so on. Most perennials require water only when the top few inches of soil dry out but before [more…]
Winterizing Your Water Garden
Autumn is the time to put your water garden to bed and decide what to do with your fish. As the water temperature in your garden pond cools down, you'll cease fertilizing, and the plants will begin to [more…]
Planning Your Bird Watching Field Trip
A field trip is defined as going afield — that is, beyond your immediate home surroundings or backyard. For many beginning bird watchers, their first organized field trip is with a bird club. This field [more…]
The Five S’s of Vegetable Gardening Success
You can break down the essential elements of a successful vegetable garden into five words, all starting with the letter S. Here’s a foolproof formula: [more…]
Deciding Which Vegetables to Plant in Your Garden
Are you having trouble deciding which vegetables to plant in your garden? This list is a quick reference to help you determine which vegetables are good for your particular needs: [more…]
Preventing Pests and Other Problems in Your Vegetable Garden
Before you reach for the insecticide sprayer to attack pests in your vegetable garden, try some of these lower-impact methods to reduce problems from harmful insects and diseases. Often, a pest problem [more…]
Vegetable Gardening For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Everyone loves good food, and food grown in your own vegetable garden is simply the best. You just need a few essential elements for a successful vegetable garden: a properly sized site with a good selection [more…]
USDA Hardiness Zones for Plants
If you live in a cold-winter area, choose roses that can survive with minimum damage. This plant hardiness zone chart (based on average annual minimum temperatures) is from the USDA; it helps you figure [more…]
