6 Tips for Creating an Eco-Friendly Landscape

I'm a big fan of blogs. The life experiences of one individual provide a wealth of knowledge for everything each one of us do every single day.

One of my favorite blogs is the Eastern Shore Gardener blog. While I'm located in the middle of the state, I have plenty of family and friends who live in a very different growing condition than what I see here in central Maryland.

Eastern Shore Gardener author Barbara Ellis published a fantastic article about creating an eco-friendly landscape.  And guess what? Eco-friendly landscapes also cut down on maintenance as well. Enjoy!

5 Great Patio Trees

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend and is enjoying the Spring weather - FINALLY!

Landscape planning seems to be the theme of the blog at the moment so enjoy this educational article on choosing patio trees.

 5 Great Patio Trees

A magnolia in full bloom

A Planting Helper - USDA Hardiness Zone Map for Maryland

We're very lucky in Maryland. Our growing season is fairly long - April through early November and boy, do we ever luck out at the abundant and varied flora available to grow in our landscapes.  Beautiful trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals thrive in our climate. A definite joy for any gardener or nature lover.

Rhododendron

Hardiness zone maps are helpful for choosing plants and for timing plantings to coincide with the weather. Have you ever seen those folks with annuals lining their walk in late April? It always fries my potatoes that tender annuals such as petunias and marigolds go up for sale so early in the growing season. My rule, and it's been a good one for me, is to never plant annuals until after my father's birthday of May 13th.  I don't ever lose annuals to frost.

With all that said, what is the USDA Hardiness Map?

Caring for Ground Covers

Planting ground cover on your property requires careful consideration of the best type of plant for the location. Ground covers might be the perfect plant for tough locations but they do require maintenance. To perform the correct function of beautifying your landscape, these plants require fertilizing, mulching and weeding like any other plant in the landscape.

Enhancing the Soil

Plant care begins with soil preparation. The best case scenario features adding peat moss, compost or another type of soil conditioner to the garden bed before planting the ground cover. If not, don't panic. You can still carefully stir up the soil between juvenile plants to add organic matter to the soil. Use a rake, hoe or wheeled cultivator between plants. Strain out and remove any weeds during this process.

Soil pH Primer

Spring is a great time of year to create a plan to improve whole landscape health. Gardens and lawns both benefit greatly from soil additives and amendments. The root cause of failure to see drastic improvement with any landscape amendment is lack of proper planning.

Soil pH is absolutely key to selecting the correct additives to apply to your landscape. Before you purchase a bag of lime, manure, peat moss or anything else, take a soil sample and run it up to your nearest gardening center for evaluation. The minor cost of the test will save so much money and time in the long run, preventing the wasted expense and application time of very costly soil amendments.

Check out this article for more basics on soil pH A Beginners Guide to Soil pH

Photo: Wikimedia Commons,  Public Domain.

Gardening Tasks for March

It's coming...Spring is almost here and things will start a-poppin' before we know it. But did you see the forecast?  There are these awful little snowflake emogies showing up for the next three days, God help me please!!  I am SO sick of snow and winter and bulky clothes and extra laundry and bare trees and dead grass...

My theme seems to be my on-going struggle with the doldrums of winter. Chomping at the bit to get outside but the soil is still squishy and mostly frozen. A warm day for every four days at this point. Definitely not enough to break out the shovels and go to work in the garden unless you're far more hardy and cold-tolerant than the average Joe.

With all that said, what can we logically do right now to benefit the landscape?

Benefits of Snow for Landscapes

Buried underneath the nearly 15 inches of snow in my backyard lies my sleeping perennials. Hosta, sweet William, sedum, crepe myrtle, phlox, and so many others snooze under the pristine layer of white, waiting for sun and warmer temperatures.

So I started thinking today about just how, exactly, does all this snow benefit the landscape? There’s got to be a plus sign here somewhere.

And so there is…

Snow covered Nandina

Snow is Good

Snow insulates tender roots and prevents freezing/thawing that permeates deep enough to permanently damage a plant’s root system. Frozen soil around roots stops the plant from drawing moisture from the soil.

Wake Up, Sleepy Gardening Blog!

Hello everyone. Staring out the window at a fresh 10 inches of snow in Maryland here. And all I can think about is when will the cherry trees bloom?

I need my gardening fix, as I'm sure many others do as well. Since I'm working a real job now, I've decided to rejuvenate my gardening blog and live vicariously through the written word for the rest of this winter and beyond, since my day job gets in the way of my flowers.

Gotta get my hands dirty somehow.

Looking forward to posting fresh articles specific to the great state of Maryland. And the hopes that very soon, I'll be able to see the grass again soon.
 
A little reminder: Check out these articles for relevant information for Maryland gardeners.

March Gardening Tips

The Best Time to Plant Flowers in Maryland

Daffodils



Cheers!

Basic Gardening Tools

We all need 'em.  But do you have the very basics to garden properly?

Tools for Gardening defines and explains the functions of the absolute necessities for taking care of your landscape throughout the growing season.

How to Care for Petunias

Petunias are the perfect plant for hanging baskets, bare garden spots, and container gardens. 

Want more information on petunias? 

Click on the link below for an indepth look at these beautiful annual flowers.

How to Care for Petunias

Want more weed information? Yes, you do!!

Weeds are popping up all over the place.  I know...I spent last weekend trying to smother that one weed that makes us want to move out of this house!  I used some of the methods in this EHow article and will report on my success. 

(See, that's positive thinking!)

How to Remove Persistent Garden Weeds

Weeds and more weeds

Hey - they're out there now.  Why wait for some good advice?

How to Kill Garden Weeds Naturally

How to Mix the Perfect Soil for Annual Beds

The life of an annual plant is compressed into a very short period of time. Annuals make the journey from seed to adulthood in a single growing season. For this reason, keeping annuals healthy from start to finish provides the best impact in your home landscape. Seasoned gardeners know that great soil tops the list of most important items for a successful garden. But how do you mix the perfect soil for annual beds?


Ingredients

The best type of garden soil consists of particles of rock, organic matter and sand as well as a mixture of air and water. This combination produces nutrient rich soil that drains water quickly without pooling that can cause root rot. The perfect soil for annual beds doesn't just happen. Gardeners need to create it through a little hard word. The rewards are fabulous and noticeable in healthy annuals with full foliage and plenty of blooms.

Weeds

Weeds are starting to peek their annoying heads out of the ground.  It's too early to plant most tender annuals in the garden but it isn't too early to tackle some weeds.

Break out your hoe, trowel and hand shovel and get to work before the weeds reach 3 inches in height. Instead of using harsh chemicals that may compromise your ornamental plants, try manual weed removal instead.  A little exercise, a little Vitamin D for body from working in the sunshine.

Dig down enough to remove the roots and discard in a yard waste bag.  These little annoyances shouldn't be put into the compost pile.

Here's the fun part.  Hit Lowe's or Home Depot and purchase a few bags of mulch (or mulch for the whole garden if you're feeling spunky!) Grab a roll of old newspaper and place four to five sheets over the area containing the weeds.  Pile on a 3 to 4 inch layer of mulch.  The combined action of the two will smother the little dears to oblivion.  You'll get a head start of summer gardening and maybe, just maybe, you might be able to enjoy that lawn chair a little more than you did last summer.

Cold tolerant annuals

Tooling around town, I noticed quite a few gardens with salvia, begonias and marigolds lining walkways and garden beds.  It makes me exceptionally angry that growers encourage homeowners to purchase tender annuals long before the final frost of the year.  Gardening is a continual education process.  Many people simply don't realize that annuals cannot withstand the cool soil temperatures and frost of the Maryland spring.

With that said, let's look at a list of annuals that can tolerate cool weather to provide some spring color in the garden.  These plants probably won't survive the summer without some assistance provided by you.  But if you're chomping at the bit to tidy up and beautify the landscape, give these plants a try.

Pansies offer an array of colors to brighten the spring garden.  These tough little plants just might last through the summer with plenty of water and a slightly cooler location.  For now, plant pansies in a sunny or partial sun site and enjoy the show.  Clip blooms back for arrangements and prune foliage to keep the plant bushy. [Image Credit: Kevin Rosseel, Morguefile]


 

Snapdragons also thrive in cool weather and can add immediate interest to the landscape.  Add a few to the planters on your porch or patio while you wait for the trees to flesh out with foliage.  Snapdragons will last through the summer with regular pruning, plenty of water and regular pruning.  These plants come in an array of solid colors as well as variegated flowers like the pinks/yellow/purple combination shown in the photo.  [Image Credit: Xandert, Moreguefile]

Verbena can tolerate the cooler temperatures of spring.  This trailing plant comes in red, peach, white and salmon to add just the right touch of color to the spring garden. Verbena grows to about 14 inches and is considered a half-hardy annual.  Verbena can be used in the garden and in containers.  Plant verbena in the sun to really see the full production of flowers on this beautiful plant. [Image Credit: mrmac04, Morguefile]


Remember that all annuals benefit from a good turning over of the garden soil.  Add peat moss to the mixture as you loosen the top 8 inches of soil with a shovel.  Cultivation allows annual roots to spread easily through the soil for better establishment in the garden.

Wake up those geraniums

If you're one of those industrious gardeners who salvaged your geraniums from the garden, now's the time to wake them up in preparation for moving the plants outdoors.  You'll need roughly two months to stabilize the plant before planting the geranium back into the garden.

How to clean a plant pot

Yes, there's actually something else in this world that you need to clean.  But this part is much more fun than laundry or bathrooms.

Dump any remaining soil out of the plant pot.  Run water into the pot and scrub the sides with a scrub brush to remove dirt build up and white mineral scale.  The mineral scale can be stubborn so chip it off with a butter knife if necessary. Apply a few drops of liquid dish detergent to a scrubber sponge and clean the inside and outside of the pot.  Remove the drainage tray and scrub that too.  Don't forget the bottom of the pot. 

Rinse the pot thoroughly until all soap residue disappears.  You're now ready to plant!

Landscape Design for Beginners

The home landscape is a work of living art. It changes with the seasons, reflects the preferences of the owner as well as the whims of change of the designer. Landscape becomes the frame for a home. Landscape design for beginners may seem like a daunting task of thousands of choices of trees, shrubs and flowers. DIY landscape design for beginners includes having a grand plan for the entire landscape that forms a pleasing environment for the family.

Scaled Drawing

Measure the house and any hardscape, permanent features in the landscape. Hardscape includes the driveway, sidewalk, porch, front steps, retaining walls, decks, patios, pool decks or fencing. Use a measuring tape and create an accurate drawing. Before you balk at this, imagine the incredible perspective you will have with this blank slate drawing.

Tips for removing unwanted shrubs and vines

Rampant plants in the landscape are a fact of life for homeowners. The former owner may have planted English ivy as a ground cover that currently covers the nearest tree or one side of the house. An older shrub sits in the perfectly wrong spot for the installation of a new deck or patio. Whatever your reasons for removing unwanted shrubs and vines, these plants have graduated from ornamental beauties to nuisances in the landscape.

Using chemical treatments to remove unwanted landscape plants isn't always the best option. While manufacturers and horticulturists say these products are safe, many homeowners prefer to skip topical herbicides in favor of manual removal of plants. Limiting the use of chemical treatments on your property makes a safe environment for your family, pets and local wildlife. Better yet, you'll be saving the local watershed from unwanted chemicals.

How to plant landscape trees

Planting a landscape tree differs from the method used to plant shrubs, annuals or perennial flowers. Trees require careful placement in the landscape and in the planting hole to ensure successful growth. Every time you add a plant to your landscape, you're making an actual transplant that shocks the plant. This is very much the case with trees.