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Quick Gardening and Plant CareTips:
Minimize Water Rationing Woes
If your area has been hit with water rationing, the lawn will
probably have to go, but you can still might save your
plants.
Here are a few tips to help save water in the garden -- and maybe a few
of your favorite flowers!
* Pick one small area, or just one or two favorite plants to water.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! Use bark chips, purchased mulch or
compost.
* Water at night when evaporation is less.
* Pour out the ice chest, leftover water bottles, etc. onto your
favorite
plant.
* Leftover pickle juice, coffee or tea are great for tomatoes and roses.
* Leftover cooking water from steaming vegetables is great for pouring
on
the compost pile or lawn. - Never use water with animal material
in it; i.e. butter or broth.
* One good soak is generally better for plants than several light
waterings.
* Put a saucer under pots to retain water. Just watch out for
mosquitos.
Have a tip? Send me your water-saving tip gardener@thegardenpages.com
and I'll start post them on the blog!
Spring Transplanting Tips
Give your new transplants some shade for the first few days
after
planting. It helps them adjust to their new home, and reduces
transplant stress. Try using a small umbrella (be creative) or a
small piece of shade cloth.
Try not to do planting during the heat of the day - it just wears
everyone out!
In warmest areas it it best to give new transplants a little water
every day for the first two or three days. Resist the temptation
to give them too much water or they will get rot.
Quick Tomato Tip
Tomato plants prefer acid soil. Adding used coffee grounds
helps
increase the acidity of the soil. Pickle juice and tea
also
increase
soil acidity. Other shrubs that appreciate a cup of java are
camellia, azalea, gardenia and roses.
Keeping
Sweet Basil Fresh
Get ready for Pesto!
Sweet
Basil herb cuttings will
stay fresh in a
clean glass of water.
Keep herb sprigs on the kitchen counter out
of direct sunlight.
Change the
water every few days.
Basil will eventually form roots in the
water so you can make more plants!
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Did You Want a Bog Plant?
If it has been raining in your
area,
check to be sure that your plants aren't sitting in water.
Tip out pots
and remove their dishes so they have a chance to dry out. It also
helps reduce mosquitoes!
What To Do (or not) About
Frost Damage on Succulent Plants
Frost damage usually shows up as sickly yellowish green color on leaves
or whole plants. After a few days they turn brown or black.
Don't remove frost damaged material until all danger of frost is past,
the dead leaves may help protect the rest of the plant
underneath.
If the entire plant is brown, cut away a small part to see if it is
still green inside. If the stalk is still green, it should come
back.
For example, on Jade plants (crassula ovata) the leaves will fall off,
but if the stalk is still green inside it will sprout new
leaves.
Before you pull up a plant, make sure the base is really dead - it may
still be ok!
Generic Watering Guide for Lazy Gardeners
Plant natives from your area - native plants are
already on your
schedule! Use drought tolerant plants and succulents & cacti in dry
areas.
Here in the southwest, the best time to plant is in the Fall.
After I
first plant, I like to water them every other day for the first
week.
Then I'll cut back to weekly watering. After two or three weeks
most
water wise plants like a nice deep watering once a month until
established.
California natives are used to rain the the Fall and Winter; this is
when they work on good, deep root development. In Spring, they
use
those roots to soak up every drop of moisture from the soil to support
growth and flowers. The first year, transplants need water every
few
weeks in the hot summer and fall. By the second year, succulents
should be fine without water from you. But check them; if
it's 120
degrees outside they won't object to a nice deep soak. That's my
strategy, and the plants on these pages seem pretty happy!
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