Landscaping Tips | Plant Care

From Episode 117 of The joe gardener Show with Joe Lamp’l

Last week, we “dug” in to the subject of the soil food web with guest Dr. Elaine Ingham. I have long followed and admired Elaine’s work in soil science study, and hearing her describe that it’s actually our plants which are in control of the complex cycle of life beneath the soil surface was fascinating.

Since the age of industrialization, humans have been emitting so much carbon dioxide that we now need to remove carbon from the atmosphere. While there are plenty of viable strategies out there, there’s one deceptively simple solution that lies right beneath your feet— soil! To learn more, I chatted with Karl Thidemann from Soil4Climate about the vast potential of soil as a carbon sink.

Why the carbon cycle is extremely out of balance, and atmospheric CO2 levels will continue to rise as long as fossil fuels continue to be burnt.

Flower buds, evergreen leaves and needles, twigs, branches and whole plants can be protected from drought, extreme cold, high winds and lack of snow cover insulation with our easy solution.

Harsh winters are trying for trees and shrubs. Cold weather can desiccate foliage, damage bark, and injure or kill branches, flower buds, and roots. Humans and animals contribute to winter tree care issues as well; salting roads and sidewalks damages soil health, and animals tend to feed on tree bark and twigs due to winter food shortages.

Did you know that October and November is peak activity time for adult ticks? Until the temperature is consistently below 45 degrees, the ticks will be migrating. It's important to check yourself and your pets for ticks after all outdoor activity. Just one bite could change your life.

Did you notice patchy areas of your lawn this summer or holes in the leaves of your shrubbery and flora? Pesky beetles that frequent our area of the country can cause major damage in all stages of their lives, above and below the surface of our landscape.

It's fall and that means leaves are littering lawns around the country. Time to take out the rake and bag up them up, right? Wrong. Environmental experts say raking leaves and removing them from your property is bad not only for your lawn but for the planet as a whole.

It’s never too early for kids to make environmentally responsible practices a part of their daily life. To protect the future of the earth, kids must get involved.  That’s how change happens.

Our hot New England summers make for bountiful gardens and beautiful blooms, but sometimes the summer heat is too much, causing more stress on our landscapes than they can handle.

Are you noticing the leaves on certain trees and shrubs starting to turn brown at the edges? Or certain plants just look wilted and tired?

Dandelions have an awful reputation; we’re brainwashed into thinking the pretty yellow flowers are a nuisance weed we have to battle every year with a toxic herbicide. In fact, they are an edible and very beneficial plant for soil and human health!

Composting means recycling food waste or organic material to the soil, which is then broken down by natural bacteria and turned into compost or a dark, soil-like humus and an incredibly rich (and free) organic fertilizer! Compost adds nutrients to the soil and improves soil structure, eliminating the need for high nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers, and produces thriving, pest resistant plants. Compost is unbelievable fertilizer for your gardens and lawn.

Along with the cookouts, volleyball games, hiking, camping and other glories of summer come mosquitoes and ticks.  But pesticides or products containing DEET, are associated with a variety of health problems ranging from dizziness to seizures with children being particularly susceptible. There are several safer and effective alternatives.

Now that summer is in full swing, watering your trees properly is one of the best ways to keep them healthy and stress-free.

Trees like humans, need preventative care to ward off disease, especially as they suffer from environmental stresses like air pollution, soil contamination and compaction, exotic invasive insect pests, temperature extremes, devastating storms and drought.

There are several organic approaches to prolong the life of a tree and maintain its good health and vigor.

You can live with a few weeds in your lawn, but in a vegetable garden, weeds are a problem.  They quickly spread, crowd out vegetable plants and impact productivity. If you are growing vegetables organically, then obviously your weed control should be non-toxic as well.  

Before you run out to the garden store for fertilizer, mulch, and new topsoil, check out these tips for organic gardening using these common household supplies!

WHAT IS COMPOST TEA?

Compost tea is a natural organic fertilizer made from compost, or more specifically a water extract of compost that is brewed to give the bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes a chance to increase in number and activity using the nutrients present in the water. It is also a highly effective natural insect and disease inhibitor. Compost tea is inexpensive and often an easier method of applying compost, especially to your trees and shrubs.

“It’s better to dig a five-dollar hole for a fifty-cent plant than to dig a fifty-cent hole for a five-dollar plant.” goes the old garden adage and how true that is.  A good plant won’t grow in poor soil, but a poor plant will grow in good soil.