Ask a gardener of any skill level what the hardest part of having a garden is and they will all tell you the same thing – getting rid of weeds.
24.07.2023 - 12:27 / hgic.clemson.edu
A writer for a popular gardening magazine reached out to me recently and asked what my favorite garden tools for homeowners and small hobby farmers were. Of course, this is an impossible question to answer in just one blog post, so I have compiled my favorite weed management tools for you.
Ahhh, yes, when I use this tool, it reminds me of the Dragon of Crab Key in my favorite James Bond Movie, Dr. No. A flame weeder is a wonderful tool to use in the garden and around the house as an alternative to herbicides. At my house, I will flame a 3-foot-wide strip in my lawn to kill all vegetation. Then, I will go back and transplant peppers, tomatoes, collards, broccoli, you name it, into the burnt area. By not disturbing or tilling the soil, I am not bringing up weed seeds to the surface that will germinate. Once the unwanted vegetation dies, it becomes mulch for my transplants. I go back every couple of weeks to flame weed the edge of my torched strip to keep grass from creeping back in the area.
An alternative to this method would be to till your soil, form your beds, allow weeds to germinate (2-3 weeks growth), flame weed the new weed seedlings that popped up, and then transplant. This is referred to as the stale bed technique, and if you don’t till or disturb the soil again, you will have minimal weed pressure.
This is no ordinary hoe. I prefer to use the long-handled variety of tools, even though they are pricey because my health is worth the investment. Have you ever spent a few hours hoeing and couldn’t walk the next day? Long-handled tools allow gardeners to stand upright when working, thus reducing the stress put on the lower back. The stirrup hoe has a thin but very sharp blade. The idea with this tool is to slice the top
Ask a gardener of any skill level what the hardest part of having a garden is and they will all tell you the same thing – getting rid of weeds.
Birds make a great addition to your garden, they’re great to look at and they’re useful as well. For instance, they will eat slugs, snails, aphids, insects and other well-known troublemakers.
The growing season might be in full swing, but there are still ways to upgrade your garden game. From keeping out unwanted pests (or pets) to building your own customized trellising and irrigation—it’s time to make your beds work smarter, not harder. We’ve got five ways to customize your planters this summer that will not only make things look fantastic, but will take your growing capabilities to the next level. Whether you choose to tackle them all or just add one to your list of weekend to-dos, I promise it will be a noticeable refresh with rewarding results.
Sometimes as gardeners, we place all the emphasis on plants. However, a few well positioned ornaments and focal points can heighten the interest and drama within a garden.
Autumn may seem a strange time to start a gardening business but it is the time to focus on what you want to do. Get all your ducks (or seedlings) in a row and ensure you have the detail sorted and with that I include enough cash to see you through and chosen customer groups. How to Start Your Own Gardening Business An Insider Guide to Setting Yourself Up as a Professional Gardener is a useful tutorial if you want to set up a gardening business. I recommend you consider your aspirations and limitations carefully and either set up a ‘Life Style business’ or consider becoming a qualified, professional career gardener.
As gardeners mature they enter a purple patch in their life and potentially in the garden. Some of the best plants with purple or coppery coloured leaves take several years to mature like the notional gardener. Amongst the favourites must be the copper beech and the many Acers with reddish leaves.
Virtually no flies on your car windscreen, sterile fields with no hedgerows and a multi-million pound insecticide industry not much heaven for insects. The hope for bugs, flies and little creatures may rest in your garden.
Hosta tip – keep a cordon sanitaire of rough gravel or broken egg shells around plants to deter slugs. Call them miniature, small, dwarf or even bonsai Hostas these little darlings will give you bucket loads of pleasure. many dwarf plants are difficult to cultivate and retain but I find Hostas are hospitable and accommodating
Goodnews, I have 3 good sized compost bins. The bad news is I am filling them very quickly which if they rot down soon enough will become more good news.
There is a clematis for every season, every aspect and every place. The flower size and colour range is also wider than you may imagine. Update I have just bought (2.9.19) another clematis Madame Le Coultre for flowering june to august.
I have just returned from Ilkley Moor (and I wasn’t courting Mary Jane). I was tramping through shoulder high bracken that was thriving after the recent rain and the lack of competition at lower levels. Bracken are a coarse fern noted for their large, highly divided leaves (ferns on the other hand only have two divisions per leaf to create the arching fronds).
A stroll through a boutique garden store might lead you to believe that filling a garden with happy, healthy plants is only for the well-heeled. But those very plants that have soaring price tags in the store might be yours for free if you are willing to be a little creative. If you are wondering how to get free plants, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for five tried-and-true paths that lead you to free garden plants.