Home Improvement

By MELINDA MYERS Add a cool refreshing twist to your meals, beverages, appetizers, and snacks with cucumbers.  These popular vegetables are grown worldwide, adding anti-inflammatory vitamin K, vitamins C, B-5 and more to your meals. Take it a step further by using your own fresh-from-the-garden cucumbers. Grow cucumbers sprawled on the ground or in a container on your patio, balcony, or deck.  Save space and train them up a decorative support.  They make great vertical accents in containers as well as edible and ornamental … [Read more...] about Cool and refreshing – cucumbers

By MELINDA MYERS Bright yellow daffodils, colorful tulips and fragrant hyacinths brighten our spring gardens. Give them the care they need to extend their spring display and keep them coming back for years. Hybrid tulips and hyacinths are short-lived stars of the spring garden. They bloom profusely the first spring, but the number of flowers decline each year. You may want to treat these like annuals, carefully removing them from the garden to avoid damaging any remaining plants. Toss these in the compost pile and start planning … [Read more...] about Care for spring flowering bulbs

By MELINDA MYERS As winter gives way to spring take a walk around the yard. Check the lawn for damage and provide a bit of early season care to help it recover from winter. Use a leaf rake to lightly lift and separate the matted grass blades. This helps speed drying, increase airflow, and reduce the risk of pink and gray snow mold developing and damaging your lawn. These fungal diseases are most common when heavy snowfalls or ice covers non-frozen turf or after late winter snowstorms.  The damage is usually seen where snow … [Read more...] about Post winter care for your lawn

By MELINDA MYERS We love watching the bunnies hopping across the lawn or ground squirrels scurrying away with a cheek full of seeds. That is, until they dine on our favorite shrub or take just one bite out of each red ripe tomato in the garden. Finding a way to coexist is critical for wildlife struggling to survive and our enjoyment of nature and our landscapes. As gardeners, we know that digging in the soil and tending a garden is good for our mind, body, and spirit. Researchers discovered the same is true when we take time to … [Read more...] about Designing a wildlife-friendly landscape

By MELINDA MYERS Treat that someone special in your life to a floral Valentine. You will have them smiling within seconds and feeling happier throughout the week ahead. Ensure your gift of cut flowers will look its best and provide many days of enjoyment with proper selection and care. You will also enjoy a bit of floral relief when taking time to select the freshest flowers possible. A whiff of the water will let you know if the flowers are fresh and have been properly tended. Look for upright and perky flowers with lots of … [Read more...] about Get the most out of Valentine’s Day bouquets

B y MELINDA MYERS Growing flowers and vegetables in containers will allow you to expand planting space, grow plants right outside your door and elevate them for easier access and maintenance.  Unlike growing in the ground, the smaller volume of soil in containers is exposed to heat and wind, so requires frequent, often daily, watering. Don’t let this watering schedule discourage you from growing in pots. Enlist one or more of these strategies to eliminate the daily burden of watering while still maintaining beautiful and … [Read more...] about Take the hassle out of watering container gardens

Proper watering is key to gardening success, but untangling and dragging heavy hoses across the yard, smashing delicate flowers and young vegetable plants along the way is a common occurrence in many yards. If this describes your escapades when watering garden beds and planters, it may be time to look for some time-saving solutions that reduce the hassle of hand watering. Protect edging plants, especially those at the corner of the bed with hose guides. You can make your own from colorful wine bottles inverted over a section of … [Read more...] about Take the hassle out of daily watering

By MELINDA MYERS Dahlias have been a fixture in summer flower gardens for generations. But it may be time to update your idea of dahlias. With hundreds of varieties to choose from in a fabulous array of colors, shapes and flower sizes, it is no surprise the National Garden Bureau has declared 2019 the Year of the Dahlia. Join the celebration and brighten your garden with dahlias this year. Not only are dahlias beautiful, but they’re also easy to grow. Just plant the tuberous roots in a sunny, well-drained location, once the … [Read more...] about Dahlias bring diverse shapes, sizes, colors to the garden