Tag Archive for: gardens

VIDEO: Spring Flowers Melt the Winter Blues with Garden Answer!

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Spring has sprung and it’s time to get outside and plant up some early spring containers. A trip to the local garden center will surely inspire you. Plant big pots of brightly colored bulbs and annuals to liven up entryways, patios and balconies. Laura from Garden Answer shows you just how easy it is to do in the video below.

Laura fills her containers with tulips and violas, true harbingers of spring. Alternatively, you could also use daffodils and other cold hardy annuals like Iceland poppies or nemesia. In cold climates, it’s important to select plans that are hardy enough to withstand a cold snap.

These early spring containers will flower for a month or so, bridging the gap from early spring to the frost-free date. When it’s time to plant summer containers, replant the tulips out into the garden where they’ll bloom again next spring. The violas may also be moved to a lightly shaded area of the garden.

 

Four Easy Steps to Early Spring Containers

  1. Prep Containers. Fill containers three-quarters full with good, quality potting soil like Espoma’s Potting Mix and prepare to plant bulbs at the depth they were in the nursery pot.
  2. Add Nutrients. Add Bulb-tone fertilizer to the soil, following package directions.
  3. Get ready to plant. Gently remove the plants from their pots and loosen roots. Add plants.
  4. Finish it up. Backfill containers with more potting soil and water deeply.

 

Enjoy flowers for even longer by choosing tulips or daffodils that are not yet in full bloom. When finished blooming, just remove the flower stem. The leaves will still provide a vertical accent and the bulbs need the foliage to replenish themselves.

Taking time to deadhead the violas will extend their bloom time. If temperatures are cool, you may only need to water containers once a week.

Check out these videos from Garden Answer about tulips and early spring planting.

 

Plant Your Window Boxes Like Garden Answer

 

How to Care For Your Tulips After They’ve Bloomed

 

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VIDEO: Caring for Your Christmas Cactus with Garden Answer

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In this video, Laura from Garden Answer shares her top tips for nurturing everyone’s favorite holiday plant—the Christmas cactus! These beloved plants can thrive for years with proper care and attention.

Laura recommends starting with a high-quality organic potting soil, like Espoma Organic Cactus Mix, specially formulated for cacti and succulents. She also emphasizes the importance of fertilizing, suggesting Espoma Organic Cactus! Liquid Plant Food to keep your plant healthy and blooming.

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5 Ways to Give Your Summer Garden a Boost

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There’s no better way to enjoy your garden than by encouraging it to grow bigger and better. Before your summer veggies and flowers peak, take your garden to the next-level by refueling it.

Knock-out these 5 essential tasks and your garden will thank you. You’ll extend your summer season and ensure that your lawn and garden are in tip-top shape.

 

5 Ways to Give Your Summer Garden a Boost

1. Hydrate. When it’s hot, dry and muggy, the best thing is a nice cold drink. Your plants need some H2O, too. The trick to keeping your garden hydrated during the hottest days is not to water more. It’s to water smarter. Water plants deeply in the morning so they have the entire day to soak it up.

Image courtesy of Garden Answer

2. Keep plants fed. Your summer veggies and flowers are hungry. Feed hanging baskets, container gardens and annuals with liquid Bloom! plant food every 2 to 4 weeks. Vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers are heavy feeders. Continue to feed every 2 weeks with organic fertilizers Tomato-tone or Garden-tone.

3. Prune and deadhead. Extend the life of perennials by deadheading flowers as soon as they are spent. This will encourage plants to keep blooming as long as weather permits. Your roses will thank you. Prune tomato suckers and shrubs now, for fuller plants later.

4. Mow lawns strategically. When mowing, keep the mower blades high (3” or higher) to encourage healthy roots. Cut grass in the evening to give it time to recover and keep yourself cool.

5. Plant more! There are many quickly maturing plants that will thrive in summer gardens and be ready for harvest in the fall. Try planting radishes, cucumbers, beans and more.

Sit back and relax! Take a good look at your hard work and dream about the rewards and bountiful harvests you’ll enjoy in the months to come.

If you’re looking to get a better tomato harvest this summer, be sure to check out our complete tomato guide!

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May Gardening Checklist: 5 Essential To-Dos for a Thriving Garden

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May is one of the busiest and most exciting months in the garden. Flowers are blooming, veggies are sprouting, and summer crops are ready to go in. But to keep your garden thriving naturally, it’s important to use the right organic products to nurture your soil, plants, and harvest.

Here’s your Espoma-approved May checklist to prep your garden for a healthy, productive summer season.

Garden Clean up

1: Tidy Up Your Garden Space

Start fresh by clearing out weeds, dead plants, and old debris — this keeps pests and diseases in check and opens up space for new growth. As you tidy up, top off your beds with Espoma Organic Land & Sea Gourmet Compost to enrich the soil with nutrients and improve texture.

Once your garden is clean, you can apply a layer of mulch to help conserve moisture and regulate soil temperature. This simple prep sets the stage for everything that comes next.

spring crops

2: Harvest Early Spring Crops

Your cool-weather crops like lettuce, spinach, radishes, and peas are likely ready to harvest. After picking, don’t leave that soil depleted! Replenish it by working in Espoma Organic Garden-tone or Plant-tone to restore nutrients before planting your summer vegetables.

For container gardens, refresh the mix with Espoma Organic Raised Bed Mix or Potting Mix so your new plants have a rich, organic base to grow in. Healthy soil = healthy crops.

People planning a project

3: Plan Your Garden Layout Thoughtfully

Before you rush to plant, take a little time to sketch out your garden plan. Group plants with similar needs together, and research what varieties perform best in your area. If you’re unsure, visit a local garden center and look for recommendations — and while you’re there, pick up organic fertilizers suited for what you’re planting (like Espoma Organic Tomato-tone for tomatoes, Berry-tone for berries, or Rose-tone for roses).

Planning ahead ensures you can match the right organic products to the right plants, maximizing growth and minimizing problems down the line.

planting with organic fertilizer

4: Get Planting — and Feed Organically

Once your area is frost-free, it’s time to plant! Whether you’re planting veggies, flowers, or herbs, give them the best start by enriching the planting hole with Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus. This starter fertilizer contains mycorrhizae, which help plants establish strong root systems and reduce transplant shock.

As the season goes on, continue feeding regularly with Espoma Organic Tone Fertilizers, depending on what you’re growing. These slow-release, organic fertilizers keep plants nourished naturally, without the risk of burning or chemical buildup.

planting

5: Transfer Indoor Seedlings Outdoors Carefully

If you started seeds indoors, harden them off gradually before moving them outside. Once ready, plant them in your garden or containers and mix Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus into the soil. This ensures young plants have access to the nutrients and beneficial microbes they need to get established and grow strong healthy roots.

For containers, fill pots with Espoma Organic Potting Mix, which provides excellent drainage and moisture retention while feeding plants with organic ingredients. Don’t forget to water thoroughly after transplanting to help roots settle in.

family in vegetable garden

🌸 Bonus Tip: Keep Feeding and Caring All Season Long

Throughout the summer, keep an eye on your plants. Feed every month or as needed with the appropriate Espoma Organic fertilizer for each plant type. Water deeply at the base, mulch to retain moisture, and enjoy the lush, organic garden you’ve worked so hard to create.

With the right products and a little care, you’ll be harvesting beautiful, homegrown food and flowers all summer long — the organic way!

Featured Products:

Espoma Organic Potting soil Mix Big bagEspoma Organic Land and SeaEspoma Raised Bed Mix bag  Espoma Organic Tomato-toneEspoma Organic Rose-tone bagEspoma Organic Plant-tone organic fertilizer

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Container Garden Tip: Extend Summer Color! ????

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4 Tips to extend the life of containers for a summer of color.

 

Containers filled with bright blooms are great additions to any patio, yard, or landscape. Containers help add beautiful pops of color and are easy to maintain with the right care.

Before summer’s heat and dry conditions get the best of them, give containers what they need to extend their life into summer with these 4 easy tips.

liquid fertilizer, potting soil, container gardening

1. Deadhead. Use pruners or shears to snip off dead or dying flowers, stems, and foliage. This is called deadheading. Don’t be afraid to clip stems back a little to encourage new growth. This not only makes the plant look better, it helps encourage more blooms.

Hint: Want even less work? You can always opt for plants that do the deadheading on their own, like Million Bells.

liquid fertilizer, potting soil, container gardening

2. Feed. Feed established containers with our Bloom! liquid fertilizer to promote & prolong flowering or sprinkle granular plant food, like Plant-tone, on the soil surface and gently work in and water thoroughly.

 

3. Water. Containers need to be drenched – generally every day – and make sure to get the roots. Water the container until it pours from the drainage holes. Be sure to empty saucers to keep roots from getting waterlogged.

 

4. Replace. If all else fails, simply replace the leggy or tired plants in your container garden with late-season bloomers, like ornamental cabbage, coneflowers or sedum.

Now that your containers are taken care of, sit back and enjoy the extra color that will surround you while enjoying the beauty and warmth of summer!

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2016 Philly Flower Show Hitting It Out of the Park

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During the final stretch before spring, the Philadelphia Flower Show gives us a magical, beautiful taste of all that’s to come. Which is why we, at Espoma, are thrilled to once again be a contributing sponsor of the show.

Mark your calendar, the show starts in just 4 days! Explore the must-see highlights of the 2016 Philadelphia Flower Show here.

Philadelphia Flower Show, Philly Gardening

Explore All of America’s National Parks in ONE Day

The 2016 Philadelphia Flower Show, “Explore America,” is celebrating 100 years of the National Park Service.

  • Begin in the Big Timber Lodge. Walk into the quintessential National Park building – filled with a 12’ waterfall, a life-size buffalo sculpture and a variety of woodland plants.
  • Ride the Railway Garden. You’ll wish you could hop on this locomotive! The Train Garden shrinks the American landscape and fills it with large-scale model trains.
  • Fly Away in the Butterfly Room. More than 1,000 butterflies flutter around a magical room – landing on native plants and you! Great for kids!
  • Find Your Friends at Fido Friday. The return of Yappy Hour! It’s Fido Friday on March 11th. Bring your dog, talk Safe Paws and meet fellow dog-owners who love gardening.
  • Discover Incredible Containers. Unbelievable colors and textures in stunning containers. Unearth the beauty, fun and adaptability of container gardens at Espoma’s “Beauty of Container Gardening” display. As always, it’s 100 percent organic.

The Skinny on the Philadelphia Flower Show

  • What: The world’s oldest and largest indoor flower show, attracting more than 260,000 people
  • When: Saturday, March 5 – Sunday, March 13.
  • Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center
  • How: Buy tickets online or at the door

 Explore our nation’s majestic National Parks in their full glory – wildflowers and evergreens included!

Don’t Leave Hanging Baskets Out to Dry…

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Hanging baskets make great visual impacts when they are filled to the brim with bright summer blooms. They add instant color to any spot and are a sign of warm weather.

Though as days get hotter and the summer rolls on, hanging baskets can start to look tired: drooping blooms, minimal flowers and straggly plants.

Your hanging basket isn’t doomed. It just needs a good ol’ fashion pick-me-up.

Refresh your hanging baskets to keep them partying all summer long

Get ready to give your hanging baskets a make-over. With these tips, your hanging basket will be back in its prime in no time.

Photo Courtesy Proven Winners

Photo Courtesy Proven Winners

Take the Heat Off Hanging Baskets

  1. Test the Waters Hanging baskets need more water when temperatures rise. During the peak of summer’s heat, water baskets in the morning until water drips from the drainage holes. Check them again in the afternoon to see if they need more water. On windy days, hanging baskets dry out, so they will need even more water.
  2. Food for Thought. Feed hanging baskets  with an organic flower food, like Flower-tone or the new Bloom! liquid plant food. Because of how much water baskets need, nutrients are frequently flushed from the soil. Regular feedings give your hanging baskets the energy they need to shine and bloom continuously.https://www.espoma.com/liquids/
  3. Drop Dead Gorgeous Blooms. As flowers fade, pinch them off where they meet the stem. Deadheading hanging baskets keeps them producing flowers and prevents them from going to seed.
  4. Which to Switch. Not every flower blooms all summer. If one of your flowers is done blooming for the season, swap it out. Gently remove the flower, replace it with a vibrant plant and fill with an organic potting soil.
  5. What to Cut. When your hanging basket is looking a bit wild or leggy, cut it back by 1-2”.

Look at that! Your hanging baskets already look better. Keep up these tips throughout the summer to keep hanging baskets fresh, beautiful and blooming.

Out of Town? Don’t Let the Garden Go Brown

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Gardener’s Guide: Hydration while on Vacation

As you pack your bags, finish up at work and plan your vacation adventures, one lingering question remains, “Who will water my plants?

Yes, we’d all like to have a friend or neighbor available to care for our garden while we’re out of town, but that’s not always a possibility.

Luckily, you can prep your garden before you go on vacation. Here are some tricks.

vacation garden tips

While You’re On Vacation, Treat Your Garden to a Stay-cation 

  1. Right on Time. Install a water timer to automate watering. You can opt for a more complex drip irrigation system or simply use a timer with sprinklers. Plan to give plants about 1” of a water a week.
  2. Pack a Snack. Keep your plants well-fed and packed with nutrients while you’re gone. Feeding your veggies, flowers and herbs with the right organic plant food sets them up for success and gives them the strength they need to survive tough situations.
  3. Much Mulch. Mulch helps plants retain 25-50 percent more water, so it’s perfect for vacation use. Make sure all plants have 2-3” of mulch. Water the mulch until it’s wet all the way through.
  4. Cluster Containers. Group containers in a shady spot where they’ll be watered by a sprinkler. Or if going out of town for 1-2 weeks, place containers out of direct sunlight in a kiddie pool filled with a few inches of water.
  5. Take Your Pick. Pick anything and everything from your edible plants. That includes any tomatoes showing color, pint-sized cucumbers and zucchinis and any beans you see. Picking will keep plants producing and provides healthy, organic snacks for your travels, too.
  6. Mow Before You Go. Mow the lawn the day before your trip. Simple!

Now, sit back, relax and get ready for an invigorating vacation! Your plants will surely miss you, but they’ll be just fine while you’re gone.  

Double your Roses by Feeding and Deadheading

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Is there anything better than walking into your garden, smelling the heavenly scent of a rose and seeing a luscious rose bloom?

Believe it or not, we think there is!

More roses!

Once your roses start blooming, all you want is for more roses to grow, too! Stack the odds in your favor by feeding and deadheading your roses now.

Give Your Roses an Energy Boost!

roses

 

To create those gorgeous, lovely rose blooms, roses need lots of energy! You don’t think those beautiful blooms just happen, do you?

  1. Ohm. Find the Right Balance. Roses need a balanced, organic fertilizer made specifically for roses. A balanced food with the same amounts of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) keeps the roots, flowers and foliage growing strong and healthy.
  2. Do as the Experts Do. Don’t the experts always know best? That’s what it seems like from those toothpaste commercials at least! The same is true in the garden. Rose-tone by Espoma, an organic plant food, is preferred by professional rose-growers. Follow their lead to grow bigger, better roses! Dare we say, prizewinning?
  3. The 30 Day Phase. Feed your roses once a month during the growing season. When you use a slow-release, organic fertilizer, your roses have enough to eat for 30 days. After that, they’ve consumed all the soil’s nutrients and need their energy source replenished. If the soil is dry, make sure you water roses heavily before feeding them. Find out more here.
  4. Look Dead? Off with their Head. Anyone who grows roses knows the value of deadheading. Roses will bloom all season if you remove spent flowers. Otherwise, the roses focus on seeding – not flowering. Plus, deadheading is easy! With pruners, simply cut dead roses just below the flower to the first set of leaves. Leave the leaves though, since these help plants grow strong. During drought, deadheading also reduces the plants need for water, increasing its chance of surviving this dry spell.
  5. Don’t stop there. Continue to deadhead roses until late August. This will allow the rose to form the important seed bearing hips it needs to produce even more flowers next spring!

Soon, roses will be coming up every which way! Go forth and create big, beautiful blooms with your newfound knowledge.

Mother’s Day Container Garden Ideas

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Freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, homemade sandwiches with the crusts cut off and secret passwords— mom did it all for you. She showered you with love in so many ways, big and small.

Now it’s your turn to remind Mom how much you truly appreciate her.

Since Mom has made so many wonderful treasures for you over the years, take the time to make her a gift she’ll enjoy for months!

From a traditional hanging basket to a funky container garden, select a container that’s just her style, fill it with her favorite flowers and present a homemade gift that will bloom and delight for months!

Watch our video on container gardening for each step of the process, or follow the steps below.

First, find the perfect container. There are tons of fun, colorful and patterned containers out there. Or get creative and use an unexpected object. Either way, select the one that screams “Mom!” to you.

Be sure your container has drainage holes at the bottom and be sure it isn’t too big. Once the container is filled with soil, it can get pretty heavy.

Next, look for 3-5 flowers, grasses or greenery. If you already know Mom’s favorite flowers, definitely use those.

Then, choose plants that spill, thrill and fill! You want a plant that cascades, one that mounds and one that stands out among the rest.

You can mix colors, or stick with a monochromatic color scheme. Have fun with it!

Regardless, it’s best to make sure your plants like the same growing conditions. As a final check before checkout, compare plant tags to see if they all need the same amount of sun and water.

While you’re still shopping, grab a bag of the best organic potting mix.

Espoma Organic Potting Mix is not only 100 percent organic, but contains Myco-tone Mycorrhizae, too.

Plants growing in Espoma Organic Potting Mix require up to 30 percent less water than other potting soils. With water restrictions a concern, Mom will use less water for her container.

Plus, Espoma Organic Potting Mix helps your plants adjust to their new home better and grow bigger roots for bigger plants.

Now, get crafty!

  1. Fill the container 3/4 full with Espoma’s Organic Potting Mix.
  2. Mix in 2 tablespoons of Espoma’s Bio-tone® Starter Plus with the soil to give it that extra oomph. This organic plant food encourages bigger and more plentiful blooms!
  3. Remove the plants from their original containers and arrange them in the new planter.
  4. Play around a bit. Move the plants around to see where each plant looks best.
  5. Once the plants look perfect to you, fill in any gaps in the container with organic potting soil.
  6. Water well.
  7. Stick your Mother’s Day card in the soil on a floral pick and tie a bow around the container.

Wait till you see Mom’s face when you arrive on Mother’s Day with a beautiful, homemade container garden!

Share a photo of your Mom with her homemade Mother’s Day container on our Facebook page! And tell her Happy Mother’s Day from Espoma!

Espoma. A Family Tradition Since 1929.

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