Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Growing Annual Flowers from Seed: Gardener's Supply

Another great article on how to grow flowers from seeds. Also super good list of what flowers you can just plant and which ones to plant inside first.
I so need some grow lamps... where do you get such a thing and how much are they?

Double Your Harvest with a Second Planting, Plant Now for Fall Veggies: Gardener's Supply

So many articles about vegetable gardening are irrelevant to Bakersfield but this article is actually really good! A few tips on year round gardening that are really good.

Also on this article is a link to a book called The Winter Harvest. It's a book about some people who run an actual commercial garden on a small plot and how they do it using green houses. I don't have a green house so what I saw I was mostly like, huh, wish I had a greenhouse so I could do some of this... there's always someday I guess.

But the MOST interesting thing though is a publisher that is listed at the end, along with several publications: they publish books about gardening and being organic and etc etc, and several titles looked really good... think I might order a catalog... :)  Titles like: Holy $hit :), and Perennial Vegetables, Salad leaves for all seasons

Thursday, June 24, 2010

How to not Kill your Yard plants

How to not kill your YARD plants
  1. 1.       Water Less: sounds crazy but it’s true.  You can kill plants just as well by DROWNING them as by letting them dry out.   Also, better to SOAK them once then water them lightly three times (besides who has time to water three times?)  
  2. Prepare the spot: dig a hole twice as big and deep as the root ball, fill the hole w/water first, let drain, then plant, then fill w/water again.
  3. Choose the right plant for the right spot: you aren’t a bad gardener just because you can’t get a plant to grow in a certain spot.  Try a different plant.  Certain plants only like certain conditions so try a different plant there.  
  4. Follow the Leader: look around at what grows in the yards next to yours, if they grow there, they’ll probably grow in your yard also.  If you want low maintenance plants, copy what the city plants on the roadsides, or what housing developments plant outside their homes. 
  5. Buy from places where you can get replacements:  Stop buying from stores like Walmart/Target/Home Depot/Lowes etc.  They don’t guarantee your plants and there’s a higher chance something could be wrong with it.  Buy from nurseries that have LIFETIME GUARENTEES on your plants: if you kill them (as you often will and do, right?), they send you a new one.  No questions, no receipts, no carting your pathetic dead plant back to the store J
a.       springhillnursery.com
b.      michiganbulb.com
c.       there are tons more…

Top Bakersfield easy no-fail plants: 

1.       Leafy “bushes”: Day Lilies (big orange/yellow flowers), Alliums (purple flowers you see everywhere), Cannas (tall purple and green leafy plants),
2.       Top “bushes”: boxwood bushes are everywhere you look in this town, Blue Potato bush (these can get huge), Jasmine (small yellow flowers (actually a vine but often used as a bush), California Bush Daisy (you see these everywhere also)
3.       Top Annuals:  Zinnias, Marigolds, Cosmos (all are easy to grow from seeds)
4.       Perennials: Dahlias, Gladiolus, Shasta Daisies  
5.       ROSES:  want flowers? These are the best any day.  Very hardy, love the sun, just keep in mind there are many varieties: do you want a tree, a bush or a vine?  Make sure you pick the right kind.
6.       VinesBougainvillea vines (careful these can be CRAZY), Trumpet vines,
7.       Berries:  Don’t forget about Raspberries, Blueberries, Boysenberries, Blackberries, and Strawberries. Easy to grow and you get berries also!  Look for thornless kind if you have kids
8.       Citrus Trees:  Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Grapefruit all grow super well here in Bakersfield.
9.       Palms and Others: All kinds of palms grow here and they do very well (sometimes too well!): Sego Palms especially! Banana trees, Birds of Paradise, and Ferns!