garden tips | Gardening

5 Tips for Easy Gardens

By Alli Worthington | May 21st, 2013 at 4:36 pm

This post is sponsored by Disney Story. To find out more about this brand-new story-creation app – and how it puts the power of storytelling in your hands – click here.

I love my garden, but I’m not the most enthusiastic gardener. I just don’t have the time these days to devote to the type of garden I’d love to have. I have fantasies of myself someday as an old lady puttering around a half acre garden, big brimmed hat on my head, pruning shears clipping away, grandchildren playing around me.

But today? Yeah, that’s not happening.

Alli Alli, you may be asking, how does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row? Nope.

My garden is low maintenance. It grows and thrives even as I sit here with my laptop and cup of coffee. How do I do it? Glad you asked!

Select plants that are hardy. In my climate, blueberries are hardy, healthy, and easy to grow. Find what works in your area and go with it!

Plant where the planting is good. You don’t need to have some fancy raised bed with drip irrigation and pest screens. Is there a little spot next to your front stoop? Voila! Great for a grape vine!

Indoor herb garden. That kitchen windowsill is a nice place for an herb garden; basil and parsley can be right on hand for recipes. It can make your kitchen smell wonderful, too.

Perennials are your friend. Those pretty purple irises? They grow back every year. It’s like a friend coming back to visit each spring. Welcome, irises! You were missed!

Containers containers containers! You don’t need to put shovel to earth to have a garden. Potted plants on patios, balconies, and porches are magnificent ways to do gardening easily. Just make sure you keep them watered; they need more watering than plants that are in the ground.

Don’t let time constraints, lack of a “proper” garden space, or the belief you don’t have a green thumb prevent you from digging in the earth a bit. Go forth and plant!

And while you’re at it? Grab that Story app and grow a story as well!

Follow Disney Story on Twitter and like Disney Story on Facebook

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7 tips to save you money in the garden

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View full sizeDivide lavender and other plants, and spread them around to increase the number of flowers around your house at no extra cost.Lynn Ischay, Plain Dealer file
We all love to beautify our homes with annuals and perennials, or grow fresh vegetables for delicious meals, but gardening can get expensive. HGTV Gardens offered these low- and no-cost ways to save money gardening.

1. Stop buying expensive books and magazines (if you must have them, check them out from your local library). Seek out free advice. Attend free lectures held by your local garden club, garden center, horticulture society or cooperative extension service. Find free websites, blogs and instructional videos on YouTube.

2. Don’t buy mulch; make it by shredding leaves in the fall. Learn to turn household waste into compost.

3. Thin existing plants and spread them over your yard instead of buying new plants. Divide and replant day lilies, asters, hostas, sedum, butterfly weed, lavender and other plants. Swapping plants with neighbors is a no-cost way to increase diversity in your yard.

4. Learn how to harvest and store some vegetable and flower seeds to plant the following year. But make sure you are using heirloom or open pollinated plants; this won’t work with hybrid plants.

5. Organize a group of gardeners to buy in bulk and pay a lower price for plants and supplies.

6. Recycle items in your basement or garage that can have a second life in the garden. Turn wooden barrels, hat boxes, wicker baskets and more into containers. Create garden paths from logs cut into circular discs. Use a discarded wooden door as a garden gate, start seeds in empty egg cartons and use grapefruit rinds to catch slugs.

7. Take advantage of discount plants after peak planting season has passed. Take a chance on drooping flowers that you can coax them back to life.

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Boggy bliss for your garden

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Bog plants may be the saviour for gardeners battling with soggy ground, Hannah Stephenson discovers

The other week, maverick designer Diarmuid Gavin advised gardeners that they would have to roll with the weather to ensure their gardens survived and thrived the extremes.

That advice may prove useful to people who are looking out on yet another rainy day and wondering which plantings will withstand consistently soggy conditions and come to life in very wet soil.

Look at the positives of having a boggy site. Damp ground is a valuable wildlife habitat and there are plenty of plants which will thrive happily with wet feet, including bugle (Ajuga reptans), Siberian iris, lobelia, Arum lily and globeflower.

As for trees, native willows and alder are at their happiest in damp conditions if you have plenty of space to plant them a safe distance from your house.

Quite a few perennials and shrubs will thrive, such as hostas (although be vigilant against slugs and snails) and Jerusalem sage (Pulmonaria saccharata), an evergreen with white spotted foliage and red, pink or white flowers that bloom from late winter to late spring, while the foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) is a spreading perennial with spikes of creamy white.

Popular shrubs which will tolerate a lot of water include many viburnums, dogwoods and spiraea. For those with big bog gardens which are wet throughout the winter and damp in summer, go for the enormous Gunnera manicata, which has dark green deciduous leaves spanning up to 2.5m (8ft) and provides a great backdrop for seasonal flowers.

If you haven’t much space, it may be better to plump for smaller specimens such as houttuynia and mimulus, which go well together.

Another plant that boasts impressive foliage is the skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), which grows 1m (3ft) high by 1.25m (4ft) wide. But try not to plant it too close to nose level, as its big yellow flowers have a striking odour.

If you are creating a bog garden, bear in mind that bog plants look best in bold groups. Combine a good clump of foliage with some smaller, more colourful choices.

For those who want more colour, astilbes love wet soil and produce delicate plumes in white, pink, mauve, red and crimson in summer.

For a splash of green and yellow in spring, Euphorbia palustris is the one to go for, although beware of the milky sap which can irritate skin.

Cowslips should also be included in your bog garden border. Among the best is the giant cowslip (primula florindae), which grows to around 1m (3ft) and carries stunning tubular pendant yellow scented flowers in summer.

Another wonderful variety which is easily sown from seed is Primula denticulata, which bears beautiful flowerballs in lavender, cerise, mauve or white. And candelabra primulas are also bursting with colour in early summer, in a vast range of colours.

For a tall, elegant perennial, try Ligularia przewalskii, which has 2m (6ft) high stems and produces spires of yellow flowers in mid to late summer.

If you want your colour scheme to last longer, plant some Rodgersia podophylla, which has creamy white flowers in the summer and leaves which change colour beautifully in the autumn.

Remember that with plants which love soggy conditions, weed carefully as many of them will seed around the parents. If primulas do this, they have a tendency to produce a lot more colours.

If you want your wet garden to look natural, plant around existing features such as logs or mossy tree stumps. And make sure you dig in plenty of organic matter to help them along.

With a little imagination, you can soon reap the rewards of consistently wet soil and it should help stave off the misery of looking out at the rain.

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Gardening with kids: Tips and advice for starting an active and healthy habit

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Gallery: (24 images)

Hoai-Tran Bui, special to wtop.com

WASHINGTON – For adults, gardening can be one of the most rewarding activities
of
summer. However,
getting kids to enjoy the same activity may present challenges for some parents
and caregivers.

With rising levels of
childhood
obesity, and more youth engaging in increased screen time, sedentary
lifestyles in children and adolescents
is concerning. But gardening may offer the perfect middle ground
between a fun,
outdoor activity and a pastime
that offers exercise and promotes healthy habits.

“We see gardening as being a holistic activity for youth,” says Julie Parker-
Dickerson, the director of youth
education programs at the National Gardening
Association. “You
can garden in a very small space, you can
do it in an urban space, you can do it in containers.”

Gardening with Kids, a subset of
the National Gardening
Association, emphasizes the role of gardening in
the formative years of children. The organization uses gardening to teach students
about science and nature, and it strengthens their connection with nature, in
general.

“Anyone around kids can see the difference it makes for them to have time outside
in fresh air,” says Sarah
Pounders, education specialist at the NGA. “It is relaxing, provides exercise
(and) stimulates their senses
and minds without being over-stimulating.”

Melinda Kelley, program manager at We Can!
® from the
National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute at the National Institutes of Health, agrees that introducing gardening,
and the healthy foods that
result from gardening, gives youth a better chance of become healthy eaters later
in life. We Can! stands for
Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition. It’s a childhood obesity
prevention program that focuses
on improving healthy eating choices, increasing physical activity and decreasing
screen time, which includes
time spent on computers, games and television.

“It’s just a great way to bring people together,” Kelley says about gardening with
children. “When you take kids
to a farm, or take kids to a
garden or take them even to your backyard, you’re getting them away from the TV
and getting them up off
the couch and getting them to do something active.”

For parents who want to find a unique way to spend time with their kids, and for
those who just want to get
their kids outside this summer, try these tips for gardening with kids.

Don’t assume kids need “kid-friendly” gardening.

WTOP’s Garden Editor Mike McGrath says the smartest thing adults can do is
introduce children to
“real gardening.” He says trends and gimmicks — such as upside down tomato
planters or gardening in
straw bales — may seem fun and creative, but they are just trends that may not
even be safe to have around
small children.

“I think it’s degrading to pretend that children don’t have intelligence, that
they can’t be part of the real
world, that they can’t learn to do something correctly,” McGrath says. “If you
make them some sort of
bizarre playground of plants that has nothing to do with real gardening, you may
amuse them for about 20
minutes, then they’re going to get bored and they won’t have learned anything
about real gardening.”

Instead, Pounders recommends starting kids off
with raised beds or
container gardens, since they are much easier to plant and maintain.

Ask your kids what they want to do or plant.

Take your kids to the store and let them help pick out the seeds. Then, engage
them in planting the
seeds and watering the plants. Pounders says to choose seedlings for immediate
gratification and seeds for
delayed gratification.

Kelley says kids are more likely to be engaged in gardening if you frame it
around some of their
interests.

“Maybe some foods they’d like to try, (and) maybe just some plants they would like
to see what they’d look
like when they grow,” Kelley suggests.

Encourage them to eat the food they grow.

McGrath recommends growing small fruits and vegetables for children to munch
on, such as
raspberries, sugar snap peas or carrots.

“It’s really that first spring when the first peas come in, and the first little
fruits come in, that’s when you
say, ‘Hey do you want something really sweet, do you want to taste something
really delicious?’ And it’s not
in the fridge, it’s not in a box, it’s not in a store, it’s growing in our
backyard,” McGrath says. “And you take
them out, and once they have their first bite, they’re hooked. And there’s a kid
that suddenly, is always
going to have at least an acceptance of fresh food and an understanding of fresh
food.”

Pounders and Kelley agree that growing your own vegetables is the perfect way to
introduce children to
healthy, varied foods.

“The more you expose kids to healthy foods, I think you’re increasing the
likelihood that they’re going to be
receptive to those foods later,” Kelley says. “Just introducing foods to kids
numerous times can help them
overcome the picky eater issue that a lot of parents deal with.”

“Gardening is an activity that parents and kids can share while outdoors,”
Pounders says. “It teaches them a
lifelong skill — it can be a hobby or more fundamentally, it gives them the
knowledge to be able to obtain
their own food.”

Don’t expect to get a lot accomplished.

Children are naturally prone to distraction. Rather than tasking them with
pulling weeds or carting rocks, encourage them to do something creative.

“Let them enjoy what they are doing,” Pounders says. “They may get as much joy
just digging in the soil as
actually planting something.”

And while gardening is a slow process that many impatient children will find
frustrating, McGrath insists that
it is all worth it.

“There’s no plant you put in the ground that you get to eat the next day,” McGrath
says. “But there’s no kid
on the planet that doesn’t like fresh raspberries and blueberries and
strawberries. And to pick them from
your own yard, all of a sudden their parents are much more capable beings, they’re
much more important,
they’re much more interesting than any parent that takes them to the Whole Foods,
or takes them to the CSA
to pick up or takes them to the farmers market on Saturday or Sunday.”

Make it a family outing.

If you don’t have room in your home for a garden, try going to a community
garden. Churches, schools
and neighborhoods often have gardens on their grounds that are open to the public.

“A lot of communities have a little community gardens that you can sign up for and
have a little garden plot,
and that’s a really great way for some people to have access to a spot to garden,”
Kelley says.

Another option is to go out to a farm or an orchard to pick vegetables or fruits.
There are plenty of orchards in Virginia and Maryland that
let
visitors pick
strawberries in the summer, or apples and pumpkins in the fall.

“Ask the kids what they would like to pick, find out if this is a good time to
look and see what’s available in
your community in terms of gardens and farms to visit,” Kelley says.

Follow @WTOP and @WTOPliving on Twitter.

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Plateau Gardening: Transplanting tips

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CROSSVILLE —
My landscape is perennial–based. There are vines, trees, shrubs as well as herbaceous (soft-stemmed) vegetation in assorted categories-ornamentals, herbs and food crops like rhubarb. Annuals in containers are used to add splashes of color. At this time of year, I usually have a few recently purchased plants waiting to be transplanted (see the accompanying photo).

Others with yards filled predominately with perennials know these plants are not maintenance-free. Winter hardy plants placed in the right sunlight situation and given the proper amount of moisture and fertilizer for their species tend to multiply by spreading and/or self-seeding. Digging up the overabundance is a necessary springtime task if garden beds are to look neat. I either relocate those plants on my property or send an email alert out to fellow Master gardeners asking them to stop by to get free plants for their yards.

Transplant Tips

Whether adding annuals which last one season or perennials expected to come back year after year, transplants require special care. The stress of too much cold (frosty nights), too much heat (sunlight) or drying out (wind) can send recent transplants into shock. Established landscape plants require from an inch to an inch and one half of water per week depending on the species. Transplants need more than the minimum amount of water because their roots don’t take in moisture efficiently, at first. Herbaceous plants adapt more quickly than woody ones to a new home. Relocated shrubs and trees need extra water for about two years during droughty periods.

Be gentle with tender, young plants. Don’t hold, pull or lift transplants by the stem, instead grab the root ball or leaves. If a stem is damaged, the transplant will probably be stunted or may die. On the other hand, a few damaged leaves will quickly be replaced as the plant grows. To remove a plant with the least damage to roots, hold the pot upside down then firmly tap the container’s bottom and sides. If the plant doesn’t slide out easily, squeeze the sides of the container or cut the container away from around the root ball.

Work quickly so plants do not remain out of their containers long before putting them in the ground. Tender young roots dry out and may begin to die within minutes of exposure to wind or direct sun. At mid-day and in early afternoon the sun is directly overhead. Sunshine then can be very harsh even on a cool day in May. Transplanting on a cloudy day or in the evening reduces the risk of transplant shock.

I use a dilute mixture of water and high-phosphate fertilizer called “starter solution” for herbaceous (but not for woody) transplants. Soak the pot in the starter solution and water mix before planting. Also fill the hole with this liquid before setting the plant in it. High-phosphate fertilizers give a boost to root formation, a first step in establishing new plantings. Using starter solution seems to help retain soil around the roots making the root mass easier to handle, too. However, tree experts recommend trees and shrubs get no fertilizer in their planting hole. Nor should high nitrogen plant food be applied to woodies during their first year after transplant.

• • •

Plateau Gardening is written by Master Gardeners for gardeners in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland Region. Contact UT Extension Cumberland County at P.O. Box 483, Crossville, TN 38557 (484-6743) for answers to horticulture questions, free publications and how to become a Master Gardener. Send email comments or yard and garden inquiries to Master Gardener Rae, MGardenerRae@frontiernet.net.

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Tips for turning barnyard leavings into organic garden fertilizer

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CORVALLIS — The manure that chickens, horses, llamas and many other barnyard animals leave behind is rich in nutrients that make a great organic fertilizer for your garden, said Melissa Fery, an instructor with the Oregon State University Extension Service’s small farms program.

“Manure is a low-cost fertilizer and a wonderful way to utilize nutrients instead of creating a pile that is not getting used and could be harmful to water quality,” she said.

If you add animal manure to your soil, you’ll not only improve the quality of the soil but you also won’t need to water your garden as much.

All animal manures are good sources of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other nutrients that plants need to thrive. But the amounts of each nutrient are highly variable depending on the animal’s diet, and the amount and type of bedding used, Fery said.

Fery recommended hot composting manure before applying it to your garden to kill parasites and reduce seeds from weeds. Composted manure is also easier to shovel and spread. Hot composting balances food, water and air in a compost pile to favor the growth of microorganisms that thrive in high temperatures.

“It takes one-half to one cubic yard of fresh organic matter for the pile to reach the recommended temperatures for hot composting,” said Nick Andrews, small farms specialist with the OSU Extension Service. “The pile should also have a balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and good moisture and oxygen supplies.”

A simple way to start is by building two bins out of pallets or boards. The first bin is for making the compost and the second is for the final stage of decomposition, also known as curing. Curing stabilizes the compost and can take several months. Make the bins big enough to hold a pile that could get 4- to 6-feet high and 3- to 5-feet wide.

Mix or layer raw animal manure with brown leaves, straw, spoiled hay or shredded paper in the first bin. If using manure that is mixed with bedding, it will have a good carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and you don’t need to add anything else, Andrews said. Thick layers of one material might not decompose quickly if you don’t have a balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, he added.

It’s important for the pile to have sufficient moisture, Andrews said. Wearing gloves, squeeze the organic matter firmly in your hand. You should be able to squeeze a few drops out of it. If you can’t, add water to the pile. If you can easily squeeze out a stream of water, mix in some dry organic matter. Turn the pile in the first bin with a pitchfork a few times during the first month as it heats up. The pile should heat to 130-140 degrees. When conditions are ideal, compost can heat up within one day, Andrews said.

After the pile cools down to an ambient temperature, transfer it to the second bin. It usually takes another two to six months to decompose or cure. Horse manure may take longer to break down if combined with sawdust or straw bedding used in the animal’s stall. Wear gloves when touching compost and wash your hands afterward.

Spread composted manure in your garden in small amounts, about one-fourth to one-half inches deep. Thicker applications up to 1 inch deep might be justified in poor soil with low organic matter. To prevent pollution, store compost away from water sources and cover the pile with plastic when you expect heavy rain. Don’t keep applying excessive amounts of compost year after year, Fery said.

If you have composting questions, call the Master Gardener Plant Clinic at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center at 541-776-7371.

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Container gardening tips

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If you can’t have a garden plot, a container garden is a nice alternative. You’ll need pots and containers, potting soil, seeds and seedlings.

You can plant almost any plant or vegetable in a container and place it on your patio to grow. Be sure you have allowed enough space for the roots and commit yourself to a daily watering schedule, said Anne Smith of the Grand Forks Horticultural Society, because the soil in pots can dry out very quickly, especially on hot, windy days.

Take care not overwater. Plants can drown when there isn’t a big enough hole or holes for water to leave the pot, according to about.com/containergardening. If the soil gets too wet, the roots of your plants will rot and the plant will die. Don’t be afraid to drill or punch more holes in your pots for drainage. Also, it is a myth that adding gravel, pot shards or stones to the bottom of your container will increase drainage.

Read and save your plant tags and seed packets. They will tell you how big your plant will get, how much light, water and food it needs.

For ideas about filling your containers, ask the staff of your local plant nursery or check online. Flowers, herbs and tomatoes can thrive in a container.

— Paulette Tobin

For more help with your garden

• Visit the Grand Forks Horticultural Society’s website, www.angelfire.com/nd/gfhort. It has tons of useful information and links to related sites.

• Society members also meet regularly and have gardening presentations at East Grand Forks Campbell Library. The meetings are open to the public.

• The Grand Forks Horticultural Society’s 29th annual Garden Tour will be July 20-21. Homeowners will open their private yards for viewing and questions. Admission to a special plant sale is included with the ticket. Proceeds go to enhancing area public park gardens and educational programs.

• You can read the Northern Gardener, published by the Minnesota Horticultural Society, at www.northerngardener.org. It’s full of information, advice and gorgeous garden pictures.

— Paulette Tobin

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Weather Garden Tip: Better start planting, and here’s why

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View full sizeRainfall amounts from late Monday through Friday could be over one inch in all of Michigan, with some areas getting over one and a half inches for the week.www.farmerweather.com

The standard ‘safe’ date to plant most all of your garden is Memorial Day weekend.

We have a problem with that. We will have an extended period of showers and thunderstorms from late Monday right on through Friday morning.

So by the time we get to next weekend, our garden soil will be too wet to work.

The first graphic shows the amount of rainfall forecasted by the U.S. medium range forecast model.

The forecast will certainly change this far out in time. But I think the depiction of inch plus rainfall is reasonable.

So you better plant what you want to plant by 3 p.m. Monday. That is when I figure the first round of rainfall could be moving across the Lower Peninsula.

Here’s a controllable and always updated radar forecast.

View full sizeChilly air will move in after the rain stops Friday. This map shows next Saturday morning’s expected low temperatures. Most spots only drop to around 40 degrees, but some colder spots could have a light frost.NOAA

Are we safe from frost?

There’s another problem here. In the first part of my advice, I’m saying you better plant today and Monday, or you are done for at least a week due to too wet of soil.

But there are also a couple of chilly days coming next weekend. I think there could even be a light frost in the northern parts of the Lower Peninsula.

In the southern half of the Lower Peninsula it will get chilly with low temperatures next Saturday morning of around 40 degrees. It will probably stay warm enough to avoid a frost.

But you better be prepared to have to cover tomatoes, peppers, and other plants that can’t handle frost. I’ll warn you of frost next week if necessary.

What shouldn’t we plant yet?

So I guess what I’m trying to tell you is plant, plant, plant. But there are a few things planted in a vegetable garden that I’d hold off planting for now.

Those are the seeds that need very warm soil to germinate. That means any vine probably won’t germinate yet due to cooler soil. Pumpkins, winter squash, cucumbers, watermelons, and other melons need soil temperatures in the 60s to germinate.

So we’ll have to wait until the temperatures have warmed up after Memorial Day to plant the above vegetables.

I got some of my garden worked up yesterday, and today will be a long one in my Weather Garden. If we can get a bunch of things planted today and tomorrow, there will be some great ‘seed sprouting’ rain Tuesday through Friday.

Off I go to plant some green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, and of course a whole bunch of basil for my grilled pizza margherita.

What vegetables are you planting today, and do you have any tips you can share?

Mark Torregrossa has been the Chief Meteorologist for three television news stations in Michigan. A resident of the state for 20 years, he has also gardened since the age of ten and is an avid hunter. Email him at mark@farmerweather.com and find him on Facebook at facebook.com/mark.torregrossa and Twitter @weathermanmark

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Top gardening tips from the experts

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Gardening with Tim: Tips and reminders

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SEATTLE — Sometimes starting something new can be a challenge because it can be a bit of a dilemma where to begin — and gardening is no exception. And the science behind growing plants can be as complicated or as simple as you’d like it to be, so don’t let it get you down or intimidate you. I often tell people that the Master Gardener training classes I took through Oregon State University taught me how little I really know about horticulture.

The basic purpose of a garden is to enrich your personal environment, and hopefully enrich our overall environment at the same time. Gardening can take place nearly anywhere with the basic ingredients, whether you have a tiny patio, small or large backyard, a single window sill or acres of property.

Now, how you define a garden might be the best place to begin for beginners. Whatever you’re looking for, from tasty flavors and healthy veggies to tons of sweet smelling blossoms or even protection from elements like wind, sun and rain, make sure to determine what you want the end result to be.

“Just take a deep breath,” Allen Larsen said.

Larsen runs the Fred Meyer in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The avid gardener said they field lots of questions from gardeners just digging into the hobby. He encourages beginners to not be afraid to ask questions.

“Come out here and figure out what captures your attention and captures your imagination,” he said. “Is it going to be a flower garden or a veggie garden? Or is it going to be a hybrid garden?”

Larsen and I agree that starting small is your best bet for the truly novice gardener. In my experience, overwhelming yourself with too many plants or too big a space can lead to frustration. Small successes generate confidence to tackle bigger and more ambitious projects down the road. And when it comes to tools, you don’t need to spend a ton of money either.

“You don’t need a whole shed full of tools,” Larsen said. “There’s so many simple tools that can be multipurpose. [The basics are a] hand spade and a hand rake. You can do that with a pretty limited budget.”

Plants do have basic needs that you need to remember to pay attention to, such as water, sunlight and good soil. Reading labels on plants will tell you how much of each a particular plant needs. Make sure you read labels on fertilizers and pesticides carefully — and use both sparingly. You can hurt your plants and the environment with too much of either.

Surrounding plants once they’re in the ground with mulch — or in some cases wood chips — has several benefits. They hold in soil moisture which saves you on water and inhibit weeds from popping up which saves you frustration and time yanking out unwanted invaders. And decomposing compost and/or wood chips provides soil nutrients as the season progresses, so in the long run you might not have to worry about fertilizers if your soil is enhanced naturally. Ultimately, it’s a nice shortcut to a cleaner end result and look.

Euphorbia plant. Image courtesy of wikipedia

It was the names of plants that always made me the most nervous and frustrated. I really loved one of the tips that I got from one of my Master Gardener instructors. She said that if you make up nicknames for the plants in your yard — you’ll remember them. Down the road the more you garden, when you eventually need to look something up on a particular plant you’ll find out what they’re really called and then the actual name will stick in your head.

One example was the plant in my side yard at my old house in Portland that I called the “Alien Spaceship Plant” because that’s what it looked like to me. Down the road I found out that it was actually in a family of plants called ”euphorbia,” and the name stuck. (Full disclosure — I had to look up how to spell “euphorbia.”)

And while you might think you’ll make mistakes from time to time, don’t worry — we all do. Seasoned gardeners just call them “learning experiences.” Happy gardening!

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