Fall Clean-Up...Continued

OK - I think Jason and I have finally finished getting our gardens and yards cleaned up in preparation of the winter season. Here are the final things we have crossed off our list:

Spring Bulbs We finally planted our spring bulbs! Experts say you should do this prior to the first severe freeze. We actually didn't get around to planting them until after our first hard freeze. But since then, the weather has warmed up tremendously (we went from 40s to 80s) so I think we should be okay. I guess we'll find out in March/April. We definitely don't recommend waiting so long to get your bulbs planted - I just hate pulling out perfectly good marigolds, when I can wait another week or two for them to stop blooming.

Mulch We added a generous layer of mulch around all of our trees (especially the young ones) and also to my butterfly garden, where I have a lot of perennials planted. This is definitely something you want to do if you live in a region where there is harsh winter weather. One thing I've learned, is when mulching trees, be sure to leave a small ring around the base of the trunk to prevent mold and other diseases.

Vegetable Garden Jason finally put his vegetable garden to bed, yesterday! The hard freeze killed his tomato and pepper plants (thankfully he pulled all of the fruit off the day before) and he's removed all plants and covered the garden with fallen leaves.

Yard Art We pulled out all of our yard art, hosed them off and have stored them away until spring. Also, we put a polycrylic coating over our garden center, which we were told would weatherproof it during the winter. (We also sprayed a polycrylic coating on all of our yard art earlier in the year, and they still look as good as the day we bought them!)

Anyway, those are just a few things that we've done to help prepare for the fast-approaching winter season. What tasks do you hope to accomplish to keep your yards ready for the cold weather? Leave a comment!

Continuing with Fall Clean-Up Ideas

With fall in full-swing, Jason and I are busy cleaning up our gardens and preparing them for winter. The idea that I want to share today is a short and easy one.

Behind our property, is a row of tall cottonwood trees. In the fall, they drop all of their leaves...right into our backyard! Raking them up is no fun, but we've recently learned how to use them to our benefit.

Instead of raking up the piles of leaves and disposing of them...we just rake them right into the vegetable garden. The fallen leaves provide protection from winter's harsh weather and come spring, we'll just move the leaves aside and tuck them around new plant growth to prevent weeds and to retain moisture. The leaves will eventually break down and nourish the soil.

What are you doing to prepare your yard for winter? I'd love to hear any tips you might like to share! Feel free to leave your comments.

A super easy idea that makes a big difference!

Planning Ahead with Plant Markers

As much as I enjoy the fall season, it is always sad to see my butterfly garden wither away as it prepares for winter. One thing I plan to do differently this year, is to mark each plant before it becomes unrecognizable. (I wish I had done this last year - it would have made planning the addition of more plants much easier!)

Using the abundance of paint sticks that we have accumulated over the years from all of our paint projects, I broke each one in half and wrote the name of the plant with permanent marker on the stick and placed it in each plant area. This will enable me to have a much better idea of what plants I have and how much room will be available if I choose to add more to the garden next year.

Note: Don't have any paint sticks readily on hand? Most home improvement stores will hand them out free-of-charge, if you ask. You could also use smooth river rock as an alternative plant marker, too!

Sunflowers Are for the Birds!

I think the sunflowers that we planted have just about had it! They were nice while they lasted, though. Jason was going to cut them down but we came up with another idea, instead. I thought it was worth sharing on here.

With cooler weather on its way, we cut and bundled our sunflowers together with twine and propped them up in our yard to use as natural bird-feeders. As the giant heads continue to dry out, producing sunflower seeds...it will give the birds in our area quite the feast! (And hopefully, we'll benefit by seeing some interesting birds!)

If you're interested in seeing more pictures, check out our Garden Photo Journal.

My Best Resource for Easy, Cheap Tips

I'd love to say that I know everything there is to know about gardening. Heck, I'd love to say that I know one-third of everything there is to know about gardening! But, having only been gardening for less than 5 years, it's apparent that I have a lot of catching up to do before declaring myself a seasoned gardener.

I like to spend the winter months researching and reading about gardening. It's hard to know where to start though, given that there are hundreds of thousands of books, magazines and other materials all aimed at teaching the unlearned-gardener how to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs! And honestly, a lot of the sources that I've read make gardening sound complicated and very expensive.

However, I have found a magazine that actually makes gardening sound easy and affordable! Are you ready for my money-saving, knowledge-increasing all-time favorite magazine subscription? (Sorry...didn't mean to get carried away there!)

We subscribe to Backyard Living and it costs us about $13.00 for a 2-year subscription (12 issues). They have such great penny-pinching ideas though, that it makes the subscription worthwhile. Backyard Living features sections like: Yard Smarts that Work, The Frugal Gardener (my husband really likes that section!), Budget Backyard Makeover and other articles that can truly benefit the novice gardener.

So anyway, that's my big tip! If you are interested in reading through a copy of Backyard Living, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I can sign you up to receive 1 free issue.

Want to share some of your favorite gardening references and know-how? Comments are most welcome!

Winning the War Against Spider Mites

When we first bought our house three years ago, we fell in love with the previous owner's front yard flower bed that was full of marigolds. So naturally, every Spring we would plant marigold seeds in hopes of recreating the same lush flowerbed that the previous owner had maintained.

This worked out well, until mid-summer arrived with its hot and dry weather. We started noticing that some of our marigold flowers were completely covered in thickly spun spider webs, a problem that was rapidly spreading. After doing some research, we found out that the problem we had was spider mites.

Our first thought was to spray a spider mite-specific pesticide on our flowerbed to rid of the problem, but we realized that this could potentially harm any butterflies that we were hoping to attract, so we immediately scratched that idea. A friend of ours suggested spraying soapy water on the plants (concentrating on the underside of the foliage where the spider mites hide) and this worked out okay...but not great.

Then I received an issue of Backyard Living (I could do a post on this magazine alone, it's that good!) and in their reader tips section, someone posted the following recipe for repelling aphids -and more importantly, spider mites- and so far, it has really worked wonders for us:

Mix 1/3 cup cooking oil and 1 teaspoon baking soda in a jar; keep covered until needed. Combine 2 teaspoons of mixture with 1 cup of water in a sprayer. Test on a few leaves before spraying the whole plant.

I'd love to hear any non-chemical suggestions you might have for battling the war against spider mites or any other garden pests. Feel free to leave me comments on this post!