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Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Get a jumpstart on your garden
Start some seedlings
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| Indoor window box http://garden-anywhere.blogspot.com/ |
Get a head start on your outdoor planting by starting vegetable and
flower seedlings in a bright windowsill. Broccoli, cabbage, Brussels
sprouts and collards all grow quickly and easily. Onions and leeks also
enjoy a jump start before heading outdoors.
For seedlings destined for the outdoors, use
"plug trays," which have 50-100 small cells designed to make
transplanting easy. Place 1-3 seeds in each "plug" at a depth equal to 3
times the diameter of the seed. Cover with a light layer of soil mix or
use vermiculite (a mineral that helps soil conserve moisture).
Once seedlings have 6-8 leaves (which takes
about 6-8 weeks), they're ready for planting outdoors. But wait to
transplant seedlings until nighttime temperatures are consistently above
50 degrees. Your local nursery can help you figure out when that'll be
for your area, then work backward to decide when to start growing
seedlings.
Information in this post taken from Jackman, Lilian. "FILL YOUR WINDOWS WITH Spring." Vegetarian Times 329 (2005): 56-60. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2013.
http://garden-anywhere.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 13, 2012
10 tips for a victorious vegetable garden
Few things make more sense than planting your own vegetable garden. Cheap, high quality vegetables spring up just a few feet from your door, and gardening is a healthy and educational experience for the whole family.
The trouble is vegetable gardens take time and effort to maintain, and not all of us have the time. But the financial impact, as well as the fun factor, ensures you'll be well-compensated for the time spent with your hands in the dirt. Take these 10 tips from Whispering Hills and the University of Illinois Extension and start building your own backyard farm stand.
#1 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
It's a cliche for a reason. Just as location is important in everything else you do, a successful vegetable garden starts with the right plot. Make sure your veggies aren't close to trees or shrubs that will compete for resources, and make sure the garden fits in with your landscape design. Do we have to tell you that vegetables need a ton of sunlight? If possible, plant your garden close to a water source as well.
#2 MAP IT
Make a list of the vegetables you want to plant and look up growing tips for each kind. The University of Illinois' horticulture extension has a handy chart to help you with this. Sketch out which vegetables will go where before you just go buying all kinds of plants at the store.
#3 MAKE YOUR BED
This is the most important part of a vegetable garden. Proper soil for a garden is soft, loose, nutrient-rich and well-drained. Northern Illinois soil does not naturally have those properties. It is hard and full of clay, so be sure to mix in an adequate amount of topsoil and a nutrient-rich amendment (like mushroom compost, Bumper Crop, or material from your own home compost pile) to prime your bed before planting.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Local love: Where were your plants grown?
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| Was your Colorado Spruce actually grown in Colorado? |
Plants, however, aren't blessed with (cursed with?) the ability to speak, so you'll have a harder time figuring out if that arborvitae in your yard came from down the road or Tennessee. However, if the plant took a long time to thrive, that might be an indication that it wasn't grown in northern Illinois soil.
It's not just big box stores that sell non-local plant material; many area garden centers sacrifice quality when they bring in cheaper plants from areas with longer growing seasons.
Not only are locally grown plants already adjusted to the soil in your yard, they also have a shorter trip from the grower to the market. That means the growers can time their shipments accurately and deliver the plants when they are just about to hit their peak bloom.
Locally grown plants typically look better in your yard, but it's not all about you, you know. The growers obviously benefit, too, and when you buy their plants you help keep their fields from becoming another Wal-Mart. And we have enough Wal-Marts in our area.
How can you tell if the plant you're buying is grown locally? The root ball will be much smaller than ones on their non-local kin. The soil on a locally grown plant will be dark in color and have a high clay content, whereas non-local soils will likely be a lighter, reddish color (Tennessee) or have a high sand content (Michigan).
If you'd rather not worry about whether a plant you're thinking of buying was grown locally, just come to Whispering Hills. Nearly all of our plant material is locally grown, coming from such places as Harvard, Marengo, and Poplar Grove.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Spring cleanup checklist
Spring yard cleanup checklist
-Remove old mulch, leaves, and wood chips from your flower beds and give them a nutrient boost by raking the remaining mulch into the soil.
-Edge the perimeter of your garden bed and sidewalks. This will prevent grass from growing over the cement and give the landscape a clean look.
-Apply a 3-inch layer of new mulch to the garden bed and around tree trunks to help retain moisture and keep the roots warm.
-Fall and winter have given your plants ample growing time, so you may need to prune back perennial shrubs and grasses that were pruned back in the fall. Use pruning shears or loppers, depending on the branch diameter. DO NOT prune spring flowering shrubs. For more information on when to prune and how plants react to pruning, visit North Carolina State University's Pruning Factsheet.
Sound like too much work? Let the professional staff at Whispering Hills do your spring cleanup for you. Call 847-658-5610 for scheduling and pricing details.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Pond-free fountains provide safer, more flexible design option
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| An example of a pond-free fountain. |
You're measuring, digging, fitting, moving rocks, digging, doing way more plumbing work than you're probably used to, digging, and then doubling your water bill for the month. And the work doesn't stop there, because eventually your water will evaporate from the pond and you'll have to replace it. If you have wandering young children, you've now got a drowning hazard.
A pond-free fountain, or disappearing fountain, is an easier, safer alternative to a pond water feature and provides more design options in the yard.
It's a smaller, ground-based fountain structure that uses a pump to cycle water up through decorative rocks, pottery, or other elements. The water supply is underground in the base and does not evaporate, and no above-ground pond means no hazard for small children. All of the plumbing sits on top of the base and is easier to access than in a pond feature.
A fountain base such as Atlantic Water Garden's pro-series FB3200 measures just under 3 feet wide, so it can be placed in just about any part of the landscape.
For a visual of the system, see the excessively corny video below. It's exceptionally corny, so only a skim-through is necessary to get the general idea. But if you're planning on purchasing this base or a similar unit, this video is probably a must-see before installation.
Whispering Hills sells the FB3200 and FB4600 fountain bases, custom cuts of stone, and a variety of stone and other materials that can be used in fountain construction.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Bump it up: New formula for bumper crop readily available
Coast of Maine has been throwing nutrient-rich fish and berry compost into Master Nursery's patented bumper crop mix since 2007, but until recently the cost kept the east-coast soil additive from public availability in the Midwest.
Market conditions have improved, and so for the first time in five years Whispering Hills is selling bumper crop in increments of one and two cubic yards to give northern Illinois plants a little boost to their bloom.
Bumper crop, which in addition to the brand name is an agricultural term referring to an unusually high yield, is a pH-balanced, organic soil amendment that includes bat guano, forest humus, chicken manure, sea kelp and worm castings.
It is best used when planting, but can be applied after as a mulch. See video below.
Whispering Hills Nursery & Garden Center
Bumper crop
1 cubic yard:$9.99
2 cubic yards: $13.99
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