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Planning a garden?

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Are you planning to beginning gardening this spring? Perhaps you are already a gardener but you plan on adding a new garden bed this season.

Do you know everything you need to know about preparing for a new garden bed? I’ve found some tips that will help you make your garden grow.

Anyone planning to begin a garden or set up a new garden bed should:

1. Plan your garden on paper before you begin. I did this back in the winter of 2002. I had measured my yards dimensions that fall, and I even took some pictures so I could easily remember what plants were already in the garden and how it was set up at the time. Then I began planning on paper using my measurements to map out the garden beds, and patio area.

2. Be sure that your new garden site is –

  • a. In full sun for at least eight hours each day, unless you have a shady yard of course.
  • b. Relatively level, but not in a low spot where cold air settles.
  • c. Well-drained, be sure to notice if the area stays wet for a period of time in the Spring as well even if it’s dry the rest of the season as this can affect your success with plants.
  • d. Close to a water source
  • e. Not near trees. Tree roots can interfere with plant growth and often trees steal the available water from the plants you’re trying to grow.

3. Know your current soil conditions. The soil in my area is a mix of both sand and clay! I amended our soil with triple mix (a mix of manure, peat and top soil). I also decided to create raised beds so that my plants would grow in a foot of my newly amended soil. The plants would also have good drainage and the soil would warm up earlier in the spring due to the raised beds.

Your own soil might need to be amended with lime or peat moss, manure or compost in order to improve it’s texture, and PH. Consider having your soil tested so that you can be sure that it’s PH levels are appropriate for the type of plants you’d like to grow.

4. When you begin your garden don’t go overboard. Plan a garden that you can maintain easily. If you over do the garden by making it too large or by attempting to grow plants with high levels of difficulty you might end up very disappointed. Keep in mind how much time you have for watering, weeding and maintaining the garden when you choose your plants.

5. If you are growing vegetables try to grow species that do well in your area. Tomatoes are a great plant to grow as they are fairly easy and produce an abundant amount of delicious tomatoes.






Re-use your Christmas Tree

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Do you still have your Christmas tree?

If you do, you might want to think about reusing it rather than putting it out on the curb for the garbage collectors to pick up. The Star Tribune, St. Paul Minneapolis has a great list of ideas for those who want to find ways to reuse their Christmas tree.

WINTER MULCH
Evergreen branches can be like a parka for your plants. “The branches help soil maintain an even temperature, and they will stay in place better than loose leaves or straw,” said Nancy Rose, a horticulturist with the University of Minnesota Extension Service. Just cut branches off the tree and pile them on plants that need protection.

FOR THE BIRDS
Your discarded Christmas tree can provide habitat and a feeding station. If you have a sheltered spot in your yard, simply lay the tree on its side or add it to a brush pile, then scatter birdseed around it, said Duluth ornithologist Laura Erickson. Or “plant” your old tree in a bucket filled with sand, then decorate with pine cones slathered with peanut butter.

TREE FOR ALL SEASONS
Get more mileage by repurposing your tree for other holidays. Tamara Belle-Isle said the artificial tree of her childhood stayed up through Easter, first decked with Christmas ornaments, then Valentines, then Easter decorations. George and Michelle Gold save their natural Christmas tree for Lent. They take it outside, cut off the branches, saw off a section of the top and make it into a cross.

BACK TO NATURE
You can compost your tree or, if you have access to a woodchipper, you can turn it into mulch. Evergreen chips can be used just as you’d use any wood chips, plus they smell good.

BURN IT — OR NOT?
Mary Granger’s Christmas tree comes down Jan. 2, is chopped into firewood and burned the following year while the new tree is trimmed. Old Christmas tree limbs can make good fire starters because they crackle and are aromatic. But burn with caution: Christmas trees are highly flammable, and they contain a lot of resin, which produces more creosote than hardwoods.

SPRUCING UP YOUR POTS
If you never got around to adding seasonal interest, here’s an easy, no-cost alternative to the ubiquitous spruce tips. Just cut off your Christmas tree branches and stick them in your pots. (Keep the Christmas-tree trunk, save it until spring and use it to stake tomato plants.)

TREE-MENDOUS TRELLIS?
OK, it’s not fancy but it’s functional. When propped upright in the garden, your old Christmas tree can provide a structure for morning glories, purple hyacinths or other climbing vines. A tree trellis lasts only a season, but you can’t beat the price.

Does anyone else have any other ideas of how a Christmas tree might be reused? List them in the comments area, lets build this list.

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

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We only have two small tree’s on our property – a rose of Sharon, and a lovely Japanese maple that is vibrant red at the moment. Our neighbor, however, does have a large tree – it’s a huge maple. It must be 70 or more feet tall.

As a result of the neighbors tree we have quite a few leaves to gather in our front and back yards. I don’t mind though because I’ll put the leaves on my garden beds in a week or two. Prior to putting the leaves on my garden beds I will mound some peat or compost material around the base of my roses to help protect the root balls through the winter.

Last Autumn we gathered at least 45 bags of leaves from our many neighbors on the the street. They were only too happy to give away their bags of leaves. As a result our garden was well protected with layers of leaves during the cold blustery winter days.

My husband has already asked a few neighbors if we might have their leaves this year as well. Our closest neighbor even went so far as to rake his leaves and then put two bags on our front lawn today. Now that’s service.

In the spring we take the leaves off the garden beds and put them on the lawn to dry. Once they are dry enough we run a lawn mower over them to mulch them up and put them in our compost bins to help us make nice rich compost for the garden.

I was wondering if any of my readers gather leaves to put on their garden beds? Have you had good results protecting your garden in this way?

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