Know Your Soil

KNOW YOUR SOIL!

First off, buying kits for Ph-testing of the soil. These are not always accurate, and are often affected by such environs as fertilizer, humidity, heat and cold.

JUST remember, soil no matter what type, can be converted to facilitate ANY plant, tree or shrub with the right conditioning.

Soil can be easily placed into four categories.

          1        Dry soil – easy drainage. This is soil such as sandy based, or thin top soil       and heavily graveled. Limestone and certain chalky areas. Making the Ph balance more alkali.

          2        Wet soil  - not easy drainage. Clay topsoil, thick topsoil that sports a          moss or similar. Flood zone areas, or prone to a lot of rain. Lower valley in particular.

          3        High Nutrient – plenty of good rich loam and top soil. Soil is darker than    most, and has a 'leafy' texture. Damp           but not sodden with water.

          4        Low Nutrient – this soil tends to be harder for even the weeds to populate.      It is often a lot more paler in color.  From an orange-red  – to even a           whitish-       gray.  Tends to accompany extremes of dry or wet. New housing often sits on soils   like this.

Another good way to check the variables in your soil is to identify what kind of plants (weeds,) are already in growth about your property. Along with the grass coloration. These are also great indicators to your soil's potential for use.

Not all soils need boosters of fertilizer, or more soil added.

But most need some form of stabilizing treatment.  Such as a simple soluble with water to kick start it. Or perhaps a good tilling.

Dry soil – May need some mixers. Best thing to stop it drying out quickly is, to add a  load of wood chips and mix it in when you till it, the second time.* Or an easy method, is to 'bank' it up. By raising it higher than the non-gardening section of the land. Then add your mixers.

Wet soil – You need to add a little sand, to aid in drainage. If you have a clay soil base, which is the most common for problems with drainage, then add wood chips along with your sand and some chalk. This works wonders. Also you may need some top soil too. This is due to it being flooded and nutrients washed away with some areas.

High Nutrient – Do not do a thing! Perfect soil! Congratulations! Just be careful! Do not add any unnecessary fertilizer to the soil. A good tip for the nutrients break up easily to feed your garden, is to add a tablespoon of Epsom salts per two gallons of water, and lightly, spray your garden, then till it.

Low Nutrient – Easy, get your fertilizer going! Such as cow, horse or chicken manure. Nutrients means nitrate levels. Compost, rotting leaves, all of this should be tilled in the first time, then tilled again to ensure equal distribution.

After your soil has been stabilized, then it's time to buy garden plants- Buy Trees, Shrubs & Plants at Garden Delights Nursery.

Growing Perennials Successfully

Perennials - How to Care for Them

Why Divide Perennials?

Gardeners love wildflower perennials because they grow so easily. These offer beauty at an inexpensive price. However, they multiply quickly and can grow out of control, clumping and may even taking over other planted areas. To prevent this from happening, there comes a time when you must devide perennials in your garden. If you don’t divide these, they will eventually look ill kept. Even so, there are also other reasons why you want to eventually separate them.

Avoid Holes
Perennials grow very quickly and they usually begin to clump together. When these aren’t divided every three to four years, then spots of these clumps often die out, leaving gaping holes.

Protect from Fungal Disease

Large clumps of perennial roots are susceptible to insect infestations and fungal infections. 

Flowers 

When you don’t devide perennials and they multiply, these become overcrowded and have fewer or smaller flowers than those that are well spaced. 

If you replant in different areas, then you control the plants, which is especially important when the plants are aggressive and tend to overwhelm neighboring plants.

More Plants

Besides, when you divide the perennials you create more plants of the same variety. This offers an inexpensive way of adding new plants to other areas of the garden. 

When to Dig Up and Seperate

Many gardeners ask themselves when to dig up and seperate perennials. Actually, these are very hardy plans so you can dig them up to replant in different areas any time from Spring to Fall, however, there are two seasons that are best for doing this; spring and fall. These seasons are cooler than the summer, so the weather and soil conditions are less stressful to the plant. Just be sure to divide them when the plants are large enough. 

Perennials are beautiful and very easy to grow. However, they do take some maintenance and you do need to dig them up and separate them every couple of years. This is an easy process, but one you should do in the cooler months of spring or fall. Remember, separating allows you to plant small clumps of plants in different areas of the garden. 

Buy Wildflower Perennials Online at Garden Delights  Online Plant Nursery

How To Grow Garden Plants The Easy Way

Ever wanted a great big garden full of lush perennials and ground covers? It's easy as 1-2-3. First you start with some rich topsoil. You can get this from a landscaping supply center.Till your soil well and add the ultra rich topsoil and blend by tilling the soil.

Next, the ground is ready for the plants. space your garden plants on square foot centers. Arrange the perennials to color coordinate and make them look natural not by not intentionally planting them in straight lines. Plant like mother nature would her plants by randomly planting.

Then, after the plants have been planted, they will need a drink of water. Sprinkle water over each plant and re water each day for the first 3-5 days. If you live in an area where there is a lot of rainfall, there's no need to water. For those areas where there's not a lot of rain fall, garden plants will need watered every evening. Do not saturate them or the roots will become spongy and rot the plant.

In early spring, you will reap the harvest of your crops. All the garden perennials will come alive with color and you will need to weed your plants by plucking the weeds by the roots every couple of days to prevent them from over growing the garden plants and smothering them out.

If your looking to buy quality garden plants shop online at a reputable plant nursery