When To Plant Snowdrops

Unlike most winter-spring flowering bulbs, snowdrops do not like to dry out completely during the summer. Once established, they actually maintain active roots year-round.These bulbs are premier choices for naturalizing in lawns and among shrubs.

The flower is held by a very thin pedicel, coming out from the stalk. The flower's petals are called tepals. Just seeing this beautiful, tiny flower popping up from under the snow brings me hope that spring is coming--its purity and spring scent always...

Allow yourself to drift away to the memories of your youth. Winter has loosened her grasp and is making way for this season of renewal and rebirth. Gaze upon the small green buds forming on the trees.

Several cultivars have been introduced, mostly in smaller sizes than the species. Then the students planted the butter daisies and watered them in well. The smaller cultivars are great in containers and will brighten any spot.

Stored in separate plastic bags, sound specimens will keep in great condition until late winter or early spring. Over 300 insect species visit carrot flowers, including beneficial hoverflies and numerous small wasps.

Have you ever had to battle with a weedy, jungle-like garden? Perennial weeds continue growing for a number of years but have far-reaching roots, making them harder to control. To outwit weeds you'll need to wage a concerted campaign on several fronts,...

These mulches may be free but their value to gardeners is inestimable! They help reduce the arduous tasks of weeding and watering in summer, protect your beds over winter, and improve the soil all year round.

All can be reinforced with iron rebar stakes, which are far superior to wood stakes because they never rot. Rebar stakes are the best way to reinforce wood-framed beds on a slope The frames or low walls used to stabilize a terraced vegetable garden can...

Plants Related to this Article Spinach Grow Guide Corn Grow Guide Winter Peas Grow Guide < All Guides Deadhead Bed for Flowers and Herbs As you clean up after tired flowers and herbs, you will encounter mature seeds.

What tricks do you use? This odorless, tasteless gas is the vital catalyst that turns under-ripe green fruit to red, yellow and many a color in between. Tomatoes, for example, need a minimum temperature of 10°C (50°F) to fully develop.

Choose a point just above a bud. Branches can quickly die of this disease. Oozing bark, though alarming, isn't necessarily a sign of the disease. Don't leave a stub of branch sticking out – it will only die back and could introduce disease.

When to Harvest Chili Peppers for Drying You don't need to wait until your chilies turn colour before you pick them. Cotton thread comes a close second. Even thorough scrubbing fails to remove all traces of chilli pepper's spicy capsaicin; as you might...

Two watering cans are better than one! Don't Blast Your Plants A strong spray from a hose can knock plants about or blast potting soil out of containers. Success with Germination In hot, dry conditions getting seeds to germinate can be tricky, particularly...

Protecting Potatoes from the Cold Containers have the obvious advantage of being portable, so when cold weather threatens it's easy enough to move plants completely under the cover of a greenhouse, polythene tunnel or conservatory.

But if we're to get the most from this bounty we'll in fact need to remove some of the fruits now. For larger cooking apples you're looking for around 6-9 inches (15-23cm) between fruits.

And it gets worse. Sticky traps help monitor greenhouse whitefly populations, and are easy to make at home 4. Grow some of them next to the greenhouse door to tempt these beneficial bugs closer.

Prune to Let the Sunshine In Strong growth over the summer months can mean that taller plants cast shade where they didn't before, compromising crops that need plenty of direct sunlight.

Or, if you keep chickens let them search and destroy for you! Healthy soil helps to make your plants strong enough to resist insect attacks, so add organic matter regularly – annually at the very least, and preferably more often.

Cabbages are grouped according to when they're harvested. Another clever technique is to grow nasturtiums close by as a sacrificial crop, also known as a trap crop. A bed improved with compost or well-rotted manure is ideal for these hungry feeders, who...

A water feature of any size can add interest and soothing background noise Add Interest with Sound and Movement Stimulate the senses with sound, color and movement. Here are a few ideas to help you make the most of your garden while the weather's still...

Warm soil temperatures promote fast germination, so the seeds will be up and growing in a matter of days. Unharvested daikons make a good winter cover crop because the big roots drill deep holes into the soil, which are then enriched by the rotting radishes.

Dry off the produce before storing in freezer bags or Tupperware in portion-sized batches. Chop the produce up into small cubes about 1cm (0.5in) square. Tougher vegetables, such as carrots, need four.

Rutabagas are highly sensitive to boron deficiency, which leads to a condition called brown heart, a discolored hollow in the middle of the rutabaga. Napobrassica ) include swedes, winter turnips, yellow turnips, Swedish turnips, Russian turnips, Canadian...

Saving these vegetable seeds isn't challenging and it's amazing how many seeds you can get from just a few plants. Saving seed from F1 hybrids won't work either, which because they are created from two separate parent varieties simply won't come true...

You may have heard that nicking plant seeds before attempting to germinate them is a good idea. For example, the “eye” of a black-eyed pea is the hilum. Be careful to avoid damaging the plant embryo inside the seed – you want to cut just through...

Wash them well and store when dry.Wet seeds taken out of the seed pods should be washed to remove all traces of the mushy remnants. Insect infestations also may result in soggy seed pods that may either rot or sprout prematurely.In spite of the wetness,...

Consider it an experiment which may reap a heap of benefits. Vegetable and fruit seeds germinate fairly near where the parent plant was located. Alternatively, move the plant to a location where that family group had not been growing for some years.Another...