Susan’s Gardening Tips

Here’s a great guest article for organic vegetable gardeners. The author offers practical tips for growing beets in your winter vegetable garden. 

3 Things You’ll Want to Know About Growing Organic Beets

Preparing The Dirt

Just like any sort of root crop, you’ll obtain usually the finest outcome growing beets by using soil that’s root and rock free. Loose soil is crucial in order for natural balanced growth of the roots. In cases where more or less all you have could be described as rocky top soil, sift the entire seeding place at the very least  6“ down.

Deeply till your top soil, then simply just even out the entire top layer with the intention to create a superb seed-bed.  If the actual top soil is in fact quite heavy clay, hard, or alkaline, just add garden compost. Read the rest of this entry

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Check out this guest article for gardening with bulbs, for the best time to plant bulbs… and why.

Fall Bulbs For Early spring Blooms

Autumn bulbs are, naturally, planted  in the Autumn and flower in the spring. A lot of people believe that they need to be planted in the early spring, believing that the winter frosts can harm them. In fact nothing could be farther from the truth.

 Numerous think that they must be planted inside the early spring, believing that the winter frosts can harm them. In truth absolutely nothing could be farther in the truth.

 Fall bulbs require the cold of winter earth to prompt them to begin growing and form a healthy root system, and a newly planted bulb will remain dormant until the ground temperature reaches 5 – 10 Celsius (40 – 50F). When you have an early autumn frost and a mild winter, you can come across bulbs starting to peek above the ground in January rather than March, and if your winter is mild, your bulbs will grow, but the roots will not be strong. The bigger the bulb, the far more essential a frost for their root system. Read the rest of this entry

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This guest article has excellent basic rose bush pruning information. It not only explains how to prune roses, but why and when to prune them. Note also the tips for pruning shears. As I said, this is one of the best articles I’ve come across for pruning roses!

How To Prune Your Rose Bushes

Rose bush pruning is a valuable component of your rose care routine. But there are probably as many opinions on how to go about pruning as there are types of roses that need it.

Rose growing experts have their favorite “tried and tested” methods, but this is for those who have no idea where to start. As your ability grows you will modify these techniques and develop some new ones of your own.

Rose pruning can be easier than you’re dreading. In fact, there are only 4 basic rules and a couple of common sense ones. Read the rest of this entry

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 Correct some typical lawn maintenance habits.

There’s nothing like saving money WHILE being “green”! What a great “win-win” goal. Start this year, and see just how easy it is… 

• Water your lawn correctly… Watering early in the morning provides grass roots plenty of time to breathe, plus it discourages fungal growth caused by dampness. Here’s the good part: Lawns that receive just 1″ of accumulated water per week will develop deep, strong roots… enabling them to survive most diseases and droughts. (here’s how to measure)

• Mow your lawn correctly… Setting the mowing height to 2.5″ to 3.5″ will actually help your lawn discourage weed growth and develop a healthy root system. And, longer grass is actually cooler underfoot… always nice for your bare feet. 

Those of you enduring a lingering winter in the North (and our Southern Hemisphere “cousins”)… take heart. It can’t last forever! Those of us fortunate enough to be enjoying balmy weather offer you our sympathies and wishes for a welcoming Spring… soon.

Happy gardening… Susan Nelson Hopkins
Check out all the lawn articles and videos at
Susan’s Lawn Gardens,
and the garden articles at all of
Susan’s Gardens

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Weed your lawn as soon as you can this Spring.

Attack now… would you rather pull up to 10,000 weeds for each one you see now? That’s how many seeds just one weed plant can produce! 

• Weed by hand… The best time is right after a good rain, or after you water the lawn. You’ll find most weeds come right up. Pace yourself, but be thorough.
• Use specialized tools… These can be especially helpful for deep rooted weeds, like dandelions.
• Pest control… It’s up to you whether to use chemical pesticides or insecticides. All the focus on “green” gardening these days has fostered many organic alternatives. The idea is… a naturally healthy lawn and garden helps your family’s health. 

Now, let’s get busy!

Happy gardening… Susan Nelson Hopkins
Check out all the lawn articles and videos at
Susan’s Lawn Gardens,
and the garden articles at all of
Susan’s Gardens

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