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Can I Use Miracle Grow on My Tomato Plants?. Any Miracle-Gro product is safe to use on any plant including tomatoes. However, it is important to stop using any chemical-based fertilizers before harvest and to wash any tomato before eating.
Read MoreMy Snowball Bush Doesn't Bloom. The specific bloom times for "snowball bushes"---a name that most often refers to viburnums---vary by species, ranging from late April to early June. If a snowball bush isn't covered with blooms during its appointed time, one factor or more may be to blame.
Read MoreCompanion Planting & Hollyhock. Hollyhocks are old-fashioned favorites we are used to seeing lined up against old houses and fences. Because they reseed so prolifically, they survive over decades and we think of them as solitary sentries. These tall, rambunctious plants are great companion plants, though. Use them in cottage gardens and vegetable patches to provide shade, height and color.
Read MoreDeer Resistant Tiger Lily. Anyone who has ever walked into a dew-fresh garden with a cup of morning coffee only to discover that white-tailed deer have made salad with prized hostas knows how frustrating living with deer can be. Perennial gardeners who live in areas with a lot of deer learn to interplant attractive plants with plants that deer avoid. Tiger lilies make a lovely choice for deer-resistant plantings.
Read MoreWhat Perennials to Plant Near a French Drain. French drains are basically underground drainage ditches---trenches filled with gravel or tile and topping them off with soil. They may be used by property owners to drain standing water in low areas, gardens and along buildings. Planting perennials over or near a French drain is a simple matter, providing you know its location and perimeter.
Read MoreHow to Destroy Mint & Daylilies. Old garden plants like mint and daylilies have a well-earned reputation for hardiness. They can also be downright invasive. Most gardeners who've fallen for the charms of these plants without creating a boundary for them end up having to destroy whole groups of plants and start over, sadder but wiser and determined to isolate these plants or use only non-invasive varieties. When Mentha species and Hemerocallis grow out-of-bounds and become weeds, totally eradicating the lot may be your only option.
Read MoreHow to Grow Cherry Trees in Wisconsin. According to Door County's Seaquist Orchards, Wisconsin grows 5 percent of the nation's cherry crop. The majority of Wisconsin's cherries are grown in Door County, the "thumb" extending into Lake Michigan along Wisconsin's east side. The secret to the success of Door County's cherry trees is that spring comes a little earlier and fall lasts a little longer thanks to the lake's moderating effect. Not all of the state is as temperate, but home growers raise plenty of the tart fruit for pies and jams.
Read MoreLife Cycle of a Tomato Plant. Whether grown upside-down or upright, in a hanging bucket or garden plot, tomato plants dot the summer landscape from city apartment decks to rural kitchen vegetable gardens. Although cross-breeding and hybridization have guaranteed tomatoes suited to every garden and gardening skill, they all follow the same life cycle. Most plants begin to produce fruit within a month or two of planting.
Read MoreTransplanting Schedule for Perennials in Zone 5. Perennials -- the lazy gardener’s best friends -- grow for at least three years in areas where they are hardy. The day comes, however, when even modest perennials grow too large for their space and beg division -- or maybe a division from a neighbor’s plant comes to stay. Success in transplanting any perennial hinges on timing the move to fit the plant’s growth pattern in your U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone.
Read MoreHow to Grow Peace Lilies Outdoors in Florida. Spathiphyllum, or peace lilies, are herbaceous members of the family Araceae. Most Aroids are tropical plants and several, including monstera, anthurium, philodendron and caladium, are familiar indoor house plants. Peace lilies are native to the tropics of Central America but can be grown outdoors on the southern coast of Florida from Miami around the Keys to Fort Myers, provided that they are protected from temperatures below 55 degrees during the cool season. They make an impressive ground cover for shady areas.
Read MoreThe Fall Care of Peonies in Minnesota. Minnesota gardeners grow a variety of perennial flowers in a state where the first average frost date occurs sometime in September or early October. Fortunately for Gopher State gardeners, the hardy peony is a spring bloomer. According to the Minnesota Peony Society, peony blooms peak in the fourth through sixth week after the last frost date. In Minnesota, that's during the middle of June. With a growing season of 150 or fewer days, Minnesotans must start peony fall care tasks earlier than their neighbors to the south.
Read MoreYellow Leaves on a Birch Tree. Light dances on the shimmering yellow leaves of the birch in autumn, but yellow leaves at other times of the year are no cause for celebration. Several native species of betula grace waterways and northern forests in the U.S. Although they prosper in wet soil and cold climates, their hardiness does not extend to a few weaknesses that cause leaves to yellow. Fortunately, most problems can be effectively addressed with proper cultural care.
Read MoreHow to Plant Driveway Containers. Container gardens provide portable color that can change with the seasons. They offer an attractive choice for landscaping a driveway. If the blistering heat of a July day does in their contents, simply change out the dead plants for new ones. Container gardens present their own tests, however. Driveway containers present some special requirements in addition to dealing with the heat that comes from living next to a paved surface. Design and plant your container garden with these constraints in mind.
Read MoreHow to Prune Trumpet Vines. Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is spectacular but once this aggressive grower gets out of hand, its unrestrained growth can be downright destructive. In addition, its sap can irritate skin, causing a rash for some and it is mildly toxic if eaten. You'll need sharp hand shears, a lopper and a sharp garden spade, long sleeves and gloves to groom your trumpet vine. And keep the kids and dogs indoors until you've cleaned up every twig.
Read MorePlanting Vegetables in Virginia. Virginia has a long, successful agricultural history because of its productive soil, long growing season and mild climate. Atlantic currents keep weather mild in the Tidewater region; gardeners can easily raise spring, summer and fall crops of vegetables. Planting a garden in Virginia's native sandy loam is a pleasure. Favorite crops are tomatoes, potatoes and all sorts of beans. The last average frost date in southeast Virginia is as early as the end of March, but most Virginia gardeners can begin planting by the end of April.
Read MoreHow to Prune Balsam Fir. The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is the original yuletide Tannenbaum, grown in the cool, moist forests of alpine Germany. Today it is grown in tree farms all over the world, including the northern tier of the United States and Canada. Training and pruning practice for the balsam varies with the purpose it will serve. Although its main use is as raw material for paper, it is still a favorite yuletide decoration, along with its southern cousin, the Fraser fir and assorted pines.
Read MoreHow to Identify the Difference Between Male & Female Holly Bushes. Holly, one of the traditional evergreens of the holidays, is a dioecious plant, which means holly plants are either male or female, and only the females have berries. In order to successfully produce seeds to propagate more plants, both sexes must grow in proximity to each other. Look for clues to the sex of the plant to guarantee berries on your holly bush.
Read MoreHow to Restore a 1950s Brick BBQ. In the 1950s, before steel kettles, smokers or outdoor ranges, outdoor cooking in the suburbs often involved a brick barbecue and a cook sporting a silly apron. Resembling big club chairs, many of these brick barbecues were built with leftovers from neighborhood construction. They used wood or charcoal and grilled, broiled, and smoked. Some even had warming or full ovens. The best part is that they drew like the fireplace, carrying smoke away from the cook’s face. If you’re fortunate enough to discover one of these beauties under a pile of brush in the back yard, rehabilitate it.
Read MoreHow to Prune Swamp White Oak. Swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) is native to the Midwest but can be found as far north as Quebec and as far south as North Carolina. Swamp white oaks are generally self-pruning, although some cultural maintenance is required to keep these moisture-loving trees healthy. They can grow from 30 to 80 feet tall.
Read MoreHow to Prune Paper Birch. Paper birch is native to northern parts of the U.S. and is known for its white, wrapped bark, used by native people for canoe covering and writing paper. Pruning this short-lived but attractive member of the birch family is often a contest of timing with the bronze birch borer, an insect responsible for frustrated landscapers and disappointed homeowners from Maine to the mountains of the Southwest. Paper birch with enough moisture in the right location only occasionally needs a bit of pruning.
Read MoreWhat Fruit Trees Grow in Southern Wisconsin. Gardeners in Wisconsin sometimes joke that they can grow apples and anything with "Siberian" in its name in their orchards. That may be an oversimplification, but Wisconsin fruit trees do need to be fast-fruiting and winter-hardy. Most of southern Wisconsin lies in USDA zones 5a or 4b, areas with growing seasons between 150 to 160 days. Winter temperatures may drop to -25 degrees F (-31 degrees C).
Read MoreHow to Install Malibu Landscape Lighting. Malibu and other low-voltage landscape lights are inexpensive and easy to install. They provide outdoor lighting for gardens, patios, walks and other areas that benefit from illumination but do not require floodlights or other bright lighting. Fortunately for do-it-yourselfers, these convenient lights come in kits with lights, wiring and controls already designed to work together as a system. Units are designed for landscape and aquatic applications and models are available for up-lighting, down-lighting and general landscape lighting.
Read MoreThe Best Plants for Williamsburg Landscaping. Gardeners in the Virginia Tidewater region are blessed with a gentle climate and wealth of tradition. Located between the York and James rivers, Williamsburg has fertile, sandy loam that is perfect for ambitious landscapes and native plants. Its growing season stretches from early April to November, averaging more than 200 growing days each year. The nearby Chesapeake Bay provides some protection from "Nor'easter" storms, and average low temperatures fall only into the 20s during the coldest months of January and February.
Read MoreThe Life Cycle of Wisconsin Fast Plants. Wisconsin Fast Plants are a patented variety of rapid-cycling Brassica rapa developed by Dr. Paul Williams at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a research model for studies in plant disease. Fast Plants live their whole lives in 35 to 45 days; perfect timing for science classes as well as plant geneticists. School children have used the little mustard relative for studies in biology for over 20 years.
Read MoreTree Trimming in Wisconsin. The difference between late winter and spring is often imaginary in Wisconsin; the last big snow of the year has taken place as late as early May, and Memorial Day weekend may include folks out mowing lawns. Because most trees should be trimmed in late winter, Wisconsin gardeners are challenged to get their pruning tools cleaned while drifts still stand deep and get to work while the ground is muddy.
Read MoreComponents of Organic Fertilizer. Plants require nourishment to grow and flourish. Native species survive in areas where the organic and mineral nutrients in the soil and climatic conditions favor their development. Non-native species need soil amendments and special treatment if they are to thrive. Fertilizers are necessary because humans tend to plant non-native lawn grasses, perennials, fruits and vegetables. Organic fertilizers represent an effort to make soil amendments more gently than would chemical fertilizers.
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