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Get ready. Get Set. Grow! Tips for garden planning

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If you haven’t already noticed spring is here, officially kicked off earlier this week. That means it’s time to map out your garden. Advanced planning will save you money and time each year. Your local greenhouse and other stores will soon be set to display the very best varieties of vegetables and bedding plants as well.

Selecting the varieties that are best to grow in our Zone 5 conditions will save you money and headaches in the long run. Selecting the plants that your family likes to eat is entirely up to you.

Take the time to plan and map out your garden area, and get a sense of what you will be planting and where.

For instance, there are certain plants that don’t like to be grown next to others. If you need help with laying out your gardens, you can go to the Better Homes Gardens gardening website (www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/vegetable/). I find this can be a huge help in having a successful garden.

It’s time to plant your cool weather crops such as peas (Little Marvel), broccoli (Comet), cabbage (Danish Ball Head), beets (Detroit Red) and cauliflower (Snow Crown).

Peas can be planted ½-inch deep in rows around St. Patrick’s Day every year. You could plant these earlier if spring arrives sooner, or even if winter hangs on.

The broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower seeds can be planted in a 4-pack, 6-pack or 4-inch pot inside your home right now. Plant these about 1/4-inch deep and water well. Be sure to place them in a bright, sunny window during the day. You should be able to transplant these into your garden in April.

Make sure to plan your garden rows so they run north and south for the best sun exposure. Plan out your garden plot on grid paper, drawing it to scale, so you know how much space you have for each variety. Make certain that you look at maps on the Better Homes Gardens website mentioned above. This will help you with proper placement of the plants that love more water than other plants.

If you want some additional color in you garden, be sure to plant some marigolds or snapdragons, or even some petunias. These flowers help to scare away bugs.

Here’s some final hints on having a successful garden plan: Make sure you have a nice level planting area, soil with some good organic matter, water readily available, full sun and a basic garden fertilizer (16-16-8). Make sure not to use lawn fertilizers on your garden, or you’ll have lots of foliage and less veggies.

If you have any questions about gardening needs, contact me at mark.vanwagoner@nebo.edu. Remember, weather forecasters are forecasting a warmer than usual spring, so I’m sure you will be getting spring fever before long, if you haven’t already.

And remember, there’s nothing more therapeutic than spending at least 30 minutes a day out in the garden or yard digging in the dirt.

Until next time, come see me in the greenhouse!

• “The Garden’s Edge” is written by Mark Van Wagoner, greenhouse manager at Landmark High School. If you ever have a gardening question, email Mark at mark.vanwagoner@nebo.edu for quality guidance. And you are always welcome to come to the greenhouse at Landmark High School and see what he and the students are doing there.

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Some tips to get plants started from seed

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The tomatoes I grew last summer were eaten long ago. So I turned to the grocery store for more.

The tomato pictured on this page is one that I bought. That “blemish” wasn’t there when I chose it at the store. It appeared days later, and I watched it grow as it sat on the countertop.

Do you know what’s causing the blemish?

Since the tomato sat in the warm kitchen near a south-facing window, filled with its own juice, the seeds had the perfect medium to sprout. And one of them did just that! It’s been fun watching it grow under its parent’s skin. In the photo on the left, you can see the root at the top and the two green leaves. You can see the emerging plant in the photo on the right.

The seeds we buy don’t have that advantage. They’ve been extracted from their perfect growing medium, dried and kept in cool conditions until we humans decide when to let them grow.

Why do we start seeds indoors, anyway? The No. 1 reason is length of growing season. Most of the vegetables we grow are native to warmer parts of the world with much longer growing seasons. The Treasure Valley has the warmth in the summer to grow these plants, but not in the spring. Even the plants we grow for flowers may need a head start by germinating indoors.

Starting seeds indoors also gives seedlings protection from things like hungry slugs, snails, bunnies, etc. Indoor germination also keeps seedlings safe from spring floods, late frosts, hail and more.

GETTING STARTED

To start plants indoors, you’ll need a planting medium (sterile potting soil, but never garden soil), enough light, warmth and moisture. You’ll also need pots.

A lot of things can be used for pots, but some things shouldn’t be used. Good pots are any plastic containers that are deeper than they are wide, like yogurt cups or some sour cream tubs. A wider container is harder to keep warm in the center where the seed is. A shallow container doesn’t allow roots to grow deep.

Some people like to use old egg cartons, containers labeled as “peat” pots or newspaper formed into cups. With these types of containers, the roots tend to grow into the sides. To keep from tearing off tender root tips when removing the plants from those containers, instead plant the container, seedling and all. Just be sure to tear off any part of the rim of the pot that sticks out of the ground, or it will act as a wick and cause the soil around the transplant to dry out.

READ THE SEED PACKET

Most seed packets will have information on the back regarding seed planting depth, days to germination, spacing the plants in the garden, sun and moisture requirements and the eventual size of the plant. Vegetable seed packets may indicate when you can expect a harvest.

Look at the size of the seeds in the packet and note how deep they should be planted. You’ll find that most seeds should be planted three to four times the width of the seed. Large seeds such as melons or gourds should be planted 1-inch to 1 1/4-inch deep and small seeds like lettuce or carrots should be about 1/4-inch deep.

Knowing the number of days to germination is helpful because if a seed doesn’t germinate – sprout – by the last day of the range, it’s unlikely to do so at all.

Often that’s because the planting medium was kept either too wet or too cool; most vegetable seeds won’t germinate unless the soil is at least 65 degrees. You can try replanting or use that space for a different variety of seeds.

Room temperature is good enough for most seeds to germinate, but using a heating pad and light bulbs that generate heat will give extra warmth. Be extra careful to keep hot light bulbs far enough above the seedlings that the leaves don’t get burned.

PLANT AND ROW SPACING OUTSIDE IN YOUR GARDEN

I have a packet of carrot seeds in front of me. It says to plant the seeds 2 inches apart in the row and the rows should be 12 inches apart. Why can’t the seeds be planted 2 inches apart in all directions?

They can. The packets say to plant the rows 12 inches apart for harvesting purposes. If you’re going to plant carrots in long rows, you’ll need to leave space to get in there and harvest them. If you plant in a 4-foot-wide raised bed as I do, you can plant rows of carrot seeds 2 inches apart. That’s the basic principle of “square-foot” gardening.

LIGHT IS CRUCIAL

For best results with your seedlings indoors, you’ll need a light source that can be lowered to sit right above the pots and raised as the seedlings grow. Putting them in a window is OK but won’t give you optimal results. Using a light source that is too weak or too far from the seedlings will cause them to grow too tall too fast. These seedlings will soon fall over because their stems are too stretched out and weak. The seedlings will never reach their optimum growing and producing capacity.

Most of the vegetables we grow need to be in full sun outdoors. Will a 12-inch-tall plant get enough sun if it’s planted on the north side of corn or other tall plants? The height of the mature plant is important for garden planning purposes. Place taller plants to the north of short ones.

‘HARDENING OFF,’ TRANSPLANTING

In years when we have cool temperatures into early June, you may need to transplant seedlings into larger pots to keep them growing and healthy until they can be hardened off and planted outdoors.

The process of hardening off gets the plants used to the outdoors after having been coddled in perfect indoor conditions from Day One. Start the process on a warm, not too windy day. Put the seedlings in a shady, protected area outdoors for about two hours. Then bring them back inside under lights. Each day, increase the time outdoors in the shade.

After a few days, put the seedlings in full sun for two hours. Then put them back in the shade so the tender leaves don’t get burned. Each day, increase the hours in full sun. Soon you’ll leave them out overnight, but bring them in if the weather turns frosty.

When the weather finally warms up for good, the plants can go in the garden. That’s usually around Memorial Day, but watch the weather. If frost is forecast after you have set transplants out, you may need to cover them with Hot-Kaps, row cover or plastic milk jugs with their bottoms removed.

Questions? Email Elaine at highprairielandscapedesign@yahoo.com. And read her column online every other Thursday at the Statesman’s website, www.IdahoStatesman.com/gardening.

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Gardening Tips To Grow Cucumber Plants

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A green patch at your garden could be a treasure trove of vegetables and fruits. And while having a green thumb for a variety of plants and herbs, cucumber is one if them that can be grown at home if nurtured with the right amount of care and nourishment. Cucumber is fourth largest cultivated vegetables in the world.

With the onset of summer, cucumber is just the right vegetable to grow in your garden. Savouring the crisp bite and the cool and refreshing flavour when they are pickled is something you don’t want to miss.

Here are a few gardening tips that you can follow before you plant a cucumber and reap the benefits of it.

Cucumbers love summer- Although cool by nature, cucumbers love and thrive in heat. Make sure you plant them in early spring when the soil has just warmed up a bit. It helps in germination of seeds and proper growth of plants.

Hydration- Watering the plants for at least about 1-2 inches per week, especially when they are flowering and bearing the fruit, is very important as it needs a lot of moisture to grow. If the cucumber plants are not hydrated properly, it can make them taste bitter.

Fertilise- Fertilisation is very important gradening tip for growing cucumebr in your garden. Cucumbers need a well-rotted and compost manure to grow since they provide the right nutrients and moisture. The pH balance of the soil must be 6 to 7 for it to thrive.

Space and air circulation- If you find the leaves to be yellow as they grow, then is an indication that they need more nitrogen. So, make more space for the plant by shifting it to a larger pot. This will supply and balance ample light, air and nutrients to the growing cucumber plant.

De-weeding- Cucumbers are affected by weeds, insects, bacterial wilt, mildew and other diseases. these affect the plant and curb the growth. It is important to keep them weed and insect free. They must be regularly controlled while planting cucumber. It is also important not to use too many insecticides while pollinating. Using a brown or a black mulch will also keep the weeds away. Mulch also improves the overall cucumber production by keeping the moisture balance in the soil.

Harvesting cucumbers- The fruits are ready for harvesting when they have reached 2- 4 inches (depending on the variety), which is about 50-70 days from planting. They must not turn yellow, as the vegetable tends to become bitter with size. It is said that, the shorter and immature the cucumber, the better and crisp it tastes.

Storage- Because of their high water content, cucumber cant be stored for more than a week in the refrigerator as it could form mildew and spoil the entire lot.

Try these gardening tips to grow cucumber plants at home. Set the perfect and green vegetable garden.

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New eBook from Garden Media Reveals Insider Public Relations Tips

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“Growing Your Business with Public Relations”

Public relations is a powerful tool more businesses should be using to grow their bottom line.

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) March 21, 2013

Garden Media Group, the top PR firm in the lawn and garden industry, has released a guide for mastering public relations strategies called “Growing Your Business with Public Relations”.

“Public relations is a powerful tool more businesses should be using to grow their bottom line,” explains Susan McCoy, president of Garden Media. “With public relations, you can fast track a product, build a credible reputation and drive demand. Our new eBook covers PR 101: how to get started.”

“Growing Your Business with Public Relations” explains the differences between advertising and PR, offers tips on creating public relations media plans and how to write a mission statement. It also includes a guide on writing a modern day press release.

“We broke down the things we do on a daily basis and chose what were the most important to include in the eBook,” says Katie Dubow, creative director for Garden Media. “Our insider tips will help businesses understand how to incorporate PR into daily marketing operations.”

“Growing Your Business with Public Relations” offers a range of information that benefits businesses new to PR as well as those with established marketing departments. The tips can be used as a tool for orchestrating an entire PR campaign for small businesses or simply provide checks and balances for those looking to jump start their reputation.

“PR is more than writing a press release,” says Dubow. “Creating lasting relationships, knowing how to find the golden nugget and having impeccable timing are all big components of PR. But, when you get it and implement it into your companies marketing strategy, you will gain wider exposure and produce better results.”

“Growing Your Business with Public Relations” is available for download today.

Garden Media has 25 years’ experience building brands in the home and garden, horticulture, outdoor living, lawn and landscape industries. Other services include new product launches, innovative PR campaigns, social marketing, media relations, and content marketing. For more information visit: http://www.gardenmediagroup.com

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Thrifty garden tips to save money

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Experts share their top ideas for budget-conscious green thumbs.

PLANT YOUR SCRAPS

“Using kitchen scraps for new plants and using them in worm farms and compost bins ensures that all the money spent on top-quality produce is not wasted,” Habitat garden columnist Trevor Cochrane said.

The key was to get them off to a good start, usually in a pot or tray.

“Starting potatoes off from peel or sweet potatoes from off-cuts or eyes can be done easily using matchsticks, cotton wool and a glass of water,” he said.

“The matchsticks run through the vegetable acting like a plank (across the top of the glass), holding the vegie atop cotton wool so water is only in contact with the bottom.

“The same principles apply for plants like celery tops and carrot tops, although pineapple heads can go straight into potting mix.”

SAVE THOSE SEEDS

Just like our parents and grandparents knew, Masters green life buyer Ann McKeon said one of the best thrifty tips was to collect seeds and sow them at the appropriate season.

Mr Cochrane agreed, adding that seeds from pumpkin, watermelon and rockmelon could be collected now and sown in October for best results.

“A great one to plant now is avocado seeds,” he said. “The seedlings often take much longer to fruit than a grafted plant but … it’s top-quality fruit you will enjoy.”

Nurseryman and sustainable gardening advocate Steve Wood said heirloom varieties were a good seed-saving option because they were open-pollinated, meaning the seed could easily be collected and sown each season.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Another tried and tested way to get plants free was by propagating, said Mr Wood.

The secret to successful cuttings was to keep them small (under 5cm), watered daily and kept in a shaded location.

“The best medium to strike the cuttings in is pure coco peat, also known as coir, and a root system will start to develop in seven to 10 days and at 21-28 days, the cutting is ready to plant out.”

HOMEMADE WONDERS

Beyond Gardens’ Garry Heady said there’s no better – or cheaper – garden tonic than home-grown worm castings, liquid fertiliser and compost.

“My first bin was a 44-gallon drum with a lid. I would fill it with kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, shredded newspaper and whatever I could find, moisten it with the hose and with the lid firmly on, roll it out onto the lawn and back again every day for two weeks and so had my very own homemade version of what later in the 1970s became known as a compost tumbler but mine was free.”

Ms McKeon said mulch was particularly easy to make yourself. “You can create great fine-leaf mulch using a lawnmower over deciduous trees leaves, while a shredder will make light work of small branches after pruning.”

DIY PEST CONTROL

“By far the most reliable and probably the most environmentally friendly form of pest control is exclusion netting or some other form of barrier,” Mr Heady said.

Kitchen scraps placed in strategic locations could also help.

“Many bugs are eating seedlings because they are hungry, so give them food away from the seedling and many will be diverted.”

Helen Martin-Beck, of the WA Horticultural Council, said home-made pest solutions could be just as effective as store-bought products.

Try making an all-round insecticide from four onions, two cloves of garlic and four chillies, all chopped.

“Mix together and cover with warm, soapy water and leave it to stand overnight,” she said. “Strain off that liquid and add it to five litres of water.”

SWAP, SALVAGE AND SCOUR

Another way to get plants on the cheap is to scour markets or verge pick-ups, said Jo Taylor, of Taylor Landscaping.

Mr Heady warned it was also important to ensure plants or seeds were from a reliable source to avoid importing diseases into your garden.

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Tim’s Tips: Sharpen garden tools for spring

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March 20, 2013

Tim’s Tips: Sharpen garden tools for spring


Tim’s Tips



Tim Lamprey
The Daily News of Newburyport


Wed Mar 20, 2013, 03:00 AM EDT

Winter just doesn’t want to let go. I guess spring will come eventually. While you are waiting for the snow to melt, take time to get your gardening tools and equipment ready for spring.

You should have a sharp blade on your lawn mower. If you haven’t replaced the blade on your mower in several years, now is a good time to do so. You can put on a new blade if you follow the instructions in the mowers’ owner’s manual. If you don’t want to do it yourself, schedule a time to have your mower go in for service. An oil change and tune-up isn’t a bad idea either.

The hand pruners and loping shears also need to be sharp if they are going to do a proper job. Sharpening tools on a regular basis is easy to do and it will make pruning chores much easier. We sell sharpening tools at the store. Check your shovels too. A hand-held file will put a sharp edge on the shovel, which will make digging holes so much easier.

If the snow is off the garden and the ground is thawed, put some pea seed down. Peas are one of the first seeds that you can plant in your garden. They prefer the cool temperatures of early spring. Peas don’t like the warm summer weather. If you plant peas too late, the oncoming summer heat will ruin your crop. However, peas can also be planted in late summer to give you a nice fall crop.

As spring approaches, and new growth begins to appear on your trees, the winter moth caterpillar will hatch and eat the leaves. If you remember seeing moths flying around the windows after dark in December, then you will probably have a problem with this caterpillar. The moths mate in early winter and lay eggs on your trees.

The eggs hatch out as soon as leaves appear in spring. They attack our flowering cherry tree each spring. An application of horticultural oil now will kill many of the eggs. As soon as the leaves appear in spring, an application of Bt will kill the caterpillars before they can do a lot of damage.

Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.

—

Tim Lamprey is the owner of Harbor Garden Center on Route 1 in Salisbury. His website is www.Harborgardens.com. Do you have questions for Tim? Send them to ndn@newburyportnews.com, and he will answer them in upcoming columns.







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Tips to help guide your spring planting

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As the weather grows warmer and the snow continues to melt, a new disease has begun to circulate. Fewer cases of the flu may be spreading, but spring fever is in full force.

If your plans for the summer involve a large, delicious supply of freshly grown produce, you might be ready to begin planting. But there are a few things to consider before you put down roots. Robyn Webb, assistant manager at McCoard’s Garden Center in Provo, offers seven tips to help you get the most out of your home garden.

1 Take it slow: Many people fall into the trap of thinking everything has to be done at once — that landscaping your yard is a one-time task. But that kind of thinking can be overwhelming and curb success.

“Rather than trying to tackle landscaping as a project to be completed before the snow flies, see your yard as a work in progress,” Webb said. “Choose parts of the yard to work on this year. That will make it a lot more fun, affordable, and reasonable to accomplish.”

2 Tackle the weeds now: Unfortunately, weeds are always a concern. But you can significantly prevent weed growth by taking a few measures early in the year.

“Pulling and hoeing weeds now will be a piece of cake compared to waiting until the weather warms and the weeds have become longer, stronger and more entrenched,” Webb said. “This really is a case where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You can also apply a pre-emergent herbicide to your soil to keep weed seeds from germinating — just don’t use it where you plan to plant flowers or crops from seed.

3 Mulch: Sure, it improves the look of things, but mulching provides your garden with more than a pretty face. “Covering exposed soil areas between plants with a two- to three-inch layer of shredded bark or another covering will keep moisture from evaporating too quickly in the heat and will keep weed seeds from finding an easy place to anchor and grow,” Webb said. “And anything you can do to discourage weeds is worth doing.”

4 Fertilize: Fertilizer is your garden’s food and will help it flourish. But even if you’re not sure how to go about it, doing something is better than nothing at all. “One feeding in March or April will put you miles ahead of your neighbor who never fertilizes at all,” Webb said. She suggests Utah gardeners use a bag of 16-16-8 granular formula.

5 Plant cold season crops now: As much as we’d like to believe summer is nearly here, the ground temperature isn’t quite where it needs to be for all crops. But there are a few things you can plant now that will be unaffected by a late-season freeze. “Right now is the time to be planting cold season crops,” Webb said. “Beets, radishes, peas, leafy greens. In fact, we could have planted them a month ago if there wasn’t snow.”

6 Hold off on tender crops: In Utah, there is a specific date for gardeners to look toward: May 15. “We wait until then to plant tender crops because we’re pretty sure the ground won’t freeze after May 14,” Webb says. “After that, you can plant crops like tomatoes, peppers and squash.” These crops grow best in soil that is around 55 degrees, so even if you were to plant them now, they wouldn’t do much until the ground is warmer.

7 Plant in phases: While you’re waiting for May 15, consider planting a few crops now and a few more in a week or two. This technique is called “succession planting,” and it allows you to enjoy the fruits of your labors for much longer.

“This works especially well with peas, but you can do it with most cold-season crops,” Webb said. “Plant a row now, then another row in two weeks, and maybe another row two weeks after that. When the older plants are done producing, the younger ones will still be thriving.”

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Start pruning your roses now

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It’s time to start pruning your roses

If you want your roses to produce fantastic blooms later in the season, you may need to prune some of them now, Hannah Stephenson reports

They are the quintessential English plant, with unrivalled fragrance, beauty and variety of colours, shapes and sizes.

Little wonder, then, that many gardeners are baffled as to when to actually prune their roses to ensure a flurry of gorgeous flowers in the summer and beyond.

The best time to prune autumn and winter-planted roses and established bushes is early spring, when growth is just beginning and the uppermost buds are swelling but no leaves have appeared.

The traditional method involves cutting out all dead wood and diseased or damaged stems, removing branches which are rubbing against each other and aiming for an open-centred bush.

Then cut out all unripe stems – if the thorns bend or tear rather than snapping off cleanly, the wood is unripe.

You should be left with about six key stems that define the shape of your rose bush. For hybrid teas, otherwise known as modern bush roses, cut back each of these stems by at least half. For other shrub roses, prune lightly so they don’t become top heavy.

Also watch for suckers, vigorous growths which emerge from a point low down on the plant, close to the root system. If you leave them, they can choke the plant or reduce its vigour. Suckers are easy to identify because they have different leaves and growth habit. Just pull them off, as cutting encourages them, as does hoeing around the base.

If it’s really cold, you can leave pruning as late as early April, which means that your plants will flower slightly later than usual, but at least the soft new growth won’t have been damaged by frost.

Rose pruning isn’t rocket science, as many gardeners have learned over the years.

Rose connoisseur Edward Enfield, father of comedian Harry Enfield and former member of the Royal National Rose Society, once told me of an experiment in which one group of rose bushes was pruned lightly, another group heavily and a third hacked with a hedge cutter – and those hacked off with the hedge cutter did the best.

He himself prunes twice – once in autumn, cutting out the deadwood and spindly growths and shortening the main stems to stop windrock, then again in March, cutting to an outward eye where a group of leaves join the stem.

Hard pruning, when stems are cut back to three or four buds from the base, is recommended for newly planted rose bushes, while moderate pruning, where stems are cut back to about half their length, is advised for hybrid tea bushes growing in ordinary soils.

If you don’t have time to prune, but love roses, consider investing in some ground cover or patio roses which will just need a tidy-up in spring.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to prune your roses because the flowers grow at the tips of the stems, so if you don’t shorten those stems the blooms will end up at the top of the plant where you can’t see them, and the stems will just become a straggly maze of twiggy bits.

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New President for Garden Conservancy

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By Carol Stocker
Garrison, NY: Jenny Young du Pont will become President and Chief Executive Officer of the Garden Conservancy on April 8, Benjamin F. Lenhardt, Jr., Chairman of the Board, announced today.

Mr. Lenhardt added, “We enthusiastically welcome Jenny to the Garden Conservancy. The Board of Directors has great confidence in her ability to move the organization forward as we implement the pillars of our ambitious new strategic plan: save, share, educate, and advocate. She brings proven talents, varied skills, and an impressive resume as the executive director of Miracle House of New York, an attorney in the U.S. and London, and a leader on philanthropic and nonprofit boards.”

Ms. du Pont said, “I’m delighted about this opportunity to work with the Garden Conservancy and to build on its twenty-three years of accomplishments. It’s an exciting time for the organization to expand its garden preservation and education programs, including Open Days. I look forward to working with the Garden Conservancy’s board, staff, Fellows, members, and volunteers, as well as with organizations and gardens in communities across the country.”

Since 2010, Ms. du Pont has been a legal and strategic consultant advising clients on business development, marketing, legal issues, and investor relations. Her clients have included various media, technology, and financial firms.

From 2007 to 2009, she served as Executive Director of Miracle House of New York, Inc., a nonprofit social services agency in New York City. Previously, she was an in-house attorney for Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation in Boston, MA, and practiced law at Covington Burling and Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C. and London, England.

Ms. du Pont also has an extensive record of philanthropic work. A former Trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy, she has also served as a Director and Overseer for the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, and an Overseer for Hancock Shaker Village in Hancock, MA. She is currently president of the Exeter Association of Greater New York, a class officer and fundraiser for her class at Princeton, and a Director and Secretary of the American Friends of the British Museum. She earned a joint JD/MSFS degree, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, an AB in History cum laude from Princeton University, and graduated with high honors from Phillips Exeter Academy.

She lives with her husband and their four children in Tarrytown, New York.

About the Garden Conservancy
Since its founding in 1989 by renowned plantsman Frank Cabot, the Garden Conservancy has done more than any other national institution to save and preserve America’s exceptional gardens for the education and enjoyment of the public. Five of the gardens with which the Garden Conservancy is working are National Historic Landmarks and seventeen are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1995, the Garden Conservancy launched a national garden-visiting program, Open Days, through which more than 300 private gardens now open their gates to thousands of visitors every year. The Conservancy also presents lectures and symposia in a number of regional centers to provide its members, horticulturists, landscape professionals, and the public a source of contemporary ideas relevant to gardening, design, and preservation.

Major support for the Conservancy comes from its more than 4,000 members, including more than 300 patrons in the Conservancy’s Society of Fellows. In 2010, the Conservancy successfully completed a $15 million Campaign to Save America’s Exceptional Gardens, establishing an endowment fund to provide permanent support for the organization’s mission.

In April 2012, the Garden Conservancy received the prestigious Historic Preservation Medal from the Garden Club of America “in recognition of outstanding work in the field of preservation and/or restoration of historic gardens or buildings of national importance.” In 2009, the Conservancy received the Organizational Excellence Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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Gardening Tips and Tricks from the Flower Bulb Pros at Longfield Gardens

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Leading importer of quality flower bulbs, Longfield Gardens, debuts new blog designed to help anyone grow and love gardening with bulbs.

Lakewood, NJ (PRWEB) March 14, 2013

A new how-to blog aimed at educating gardeners about planting and growing bulbs has been launched by Longfield Gardens, one of America’s top purveyors of quality flower bulbs.

Longfield Gardens is no stranger when it comes to bulbs. The new blog reflects more than 80 years of experience in growing and selling Dutch bulbs and is designed to help gardeners simplify the planning process and select the best bulbs for each unique space.

“We’re taking the guesswork out of gardening and giving people tips on designing beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces,” says Hans Langeveld, co-owner of Longfield Gardens. “Our blog shares our top experts’ advice about bulbs to give our friends confidence and be successful gardeners.”

Langeveld is the third generation of Dutch-American bulb plantsmen and has a vast knowledge about bulbs. Langeveld, along with co-owners, cousin Pete Langeveld and longtime colleague Dave Strabo, strive to provide the best bulbs at the best price to their customers. With the addition of a new blog, Longfield Gardens not only educates customers with the best bulb information but it reflects the simplicity and pleasure of bulb gardening.

While Langeveld contributes the majority of blog posts, he does not do it alone. Longfield Gardens’ team of bulb experts, growers and designers also share ideas on planning, selecting, planting and caring for bulbs.

The blog includes breathtaking inspiration photography of Longfield Gardens’ creations, gardens and combinations that readers can take and implement in their own yard.

Various experts will offer tips on the blog, like those from creative director Marlene Thompson, who has 15 years of experience in the horticulture industry and product developer Jen Pfau, who shares ideas on how different bulbs look and act together in the garden. Pfau selects the ‘Perfect Together’ collections to create beautiful colored blooms and interesting foliage in the garden. Another contributor is Dave Strabo, longtime industry expert, who identifies which bulbs produce better flowering results, fuller plants and stronger stems.

“Buy with confidence. Love what you grow. That’s our approach. We’re gardeners ourselves and we want fellow gardeners to be comfortable shopping with us, knowing exactly the quality of product they will get,” says Langeveld.

Longfield Gardens is one of America’s top importers of quality flower bulbs with over 80 years of combined experience in the bulb industry. Longfield’s mission is to stretch the customer’s dollar and offer common sense planting information that is easy to follow. This simple approach to selling bulbs saves their customers time and money. The retail site offers spring-planted and all-planted product lines and has a commitment to education. For more information, visit the website at http://www.longfield-gardens.com or visit the blog at blog.longfield-gardens.com/

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/3/prweb10517516.htm

Filed Under: garden tips
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