When To Start Flower Seeds Indoors

Winter is still very much here, but as we discussed last week, you can get ready for spring planting soon. The key however, is to start your indoor seeds on time.

The problem is that most gardeners start their flower seeds indoors too soon, and since most don't have enough (or adequate) lighting, the seedlings tend to get spindly and weak before it's time to transplant them into the garden.

To make sure you start you flower seeds at the correct time, here are some guidelines to help you figure out how many weeks you need to allow between starting flower seeds indoors and transplanting them into the garden:

Flower & Weeks to Transplant Time:

Ageratum - 6 to 8
Aster - 6 to 8
Celosia - 6 to 8
Centaurea - 4 to 6
Cosmos - 4 to 6
Marigold - 4 to 6
Morning glory - 4 to 6
Snapdragon - 8 to 10
Statice - 8 to 10
Stock - 6 to 8
Strawflower - 6 to 8
Sweet Pea - 4 to 6
Zinnia - 4 to 6

Next week, we'll discuss starting herb seeds.

Related Articles:

Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors That Thrive

Get the Most Out of Mail Order Seed Catalogs

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

When To Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors

Many gardeners like to get a start on their spring garden by sowing seeds indoors. This is great, but if you start them too early, you can hurt your chances of success.

Since most people don't have enough (or adequate) lighting, the seedlings tend to get spindly and weak before it's time to transplant them into the garden.

So, make sure you don't start your vegetable seeds too early. Remember, smaller plants tend to transplant into the garden really well, so there is no pressing need to grow large transplants.

Here are some guidelines to help you figure out how many weeks you need to allow between starting vegetable seeds and transplanting them into the garden so you'll know when to start vegetable seeds indoors.

Vegetable & Weeks to Transplant Time:

Broccoli - 4 to 5
Brussels sprouts - 4 to 5
Cabbage - 4 to 5
Cauliflower - 4
Celery - 10
Chinese cabbage - 3 to 4
Cucumbers - 3 to 4
Eggplant - 6 to 7
Leeks - 8
Lettuce - 3 to 4
Melons - 3 to 4
Peppers - 7 to 8
Pumpkins - 3
Squash - 3
Tomatoes - 4 to 5

Next week, we'll discuss starting flower seeds.

Related Articles:

Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors That Thrive

Get the Most Out of Mail Order Seed Catalogs

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

Monthly Gardening Tips To Do List

Free Gardening Calendars For 2010 Now Available!

It's that time of year again and we have finished putting together our beautiful gardening calendars for 2010.

Each free gardening calendar comes with a colorful picture and two to three pages of gardening tips and "to dos" that are appropriate for that time of year including what to plan, plant, prune, maintain, plus weed and pest control and fun projects.

Print out as many as you want!

Just go to: Free Gardening Calendars

If you like them, make sure to share them with your family and friends.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

Blueberry Look-A-Likes and Taste-A-Likes

If you love blueberries, but just can't grow them because of their acidity and other requirements, you might want to try juneberries.

Juneberries (Amelanchier spp.), also known as serviceberries and saskatoons, are one of the easiest berries you can ever plant and grow.

Unlike blueberries, they grow in any type of soil, so you can plant them just about anywhere as long as they get full sun.

Juneberries produce sweet berries that taste very similar to blueberries and can be eaten fresh right off the shrub, used in baked goods, cobblers, dried and stored, or made into jams and jellies.

Because they naturally contain quite a lot of pectin, you don't need much thickener when cooking them into jam. The Indians, who used them like blueberries, dried them and added them in stews and pemmican.

They have seeds like a blueberry, but they are softer and have a mild almond flavor. When they are cooked, the taste is so similar to blueberries they are hard to tell apart.

Another great aspect of these shrubs and small trees is that they are very disease resistant and not susceptible to any insects.

Juneberries are not only tasty, but they are very ornamental with showy white flowers in the spring and red leaves in the fall.

Depending upon what variety you plant, they can be grown as shrubs or small trees, and each plant will produce large quantities of fruit.

Here are two varieties that do very well:

1. Juneberry / Serviceberry - Regent Saskatoon
Amelanchier alnifolia 'Regent'

Regent Saskatoon Serviceberry, (Amelanchier alnifolia 'Regent'), is a multi-stemmed shrub that displays multitudes of white flowers in spring and produces small black-purple fruits that are sweet; excellent for fresh eating or making jelly. Birds love them too. Since it flowers early in spring, this plant provides food for many pollinating insects. The gray-green foliage turns yellow to red in fall and is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Amelanchier 'Regent' is very winter hardy and has healthy foliage that is not bothered by insects or disease. It is drought tolerant but water regularly; do not over water.

Mature Height 4 - 6 feet (1.2 - 1.8 m)
Mature Spread 4 - 8 feet (1.2 - 2.4 m)
Soil Type Widely Adaptable
Moisture Widely Adaptable
Mature Form Mounding
Growth Rate Moderate
Sun Exposure Full Sun
Flower Color White
Fall Color Yellow to Red
Foliage Color Gray Green
Zones 2-7

2. Juneberry / Serviceberry - Shadblow
Amelanchier canadensis

Shadblow Serviceberry, (Amelanchier canadensis), is a large upright shrub that contains beautiful snowy white flowers in the spring before the foliage appears. The Shadblow produces sweet red-purple edible fruit that can be used in pies and jellies. This shrub spreads by sucker growth from the roots and the blue-green foliage turns yellow to red in the fall.

Mature Height 20 – 25 feet (6.0 - 7.6 m)
Mature Spread 10 – 15 feet (3.0 - 4.6 m)
Soil Type Widely Adaptable
Moisture Widely Adaptable
Mature Form Upright
Growth Rate Moderate
Sun Exposure Full Sun
Flower Color Snowy White
Fall Color Yellow to Red
Foliage Color Gray Green
Zones 4-8

Click Here: To purchase or get more information about Juneberries / Serviceberries

Other Helpful Articles:

How To Successfully Grow Wonderful Berries - Part 1

Successfully Grow Berries - Part 2

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

4 Best Ways To Use Fall Leaves In Your Garden

The tree leaves that accumulate around your yard or garden can be a valuable natural resource for you to use because they provide a good source of organic matter and nutrients.

Leaves don't always seem like a good thing however, especially when you have a lot of raking to do, but if you can, be thankful and hang on to your leaves.

Leaves contain 50 to 80 percent of the nutrients a plant extracts from the soil and air during the season, so if you can, use and recycle your leaves around your property rather than raking them up and throwing them away.

Here are 4 of the best ways to use leaves in your yard, garden, or landscape:

1. Leaf Uses - Mowing
Mowing leaves that have fallen on your lawn area is most effective when a mulching mower is used, but if the leaf drop is light, a regular mower will work just fine. In fact, during times of light leaf drop, or if there are only a few small trees in your yard, simply leave the shredded leaves in place on the lawn. They will act as a beneficial mulch and compost and will help your lawn.

2. Leaf Uses - Mulching
Leaves can be used as mulch in vegetable gardens, flower beds and around shrubs and trees. The best way is to rake the leaves into a pile and then shred them with your lawn mower or a shredder if you have one.

It you have the option, use a lawn mower with a bagging attachment because it is a fast and easy way to shred and collect the leaves. Leaves that have been mowed or run through some other type of shredder will decompose faster

Leaves that are not shredded won't decompose as well and will only smother what they are put on. Try and never let leaves remain on a lawn without raking them up or they can smother the grass underneath.

• Apply a 3 to 6 inch (7.5 to 15 cm) layer of shredded leaves around the base of trees and shrubs making sure not to put any right up against the trunk or main stem of trees or shrubs.
  
  
• In annual and perennial flower beds, a 2 to 3 inch (5 to 7.5 cm) mulch of shredded leaves is good.
  
  
• For vegetable gardens, a thick layer of leaves placed in between the rows work both as a mulch and as an all-weather walkway that will allow you to work in your garden during wet periods.

3. Leaf Uses - Soil Improvement
Leaves that have been raked and shredded can be worked directly into your garden and flower beds. A 6 to 8 inch (15 to 20 cm) layer of leaves tilled into a heavy, clay soil will improve aeration and drainage. The same amount worked into a light, sandy soil, will improve water and nutrient holding capacity.

Note: A basic strategy for using leaves to improve soil in vegetable gardens and annual planting beds is to collect and work them into the soil during the fall. This allows sufficient time for the leaves to decompose prior to spring planting. Adding a little fertilizer to the soil after working in the leaves will hasten their decomposition.

4. Leaf Uses - Composting
Leaves are great to add to your compost pile or bin. Once again, shredding them first will help them decompose faster, but whole leaves can be added in as well.

Other Helpful Articles:

The Complete Guide To Mulch

Mulching - How Much and How Deep?

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

Keep Tulip Bulbs Cold!

One of the most common problems with tulip bulbs is that they don't need that much warmth to start breaking dormancy and begin growing.

So it's not unusual to see tulips growing in the middle of winter during a brief warm spell only to be killed or ruined by a heavy frost or snow a few days later.

To avoid this problem, keep your tulips as cold as possible - as long as possible.

Here's What To Do:

1. Tulips need to be planted in cold soil so they don't send up shoots. Tulips planted in warm soil, or even soil that gets a lot of sun during the day where it can warm up won't do as well.

2. Plant tulips deep! Plant them 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) deep because if they are planted too shallow, it can lead to premature growth. Deep planting also will produce large, uniform flowers for many years, plus deep planting also makes the bulbs less susceptible to mouse and squirrel damage.

3. Mulch the soil - but only AFTER THE SOIL FREEZES. A 2 to 3 inch (5 to 7.5 cm) layer of shredded leaves, wood shavings, or compost in the winter will keep the soil consistently COLD (not warm).

Other Helpful Articles:

How To Buy Flower Bulbs

Confidently Forcing Bulbs - The Best Ever!
Professional tips and insights into forcing bulbs

The First Flowers of Spring
Five delightful plants that flower well before other, more popular spring bulbs

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!

Late Fall Tilling

Tilling your soil in the late fall can be very beneficial, but there can also be some drawbacks.

Benefits:

1. It can help control insects, such as corn borer, corn earworm, cucumber beetle, squash bug, slug eggs, and vine borer because it exposes overwintering insects to winter conditions.

2. It can also make spring soil preparation easier because by adding organic matter now, your soil will be in better condition in a few months and will be easier to dig and plant.

3. Tilling in the fall allows a large amount of organic matter such as guano, compost, bark, and manures to be turned into the soil. This organic matter will start decomposing because the microbes are active currently and ready to start breaking everything down.

Drawbacks:

While all of the above are very good benefits, tilling in the fall should be done with some thought.

1. Soil erosion can be a problem if your area gets huge rain or winds during the fall and winter months. If that is the case, think about the tradeoffs of losing good topsoil to waiting and doing your tilling in the spring.

2. Be careful not to ruin your soil structure. Never work wet soil, especially clay. You may ruin the soil structure for years to come. Here's how to best determine How To Care For Your Soil Structure with this step-by-step article: Care For Your Soil Structure

For more Gardening Tips and Gardening Advice visit our main gardening website at Weekend Gardener Monthly Web Magazine

Have great week!