Fertilizer application rates and timing depend on what you’re growing and how fertile your soil is. Test your soil to determine its fertility. In the fall, take several cups of soil from different parts of your garden, and mix them in a bucket.
Take your samples from 2 to 5 inches below the surface, as surface [...]
Every time you pick a cucumber, you remove nutrients that came from the soil. Unless you use fertilizers to replace those nutrients, your soil will gradually become depleted and your garden less productive.
All materials that supply nutrients to growing plants are fertilizers, though they may differ in the amounts of nutrients they carry. Fertilizers are [...]
Peony (Paeonia)
Zones: 2-9
Bloom Time: Late spring and early summer
Growing Conditions: Requires a bit of sun and will grow in most soil conditions.
Care: Peonies come in reds, pinks, whites, and yellows and is an old fashioned garden favorite. It prefers to be left alone once established and does not adjust very quickly when divided. Peony varieties [...]
If you are looking to fill your garden with perennials that are easy to grow and require very little maintenance, you do have several lovely plants to choose from.
Allegheny Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Zones: 3-9
Bloom Time: Late spring and early summer
Growing Conditions: Prefers shady, woodland settings
Care: These plants, which contain white or pink flowers that look [...]
Spiderwort (Tradescantia)
Zones: 4-9
Bloom Span: Three to four months
Growing Conditions: Prefers cool and moist soil combined with full sun. Will also grow in partial shade.
Care: Tradescantia can be a bit of an aggressive plant, therefore you may need to control new plant growth by weeding out young plants as they form. Or, you can crowd them [...]
Gayfeather or Blazing Star (Liatris)
Zones: 3-9
Bloom Span: Three Months
Growing Conditions: Easy to grow in just about any soil type, but will likely require staking if grown in rich soil. Will grow in partial shade or in full sun.
Care: Liatris is a long lived plant and usually does not require division. Although they self seed, [...]