Imagine eating luscious red strawberries fresh from your garden still warm from the sun. What a treat and that treat can be yours. Here are easy tips for growing strawberries.
Strawberries need at least six hours of sun a day to flower and set fruit. Keep that in mind when selecting a site for your berries. Strawberry pots, those big pots with little holes in the sides are not ideal for strawberries because they dry out too fast. Strawberries prefer rich soil. Dig down about six inches with a sturdy shovel and turn the dirt over. Remove rocks and twigs and sprinkle in a slow release fertilizer per package directions. Add a bag of compost or well rotted manure for every 8 square feet of your strawberry patch. For example if your patch is 12 feet by 12 feet you would need 4 bags. Spread the compost evenly and then turn over the soil again to mix the fertilizer and compost into the soil.
Plant strawberry plants about 12 inches apart. Strawberries grow quickly into a bush about a foot around.
Water well. Every month use a liquid fertilizer that feeds the foliage (leaves) as well as soaking into the ground. Strawberries have small white flowers between the size of a dime and quarter with yellow centers. Each plant can have from 3 or 4 berries to a dozen. Depending on the variety of the berry you buy, you can have all the berries setting and ripening at once to berries that ripen continuously over the summer.
When the berries are showing a blush of pink think about how you're going to discourage birds from eating the berries. This can be accomplished with netting held over the berries by tying the net to posts about one foot off the ground. Or you can try using tinsel, yes the kind you buy for Christmas decorations or specially made foil that grape vineyard use.
If slugs or snails are a problem in your area , Set out jar lids filled with beer in the evening. The slugs and snails love beer, will fall in and drown.
Don't spray the flowers with insecticides. You risk killing the bees which pollinate the flowers turning them from flowers into berries. Use a strong spray from your garden hose to knock any bugs off the plants.
Berries don't ripen any more after being picked so wait until your berries are a bright crimson red before picking.
Follow these easy tips from Easy Garden Care and you'll have lush sweet strawberries fresh from your garden.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Better Lawn Garden Care
If you want to be sure that the landscape around your home is beautiful and in the best possible condition, then you will want to be sure that you properly take care of the lawn garden portions of your landscape design. It is very important that correct maintenance of the lawn is carried out so that they not only stay attractive but also healthy. In most cases, the lawns are the most expansive and first noticed areas of the overall landscape.
Watering the lawn and garden is one of the most important parts of good grass maintenance. In some parts of the country, there is enough rainfall so that the roots are properly supplied with moisture. But even in what would be considered soggy areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, there are periods or dry weather and no rain. When this happens, it is vital to the survival of the lawns that they be properly watered.
The first sign of an impending drought condition of the lawn garden area of your landscaping is a change in color. The grass in lawns that are suffering from insufficient moisture will start to lose their intense greenness and will soon turn to a straw color, or even brown if the lack of moisture persists.
The best time of day to water a lawn or garden is during the coolest part of the day. This means that turning on the grass sprinkler early in the morning or in the evening after the sun has set is best. Garden lawn experts also say that the rotary sprinklers provide the best coverage if you don't have a built in sprinkler system for your lawn maintenance.
In most cases, it is best to water your grass just once a week, unless the weather is extremely hot or dry. When doing your weekly watering, you can place an empty tuna can on the grass and let the water run until it is filled up.
This will help you know when you have watered enough to give the deep roots enough moisture without over watering. Watering in this way will also help your lawns develop a deep root system which will also help them survive periods of drought.
Another aspect of lawn and garden maintenance is proper fertilization and weed control. Good basic maintenance techniques will go a long way in keeping the lawns of your home and garden healthy, thriving and with few weeds.
Spring is the best time to fertilize lawns as this is when the grass is "waking up" and will need the extra nutrients from the fertilizer to assure healthy growth. The best garden lawn fertilizers will have a combination of nitrogen, phosphates and potash.
In addition to a "spring feeding" of your lawn garden, you can also boost the health and vitality of the grass in your lawns with a second round of fertilization during the summer. This will help assure that your grass is healthy enough to help push out the weeds that might try to take root and you can also use a fertilizer that combines a weed-killer to control these unwanted plants.
Watering the lawn and garden is one of the most important parts of good grass maintenance. In some parts of the country, there is enough rainfall so that the roots are properly supplied with moisture. But even in what would be considered soggy areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, there are periods or dry weather and no rain. When this happens, it is vital to the survival of the lawns that they be properly watered.
The first sign of an impending drought condition of the lawn garden area of your landscaping is a change in color. The grass in lawns that are suffering from insufficient moisture will start to lose their intense greenness and will soon turn to a straw color, or even brown if the lack of moisture persists.
The best time of day to water a lawn or garden is during the coolest part of the day. This means that turning on the grass sprinkler early in the morning or in the evening after the sun has set is best. Garden lawn experts also say that the rotary sprinklers provide the best coverage if you don't have a built in sprinkler system for your lawn maintenance.
In most cases, it is best to water your grass just once a week, unless the weather is extremely hot or dry. When doing your weekly watering, you can place an empty tuna can on the grass and let the water run until it is filled up.
This will help you know when you have watered enough to give the deep roots enough moisture without over watering. Watering in this way will also help your lawns develop a deep root system which will also help them survive periods of drought.
Another aspect of lawn and garden maintenance is proper fertilization and weed control. Good basic maintenance techniques will go a long way in keeping the lawns of your home and garden healthy, thriving and with few weeds.
Spring is the best time to fertilize lawns as this is when the grass is "waking up" and will need the extra nutrients from the fertilizer to assure healthy growth. The best garden lawn fertilizers will have a combination of nitrogen, phosphates and potash.
In addition to a "spring feeding" of your lawn garden, you can also boost the health and vitality of the grass in your lawns with a second round of fertilization during the summer. This will help assure that your grass is healthy enough to help push out the weeds that might try to take root and you can also use a fertilizer that combines a weed-killer to control these unwanted plants.
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