Gardening Made Easy!

General Gardening Tips
Save all flats and flower pots that come with your plants. First, you can always use these to
start your seeds next season (be sure to wash the flats to rid them of any disease.) Second, it
may look funny at first, but if you cut out the bottom of plastic pots and place them over younger
transplants it will protect them from rabbits. Additionally, placing pots around ornamental
grasses is a great way to contain the younger, lower grass strands from rotting as they lay on
the ground. The band created by the pot will keep the strands off the ground.
Here’s a coffee tip. Humans are not the only ones to get a boost from espresso. Plants do too!
Caffeine and theophylline, two ingredients of coffee are popular ingredients in expensive skin
care products, and key ingredients in asthma medications, but also make excellent fertilizer for
plants. You can get it by the big bagful and for free just by contacting your local coffee shop.
Just mix the espresso in with your existing soil every few months and watch your plants grow.
Successful gardening means that you don’t always have to buy everything new, such as pots or
fertilizer. Look around your home to see what you already have that you can reuse.
Gardening Made Easy!

Late Autumn Gardening Tips
Come fall gardeners are usually a little teary-eyed over parting ways with garden tasks. For a
little late season planting run to the nearest garden section and buy California poppy, candytuft,
cornflower, dianthus, phlox, cosmos, soapwort, spinach, larkspur, pansies, some marigolds,
snapdragons, garlic, and/or sweet pea seeds for what should be half off at that time of year.
These hardy annuals can actually be planted in the fall and will bloom in the spring or summer!
Who doesn’t want instant blooming results in the garden? If you buy a plant you want it to be all
it can be like, yesterday, right. Nurseries know this and so you will pay a premium for larger
plants. Not only is there a demand, but also the overhead on a mature plant is more than a new
one (larger container, more water, etc.) But if you are patient, buy the smaller plant. It will save
you a good deal of money and in a couple of months, with the right conditions and some Miracle
grow your plant formerly known as small, will be a force to be reckoned with.
Autumn is a great time of year to buy your seeds on sale as well as plant those late year garden
varieties in your garden. Take the time to plan an autumn garden so you can enjoy flowers late
into the year.
Gardening Made Easy!

Gardening Tips: Using The Internet
The Internet is a gardener’s best friend You might be surprised to know that your local nursery
has been charging you way too much money. Or you might be pleasantly surprised to discover
your local nursery is the best kept secret with great prices and stock. The point is, shop around
online as well as offline. Here is one reason why: while searching for farmers or companies that
sold plants in her area, one gardener we interviewed came across a nursery she had never
heard of. She called and discovered they sold directly to nurseries until June when they opened
to the public, but since she was local she could look through their 12 greenhouses and buy what
she wanted. She had her pick of flowers, colors, textures, and rarities and didn’t have to worry
about the item she wanted being sold out. Not only can you find great deals by researching, but
you can also find new sources!
As well, the Internet is a great place to get ideas for next year’s garden. You’ll find many ideas
no matter what type of garden you’re growing. Check out gardening forums to see what other
gardeners around the country are doing. You might find a great new garden idea that is sure to
transform your garden into a neighborhood show piece.
Gardening Made Easy!

Gardening Tips: More Advice
Stones between the sizes of oranges and cantaloupes make great decorations, or borders for
gardens, but if you want a lot they can be costly. If you live near new construction, be it a large
building or a new neighborhood, you are sure to find many suitable rocks for your garden. Be
careful, as construction sites can be dangerous. Don’t forget to bring a wagon with so you can
easily roam the area and move your stones at the same time.
Here’s a tip about plants and seeds. Whether the plant is an annual, perennial, or bush such as
the azalea you should harvest the seeds even if you don’t plan on planting them. Why?
Because you can trade them for other seeds, grow the plants and sell them at the end of your