Most people react to deer, groundhogs, and rabbits with a smile acknowledging their adorableness. But gardeners know better. Mammals might be cuter than insect, but their appetite can far more negatively impact your garden. Prevention is all about measuring the degree of damage and acting accordingly.
Deer
Photo: nydailynews.com
Tomato Hornworm. Photo: University of Minnesota | Extension
It’s the time of year when garden pests become especially irritating. Your ripening harvest might be snacked on by aphids, cabbage-loving caterpillars, cinch bugs, various beetles, tomato hornworms… the list goes on. Of course, you have to accept some loss to those creepy crawlers, but there are plenty of natural methods at your fingertips to keep the harvest largely for yourself.
Photo courtesy: Lou Penning Landscape
Boxwood hedges might look formal, but they are a workhorse in the garden. The evergreens can define areas and be the frame of the garden while maintaining their glossy green leaves throughout the year.
The American Boxwood can reach up to twenty feet high, although very slowly, but normally a boxwood hovers around five feet tall. Japanese Boxwoods grow more compactly and stay about three feet high—perfect for edging and for growing in containers. Both require well-draining soil in a semi-shaded location.
White Flower Farm's Hydrangea macrophylia "Endless Summer"
Native to Japan where hydrangeas are beloved not just for their full, lush blooms, but also for the tea made from their leaves, hydrangeas have been cultivated in Western gardens since the 1730s. Those ubiquitous but unfailingly gorgeous pompom flowers seen in gardens across the United States are often bigleaf hydrangeas, or Hydrangea macrophylla, the most popular of the 23 species available. This species is further divided into hortensia, featuring balls of flowers, versus lacecaps, which have flattop flowers. Either way, find the perfect spot for these shade-loving shrubs and get some hydrangeas into your garden now before it’s too late.
Photo: gronomics.com
For the soil- and drainage-poor gardener, a raised garden bed offers the opportunity to perfect your environment and control many of the factors that are otherwise left up to nature. Building a raised garden bed allows you to optimize soil nutrients and drainage, even as you prevent soil erosion and save your back from added strain during weeding and harvesting.
Air plants—or tillandsias—are one of my favorite indoor plants. I bought my first little pup about a year ago and since then, I’ve divided it into three larger versions of the tiny original. Some growers choose to let the plant grow undivided for years, but I like the idea of having a large group of easygoing friends.
While the vibrant green spikes look a little complicated, they require minimal care. Because they don’t grow in soil, you can stick them in hanging glass globes, mount them on any sort of untreated lumber, or stick them into any other decorative item—a souvenir set of wooden shoes from Holland, for example.
Photo: sheknows.com
There’s really nothing better than a vine-ripened tomato plucked from the plant in your vegetable garden and still warm from the sun. Well, that will come later this season. Now it’s time to get your tomato seedlings into the ground, so that you’ll have a plentiful harvest in a few weeks and you can start serving all your favorites: BLTs, caprese salad, homemade tomato sauce… better start growing!
A great solution to those patchy parts of your landscape, ‘ground cover’ is a general term for perennials that are known for their ability to spread. Not only do they enhance the areas of your lawn where grass is difficult to sustain, but they often require less water than grass and are a great way to prevent erosion in hilly areas. Once established, ground covers are generally low-maintenance.
When picking your ground cover, consider light, water and soil requirements as well as how much foot traffic the plants will be subject to. Some plant brands—Stepables and Jeepers Creepers, for example—specialize in ground covers, making it easy to find the perfect plant for your property.
Here are a few standard groundcovers to get you started:
Sedum/Photo courtesy: HGTV
Sedum. The succulent Sedum is not only drought-resistant but especially great for erosion control. Try incorporating a few different varieties for a patchwork effect in a large space.
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While there’s no need to dismiss those hardworking favorites with which you fill your garden year in and year out, here are seven of the most eye-catching annuals new on the market. Today’s introductions could be next year’s classics!
Verbena 'Lanai Twister Pink'
Photo: shutterstock.com
Having a lawn doesn’t always mean you can grow grass. Some places are simply too shady or too wet for any variety of grass—except the artificial kind.
Turf products have come a long way since ‘AstroTurf’ debuted at the Houston Astrodome in 1966. Today, companies specializing in artificial grass (e.g., NewGrass or Everlast Turf) even offer options for finding a product that matches and nearly blends in with the natural grass you do have.
Related: Artificial Turf: 7 Reasons to Consider the New “Grass” Alternative
