Gardening And More

Spring Vegetables As the weather warms, we gardeners start thinking about gardening again. With this in mind I would like to mention the wonderful benefits of a spring garden.  Tomatoes Home-grown vegetables have a richer, fuller, and better taste than store bought since you pick them yourself. Home-grown vegetables are easy and inexpensive to grow as well. Vegetable gardening has a lot of appeal: it can involve the entire family from the little ones to the teens. As well as being an educational tool, the time the family spends in the garden is quality time spent together and can give one a sense of pride. Onions In today’s economy more and more families are finding ways to save money, and one way to save money on your grocery bill would be to start your own vegetable garden. Vegetables can be grown from seeds or vegetable starts, and more retail garden centers this year are reporting that vegetable starts, and seeds are up from last year’s sales. And with our current ...

Let’s Get Ready For Spring February is the time to prune rose bushes. This annual pruning event rejuvenates roses, and a yearly prune of rose bushes is vital for the long-life and to insure profuse blooms throughout the growing season. There are two times a year when roses are given a hard prune and that is in the spring and fall. The spring prune is where the rose bush is pruned to a height of 24 to 36 inches, and the fall prune the rose bush should be pruned down by one third of the overall height of the bush. For spring pruning, first look for old cane, dead canes, or canes with brittle wood. Trim off any old canes and twiggy growth. Any cane that is touching or rubbing against each other should be removed. Second, look at the bud union; the bud union is the area on the rose bush that is slightly swollen. The bud union is sometimes called the graft union. On the bud union look for dry, old, scaly wood and remove it with a dull knife or a stiff brush. The bud union is the area where ...