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Maybe you think it’s still too cold, but “There are actually many tasks that need to be done in February to kick off a great growing season” according to Susan Owens a Celina resident and a Collin County Master Gardener. She recommends you should start with a soil test and then complete your pruning before plants start to come out of dormancy. But avoid Crape Myrtle murder if you want a profusion of blooms. Read more..

“Season extending” is the subject of Margaret Lauterbach’s piece in the Idaho Statesman. There’s no point in planting seeds in cold soil so she describes the various ways you can speed up the warming process in the spring and also how to protect your young plants from late frosts. One product she mentions is Walls o’ Water (WOWs) and I found this post at Gardenweb describing how to make your own from 2 liter bottles. Read more..

“Ground cover is a low-maintenance alternative to lawns” is the title of this article by Dan Gill. In fact this is far more than just suggesting you dig up your lawn and replant with low growing groundcover plants. He talks about those shady areas under trees and bushes where the addition of groundcover plants can make all the difference. Instructions on preparation and planting are followed by a comprehensive list suitable plants for these conditions. Read more..

Another way to beat the cold is to grow indoors. Recently I wrote about Windowfarms which are a variation on the hydroponic method. Now there is Aquaponics which combines fish with hydroponics. Where before farmers needed to grow vegetables and fish separately, an aquaponics system allows you to do both at the same time and in the same location. The concept is premised on the interdependence of fish and plants; plants create the perfect environment for fish to grow by cleaning the water and the fish produce the bio-nutrients that plants need for their growth. If you are curious as to how you can benefit from an aquaponics system, Read more..

Related posts:

1. Raised Beds, Seed Catalogues And Waiting Out Winter

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If you want some indoor gardening activities while waiting for spring and a window farm does not appeal, why not grow some sprouts? Brussels sprouts are one of those vegetables that you either love or hate, but they are not what I am talking about. “How to grow sprouts” is the title of an article I found in the Christian Science Monitor which is all about sprouting seeds. In their case mung beans which are ready to eat anywhere from three to five days after sowing. Read more..


Pruning roses is one of those tasks that often worries novice gardeners, so it’s useful to have a reminder of the correct way to tackle it. Dr. Michael Ishak is a retired physician and an accomplished rose consultant with the South Coast Rose Society. Although his advice is aimed at California residents who have to take a couple of extra steps to induce a resting period, the general principles apply wherever you live. I was pleased to be reminded that climbing roses should have their stems trained horizontally to encourage the plant to produce shoots and flowers at each bud rather than just at the tip. Read more..

Whenever I see a title like “Getting rid of nightmare weeds” I hope that I will discover the simple solution to removing the bindweed and couch grass from my garden. Needless to say there is no magic bullet, in fact one lady mentioned in the article took 20 years to eradicate horsetail from her yard. That is an extreme case but bindweed, it seems, does need three years to kill off all the roots. And then it might just creep back from next door unless you install “a weed barrier of at least three feet (one metre) deep (deeper if possible)”. In my case I just learn to live with them. Did I mention that this comes from the Delta Optimist? Read more..

Finally I could not resist including a link to this garden gadget despite the fact that it has nothing to do with gardening or tulips, but just vaguely looks like one. Read the article then watch the video.

Tulip Corkscrew

Related posts:

1. Forest Gardens And Talking Weeds
2. Spring Clean the Roses and Scrap the Lawn
3. Roses, Radishes and Squared Recipes