Garden Basics

June is an exciting month for gardeners. There is much to do in June to keep our plants thriving at their best. Tasks include late planting, trellising, weeding, watering and mulching. June is often our favorite time of the year in the garden. Sure, the rewards of the harvest can't be beat - and June does offer some harvest in June, especially in the warmer zones - but the tidiness of our just-planted rows and germinating perfection gives us a thrill that is both a reward for the hard work that has gone before and the promise of bountiful and beautiful things to come. There is nothing quite like sitting down in a lawn chair and surveying our garden kingdom, no matter how large: the neat rows of bright green seedlings planted just days before, the transplanted seedlings started weeks ago indoors and now flourishing in their new outdoor homes. Yes, there's a break in the action once the garden gets here - or maybe you're still feverishly busy getting everything in the ground - but that doesn't mean you can retreat and let things take care of themselves. Here are a few June gardening tasks and projects that will help you keep your garden looking it's best for the rest of the season. Find out what you should be doing in the garden this month.

Shrubs are an essential and beautiful part of any landscape, while flowers paint the landscape with vibrant colors, compound blooms and a sweet fragrance. Flower gardening can become a much-loved passion, but it can also be overwhelming, especially when you're first starting out. Discover some useful suggestions on how to take care of flowers and shrubs as well as quick tips on perfecting your garden.

You don’t need a huge yard or a grand garden to enjoy the beauty of flowers, plants and greenery. Potted plants can offer joy and the reward of gardening, even if you are limited to a patio, balcony or porch. Once you get the hang of container gardening you might find yourself growing more and more pots each year. Containers also have the added benefit of being beautiful, acting as showpieces in the garden or decorative accents. These tips for successful outdoor container gardening will get you well on your way to becoming a gardening pro.

Soil texture refers to the size of individual soil particles and is determined by the relative proportion of clay, sand, and silt. Testing the texture of your soil helps you understand more about how the soil holds moisture and encourages root growth and development. Your most important task as a gardener is to gain an understanding of soil. Knowing your soil type determines which plants will thrive and to choose the plants best suited to your garden, so save yourself heartache and miserable plants by spending a little time getting to know the soil in your garden and how to make the most of it.

Hanging baskets can be troublesome to maintain, but with careful planning when preparing and planting baskets, and the use of labor-saving products, the pressure eases. Today I wanted to share my fool-proof tips for keeping your annual baskets and planters looking their best all summer long. It does take a little bit of work, but caring for your flowers can be quite therapeutic and a great way to spend some time outdoors. Incorporate these simple tips and recommendations into your gardening routine for your best planters and hanging baskets ever!

Mulch is one of the best things you can do for your landscape. Mulch has many benefits throughout the year. Mulching the soil in flower, shrub and veg beds suppresses weeds, holds in moisture, looks smart and can help to feed plants as it breaks down in the long term. But making mistakes when mulching can keep your soil from reaping benefits such as conserving moisture, suppressing weeds, reducing erosion and decreasing water runoff. Discover top tips on the dos and don’ts of mulch to make the most of your garden.

Hacking your own garden soil is not as hard as it sounds: all you need is some amazingly rich, composted, all-natural material to toss in your garden beds. Layering the compost and other organic materials eventually transforms your garden soil into a wonderland of healthy microbes that your plants’ roots love. You don’t need to look further than most convenience store parking lots to find poly bags of mulch for sale. Bagged multi-purpose compost from the garden center makes great mulch as it’s weed-free, but it will work out expensive. But why pay $5 a bag for shredded and dyed mulch when other sources offer a bottomless source of free mulch? Here are five sources for free mulch that you can track down no matter where you live.

Just as our summer shrubs start into growth, some of our favorite spring-flowering varieties are coming into bloom – and they all need the attention of our secateurs if we want to get the best out of them. If you haven’t cut back your bush roses, buddleia, and colored-stemmed willow and cornus yet, then your absolute last chance is now in the end of April. Prune all the stems down hard to leave five buds or new shoots above the base of the plant. Don’t worry about removing lots of soft new growth – be assured that the plants will survive, although flowering may be set back by a week or two in the summer. The most important job is to remove the oldest wood from your spring-flowering shrubs as soon as the blooms begin to fade and before too much new growth gets in the way. So get your secateurs out and prepare for a new season of pruning! The focus this month is on getting the maximum number of blooms and limiting the size of your shrubs.

Pruning is an ongoing garden task. It gets less confusing and intimidating the more you do it.
Most plants benefit from some sort of regular pruning and maintenance. It keeps them healthy and encourages fresh, new growth. The trick is in knowing when to prune what. While early spring is ideal for finishing off bush roses and pruning climbing and repeat-flowering shrub roses, later in spring, deal with spring-flowering plants and frost-vulnerable, late-flowering shrubs, shrubby herbs, and perennials. Many plants should be pruned in spring, including lavender, buddleia and ornamental grasses. Pruning in spring makes way for more growth and helps to encourage more flowers, foliage and colorful stems on a wide range of plants. Some spring-flowering shrubs flower on old branches and if left unpruned will turn into a jumbled mess, with new growth made only at the top of the shrub. Unlike buddleias and fuchsias, which flower on the same year’s growth and can be pruned almost to ground level, shrubs such as forsythia need careful treatment. Spring pruning also means you can ensure your shrub has a nice shape, while giving you the opportunity to cut out dead, diseased or dying stems. After pruning, mulch plants with a generous layer of garden compost or well-rotted manure, to give them a boost. Find out which plants should be pruned in spring.

The right choice of tool in the garden can make a big difference. A hoe is used to dislodge weeds or for cultivating the garden, stirring up and mounding the soil. It’s an important tool for any serious gardener, but did you know that there are multiple types of garden hoes? Some are better for specific jobs, like weeding, while others are designed for bigger or smaller spaces. Choose the right hoe for the job and both the garden and your muscles will thank you. Check out our roundup of that essential garden tool, the garden hoe. Learn how to choose the right one for your situation.

Weeds. We’ve all got them. Weeds are often considered the organic grower’s biggest challenge as they compete with crops for nutrients, light and water. Ecological weed management begins with careful planning of the cropping system to minimize weed problems, and seeks to utilize biological and ecological processes in the field and throughout the farm ecosystem to give crops the advantage over weeds. In addition, mechanical and other control measures are usually needed to protect organic crops from the adverse effects of weeds. And while some folks turn to dangerous chemicals, many weeds are actually resistant to herbicides and respond better to different methods of control. Weed control is always a challenge. Pulling weeds out by the roots is the best way to eliminate them in an organic garden. It gets the job done with no chemicals and no drama. Yet with our busy lives filled with too much work and not enough relaxation, staying on top of the weeds is difficult, and it doesn’t take long at all for the weeds to get out of control. Below are a few quick garden hacks for eliminating weeds without heavy chemicals. With these simple weed control tips in your gardening arsenal, weeds won’t stand a chance!

Successful gardening is about being smart with your time and energy. If you’ve never gardened before, you might feel both excited and overwhelmed. You have probably browsed through plant books, spent hours gazing at yummy seed catalogs and roamed the aisles of all your favorite local nurseries salivating over all those pretty plants. You imagine a gorgeous garden where you can entertain your friends and family. But where do you begin? You know it can be a lot of work and you wonder how to make gardening easier than everyone says it is. What are the best time saving tips for gardeners? Use these ways to grow an abundant garden while reducing time spent watering, weeding and digging. Read on to learn more.

As the weather in April grows more gardener-friendly, take advantage of it! Getting some things done now will reduce your workload later when the summer heat sets in.
If you haven’t begun a garden journal, now is a fantastic time to start one. Choose a format that you’ll actually use (paper or electronic). The longer you keep a journal, the more you’ll learn about your garden. It’ll become a prized resource. April is a busy time in the garden, there’s no doubt, and this checklist will help you keep on top of things! Keep reading to find out what to do in the garden in April.

Gardening for some is a way of life, and for others is a nice hobby to keep them occupied. When you're just starting out with gardening, it can seem like there's so much to know and you've got a thousand questions. The good news is that nature is a terrific teacher. The more you garden, the more you'll learn about what works and what doesn't. But for now, use this list of basic gardening tips to find the answers to some of the most common questions beginners have. And don't forget to have fun while growing your own food and beautiful flowers in your yard! Regardless of the purpose of your garden, this collection of valuable hints and tips should help to make day-to-day tasks easier.

Growing seeds indoors is one of the best parts of gardening. You can finally get your hands in the soil after a winter break. A gardener’s shelf full of tiny seedlings is a sure sign that’s spring is on its way! It is also a budget-friendly option to start seeds indoors, especially when the seedlings grow into robust plants. While it is much easier to start with a grown plant, there’s a certain satisfaction that can only come from starting from a seed. However, growing seeds indoors might be challenging. And in order to significantly increase your chances of success, I’d like to share with you the most common seed-starting mistakes. Read on and learn the common mistakes gardeners make, and how you can avoid making them yourself. Enjoy!