60January 2, 2013
We have begun another new year. May the New Year be better for all of us than 2012. If 2012 was a great year for you, and then you really will be having a great new year!
A new year usually means making resolutions on how you will make your life better. How about this year’s resolution being that you will become a better gardener? Let me give you a few ideas.
Resolve that you will make sure that you check the ph of your soil. If the pH is low, some lime will correct the problem and in return, your plants will grow their best. This applies to your vegetable gardens, lawn, and flowerbeds and in some cases the planters you have in your yard.
Check the quality of your soil. For oh so many years, I have had customers who have had problems growing a lawn. They have re-seeded, fertilized, limed and yet the lawn still does not do as well as they expect the lawn to do. When this happens, the problem is generally with the soil. It may be that there is only 2 inches of topsoil or the quality of the existing topsoil may be poor. The answer is to fix the soil. For a good lawn, you need at least 6 inches of good topsoil. This may entail digging up the lawn and adding new soil and mixing it in to the existing soil. Is this a lot of work? Of course it is! If you don’t repair the soil, then you are going to be trying the patch method for years and years to come. Improving the soil may also means improving the soil in your gardens and planters too. If the plants are growing poorly in your gardens or containers, it may be time to fix the soil.
For years, I have used the line that plants are a lot like people. They both like to eat! Make a resolution to keep your plants fertilized this coming season. Each year, I will have many customers who come in and ask why their window boxes, hanging baskets, perennials, vegetable garden etc are not growing that well? I will ask the usual question about how often they fertilize their plants. Many times the customer will say,” Well, I water the plants’ or they may say” I fertilized the plants when I planted them”. No matter what type of fertilizer you use, the plant will use the fertilizer up and you will have to replace that fertilizer if you want the plants to grow properly. If you follow the directions on the package of fertilizer, you will be applying the fertilizer at the proper interval and your plants will then be growing the way you want those plants to grow.
These are just a few things you can resolve to do in 2013 to make your gardens a better place for your plants to grow.
Remember, spring is just around the corner. It must be because we have received the 2013 seed packets in our store!
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.