Plant Tips
Plant Tip: Use Potting Soil, Not Dirt
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- Published on Tuesday, August 26 2014 07:03
- Written by BCG Editors
Ground dirt is not porous enough to allow good drainage in our plant containers. Potting soil, which is much better for potted plants, is available at every local garden shop. Potting soil contains peat moss, ground pine bark, vermiculite, perlite and added nutrients (often with slow-release fertilizers). The best part about potting soil in comparison to ground dirt is that it is free from weeds, garden pests and pesticides. It is not unheard of to have worm eggs or other hitchhikers in a purchased garden soil, but your odds are much lower of obtaining pests from bagged potting soil than dirt from someone else’s garden.
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Plant Tip: Start a Compost Bin
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- Published on Tuesday, August 19 2014 07:00
- Written by BCG Editors
Making compost for your plants is easy. Drill about 20 holes into the top, sides and bottom of an opaque 20-gallon storage bin. Put a bunch of shredded newspaper into the bin spray it with water so that it's moist but not soaking wet. Add a little bit of food (like some banana peels, old lettuce and avocado peels) and a bit of dirt. After a couple of weeks, add red worms (not earthworms) and feed the bin regularly. After a few months, you'll be able to harvest some worm castings, which will make your container plants grow like crazy!
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Plant Tip: Don't Just Grow Ornamentals
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- Published on Tuesday, August 12 2014 07:51
- Written by BCG Editors
Maybe you grew a lot of pretty flowers this spring but no edible plants. The cooler planting season is just around the corner, so why not grow some edible plants this fall, such as lettuce, spinach, potatoes, garlic, onion, etc.? Once you taste a freshly picked vegetable from the garden, you'll never want to eat a store-bought veggie again! There are many different varieties that you can grow that are not available at the grocery store. Heirloom vegetable varieties, which are usually tastier, are less hardy and do not ship well or last as long as grocery store varieties, but that doesn't matter if it's picked from your garden and eaten in your dining room on the same day!
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