background preloader

635- Gardening

Facebook Twitter

In the Garden Online - Features - The Best Annuals for Michigan. Annuals are the least expensive, easiest way to get real impact in your landscape.

In the Garden Online - Features - The Best Annuals for Michigan

For the cost of a few flats (or, even better, a few packets of seed) and minimal time, you can have a flower garden that will be the envy of the neighborhood. The flowers in this list are based on several factors. They are easy to find, both in seed and transplant form. They are easy to grow, whether from seed or transplants. They take a minimal amount of care, and, most importantly, they all work together nicely in a garden bed. Zinnia Height: 6" to 36" Spread: 12" Available Colors: red, yellow, green, purple, orange, white, bicolor Zinnias are perfect for Michigan gardens. Zinnias prefer full sun and well-drained soil. My favorite zinnia: California Giant Mix-36" tall plants with large double flowers.

Marigold Height: 6" to 36" Spread: 12" to 24" Available Colors: yellow, red, orange, cream, bicolor Much like zinnias, marigolds just get better the hotter it gets. Cosmos Salvia Height: 1' to 4' Sunflower Petunia. <b>Growing Food Where the Sun Don’t Shine</b> How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden.

Good news and bad news.

How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden

I had planned to film a short video showing you how to make a pallet garden, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I was stapling the landscape fabric onto the pallet when it started drizzling and got really windy. That’s the bad news. But I know I promised a tutorial today, so I took photos and have kept my word to share how to make the pallet garden. I tried to be as detailed as possible. So keep reading my pallet loving friends, instructions on how to make your own pallet garden are just a few lines away… Find a Pallet The first thing you need to do is–obviously–find a pallet. Don’t just take the first pallet you find. Collect Your Supplies For this project, you’ll need the pallet you found, 2 large bags of potting soil, 16 six packs of annual flowers (one six pack per opening on the face of the pallet, and two six packs per opening on the top of the completed pallet garden), a small roll of landscape fabric, a staple gun, staples, and sand paper.

Now for the sides. 10 Tips on How to Make Worm Castings Tea. Flowers. Lawn n land. By ripening green tomatoes, you can extend your harvest. By ripening green tomatoes at the end of the season, you can enjoy fresh tomato taste for weeks after a heavy frost, sometimes even up to Thanksgiving!

By ripening green tomatoes, you can extend your harvest

Of course, the best way for tomatoes to ripen is on the vine. But late tomatoes may not have that luxury. As summer gives way to fall, keep an eye on your fruit. When the forecast is for the season’s first heavy frost, it’s time for a final harvest. Ways to pick your last tomatoes Pick all your tomatoes before the first heavy frost. You can harvest an entire plant (or a branch) or harvest individual tomatoes. How to harvest a plant (or branch). Separate ripening green tomatoes When you pick individual tomatoes (rather than lifting entire plant and hanging it inside), you can follow these special tips to ripen fruit. Sort through your harvest. Mature green: green turning white, with a good size Turning: a tinge of pink Pink: 30-60% color Light red: 60-90% color Red: fully ripe but not soft What about very green tomatoes? In a paper bag.