generate your own vegetable planting calendar on-line
I've put together a planting calendar that will calculate the planting dates for crops for whatever zone you're in. Just enter your last frost date, click the button and everything gets calculated. (magic!) It's not quite done yet. I don't think the last few dates calculate yet. Check back to this page and I'll add fall planting too. Please let me know if any planting dates don't seem right. Since I have two gardens with different frost dates, I'm planning to print out a calendar for each and then highlight the crops I'll plant in each garden. I also started to add the culture information for specific crops at the bottom of the calendar, because I'm often looking these up at Johnny's website. I'm glad to get this chart done because I see that I need to plant my onions the week of February 12. I have all my seeds, but don't have plant shelves and lights set up yet. Labels: calendar, planting and seedlings
How To Divide Your Dwarf Banana
One of the Tropical Dwarf Bananas that we grow, called Musa Cavendish 'Super Dwarf' is an amazingly fast grower, especially when taken outside during the warm days of summer. Its typical growing pattern is to send out "side pups" (new banana plants). These side pups are vital for the health and integrity of the main banana plant but only one pup is needed. The other side pups can be divided, re-potted and given away. Dwarf Banana (Musa Cavendish 'Super Dwarf') with two side banana plants (side pups). CLICK ON THE ARROW TO WATCH: Byron Martin, owner and horticulturist of Logee's Tropical Plants shows how to divide the 'Super Dwarf' Banana. The original banana plant (left) with the new single banana plant (right). Quick Growing Instructions: During the active growing season give the banana full sun, lots of water and feed regularly (twice a week) with a balanced fertilizer (5-7-9).
How to Build an Lighted Herb Book Case
Killing an indoor herb plant during the winter is almost like a rite of passage for gardeners. So don't worry if your rosemary croaked in the past. The problem is most likely your house, not you. Low indoor humidity and light levels have knocked off more than a few indoor herbs, especially when combined with overzealous watering. Experts often recommend growing herbs under artificial light, but who wants a shop light hanging in their living room? What you'll need: A bookshelf, preferably with adjustable shelves at least 18 inches deep and crown molding or other trim that you can conceal the light behind A fluorescent light fixture that fits inside the bookcase A drill Screws An automatic light timer 1. 2. 3. 4.
Potted Fig Tree Care During the Winter Months
Those container grown fig trees that are moved into a garage or unheated area to spend the winter don’t need much attention but they do require a degree of special fig tree care and an occasional watering even during their dormant rest periods. Today I wanted to share a technique to water those containers that has been just too convenient with all the snow that we have received this winter. Rather than hauling water to the fig trees, you can simply pack a bit of snow onto the top of the planters wherever you are storing them for the winter. Using Snow to Supply Moisture to Potted Fruit Trees The snow will gradually melt and supply the fig tree containers with just the right amount of moisture at opportune times. I learned this secret of fig tree care from a bonsai plant grower but it works great with my fig trees and other dormant fruit trees that are over wintered in unheated sheltered locations where they don’t receive any normal precipitation. Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
Growing Grapes in the Home Fruit Planting, HYG-1423-98
2001 Fyffe Court, Columbus, OH 43210-1096 Gary Gao Introduction Figure 1. Grapes are an excellent fruit for fresh use or processing into jam, jelly, juice, pie, or wine. Cultivar Selection Grape cultivars may be of the American, European, or French hybrid types. Depending on the cultivars selected, grapevines will produce berries that may be red, blue, white (greenish-yellow), purple, or black with a distinctive flavor. By selecting and planting different cultivars in the home planting, the gardener can spread the harvest over several weeks. Figure 2. Disease tolerance is another important factor to consider since wet springs, and hot and humid summers tend to favor common diseases that attack grapes. Planting Early spring is the best time to plant grapevines. Establishment Three years are normally required to establish a grape planting. Vines are trained to a particular system by pruning and tying the canes to the support system. Pruning and Training Fertilizer and Lime Figure 3. Figure 4.
Blueberries
I grow a slew of both common and uncommon fruits, from apples to kiwis to pears to paw-paws. I love them all, but if pressed to recommend just one must-grow fruit, it would be blueberries. These native Americans have stolen my heart for many reasons. The fruit is abundant and seductively sweet, especially when allowed to fully ripen on the shrub—a luxury commercial growers cannot afford. The shrubs make beautiful specimens in the landscape, not surprising considering their lineage to the mountain laurel, rhododendron, and azalea. If great taste and beauty are not enough for you, blueberries are literally just what the doctor ordered. Varieties and Soil The first key to success is to pick the right variety for your climate and to give it company. Before settling on specific varieties, you will need to choose the types of blueberries that are best suited to your region: highbush, lowbush, half-high, or rabbiteye. A second key to success is soil. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Maroon/Reddish Plants
Posted Friday, June 8th 2012 @ 2am If you’d like to add a little pizzazz to your landscape, think about plants that have great foliage colors. Two colors that really stand out are maroons and yellows. So this week let’s look at a few colorful maroon / red leafed plants that you may want to consider to add pizzazz to your landscape or containers! Click here to continue reading. Although different shades of greens and foliage textures can really make interesting changes and contrasts in the landscape, plants that have colorful foliage (other than green) can really add some zip, contrast, pizzazz, or bring focus to a particular part of the garden, landscape or container. Trees: -Japanese Maple (Acer p. -‘ Red’ Cherry -‘Thundercloud’ Purple Plum -‘Royal Raindrops’ Crabapple -‘Crimson Sentry’ Norway maple -‘’ Weeping Redbud Shrubs: -‘Summer Wine’ / ‘Diablo’ Ninebark -‘Cistena’ Purple Plum -Purple Smoke Tree (large shrub / small tree) -‘Wine and Roses’ / ‘ Wine’ Weigela -‘Black Lace Elderberry’ -Coleus
