Soon it will be time to move any houseplants that spent the summer outside back inside for the winter.  Before we do though, we’ll want to take some precautions to make sure they haven’t picked up any pests during their summer vacation.  If we bring a plant indoors with only a couple of aphids on it for instance, it can become a big problem in a small amount of time.  Once inside with plenty of heat and no natural predators to keep them under control, these insect pests will reproduce quickly and then branch out to infest your other houseplants.  

The last warm days we have left gives us the chance to take preventative measures to make sure this doesn’t happen.  

The first step is to thoroughly spray your inbound plants with an insecticide to kill any insects they might have picked up.  My favorite for this job is insecticidal soap, something most organic gardeners are familiar with.  It kills just about any insect commonly found on houseplants and it kills on contact.  It also kills mites which often go undetected since they are so small.  Left unchecked, mites will reproduce quickly but unnoticed inside.  Eventually the leaves begin to fall off…this is when most folks realize they have a mite problem.  

Doing this outside while the weather is still warm gives us a chance to be very thorough without making a mess inside and smelling up the house.  Choose a day when the wind is calm to spray your houseplants.  Spray every inch of the plants until the insecticidal soap is dripping off the leaves.  Pay special attention to the undersides of the leaves since this is where mites like to hide.  Spray again a week to ten days after the first spraying if you have the chance before frost.   

In addition to the spraying, I like to put some systemic insecticide into the soil of inbound houseplants especially those like hibiscus that seems to attract pests.  Systemic insecticides are drawn up into the plant through the roots and are pumped out through the stems and leaves until it permeates the entire plant.  Any sucking insects like aphids or scale suck up the insecticide and die.  Systemic insecticide lasts for several weeks so it kills any insects that hatch from eggs after the plant was brought inside.  This is something a contact killer like insecticidal soap can’t do.  Systemic insecticide takes a couple of weeks to get absorbed by the plant so it is a good idea to use it a week or so before the plant comes inside.  Naturally, you shouldn’t use systemic granules on any edible plants you plan to rescue from outdoors like herbs.

After spending the longest days of the year outside, our houseplants have become spoiled.  Long, warm sunny days with breezes cause them to drink plenty of water.  Some of these plants need to be watered every day or two as they enjoy their sunny summer home on the patio.  

Once they move inside, their demand for water will drop off considerably.  Even the sunniest windows on the south side of our homes can’t begin to equal the amount of sun they enjoyed outside.  Without that sun and the breezes, they will only need a tiny fraction of the water they needed outdoors.  A plant that needs water every two days outside will only need to be watered once every couple of weeks inside.  This is what kills most houseplants…overwatering.  Don’t try to water on a timetable.  Check the soil before you water.  If you even think it feels moist, don’t water, and check it again a couple of days later.  We use saucers to keep excess water from ruining our rugs and wood floors.  NEVER let the plants stand in water for more than a few minutes.  There is no quicker way to drown a plant than to leave it standing in water.

You can expect your plants to lose some leaves as they adapt to the lower light indoors.  In some cases, they may lose a lot of foliage.  Be calm and don’t give them extra water.  This leaf drop is normal, and added water will only make things worse.

Even though our houseplants live all year, they do slow way down as the days get shorter.  They need to be fed during the longer days of summer, but once they come inside, you should stop feeding them until March or so when they start to show signs of new growth.  Then feed them, but mix your food at 1/4 strength.  Once June rolls around and it’s time for them to go outside again, you can start feeding them at full strength for the summer.  We love our houseplants for the greenery they provide during the grey days of winter, so let’s help them make the transition as gently as possible.

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This has been a very hot summer and  there’s a tendency to overwater potted plants and hanging baskets during hot weather.  We overcompensate when it is hot and end up watering too much and drowning our container plants.  Always feel the soil before you water…if the soil is already moist, wait until later and check again.  

As simple as watering seems, there is a right and wrong way to go about it.  When you water, you should never spray the plants leaves with water.  Why all this fuss about keeping water off the leaves? 

1.  Spraying chills the leaves, shocking the plant. On a hot day we might think that our tomato plants would enjoy a cooling spray from the hose.  Actually, tomatoes love their leaves to be hot…they are from Central America after all.  On a 90° summer day, the leaves of the tomato are evaporating moisture.  The tomato (or any of our garden plants) replaces that moisture by drawing it up through its roots. Along with that moisture comes the nutrients the plant needs to grow, flower and produce fruit. When the leaves get hit with that 50°F water from the hose, it shocks the plant and it takes a couple of days to recover from that.  Every time you chill your tomato by spraying it with water, you’re cheating yourself out of a couple of days of growing. Our season is short enough without shooting our efforts in the foot by spray watering.

2.  Spraying our plants with water creates a perfect environment for fungal diseases to incubate and thrive. Folks are always worried about late blight, powdery mildew and a host of other diseases. But they’ll continue to water their vegetable garden with a lawn sprinkler. Plants with dry leaves are always going to be healthier.

3.  Spraying our plants with water washes the pollen out of the flowers.  Once that happens, the plant will abort that now-useless flower.  In the case of flowering ornamental plants, this means that a flower that could have lasted several days will now turn to mush by the next morning.  

In the vegetable garden, spraying the pollen out of the flowers means that no fruit will form until a new flower opens and gets pollinated.  All the effort we put into our vegetable gardens is undermined when we water with a lawn sprinkler.  

4.  Spray watering wastes water.  Plants absorb water through their roots and that is where the water should be directed.  Water sprayed on your garden damages the plants and most of it never gets taken up by the roots but instead evaporates into the air, doing little good for your plants and a great deal of damage to your garden.  

So, how do we water the gardens without wetting the plants? There are a couple of easy ways.

Use a watering wand.  A watering wand allows you to direct the water to the soil at the base of each plant so the roots can be soaked without wetting the foliage.  The wand gets the water where it’s most needed without wasting any.  Sometimes you want to give a deep drink to a larger plant like a shrub or tree…especially recently planted ones.  To do this, just turn down the volume on the wand and let it dribble slowly at the base of the plant.  This works well if you’re out putzing in the yard so you can move it around once in a while. A good soaking always beats a quick spray.

If you haven’t the time or patience for wand watering, you can use oozing soaker hoses so all you have to do is hook up your hose and walk away.  If you are using several soaker hoses in different beds, you may want to invest in snap connectors and an inexpensive water timer/shut off so you can let it run while you leave for work. 

Watering is actually quite easy. What seems to be hard for folks is breaking the spray-watering habit.  Remember, the lawn sprinkler is great for the lawn but has no business in the flowerbed or vegetable garden. That is the exclusive territory of watering wands and soaker hoses.

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Towing boats along the Waterford canals. Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

As summer rolls along,  we can begin to enjoy the fruits of our spring labor.  Finally our flowering plants are leaping into life.  It would seem that there is little to do now but enjoy the show.  While that’s true, there are a couple of easy things we need to do now to keep the show going…deadheading and feeding.

Deadheading is simply snipping off spent flowers and the seed pod that form after the flower.  The main reason for deadheading it is to prevent the plant from wasting energy producing seeds.  Producing seeds is the highest priority of an annual since it is their only chance at reproduction, so the plant pours all the energy it can muster into those seeds.  Any energy it puts into seeds is energy that could go toward more buds and flowers.  This is where we need to step in and remove the seed pods…deadheading.

You would think that there would be no need to deadhead perennials since they come back from their roots every year.  Perennials are ‘low maintenance’ but you still should deadhead them.  The obvious reason is a neater appearance of the plant but the real reason is to improve the plant’s vigor.  Even though perennials return from their roots, they still pour lots of energy into their offspring….seeds.  When we deadhead perennials, we’re redirecting the energy the plant produces into more leaves which produce even more energy that it uses to expand it’s root system.  Our perennials will mature more quickly and produce even more flowers next year if we remove the seed pods. 

Daffodils, allium and others grow from hardy bulbs that were planted in the fall.  By now the petals have fallen away and we are left with these clusters of ripening seeds.  If we let them continue, they prevent the bulb from storing as much energy as they could.  Once the seed pods are removed the bulb has no choice but to store the energy produced by the leaves and roots.  Now the bulb will grow larger as it stores lots of extra energy.  We can expect many more flowers next year if we snip away the seeds now.  More flowers…nothing wrong with that idea.

Even flowering shrubs benefit from deadheading.  Just as with the perennials, I can expect more flowers next year if I take a little time now to snip off those seed pods.  Lilacs form next year’s flower buds during what remains of this growing season, so the sooner I remove those energy-robbing seed pods, the better the show will be next year. 

Just a few minutes spent deadheading produced this batch of seed pods that are on their way to the compost pile…no need to waste all those nutrients stored in those seed pods.  Deadheading not only makes your gardens look neater but will pay a dividend of more flowers and healthier plants…not a bad reward for such little effort. 

Now that we’ve stopped our plants from wasting energy on seeds it is time to add energy by feeding.  To get the most flowers from your annuals, you can feed them with a soluble plant food.  Soluble plant food is absorbed by the plant very quickly but only lasts a short time…especially when rain washes it away.  This means that we need to use soluble plant food every couple of weeks for continuous feeding. 

There are a lot of soluble plant foods to choose from so it is important to pick the one that will promote the most flowers.  Phosphorus stimulates root growth and flower production.  Phosphorus is represented by the middle number of the tree you’ll find on soluble plant foods like my favorite, Jack’s Blossom Booster.  That’s it!  A little effort now (along with some sun and dry weather, please) will insure that our gardens look their best for the rest of the season and beyond. 

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I sometimes find it amusing how our attitudes toward things change over time. I know we all look back at those pictures of us from the 70s, 60s and earlier and are amazed at the hairstyles and clothes we wore then.  At the time my generation thought we were the height of fashion with our big hair and bellbottoms.  If you happen upon an old episode of Columbo on the tube, you’ll be amazed at how long men’s sideburns were.  And then there were the bold, psychedelic patterns of the disco era.  Now we simply look back at all this and wonder, “What were we thinking?”

You might not realize it but the same thing happens with plants.Some plants are popular for a while and then they are replaced with another.  You can go on the internet and find the “Perennial of the Year” and “Annual of the Year” for this and past years.  Sometimes it is the color that makes the plant popular and sometimes it is because the plant is a newly bred type.  Sometimes, just as in the fashion world, plants that were popular in the past enjoy a revival as new gardeners rediscover plants that their grandparents loved. 

There’s one plant though, that has suffered a fall from grace so complete that few of us are even aware that it was once one of the most well thought of plants on the planet.  The plant I’m referring to is the ubiquitous dandelion.

It might surprise you to know that, at one time, there was NOT ONE dandelion growing on the entire continent of North America.  Even knowing that, you’d probably assume that it was just an unfortunate accident that they’re here…they must have gotten here along with another plant. 

Actually, the dandelion; that scourge of our lawns that we detest so much was brought here by European colonists intentionally. In fact, more than one group of colonists brought it with them to their new homes in America.  Germans are known to have brought it with them and Spanish colonists introduced dandelions into Mexico including what is now the American southwest.  The reason they made a point of bringing dandelion seed to the New World is because they depended on it to keep them healthy.  The dandelion, which is actually a plant native to Asia, has a long history as a beneficial and medicinal plant.  In China it is mentioned in herbal texts as early as the 7th century.  We can assume that it was used medicinally in China even earlier.  In Wales, it is mentioned in the writing of physicians during the 1200s.  A French physician gave us the name dandelion when he called them ‘dent de lion’ or ’teeth of the lion’; describing the ragged shape of the leaf.  Other common names for the dandelion have been: Blowball, Cankerwort, Swine Snout, Wild Endive, Sin in the Grass and another French name, pis-en-lit which translates as “wets the bed”. This last name describes the dandelions ability as a diuretic.  The Latin name for the dandelion is Taraxacum officnale which can be translated as ‘disorder remedy’. 

Dandelion leaves are a wonderful source of vitamin A as well as potassium, calcium phosphorus and iron.  Common knowledge of our ancestors was that the various parts of the dandelion can be used to treat urinary tract infections, abscesses, eczema, gout, boils, stomach aches and even snakebite.  It has also been used to treat high blood pressure and as a liver purifier.  The white sap in the flower’s stem has even been suggested as a cure for warts.  The list goes on and on.  I’m certainly not suggesting that you use dandelions medicinally but it makes for interesting reading.  One would think that, since there are references to the benefit of dandelions about as far back in history as history goes, there might be something to all this.  One thing is for sure; our ancestors were not going to go to the New World without the seeds of their favorite cure.  It is no wonder that they are everywhere.  We may have completely lost sight of the virtues of the lowly dandelion but they are still with us none the less. 

I’ll have to admit that tender young dandelion greens sometimes make it into the salads at my house.  They are a little bitter but, when mixed with all the other greens, they’re pretty good.  For some, it is an acquired taste.  We once served some dinner guests salad with dandelion greens in it without their knowledge.  They enjoyed the salad but called the next day to ask us, “What was in that salad anyway?”  I won’t go into detail.  Suffice it to say, THEY noticed the effect dandelions can have on the digestive system!         

Thanks for the read!

Dig the hole wide but not too deep

inally spring has arrived!  This is a great time to get started on planting hardy trees and shrubs.  Sadly, in my line of work, I get to see a lot of dead shrubs and trees that have died within a few of years after being planted. 

I always like to look them over to see what went wrong.  A pattern has become apparent…most were simply planted too deep.  You can still see the dirt on the stem way above the crown of the plant. 

If the stem or trunk above ground is covered with soil or mulch, it hinders the plant’s ability to pass moisture and nutrients from the root system up through the bark to the branches and leaves above. It may take a year or three but it is usually fatal. 

Let me walk you through the process of planting a tree or shrub.

First, dig the planting hole a little bit wider than the plant’s root ball but only as deep as the root ball or the pot that contains the roots.  If you’ve dug the hole too deep, fill it in a bit.  Add compost or just the original soil to build up the bottom of the planting hole to insure that the stem isn’t buried too deeply.  This is also a good time to add Bio-Tone to the planting hole. Bio-Tone provides gentle organic nutrients for the tree.  Perhaps more important, Bio-Tone also adds beneficial soil microbes and several strains of Mycorrizal fungi. The spot on the tree trunk where the soil is in the pot or ball needs to still be visible after planting.

Next, place the tree or shrub into the hole and check again to make sure you’re at the proper planting depth.  The spot where the trunk of the tree meets the soil of its ball or pot should exactly match the level of the soil around your planting hole. The easiest way to check this is to lay a stick (the handle of your shovel works) across the planting hole and make sure that the top of the root ball is level with the ground.  This seems trivial, but it can make all the difference to the plant’s health and survival.

Once you’ve made sure that the crown of the plant is at the proper level, fill in the rest of the planting hole.  This is the point where inexperienced gardeners make another mistake. 

When you dig a hole, then fill it with a root ball, there’s going to be soil left over. What to do with it? Many will opt to pile it up around the trunk or stem. DON’T DO IT!  It will have the same negative effect as planting too deeply.  Use the extra soil to build a dish-shaped dike or berm out away from the stem of the plant. The dark soil where the stem met the soil in the pot should still be just visible near the trunk of the tree. You haven’t planted too deeply as long as you can see the original soil that the tree came in.  The berm will collect water and direct it down to the root system below. Finally, water heavily after planting to remove any air pockets from the soil.

You should also take care when applying bark and other mulches not to pile them up against the stems and trunks of plants. Remember: roots is roots and stems is stems. Bury the roots but let the stems be free to breathe.

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Finally the snow has melted and there are signs of life emerging from our flowerbeds. It’s amazing how the sight of fresh shoots from a clump of daffodils that we planted last fall can lift our spirits after a long cold winter. Planting bulbs in fall gives us a chance to thumb our noses at winter. It is an act of faith. By planting these bulbs, we are saying “I know that the next season will arrive a little brighter and better.” You may be planting flower bulbs, but you are really sowing Mother Nature’s promise that the dark days of winter will eventually pass….and finally they have!

The first of the bulbs to flower are the tiny Snowdrops that bloom so early that they are often surrounded by the last of the melting snow. They are followed by other small varieties like crocus, scilla, chionodoxa, and muscari. Then, from mid-April on, the show accelerates as the larger bulbs spring to life. Daffodils, tulips, and fragrant hyacinths all burst into flower in rapid succession. Finally, the tall, stately spheres of the giant allium provide a grand finale. Every spring, I find myself wishing I’d planted even more bulbs the previous fall. The reason we need to plan so far ahead for our spring flower show is because these bulbs must have 8 weeks of chilling to stimulate them into their next flowering and growth cycle. This chilling causes an enzyme change within the bulb. Without it, the bulb won’t be ready to grow in spring. 

Spring is also when we need to take a couple of steps to ensure that our bulbs grow stronger and larger so they will continue to flower in the future. Think of them as rechargeable batteries. They don’t store electricity but “growth energy.” When you buy bulbs and plant them in fall, they’re all “charged up” for you. The trick is knowing how to “recharge the battery” after they flower in spring. The “growth energy” stored in the bulb is quickly depleted during the all-out effort to flower in spring. After the flowers have finished, cut them off including the stem. This prevents the bulb from wasting “growth energy” producing seeds. Think of the bulb’s leaves as solar collectors that change sunlight into “growth energy” that is sent to the bulb below for storage. Don’t cut off these solar collectors when you remove the spent blossoms. Let them remain until they finish charging up your “bulb batteries.” This is also the time to feed your bulbs. I like to use Espmoa Bulb-Tone or Flower-Tone plant food for this. You can poke holes around your larger bulbs and pour a little food into them or simply scratch the food into the soil around the smaller ones. Considering how much joy these hardy bulbs provide, they are well worth the little effort they require. 

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — The 50th annual Saratoga Home & Lifestyle Show takes place this weekend at the Saratoga City Center on Saturday, March 2 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, March 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hosted by the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs, The Saratoga Home & Lifestyle Show features a variety of home and lifestyle businesses in categories such as home improvement, landscaping, décor and fine finishes, heating and plumbing, and more. 

Special events this year include free face painting by Tasha Marie, as well as Sean & Christine Doolan – Magician and balloon artist on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. There will be a Pet Adoption Clinic on both days from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

The Art Exhibition also returns for the entire weekend and features artisans showing photography, painting, woodworking, jewelry, and wine, with items available for purchase.

Admission to this event is free courtesy of Adirondack Trust Company. 

For more information and to see a list of show exhibitors go online to saratogaspringsrotary.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Community Garden at the Wesley Community is now accepting applications for those who love to garden but may not have the space to do it. The garden has 52 raised beds, hosts monthly gatherings, and ends the season with a harvest dinner.

Those interested in applying for space at the garden can send an email to Susan Bokan Susanbokan@gmail.com.

I welcome any sign that spring is near. One of those signs is seeing the first bluebird of the season. Anyone who has ever seen one knows the feeling of surprise and joy that accompanies a bluebird sighting. Since they are not overly shy of humans and nest and feed in open areas, bluebirds are some of the easiest birds to watch and learn about.

Bluebirds are territorial so once you’ve seen them in an area, odds are good that you’ll be able to visit and observe them on a regular basis. Those with a large lawn or property adjacent to open fields can attract their own resident bluebirds to enjoy on a daily basis during spring and summer. I am lucky to be able to host a pair of bluebirds, and the little effort needed to attract them to your yard is amply rewarded by the color and liveliness they add to the little bit of the world we call our garden.

The easiest way to lure bluebirds to your property is to provide bluebird nesting boxes. If you would like plans for building a bluebird nesting box, go to the NYS Bluebird Society website. If you purchase a bluebird nesting box, all you need to know is where to mount it to attract bluebirds.

Your bluebird box should be mounted on a metal post. Mounting on trees is not advised since it may allow predators to gain access to the box. Your bluebird nesting box should be mounted with the bottom a minimum of 3′ from the ground. 4′ to 5′ is considered optimal. In our cold climate, the box should be mounted with the entrance facing southeast, away from our colder prevailing wind. Since bluebirds hunt for insects in lawns and meadows, it’s best to locate your box adjacent to these open areas. To help fledglings survive, try to place your boxes where there is a fencepost or tree within 100′ of the entrance hole. This will give young bluebirds an easy, safe perch to reach on their first flight from the box.

Since bluebirds are territorial, nesting boxes should not be placed closer than 300′ apart. If you have swallows in your area, they may compete with bluebirds for nesting boxes. In this situation, it may be necessary to place two boxes 5′ to 15′ apart. The swallows will occupy one box, leaving the other available for the bluebirds. Since bluebirds are on the increase in New York State, properly placing nesting boxes on your property is very likely to attract younger pairs of bluebirds with the possibility that they and their offspring will return to your area year after year.

To lure nesting bluebirds to your area, have your nesting-boxes up as early in spring as possible. If all goes well, you’ll have a nice clutch of eggs by early May.

After that, it is simply a matter of keeping the boxes clean and safe. In fall or early in spring before the bluebirds arrive, the nesting box should be cleaned out. Remove any old nesting material and then scrape our dirt and debris with a putty knife or wire brush. Old nesting material should not be left on the ground near the nest but removed from the area to prevent parasites that can harm baby bluebirds in the nest. Washing out the nesting-box with a spray of 1/10 bleach/water will sterilize the box, and it is ready for the season. 

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It won’t be long before we’ll be heading to the garden center to purchase plants for our yards. Before you set foot in a nursery, you need to understand conditions in your yard. I call this “Learning Your Yard.” 

Gardening success starts with knowing how much light a plant needs and where conditions in your yard match up with the plant’s requirements. I’ve spent a lot of time helping folks with plant selections. The first question I must ask so I can make logical recommendations is, “What direction does your house face?” More often than you’d believe, the answer I get is “the road.” Obviously, this isn’t what I really am asking. I’m simply trying to deduce how much sunlight the site will potentially receive. The largest factor influencing conditions in your yard is the house. Each wall faces a different direction and each of these directions have different qualities of light and exposure that will determine which plants will grow and thrive there and which would be best placed elsewhere. 

Let’s examine the qualities of walls facing the four cardinal compass points.

The east-facing wall is the wall that faces the sunrise so it will get morning sun until about noon and then shade for the rest of the day. That means that this side of the house will get about 6 hours of direct sun a day during the growing season. This morning sun is considered the most “balanced” light of the day. It lacks the hot, infrared quality of afternoon sun. This means that plants that require shady conditions may be able to tolerate 3 or 4 hours of eastern exposure whereas the same amount of western or afternoon sun would be too “hot’ for shade-loving plants. The east-facing wall is also the most sheltered area in the yard. The house acts as a windbreak; protecting this area from the cold, dry prevailing wind that blows from the west and northwest in winter. This dry winter wind is the worst enemy of rhododendron, azaleas, holly and other broadleaf evergreens. The east-facing wall is the location of choice for this family of plants.

The south-facing wall of the house provides the sunniest exposure possible. It will get twelve or more hours of direct sun per day. All this sun makes this the perfect location for most flowering shrubs as well as sun-loving annuals and perennials. Plants that require full sun will want at least seven hours of direct sun per day and the south wall of the house will provide all that and more. Plants that require shade will suffer when planted on the south side of the house since all those hours of sun will overheat them. People who love flower gardening are always thrilled to have good southern exposure.

The west-facing wall gets the second half of the day’s sun from noon until sunset. Afternoon sun is much hotter and infrared than its morning counterpart. This makes it possible for many plants that require full sun to do well even though they will only get a half a day of sun when planted against a west-facing wall. Shade plants that can thrive in the morning sun will find the west-facing wall too hot. The west-facing wall is also exposed to prevailing wind that blows from the west and northwest so, even though light conditions might be appropriate for broadleaf evergreens, winter wind will make this a tough location for them.

The north-facing wall gets less direct sunlight (in fact none) than any other location against the house. This and the fact that it is directly exposed to drying north winds in winter make this one of the most challenging areas to plant. Lack of direct sun makes it impossible to grow most flowering shrubs and roses will never do well against a north-facing wall. Naturally the north wind will make it impossible for broadleaf evergreens to survive this location. There are some junipers and other durable evergreens that can live here. The greener the better since gold or blue evergreens need more sun than a north-facing wall will provide to maintain their color. Shade-loving perennials and annuals are good choices to brighten up this difficult wall.

Of course, few houses face exactly south, north, east or west. If your house faces southeast, for instance, it will have a combination of east and south wall qualities. Then there are the other factors that will influence the “micro-climates” within your yard. There may be a large shade tree in the yard on the south side of the house so, instead of getting full sun all day, that side of the house may only get direct sun for a couple of hours. There may be a fence or evergreen hedge to the west of your yard that blocks the wind from that direction making it possible to plant rhododendrons there. These are the variables that you’ll need to learn to make logical plant selections and take best advantage of your garden spaces. The most successful gardeners are those who understand what their yard has to offer and learn to work with it. Take the time to observe the way the sunlight moves across your yard, the path the wind takes and the other variables that affect your little piece of the planet. Then you’ll be able to shop at the garden center in a more logical manner and you won’t find someone asking you, “Now, when you’re standing in your front doorway, where does the sun come up?” 

Thanks for the read!