Spring Lawn Care Tips to Keep Your Grass Looking Great. The spring season is the time for lawns and gardens to bloom and become green. Fortunately, there are several key spring lawn care tips. These tips will make your lawn thrive with the right care during the spring season. Preparing your lawn during the spring season ensures healthy growth throughout the year. With the right maintenance practices, your lawn will be vibrant and healthy. It will also be capable of defending itself from various growth-related challenges and environmental stressors. Following are some of the most vital spring lawn care tips. Spring Lawn Care Tip: Rake Your Lawn and Remove Excess Winter Debris The first spring lawn care tip starts with raking your lawn. Raking begins with lightly scratching and scraping the lawn to get rid of leaves that didn’t survive the winter. The fallen leaves can eventually contribute to an excessive thatch layer that can make your lawn look unkempt or unhealthy. … [Read more...] about Spring Lawn Care Tips
fertilizer
How to Grow Tropical Fruits in Containers
It's easy to grow tropical fruits in containers. Way easier than you think. If you live in a climate where temperatures dip below freezing during the winter months, growing tropical fruit in containers probably sounds like a fantasy. But garden experts say virtually anyone can do it. “If you want to grow tropical fruits, I have good news for you,” said Byron Martin, co-owner of Logee’s Tropical Plants. “You can grow tropical fruits in containers in most climates." According to Martin, all you have to do is follow these three tips. Tips to Grow Tropical Fruit in Containers The first tip is to choose the right plant varieties. The key is to choose dwarf varieties of plants that have been bred to produce fruit on smaller plants. Varieties such as Changshou Kumquat and Super Dwarf Cavendish Banana are perfect for growing in pots or containers. Tip number two, according to Byron Martin, is to move your potted tropical plants as the seasons change. "To grow tropical fruits … [Read more...] about How to Grow Tropical Fruits in Containers
Best Roses for Backyard Gardens
The best roses are truly the superstars of garden flowers. They are revered all over the world for their beauty. As a lifelong gardener, it was difficult for me to select the 10 best roses to grow in a backyard garden. Many great roses didn’t make the cut. (Such is the downside of creating a Top 10 list!) All of the roses on my best roses list have edible petals. In fact, these roses have delicious edible petals. That’s one of the reasons they made this list of Top 10 Roses. (Just cut off the white part at the base of the petals, which can be bitter.) If you would like more information—including six recipes that use edible rose petals—read Garden Roses: Queen of Edible Flowers. A word about growing roses All roses need full sun, preferably at least 6 hours of sun per day. Roses prefer to grow in moist, rich, sandy, well-drained soil. Rose bushes also like to be mulched with a 3-inch-deep layer of organic mulch. Roses like to be watered deeply but infrequently—perhaps … [Read more...] about Best Roses for Backyard Gardens
How to Fertilize Clematis (and other flowering plants)
When I first started growing clematis plants and was learning about how to fertilize clematis, I learned about the N-P-K numbers found on plant fertilizer packages. N-P-K is short for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. These are the primary components of plant fertilizer, and the numbers are always listed in N-P-K order. For example, the numbers 10-10-10 might be prominently listed on a fertilizer bag. The fertilizer numbers represent the percentages of each primary nutrient in the fertilizer. A 10-10-10 fertilizer contains 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus and 10% potassium. I learned that these numbers could be interpreted as Up, Down, All Around. Up referred to plant foliage Down referred to plant roots All Around meant plant vigor and strength As I became experienced in growing clematis, I gained a mentor in Holland named Ton Hannink. Ton is a retired clematis expert who now devotes his time to clematis breeding and collecting. Way before the “blossom booster” … [Read more...] about How to Fertilize Clematis (and other flowering plants)
7 Perfect Patio Fruit Trees for Small Spaces
Patio fruit trees make it possible to grow delicious fruits even in the smallest of spaces. Imagine growing a small fruit tree right outside your back door. Patio fruit trees are small enough for virtually everyone to enjoy! Here are 7 perfect patio fruit trees that you can grow on a porch, patio--and just about everywhere. Note: We have included links to some of the products in this story. Home Garden and Homestead receives a small commission from qualifying purchases from clicking on the links below. Thank you for supporting this website! Click Here Just for Fun: What's Trending on Amazon.com Dwarf Fruit Trees on Amazon Another great place to shop for fruit trees is NatureHills.com Patio Apple Trees Apple trees might be the perfect patio fruit trees. Imagine picking your own tasty apples, grown right on your patio! It’s possible with the correct dwarf varieties and a bit of pruning. Many tasty varieties of apple trees can perform great in … [Read more...] about 7 Perfect Patio Fruit Trees for Small Spaces
