Sowing Seeds Tips

Consider seeds for a head start on spring. Starting flowers, vegetables and herbs can save you money, and give you a lot of satisfaction.

Another bonus is having a greater choice of species and varieties. Instead of a garden center petunia mix, you can choose the precise color or form you prefer.

Why sow your own?

You can try more fragrant varieties of favorite annuals such as nicotiana or grow less well-known plants, such as airy Brazilian verbena (Verbena bonariensis) or firecracker vine (Mina lobata).You can start perennials that may not be available at your local garden centre, and when it comes to vegetables and herbs, you can find more flavorful varieties that put supermarket produce to shame.Starting your own plants isn't too difficult once you get the basic techniques down.

Step-by-step sowing instructions

Most packets have growing information printed on the back.In general, annuals and vegetables germinate quickly and are easy to grow, so if you are just getting started, these are your best bet.Annuals tend to germinate at temperatures between 64 to 70F (18 to 21C), but many perennials need cold treatment to break dormancy.In the real world outside, they lie on the ground all winter and then sprout when the weather warms in spring. You can mimic this in the refrigerator or outside in a cold frame.

What to use as a growing mix

For sowing, use a commercial starting medium (a mix of peat, perlite and vermiculite, such as Pro-Mix). Moisten it an hour or so before sowing. It should not be soggy - aim for the moisture of a wrung-out sponge.As general rule, sow seeds about as far below the growing mix as they are large. Big ones generally should be covered with growing mix, and tiny ones barely need to be covered.If light is needed for germination, do not cover them at all - just press them into the growing mix.Give all trays or pots a light watering and cover with a plastic dome lid or seal the container inside a plastic bag. Newly sprouted seedlings tend to look alike, so be sure to label containers as you sow.

Water Garden Tips

You want an easy water garden, but digging a hole in the ground and wrestling with pond liners doesn't seem particularly easy, nor is it your idea of a fun weekendSo here's a neat water garden that's versatile, doesn't take up much space and requires little maintenance.I've had a pond-in-a-pot for a few years now. It just takes 20 minutes to set up on the patio at the beginning of the season. Nothing could be simpler.

 How to create an easy water garden

Pond in pot - makes an easy water gardenEssentially a pond-in-a-pot is a large watertight pot with submerged or floating water plants arranged to create a pleasing composition.For a container water garden, it's best to start out with a water-tight pot, intended for water gardening. I chose a glazed pot traditionally used to grow lotus plants (shown here).However, any large watertight container at least 18 inches high with a diameter of at least 24 inches will do.Half barrels are a great size, and many garden centers now sell them with plastic liners as easy-to-set up kits.

If you're going to set it up on a deck, balcony or roof-top, remember that a container water garden is heavy, so check that the structure is strong enough to support the weight.

If you're concerned about weight, but still want the sound of water in your garden, consider the versatility of garden fountains for your deck or patio (link to Plow and Hearth opens in new window.

Flower Bulbs

Image via Wikipedia

Planting flowerbulbs is one of my favorite fall gardening tasks. I like to do this on crisp, sunny autumn days, knowing that in a few months crocuses, tulips and daffodils will brighten winter-weary spirits.If you plan carefully, the show can last from late winter to June. The beauty of spring-flowering bulbs is their incredible variety, in size and shape, color and bloom time.In fall when the garden is still full of foliage from summer's perennials, it's hard to recall how stark the beds can look in early spring. So be sure to plant abundantly so your spring show has impact. 

 Spring color with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths

If there's one bulb that seems to personify spring, it has to be tulips. These bulbs are the ultimate visual spring tonic, and there are scores of wonderful tulip varieties to choose from. You can even go for the drama of 'black' tulips.Next to tulips, daffodils are amongst the best-loved spring bulbs, and unlike tulips, their flowers are deer and squirrel-proof.Beloved for their spring fragrance, modern hyacinths come in showy colors, and are easy to force for indoor display.

Shade gardening

There's no doubt that shade gardening can be a challenge. Growing flowers in full sun is easier, and you have many more colorful plants to choose from.Even so, those of us with gardens that sizzle in the sun often find ourselves longing for cooling shade. A lush bed out of the heat and glare of the sun makes for an inviting garden oasis.The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from experiences with treed backyards that have brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade.

 Shade perennials bloom early in the season

Remember that a flower bed under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. That's because most plants thrive in shade, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early before trees leaf out.

This doesn't mean there won't be flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from.Annuals are a good bet. Impatiens will give you color in the shade all season long - the big reason that it's such a popular annual.When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage is your main feature through the season. You might also consider ground cover plants for low-light conditions.

 You can grow shade plants under evergreens

My shade garden (shown in the pictures on this page) happens to be under a grove of pine and spruce trees. It not an ideal setting - it get pretty dry - but it's the only shade I had.

When we started our garden in 1998, the area under the trees was a weedy mess, so it's come a long way!

Adding humus - we used composted bark and leaf mold - and mulching has worked wonders. The garden looks fabulous through the season.The key is to water during dry periods. With enriched soil and enough watering (a good soaking once a week), our shade plants - hostas, ferns, foam flowers, sweet woodruff and other woodlanders - thrive here.

Ornamental grasses

Ornamental grasses - if I had to choose a favorite group of plants in my garden, they would be at the top of my list.. Few plants are as versatile, carefree and dynamic as grasses.And yes, they do flower in subtle ways that grasses do - and they make wonderful companion plants for flowering perennials. Grasses contribute a contemporary design edge that will jazz up almost any garden. They really deliver on low maintenance and high style.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about grasses is that they are all invasive and will take over your garden.In fact, most grasses sold for home garden and landscape purposes are well-behaved clumping types that won't misbehave.

Grasses are magical because they're never static. They emerge lush green early in the season, and by summer they've filled out and begin to plume or flower. Through the season, they move with the slightest breeze and sound wonderful when the wind rustles through them.

In the fall, you get the later warm season grasses pluming and then changes of color to wheat, gold, flaming orange or copper. 

Ornamental grasses for North American gardens

Essentially a pond-in-a-pot is a large watertight pot with submerged or floating water plants arranged to create a pleasing composition.

For a container water garden, it's best to start out with a water-tight pot, intended for water gardening. I chose a glazed pot traditionally used to grow lotus plants (shown here).

However, any large watertight container at least 18 inches high with a diameter of at least 24 inches will do.Half barrels are a great size, and many garden centers now sell them with plastic liners as easy-to-set up kits.If you're going to set it up on a deck, balcony or roof-top, remember that a container water garden is heavy, so check that the structure is strong enough to support the weight. 

Aquatic plants for your easy water garden

Aquatic plants for your water garden will need a platform on which to sit. I used a large upside-down plastic nursery container and weighed it down with bricks.

Another method is to stack bricks up from the bottom of the container, but this will make your pot heavier.Once you have your shelf ready, you just fill the container with water and arrange a collection of water plants into a pleasing composition

Add a pump for the soothing sound of water

If you crave the sound of water in the garden, you can install a small re-circulating fountain pump at the bottom of the container with a short length of plastic hose attached to act as a small fountain.A pump isn't absolutely necessary in a container water garden, but it does prevent the water from going stagnant and breeding mosquitoes.I put my pump inside the upside-down plastic pot, and thread the plastic hosing (which takes the water up to the surface) through the drainage hole in the pot.With this style of water garden, the pump's electrical cord will be visible at the back of the container, but it's easy to camouflage with cleverly placed plants and foliage - just like I did with my container water garden in the picture shown above.If you don't have a pump, add a gold fish or two; they're voracious consumers of mosquito larvae. If fish are not for you, mosquito larvae are effectively controlled organically with BTi mosquito dunks.

Easy Water Garden

You want an easy water garden, but digging a hole in the ground and wrestling with pond liners doesn't seem particularly easy, nor is it your idea of a fun weekend. 

So here's a neat water garden that's versatile, doesn't take up much space and requires little maintenance.I've had a pond-in-a-pot for a few years now. It just takes 20 minutes to set up on the patio at the beginning of the season. Nothing could be simpler!

How to create an easy water garden

Essentially a pond-in-a-pot is a large watertight pot with submerged or floating water plants arranged to create a pleasing composition.

For a container water garden, it's best to start out with a water-tight pot, intended for water gardening. I chose a glazed pot traditionally used to grow lotus plants (shown here).

However, any large watertight container at least 18 inches high with a diameter of at least 24 inches will do.Half barrels are a great size, and many garden centers now sell them with plastic liners as easy-to-set up kits.If you're going to set it up on a deck, balcony or roof-top, remember that a container water garden is heavy, so check that the structure is strong enough to support the weight. 

Aquatic plants for your easy water garden

Aquatic plants for your water garden will need a platform on which to sit. I used a large upside-down plastic nursery container and weighed it down with bricks.

Another method is to stack bricks up from the bottom of the container, but this will make your pot heavier.

Once you have your shelf ready, you just fill the container with water and arrange a collection of water plants into a pleasing composition. 

Add a pump for the soothing sound of water

If you crave the sound of water in the garden, you can install a small re-circulating fountain pump at the bottom of the container with a short length of plastic hose attached to act as a small fountain.

A pump isn't absolutely necessary in a container water garden, but it does prevent the water from going stagnant and breeding mosquitoes.I put my pump inside the upside-down plastic pot, and thread the plastic hosing (which takes the water up to the surface) through the drainage hole in the pot.With this style of water garden, the pump's electrical cord will be visible at the back of the container, but it's easy to camouflage with cleverly placed plants and foliage - just like I did with my container water garden in the picture shown above.

If you don't have a pump, add a gold fish or two; they're voracious consumers of mosquito larvae. If fish are not for you, mosquito larvae are effectively controlled organically with BTi mosquito dunks.

More flower garden plant tips

Image via Wikipedia

• Damp spots in the garden -Native plants that thrive in moist sites
• Fall-bloomers - The season may be coming to an end, but why should your flower show stop early?
• Plants with attractive foliage - Why leaves matter in your garden design
• Perennial ground covers - Plants for those challenging spots on your property

Most garden perennials won't grow well if their roots are waterlogged for long periods of time. Excessive soil moisture displaces oxygen, which can cause roots to suffocate.

However, the plants that are native to wetland areas have acclimatized to thrive under these conditions.

By copying nature - choosing plants that flourish in moist places - you can turn your problem site into a garden asset that hosts beneficial species such as dragonflies, frogs and toads - even butterflies.

You may have considered extensive drainage projects, but generally it's less work and expense to choose plants that thrive in moist conditions.