Tag: growing season

Unleash the Power of Nature With a Beneficial Insects Subscription for Your Garden

A Healthier and More Sustainable Garden with the Help of Beneficial Insects

NEWBERG, OR / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2024 / Heirloom Roses, a family nursery specializing in own-root potted roses and perennial favorites, has launched the first Beneficial Insects Subscription service for home gardeners. Delivered right to the door, this service provides gardeners across the country with a monthly supply of beneficial insects to combat common garden pests and create a healthier and more sustainable garden for both plants and people.

Beneficial Insects
Beneficial Insects
Beneficial Insects for the Home Garden

Every gardener faces pests like thrips, aphids, and mites at some point and these frustrating bugs can be difficult to get rid of. It’s important to be on guard with a monthly, proactive approach to your garden’s health, instead of a reactive response once the pests arrive. Heirloom Roses’ Beneficial Insects Subscription service allows home gardeners to avoid chemicals and

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Ready to plant cool-weather veggies? Here’s your Michigan gardening checklist for April

For Michigan home gardeners, April offers the final few slow-and-steady weeks before the growing season really begins to ramp up in May. But there are still a few key tasks you can take on this month — most notably, planting the season’s first vegetable seeds in the ground outside.

According to Michigan State University Extension’s Smart Gardening planner, here are a few of the to-do’s you can put on your list this month:

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Prepare your garden’s soil. Once your soil is dry after the winter thaw, you can prepare it for planting. To check if it’s dry enough, take a handful of soil and squeeze; if the soil crumbles when you open your hand, it is ready to be prepped.

Fertilize based on soil test recommendations. If you’re unsure what nutrients your soil needs, a soil test can help you

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Have you tested your garden soil? Here’s what you should know

Fall is an excellent time of the year to submit soil samples for laboratory testing.

Fall is an excellent time of the year to submit soil samples for laboratory testing.

Now that we have experienced the first frost of the season, and the growing season for most garden and home landscape plants has come to an end, we as gardeners tend to start thinking about things we will do differently in the garden next year. We think about growing plants that we have never grown before. We think about how we can keep insects, diseases and wildlife at bay next summer. And we think about how we might increase our yields of vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers and other ornamentals.

If you want to increase yields in your garden next summer, then one of the most important things that a gardener should think about this fall, particularly the vegetable gardener, is the nutrient and pH levels of the soil. We tend to think about

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10 things you can do right now for your garden

This story was originally published in April 2021.

The last frost hasn’t arrived yet. But that doesn’t stop gardeners from wanting to get outside to work on their gardens. Fortunately, there’s plenty that can be done during the springtime.

Preparing the garden for the growing season is more than just buying seeds or cleaning out beds. Here are 10 things to do in the early spring to get your garden ready for the growing season.

Get a soil test

In this March 2016 file photo, damp soils sit with carbon dioxide indicators in them at the University of Maine’s soil lab in Deering Hall in Orono. Credit: Ashley L. Conti / BDN

If you haven’t submitted a soil sample to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension already, do it now. Soil tests are important to figure out what your soil needs to be healthier and encourage your plants to thrive.

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January is planning time for starting seedlings indoors

Start vegetable seeds inside to get a jump on the growing season.

Start vegetable seeds inside to get a jump on the growing season.

For many vegetable gardeners, this is perhaps the best season of the year—seed catalog season! Since the first week of January, colorful seed catalogs have begun to appear in my mailbox just as links to online seed catalogs have appeared in my email inbox.

For a vegetable gardener in Greater Columbus, nothing provides more satisfaction on a cold snowy or rainy day in January than perusing colorful seed catalogs and dreaming about growing your best vegetable garden ever just a few short months from now.

Gardening:Pruning trees now can help prevent oak wilt

Many vegetable gardeners get a jump on the growing season by starting their own seeds indoors, and January is the time to begin making plans for ordering seeds and other needed supplies.

Mike Hogan

Mike Hogan

Benefits of growing your own seedlings

There

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Your garden’s winter preparation checklist

This story was originally published in October 2019.

Temperatures are dropping, once-hearty stems are shriveling and the first frost is fast approaching. Another growing season has come and gone, and it is time to prepare your garden for winter. Garden winter prep is not just about sowing overwintered crops and preparing your plots for a season of rest, though — it is also a great opportunity to get ahead on your to-do list for spring.

“I highly recommend [getting done] as much as possible as much in the fall simply for logistical reasons,” said Kate Garland, horticultural specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “You have a lot on your to-do list in the spring.”

So, even though the season is winding down and the winter chill is settling in, resist the urge to hibernate for a little longer. Instead, check out this checklist for winter garden prep to

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