Here’s what you need to know about winter bird feeding and creating a haven for wild birds in your backyard during the coldest months. The cold and snowy winter months can be hard for all wildlife, including our favorite backyard birds. For wild birds, the tough weeks of winter can be especially hard, as most food has run out. A reliable source of food from our gardens and feeders can make all the difference after a severe snow or ice storm. By keeping your bird feeders full of the food they need, you’ll find that helping backyard birds through the winter is both easy and rewarding. Winter Bird Feeding Wild birds may benefit from bird feeders year-round, but they need them most in winter. Energy-rich seeds and suet provide our feathered friends with the calories they need to keep warm, especially when food is scarce or buried under ice and snow. To attract winter birds to your backyard, consider setting out one or more of the following: Don't have a good bird feeder? … [Read more...] about Tips for Winter Bird Feeding and Care
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Lawn Fertilization Tips for Spring and Fall
Lawn fertilization is necessary for healthy, green grass lawns. A well-fertilized turfgrass lawn is healthy enough to withstand stress from pests, foot traffic, and environmental factors. Quite simply, regular lawn fertilization is necessary to maintain optimal health. Here are some quick tips that will help you maintain a healthy green turfgrass lawn. Then I will give a more in-depth explanation of key lawn fertilization principles. Home, Garden and Homestead receives a small commission (at no cost to you) from product links in this story. Thank you for supporting this website! 5 Quick Lawn Fertilization Tips Fast-Release and Slow-Release Fertilization Depending on your lawn’s needs and your preference, you can choose between fast-release inorganic lawn fertilizers and slow-release organic fertilizers. You can even use the blend of multiple fertilizers if you wish. For example, some homeowners use fast-release fertilizers, followed by a top dressing of organic … [Read more...] about Lawn Fertilization Tips for Spring and Fall
Tips for Growing Healthy Roses
Follow these tips for growing healthy roses and your garden will be the envy of the neighborhood. Roses are the rock stars of the garden. Rose bushes are stately and impressive, and the flowers look lovely for weeks at a time. Back in 1986 when Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, he signed a proclamation that named the rose as America’s national flower. Fittingly enough, the ceremony that certified “national flower” status for the rose was held at the White House Rose Garden. That’s just one reason why millions of rose bushes are planted every year. Despite the old-fashioned beliefs that roses can be tough to grow, advice from respected rose experts says otherwise. “All plants need the right growing conditions to thrive, and roses are no different,” said Chris Van Cleve, a writer and rose expert who calls himself the Redneck Rosarian. “Just provide the right growing conditions and the right care, and rose bushes can thrive in almost any garden.” Below are 5 … [Read more...] about Tips for Growing Healthy Roses
Top Dressing Your Lawn with Compost
Top dressing your lawn with compost is a common practice that has been used for centuries. In fact, in the 15th century top dressing was applied to golf courses in Scotland. Because top dressing provides lawns with beneficial nutrients, many homeowners use this technique along with regular lawn maintenance routines. Read on to discover helpful tips and the benefits to top dressing your lawn with compost. The Benefits of Top Dressing Your Lawn with Compost Top dressing a lawn with compost may seem at first to be ineffective or even harmful to your lawn. After all, the last thing you likely want to see is compost covering up your once lush, beautiful grass. Although top dressing your lawn has a temporary unattractive appearance, its rich nutrients deliver incredible benefits to lawns. Applying compost as a top dressing to your lawn can improve the soil structure. Top dressing can also build up beneficial soil microbes, aerate compact soil, improve drainage, and even reduce … [Read more...] about Top Dressing Your Lawn with Compost
Top Calathea Plants and How to Grow Them
How to Grow the Top Varieties of Calathea Plants Calatheas are renowned for their stunning green foliage adorned with stunning patterns and striking hues. The leaves of the Calathea plant represent stunning shades of green, making them the perfect choice for any room. Calathea plants are usually referred to as Prayer plants because of the leaves’ distinctive movement with day and night light variation. Calathea can be a difficult houseplant choice for plant parents. People appear to either like them or dislike them. This is understandable since they can be somewhat demanding to maintain. However, once you've figured them out, they are fairly easy to care for. 7 Popular Varieties of Calathea Plants Here are a few of my top Calathea varieties I'm sure you'll enjoy as much as I do! Calathea Orbifolia Calathea Orbifolia or Round Leaf Calathea is a beautiful but difficult plant to maintain. It has large, round leaves with silvery stripes. It is so attractive, and those who … [Read more...] about Top Calathea Plants and How to Grow Them
