How to Test Your Soil pH

It’s no secret that soil is the most important part of the garden. Not only does it create healthy plants, or lead to their demise, but it is also full of information that can help us grow a better garden. This at-home soil pH test will give you a general idea of the pH of your soil. If you want to find out the exact pH level, you will need a test kit.

Materials:

• Distilled Water (because it has a neutral pH. You can use regular water, but it could affect the outcome)
• White vinegar (an acid)
• Baking soda (a base or alkaline)
• A bowl and spoon

Steps:

1. Scoop up a small amount of soil from an area in your garden.
   
2. Mix in a bit of water to the soil: enough to make a loose mud.
   
3. Pour a little bit of vinegar to the bowl. If it fizzes up, the soil is alkaline. If there is no fizz, that would suggest your soil is acidic.
   
4. To double-check the results, grab another scoop of soil, wet it with the water and mix again. Then sprinkle baking soda in it and mix. If it fizzes, the soil is acidic.

You certainly do not have to perform both tests to determine the pH of your soil. Just one will suffice, but you can try both to confirm the results if you like. Now that you are armed with this basic knowledge about your soil, you can use it to do cool things like change the color of your hydrangea!

Consider a Trellis in Your Garden

A garden trellis is an outdoor design made of wood, plastic, or cast iron. The garden trellis is not only for giving a very unique and tranquil look to your landscaping, but also necessary if you plan on having vine flowers in your garden.

There are many shapes and sizes to choose from. Some garden trellises are tall and skinny while others are short and tall that you walk under. Most trellises have a square-shaped pattern in them that varies in size. However, some are known to be more unique with a diamond shape or simple “V” structure. You can purchase garden trellises as one piece or as a kit with several pieces to put together. It will depend on the size of the trellis you purchase. Most are very simple to assemble.

A garden trellis can serve as a grand entryway into your garden. This design works well as you feel like you are going from simply being outdoors to entering a floral paradise. Many people choose to install a garden trellis to help separate parts of their garden. Another very popular use for a garden trellis is to place it against the side of your house. Allow a variety of climbing plants to grow on it. Morning glories, clematis, sweet peas, and honeysuckle are excellent choices. A garden trellis made of wood with a bench in the middle is ideal for relaxing.

Garden trellises are very beautiful, adding a classic look to your garden area. They are very easy to install and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A garden trellis needs to be able to stand up to the elements in your area. They are to be made of quality wood and heavy metal braces or made of cast iron. For best results and safety, make sure all garden trellises are securely anchored to the ground. Trellises are quite inexpensive, yet they add tremendous value to the appeal of your landscaping. You can purchase them at any home improvement store or online. For those who enjoy being creative and working with tools, consider building your own garden trellis.

Growing Sweet Pea Flowers

In warmer regions where winter weather is relatively mild, sweet peas can be sown in fall. Everywhere else, sow in late winter/early spring.

1. Soak the seeds in water for 8 - 10 hours before sowing. This softens the seed coat and speeds up the sprouting process.
2. While the seeds are soaking, fill your planting pots with good quality potting soil. Sweet peas produce abundant roots, so use the deepest pots you can find. Root trainers and 4-inch pots are ideal.
3. Sow 2 seeds per pot, poking them a half inch into the soil with your finger.
4. Cover pots with a plastic dome lid to increase humidity and speed up germination. Place in a cool greenhouse, or in a bright window in the house.
5. Once plants are 4 - 6 inches tall, pinch out the central growing tip, just above a leaf joint, leaving just two or three leaf nodes. This will encourage the plant to branch vigorously from the base.
6. Sweet peas are heavy feeders and require a little extra pampering to produce abundantly. Prepare planting beds by applying bone meal, a thick layer of compost, or well rotted manure and a generous dose of natural fertilizer. Mix these ingredients deeply into the soil.
7. Vines grow rapidly and require a strong structure to climb. Place tall posts roughly 8 feet apart down the row and attach either Hortonova netting or 6-foot tall metal fencing for them to scramble up.
8. Plant seedlings out around the last spring frost in two rows, one on either side of the trellis, roughly 8 inches apart down the row. As the vines explode into lush growth, it is important to keep them tied to their trellises. Once the vines get going, sweet peas can grow over a foot a week.
   
9. Sweet peas love water, and without consistent moisture will fail to thrive. Keeping their thirst quenched during warm weather is crucial, so set up soaker hoses as soon as you plant them to keep their lush growth unchecked.
10. Feed plants weekly with diluted fish and seaweed emulsion.

To prolong blooming, it's important that plants don't set seed, so be sure to harvest and deadhead the flowers frequently.

For the longest vase life, pick when there are at least two unopened flowers at the tip of a stem. Add flower food to the water to extend vase life.

14 Lawn Fertilizing Tips

Fertilization
Fertilize your lawn properly, and you’ll be on your way to a healthy, dense stand of turf that maintains a deep green color and gives weeds a run for their money. Nitrogen is every lawn’s most important ingredient, and each type of grass demands different amounts to display peak growth and performance. How often you fertilize affects not only lawn appearance, but also maintenance level. The more you fertilize, the more you’ll have to mow, for instance.

Using a Broadcast or Rotary Spreader
A broadcast or rotary spreader works well when you’re fertilizing larger lawn areas. Before filling the hopper, make sure it’s closed. It’s a good idea to fill it on a tarp, so you can easily gather any spilled fertilizer. Apply fertilizer around the perimeter of the lawn first, and then start to move back and forth across turf in an orderly pattern. Overlap application strips slightly to ensure that you cover the whole lawn evenly with fertilizer.

Using a Drop Spreader
Choose a drop spreader for controlled fertilizer distribution. Overlap slightly on each pass to ensure you have adequate coverage, and don’t forget to close the hopper when you come to the end of a pass. You’ll typically pay more for a drop spreader, but if you’re tending a typical suburban-size lawn, it’s worth the investment. If you accidentally dump fertilizer onto your lawn, gather what you can, then use a stiff broom to spread out any remaining fertilizer as far as possible. Water it in well, and do so again a few days later to help move that nitrogen down through soil and out of the lawn’s root zone.

Using a Handheld Broadcast Spreader
A handheld broadcast spreader works well for fertilizing small lawn areas. Walk evenly and slowly, and be sure to overlap distribution patterns slightly with each pass. A small spreader like this also works really well when you have shady areas in your lawn that require a different fertilizer rate than the sunny sections. Some fertilizers combine an herbicide with the lawn food. These products are sold as weed-and-feed lawn care products and are applied using a lawn spreader.

Using a Handheld, Pre-Calibrated, Battery-Powered Spreader
Handheld, pre-calibrated, battery-powered spreaders make application a cinch for small yards. Simply flip a switch and start walking to fertilize your lawn. This type of handheld spreader works well in small yards or areas that make it hard to maneuver a traditional push lawn spreader, like on slopes.

Fertilizer and Water
A day or two before applying fertilizer, water your lawn thoroughly. After grass dries, apply fertilizer. Then lightly water again. This second watering is vitally important, because it washes fertilizer off grass blades and into soil. You can also time fertilizer application between rainfalls to let rain wash fertilizer into soil. Just be sure you don’t fertilize before a downpour, or you may wind up with fertilizer washing away, especially if your lawn slopes. Avoid applying fertilizer during a drought when a lawn has browned or withered from lack of moisture.

Grasscycling
Grasscycling refers to letting grass clippings lie on the lawn after cutting. These clippings can provide up to 25 percent of your lawn’s fertilizer needs, saving you time and money. One hundred pounds of lawn clippings can yield up to three to four pounds of nitrogen. On an annual basis, an average half-acre lawn in a temperate zone like Pennsylvania yields more than three tons of grass clippings, so grasscycling can play a big role in nourishing your lawn. You don’t need a specialized mulching mower to grasscycle, although you might want to replace your current mower blade with a mulching blade, which cuts grass into smaller pieces that decompose more quickly.

Soil Aeration
If you plan to aerate your lawn, follow up that task with fertilizing. Lawns benefit from soil aeration, which creates literal holes in soil and exposes the root zone of grass plants. These holes allow water, fertilizer and air direct access to grass roots. For the best aeration, use a core aerator that pulls actual plugs of soil from the lawn (shown). If you rent this machine, know that it’s heavy and requires a strong pair of arms (if not two people) to handle it. Many riding mowers also have core aerator attachments. In small grassy areas, plunging a digging fork into soil accomplishes the task quickly and inexpensively. Aerate whenever the thatch layer is more than one-half-inch thick.

When to Fertilize Warm-Season Grasses
When to fertilize depends on what kind of grass you have. You want to time fertilizing so it occurs just before grass enters its peak growing phase. If you live in southern areas where lawns feature warm-season grasses, fertilize turf in late spring or early summer, just before grass kicks into high gear. Make a second application in late summer. If your warm-season lawn goes dormant in winter, don’t fertilize after the first of September.

When to Fertilize Cool-Season Grasses
Fertilize cool-season grasses in early fall. These fertilizers are often sold under the moniker “winterizer fertilizer.” Many lawn care professionals state that cool-season grasses can get by with just one fertilizer application per year in the fall. The fall feeding is responsible for a quick green-up in spring. For most regions where cool-season grasses grow, apply fertilizer in October or November. Make applications before grass starts to discolor with the arrival of cold weather. Check with your local extension office or a reputable garden center to discover the proper timing for your region.

Compost as Fertilizer
Many homeowners are trying out organic lawn care practices. Using compost to fertilize turf is one option for earth-friendly lawn care. The nitrogen that compost supplies to a lawn becomes available to grass roots slowly, which helps avoid heavy nitrogen leaching. Excess lawn feeding is one key contributing factor to ground water contamination and is now regulated in some states and municipalities. Check with your local extension office or reputable garden center to learn about any specific guidelines for your region.

When to Use Compost
Compost does more than feed grass; it also builds and feeds soil. Compost contains microorganisms, micronutrients and organic matter — items that nourish soil and foster a healthy underground environment in your lawn. When should you use compost? Spread a thin layer over lawns in early spring to fuel strong growth. Any time you plan to aerate, spread compost after aerating to improve soil and give roots a boost. It’s also a good idea to apply compost before overseeding thin turf. Add compost to a lawn by the shovelful in several places.

Working In Compost
Work compost between individual grass plants using the back of a rake or a stiff broom. Plan to water the lawn after spreading compost to help it settle into soil. Or let nature handle the watering by timing your compost spreading before a good rain. The final compost layer should be thin enough that you can still see grass blades after it’s applied.

Consider Clover
Consider adding clover to your lawn to provide a natural nitrogen source for soil. Clover roots actually convert nitrogen from the air around them into a nitrogen source that’s available for grass roots. Before the advent of modern herbicides, clover was a core component of lawns. These tough little plants blend neatly with modern grasses, and they offer growing qualities like drought tolerance, evergreen foliage (even in cold regions) and low growth stature that doesn’t need frequent mowing. Clover is also resistant to many common lawn diseases and pests, including lawn grubs.

Designing a Shade Garden

Shade garden designs are concepts where a gardener can grow plants and trees in areas that are exposed to sunlight for less than six hours a day, or shady areas in cold, hot, or dry climates.

Climates
Typically, most articles, books, and other literature on shade gardening focus on shade-loving plants and the various kinds of shade that suits different plants. Another vital aspect in designing shade gardens, and an important factor that you must also know, is the general climate of the region. Most plants' shade preferences would be altered by the kind of climate in which they are grown.

Among climates, the most common ones are:

Hot and Dry
These are arid areas with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. In these regions, even full sun-loving plants may need some shade to relieve them from the excessive heat. If your house is in such an area, the shade requirements of your plants tend to dramatically increase. If you have light shade plants, you can move them to full shade regions and so on. If you do not have enough shade in your garden, you must look to add artificial filters and shades to protect your plants. Try Shade Sails to increase protection from the sun.

Cloudy and Humid
This is typical European or Mediterranean climate. It is characterized by clouds throughout the year. These climates are shady and humid. Due to limited sunlight, you would be looking to move the plants to a shade level lower. Your full-shade plants would survive best in light shade areas and the light-shade plants in a partial shade environ. The best part of such climates is that they tend to stay more or less constant. This means that your plants are exposed to a relatively constant weather year-round. This is certainly favorable for the plants and for the gardener. However, the need for sunlight is increased and your shade garden design would revolve around that.

Windy
This is an equally challenging climate. Though sunlight and heat concerns may not be as much of a concern, a windy climate is still hostile for garden plants. High winds have been known to uproot large trees, so delicate shade garden plants are at serious risk in such climates. The primary focus of the gardener is to protect the plants from strong gushes of wind. You can opt for man-made shelters or fencing, or something like hedging that can lessen the impact of wind. If you want to do it naturally, you can look to create a buffer zone of some strong and tall-standing trees that can be a break against strong winds.

Cold and Snowy

These areas are as bad as the dry arid regions. With snow covering everything, there is nothing much you can do with your garden. However, if it does snow, it is good to let the snow stay on the plants as it acts like a kind of insulation against the cold, a bit like a blanket. Ironic as it may seem, this snow can help protect plants from harsh winter temperatures and winds so that they can survive and grow back in spring. If you have potted plants, it is a good idea to move them some place warmer like the garage for the winter.

You must be aware of your climate and/or regional and local weather conditions when choosing your plants and designing your garden.

Flower Shade Gardening

Flower shade gardening presents opportunities for using plants that you won't see in gardens with an abundance of sun. There are a wide variety of flowers that will grow and bloom into absolutely stunning additions to your garden even though they are in the shade. With a bit of research, you will find it is just as much a pleasure, and just as easy, as working with a sun-filled garden.

It is only specific flowers that do well in shade areas of the garden, so here are some things to consider:

• what soil type you need to use
• what level of watering shade flowers need, and how often
• what fertilizer or plant feed is required for specific shade flowers and plants
• general tips for planting shade flower plants

Perhaps there are trees and shrubs in your garden causing shade on an area you'd like to improve. If this is the case, you may find that roots of shrubs and trees will compete with your new flower plants for food and water. For flower plants to survive, they need nutrients from the soil and moisture when the climate or weather is dry; keep this in mind when planting and caring for shade-loving plants.

Soil
You will need to look at the soil and possibly change it to suit shade plants. Most of your plants in shade will like leaf litter that has fallen off the trees because rotting leaves go towards providing nutrients in the soil. Chopping up these leaves using your lawn mower or other tools will speed up decomposition. Once you have mulched the leaves, you can spread the mulch around between your flowers. You can even add them to your compost as well. Adding some slow releasing fertilizer with the soil mixture will enhance the health of your plants. When your flowering plants obtain the essential nutrients required for wellbeing, they will be more resistant to disease and less likely to develop problems.

Mulching
Soil conditions in shade areas can vary a lot during the day and even over the course of the year. It is always best to have a controlled environment to give your plants the best growing conditions. In this regard, garden mulches are great to use as part of a garden design. Mulch has many benefits; it retains moisture content in the soil, prevents weed growth, and many shady tolerant plants are used to growing among types of mulch.

Watering
With the proper soil and mulch, watering will be easy to do and won't be such a chore in drier weather. Moisture will be held in place by the mulch along with the nutrients that the plants need. Test the moisture content of the soil visually to see if there is any evidence of wilting plants. Also, feel the soil; if it is dry, it will be in need of watering. The only way to water is to make sure you do it thoroughly. Water must go down to the roots. Shallow watering will make the roots come to the surface to find water which isn't a good result. The roots should go down to find water, not stay on the surface. Without the sun, evaporation will be minimal, but don't forget that the wind can dry out soil very quickly. Cloudy days that are windy are exactly the days that you should check on the water and moisture situation. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because the sun isn't out all day that the wind will not dry out your soil.

Although there are a variety of flower plants you can choose from, they may have varying requirement for sun and/or shade. Some prefer dappled shade, others a much shadier space with little or no sun all day, and some do like to get a few hours of sun but not the whole day and not intense sun. Be sure to Identify the Shade in Your Garden because it will impact flower growth. Be sure to decide what sort of shade you have in the area you are going to plant your flowers or shrubs. You may find areas where roots from trees and shrubs are relatively dry due to the competition for moisture. Not a problem, just add your soil/compost mix about 6 to 8 inches deep with a border to hold everything in place. If the environment is very wet, you need to choose plants that will survive in soil with a lot of moisture. Some plants simply don't like too much moisture, or having their roots saturated all the time.

Shade Plants Tips to Consider
It is not enough just to know that a plant is shade-loving. While choosing suitable shade plants for your garden, it is highly recommended to also consider the following shade garden tips:

Weather Conditions
Will you be able to protect your plant, especially in winter season? Some plants are quite hardy, while the others are more delicate, with no resistance to winter frosts, so it might be necessary to keep them indoors for a few weeks. Another crucial aspect is your climate zone. Depending on a climate zone, the same plant may require different methods of care and maintenance.

Natural Environment
Most shade-loving plants can be found in the wild (Native Plants), and it is essential to replicate their needs if you choose to plant them in your garden. Shade garden tips include making sure that Ph. of the soil and the soil type is just right, as well as light and moisture conditions.

Invasive Nature of Plants
Some plants have a tendency to spread very aggressively. It is better to decide in advance whether you can use this tendency to your advantage or whether aggressive spreading plants will only create problems.

Susceptibility to Diseases
Naturally, it is better to choose plants with a high level of disease resistance and try to find out whether they are susceptible to gardening pests and insect damage. If the answer is yes, be prepared for garden pests or disease so you can take immediate action when needed.

Companion Plants
Some plants are rather sensitive to other species that grow nearby, and on the other hand, there are plants that benefit from being close to each other, called companion planting. It is important to know plants preferences prior to planting, especially if you are planning to create a composite flower bed with lots of different plants. It is always best to choose plants native to your area. Native plants require much less maintenance and are more likely to flourish. When selecting plants for shade gardening, you should not concentrate just on perennial shade flowers as there are lots of ornamental ground cover plants with really beautiful leaves along with some amazing perennial shrubs to choose from.

Lightening the Shady Garden
Although you may not be able do very much about controlling direct sunlight, you can control the reflected sunlight in your garden. Use light colors, or even white, for your fences and walls to reflect sunlight. If your garden is large enough for a stone pathway, you can use light-colored stones for reflection. If the garden is not big enough, then add some decorative light stones around your flower and vegetable beds to reflect light. Decorative stones can give your garden a more natural look at the same time as helping to reflect light. Outdoor solar lights are brilliant for brightening up your garden during the evening and night.

Use of stones
If you cannot get the ideal plants for full shade areas of your garden, try using arrangements of stones instead. Large ornamental stones placed in well-chosen positions can add interest and focal points in a garden. Try placing them in darker to more shady areas to get maximum benefit. That way your garden will not look empty and the stones can add class to your garden design. You can also design a walkway to go through shady gardens where possible.

Use of Pots and Containers
Pot gardening makes plants mobile. This is important in shade gardening because with mobile container plants you do not have to plan your plant positions strictly by shade considerations. You can give your garden a better overall appearance by placing certain potted plants in areas where they typically won’t grow. If they are potted, you can move them around on a regular basis to give them good growing conditions such as sunlight and still retain the charm of your garden.

Shade Garden Plants

When choosing your shade garden plants, it is important to define the levels of shade in your garden first so you can select plants best-suited to the shade category. There are many wonderful plants for shaded gardens and yards, but if you don't analyze the amount of shade available (full shade, partial shade and so on) before planting, your shade garden design is unlikely to be successful.

Shaded areas of the garden tend to be a bit neglected because people are not sure what to plant in shade or because they didn’t have much success in the past and are reluctant to try again. However, if you want to be successful in shade gardening, all you have to do is know how to define the shade areas and find the right plants to thrive under shaded conditions and environments.

Shade Types

Putting your shade into a category is important since some plants can grow in full shade while others will need partial or dappled shade with peeks of sunlight throughout the day. Basically, there are different classifications for shade and shade types are not all the same. If you study your garden, you'll notice that at different times of the day, each part of the garden receives a different amount of sun and shade. The sun moving across the sky from morning to night affects the amount of shade underneath trees, and parts of your garden may get some sunlight at different times of the day. For example, it may get lots of morning sun but be quite shadowed by the afternoon, and vice versa. 

Seasons

The above philosophy is also true throughout different seasons of the year. In winter, the sun may be lower in the sky whereas in the summer, it is higher and will touch parts of your garden that the light missed completely in the winter.

Visit our blog on how to Identify the Shade in Your Garden to determine for yourself the shade types that exist in your yard. From there, you can start thinking about which types of plants you want. 

Shade Plants

There are lots of interesting plants to cultivate in shade gardens. Some are attractive for their leaf color and variation, and others are appealing for their beautiful flowers. You can choose from shrubs, ferns, perennial flowers, groundcover and ivy, and bulbs that come up in spring and flower before the leaves come out on the trees and block out the sun.

Here is an alphabetical list of examples of shade garden plants.

A - E

• Ajuga Plants
• Astrantia
• Astilbe Plants
• Azalea
• Beebalm
• Bleeding Heart Flower
• Blue Lobelia
• Bluebell Flowers
• Bluestar Amsonia
• Browallia
• Bunchberry
• Caladium
• Celadine Poppy
• Cardinal Flower
• Coleus Plant
• Columbine Flower
• Coneflower Plant
• Crocus Flowers
• Daylily
• Dutchman Breeches

F - K

• Fawns Breath
• Ferns
• Foam Flower
• Forget Me Nots
• Foxglove Plant
• Goatsbread
• Heuchera Plant
• Hyancith
• Hosta Plants
• Iris Plants
• Impateins Flowers
• Jack in the Pulpit Plant

L - Z

• Lenten Rose Plant
• Lily of the Valley
• Lungwort Plant
• Meadow Rue
• Monkshood Plant
• Pansy Flowers
• Peony Plant
• Phlox Flower
• Poppy Flower
• Primrose Flower
• Rue Anemone
• Solomons Seal
• Trillium Plant
• Tulip
• Vines
• Wake Robin Plant
• Wax Begonia