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27.07.2024 - 11:19 / thespruce.com
Pruning, which involves shaping and thinning a tree or shrub by selectively cutting branches, is an essential gardening practice. It's the key to healthy plants that produce more blooms—and in the case of fruit trees, bear more fruit. Yet for beginners, it can be intimidating to know how and where to properly start.
Pruning is also a prime opportunity to snip dead, diseased, or injured limbs and leaves, which can spread decay throughout a plant. Plus, pruning can prepare plants for harsh weather and other environmental stressors like extreme heat.
If you still need a push to get pruning, we surveyed some plant pros and asked them to share their best six snipping tips.
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If you’re having trouble pinning down the basics of pruning, remember the 3 D’s and you’ll be golden: dead, diseased, and damaged. Chop off anything that falls into any of those three categories, and you’ll ensure your plant is sending nutrients to healthy foliage.
When it comes to vegetables, some gardeners like to add a 4th D in the form of “dragging on the ground.” Nip any leaves dragging on the ground to reduce the likeliness of diseases developing in those areas and spreading to the rest of your plant.
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Pruning encourages new growth, but depending on where you cut, you’ll stimulate different kinds of offshoots.
Cut lower branches or stems if you want to see upward growth, and cut branch and stem tips if you want to see horizontal growth that will result in fuller plants.
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Greg Alder, a master gardener with the
Join us this summer as we explore some of the UK’s best 2-for-1 Gardens to visit in August, for fun days out with all the family. Whether it’s an adventure playground or woodland trail for the kids, or a rose garden or restored Elizabethan garden for the horticulturalists, there is plenty to enjoy at these gardens. Visit using your 2-for-1 Gardens card to save money on your trips to all these wonderful gardens.
Extreme heat waves are stressful for almost every type of plant in your garden, from flowers and vegetables to shrubs and trees—but especially for container-grown plants.
This small woody shrub belonging to the mint family is grown for its fragrant, edible, and medicinal leaves and flowers. Growing hyssop has a host of health benefits and is also useful in maintaining a thriving, pest-free garden. Let’s dig in!
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Panayoti Kelaidis is the senior curator and director of outreach at Denver Botanic Gardens , a founding member and collaborator with the Plant Select plant introduction program, and an active member and past president of the North American Rock Garden Society .
Several years ago while shopping at a big-box store, I spotted this tote in the household-cleaning section. In addition to carrying cleaning supplies, it can be used as a shower caddy, but I envisioned it as a garden-tool tote—balanced, sturdy, comfortable to carry, and with holes in each compartment for drainage. I’ve used it for a few years now, switching tools as needed so that I’m always ready for the current job. Cleaning the tote in spring or fall is as easy as removing the tools and spraying it out with a hose.
Hey GPODers! Today we’re back in the flower-filled garden of Heidi Weirether. We first saw her garden a little earlier on in the summer (you check check out that post here: Heidi’s Colorful Garden in Fairfield County) and it’s incredible to see how much has changed in a month’s time! As with much of the northeast this year, Heidi is experiencing incredible hydrangea blooms—but that is just the tip of the floral iceberg in her sensational garden:
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Vicks vaporub is a popular household name manufactured by The Procter & Gamble Company. It is quite effective in clearing out the nasal passages thanks to its camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus oil content. However, its uses are not limited to this, and there are a few Vicks VapoRub Uses in the Garden, too! Let’s have a look!