Showing posts with label plant-guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plant-guide. Show all posts
28 Apr 2017
27 Dec 2016
6 Ways To Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Wait! Do not haul your tree to the curb. You can recycle your Christmas tree and keep it from going to overflowing landfills. Here's how:
(Start your year off on the right foot with healthy recipes, inspiring imagery, and gardening—all inside the Rodale’s Organic Life 2017 Calendar!)
1/6
Make Mulch
Cut off the boughs and place them on the ground like a blanket to protect plants that are susceptible to windburn, plants that are marginally hardy in your area, and plants that might come up early and be nipped by a late spring frost, such as fall-planted pansies or early emerging perennials. (Keep reading for ideas on what to do with the trunk.)
2/6
Give It To The Birds
Move the tree in its stand outdoors for the winter, where it can provide food and shelter for wild birds. Even better, put the tree near a bird feeder or hang bird treats from the tree—like bags of suet (animal fat you can get at most grocery stores) or a small piece of wood or thick cardboard smeared with a mix of birdseed and peanut butter—and it will not only attract birds but feed them, too. (Just avoid these 6 things to never feed backyard birds.)
3/6
Give It To The Fish
Sink your tree in a pond (with permission, of course). In deep water, old trees become habitats for fish and aquatic insects. In shallow wetlands, trees can act as barriers to sand and soil erosion—though currently only the State of Louisiana has a tree-based restoration project in place. For more information, go to savelawetlands.org.
4/6
Compost Or Chip It
Call your municipality's administrative office to find out if your town has a special day for picking up Christmas trees or a place where you can take them after the holidays where they will be ground into wood chips and/or composted. Often you can go to the municipal compost site in spring and get free compost and/or wood chip mulch for your garden. Of course, you won't recognize the chips/compost from your tree, but you can feel good knowing that it's helping other gardeners have healthier landscapes and that you've kept perfectly good organic matter from clogging a landfill.
5/6
Turn It Into A Trellis
Move the tree to a corner of your yard, and in the spring set it up in your garden as a trellis for peas or beans.
6/6
Plan To Plant For Next Christmas
Think balled-and-burlapped when you purchase next year's tree, and you'll be able to __plant the tree after the holidays.
2 Oct 2016
10 Gorgeous Magnolias Your Yard Needs
Filling your garden with zinnias and peonies can bring color and new life to your living space—but adding these beautiful blossoming trees will bring a whole new element of grace and style to your yard. Check out our 10 favorite magnolia blooms and consider adding them to your landscape.
1/10
Judy
Judy is one of eight magnolias in the Little Girl series. Shrubby and compact by nature, they can be selectively pruned to form multitrunked trees up to 15 feet tall.
2/10
Leonard Messel
This magnolia reveals its star parentage in pompom-like flowers with loose, strappy petals.
3/10
Norbertii
A saucer magnolia, this flower bears rosy pink buds that open to pale interiors with just a hint of pink. Eventually it can reach up to 25 feet with a rounded crown.
4/10
Elizabeth
This first yellow-flowered hybrid became a horticultural sensation when it was introduced in the 1970's. The tree is pyramidal and can grow up to 40 feet at maturity.
5/10
Alexandrina
The Alexandrina magnolia displays flaring pink-purple chalices. This saucer-shaped flower is often multitrunked and grows up to 30 feet tall.
6/10
Magnolia Grandiflora
This unique flower's seed pods split open to allow fleshy red seeds to emerge. Ornamental but messy, the seed pods of this evergreen species follow powerfully perfumed white flowers in summer.
7/10
Centennial
The Centennial star magnolia covers itself with shaggy white blooms that are faintly infused with pink. It's early to bloom and therefore is susceptible to damage from late frosts.
8/10
Betty
Another of the Little Girl hybrids, the Betty magnolia blooms profusely in the spring. Summer brings occasional flowers that are tucked among the leaves.
9/10
Spectrum
The Spectrum magnolia offers flowers in a rich red-purple hue and up to 10 inches across.
10/10
Ann
Like her sisters in the Little Girl series—Betty and Judy—Ann blooms two to four weeks after saucer and star magnolias, usually sparing the flowers from frost damage.
6 Tips For Growing Organic Apples At Home
If you live on the East Coast and love organic apples, you may have noticed that most organic apples come from faraway Washington state, or even another country. That's because east of the Mississippi, more insect pests and higher humidity levels make it harder to prevent disease when growing organic apples. And although it's easy to think of Washington state as consistently drenched, thanks to its rainy city rep, growers there actually raise organic apples in the desert area of the state. But by picking the right trees and maintaining them with tips from the Rodale Institute and organic apple expert Jim Travis, PhD, professor of __plant pathology at Pennsylvania State University in State College, you can grow organic apples in your backyard even in the country’s easternmost states.
(Find seasonal recipes, inspiring imagery, and gardening tips every day inside the Rodale’s Organic Life 2017 Calendar!)
In fact, Travis says this part of the country may one day be the best place to grow organic apples. "We live in a lush environment with beneficial insects (like these 14 you should be welcoming into your garden) and organisms that could help us grow organic apples here even better," he says. "Someday, it may actually shift, and the East Coast may be the best place for organic." One of Travis's students is working on developing a beneficial fungi and bacteria solution that will attack apple scab, the number one problem for organic-apple growers. And there are pheromones available that can trick male pests, making it harder for them to find female friends.
But even without these advancements, there are steps you can take to grow delicious, organic apples in your backyard, without spraying your trees.
1/6
Choose The Right Tree
If you're ready to __plant a single tree or start a small orchard in your backyard, look to plant a dwarfing rootstock so you don't wind up with an unmanageable 40-foot tree. For a tree that will grow six to seven feet tall, look for B-9 or M-9 on the label; M-26 indicates the tree will grow to about 12 feet; and M-7 could reach 15 feet.
It's imperative to plant trees that naturally resist disease if you want any edible apples. These include: Crimson Crisp and Crimson Topaz (good for fresh-apple eating), Gold Rush (good for baking pies and drying), and Enterprise (good for baking). "They are naturally selected in breeding process, and you get a percentage of good apples, no matter what you do," says Travis.
2/6
plant Soon—Or Wait Until Spring
Look to plant your tree in October or hold off until next April or May. Avoid chemical fertilizers, and instead spread about an inch or less of compost in a 3- or 4-foot radius around the tree in the spring. If you're planting this fall, put a metal cage around the tree so rabbits won't eat it.
3/6
Prune Precisely
"Keep the trees pruned so you get sunlight throughout the interior of the tree. It helps keep the tree dry," explains Don Jantzi, veteran organic orchard manager at the Rodale Institute. "After rainfall, the more sunlight, the more quickly it dries out. Good air drainage means less fungus growth throughout the tree."
January and February are the best months to prune apple trees; just don't ever prune in the fall. To prune, first remove broken and dead branches and then move on to remove any branch that is crossing and rubbing on another one. "You want as many branches as possible growing horizontally, rather than upward," says Jantzi. Travis also suggests pruning horizontal sets of limbs every foot or so up the tree.
4/6
Be Patient
It takes three years to get fruit production, but to maximize your tree's apple output later, pull all fruit and flowers off the tree the first two years. Even when your tree is in full production mode, in midsummer, yank off apples that look blemished or look like they're home to worms. Keeping six to eight inches of space between each piece of fruit is key to reducing disease when you're growing organic apples. It will also help your tree produce bigger apples.
5/6
Meet For Fruit Talk
"There are new varieties coming out all the time, making it fun," says Jantzi. "Small groups meet and share experiences and tips. It helps everyone. Latch onto a backyard fruit-growers group in your area. Now's the time to gather, share ideas, and learn."
6/6
Don't Look For False Perfection
"An apple with a few scars on the outside still makes a good pie and a good sauce. A perfect fruit is really the problem. Learn to deal with a few blemishes. Cut out worms and discard," says Travis.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)