Lisa Parris
Garden Guides Editorial Policies
Garden Guides uses a knowledgeable team of editors, writers, and experts to create all our content. We dive deep into the ever-evolving conversations surrounding gardening and landscaping, striving to deliver the most current and helpful tips, strengthened by expert insight and tutorials from our talented team.
As we cover many fields of expertise, we make it a priority to ensure every beat remains fresh and comprehensive. Additional information on our editorial process available here.
Stories By Lisa Parris
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Homemade Citrus Spray As A Cat Deterrent
Homemade Citrus Spray as a Cat Deterrent. Cats are one of America's most beloved pets, but as a territorial species, they occasionally fall from favor when marking areas that are not technically theirs. Cats stake out their turf by depositing pheromones, rubbing things with their face or scratching with their claws. An even more serious claim to ownership is made with a spray of urine or a deposit of feces. Cat repellent is one way of keeping the felines out of your garden or off of your furniture, and can be easily and inexpensively made at home.
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How To Repair A Tear In Greenhouse Plastic
How to Repair a Tear in Greenhouse Plastic. A greenhouse is used to shield plants from the environment, particularly the cold. Using clear materials such as glass or plastic for the roof and walls, greenhouses use the radiant energy of the sun to keep plants warm. For many years greenhouses were made primarily of glass, but as the development of plastics has progressed, more gardeners began taking advantage of the lighter weight, less expensive building material. As a result, many modern greenhouses are made of plastic sheets and films. While these films are durable, they do occasionally tear. Luckily, this type of damage is easy to repair.
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Can I Force Gladiolus Bulbs To Grow?
Can I Force Gladiolus Bulbs to Grow?. Nothing says springtime like freshly blooming flowers, but for many gardeners, the winter is simply too dreary and gray. Forcing bulbs such as the gladiolus to bloom indoors can add a bit of spring to the long winter months. .
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How We Classify Vegetables And Fruits
How We Classify Vegetables and Fruits. It's human nature to classify things. Grouping comparable items can make things more orderly, and helps us better understand the similarities and differences between things. In many instances categories are clearly defined, but when it comes to food, things get a bit hazy, particularly when classifying fruits and vegetables. In science, a fruit is a fleshy, ripe, seed-containing ovary, while a vegetable is the unseeded, edible portion of a plant. In the real world, though, it isn't always that straightforward.
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Types Of Outdoor Plants
Types of Outdoor Plants. There are no hard and fast rules for determining which plants belong "outdoors" and which belong "indoors." Some people have large houses and enjoy decorating with bulky plants, including trees. Some plants begin indoors and get moved outside once they reach a size that makes them inconvenient to maintain inside a house. As a general rule of thumb, outdoor plants tend to be those that survive well in a wide range of temperatures and lighting conditions. While that makes some plants poor choices for the great outdoors, it leaves a wide variety that will thrive when planted in your yard.
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How To Get Rid Of Mites On Plants
How to Get Rid of Mites on Plants. Mites commonly invade garden and household plants. These tiny arachnids have mouths that enable them to pierce the exterior plant surfaces and suck the sap or tissue fluid from the cells. They are not particularly picky diners, infesting a wide variety of plants and quickly reproducing to create massive populations. Typical damage associated with mites includes wilting, dry leaves, undeveloped fruit and decreased plant development.
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How To Get Rid Of Aphids Without Harming Flowers
How to Get Rid of Aphids Without Harming Flowers. Aphids are tiny, lime-green, pear-shaped pests that appear in the garden in the early summer. Sucking the juice from tender new shoots, aphids are among the most destructive garden pests outside of the tropics, attacking everything from roses to potatoes to pine trees. Once aphids have begun to colonize a plant, quick action must be taken or a colony can rapidly evolve into a swarm capable of destroying your entire garden.
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Ideal Growing Conditions For Chlorella
Ideal Growing Conditions for Chlorella. Chlorella is a type of green algae. It is a simple, single-celled organism that contains chlorophyll--giving it its characteristic green color. The growing and development of chlorella as a crop is popular in Asian cultures where it is used as a food source. Chlorella is also a valuable source of nutrition for other sea and freshwater creatures such as fish and shrimp. Like other plants, chlorella requires a few things to grow and multiply: sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Once these requirements have been met, chlorella will make use of the photosynthetic process to rapidly multiply.
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How To Store Pumpkins
How to Store Pumpkins. Nothing says "harvest" like a big pile of bright orange pumpkins. These large, round fruits are synonymous with fall and are most commonly used for Halloween jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkin pies. Grown on long trailing vines throughout the world, pumpkins are welcome additions to any garden. Proper storage of the harvested pumpkins is simply another aspect of successful gardening.
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How To Store Cabbage
How to Store Cabbage. Cabbage is a leafy green vegetable that is a popular component in soups, stews, casseroles and salads. Cabbage varieties are categorized primarily by shape and season, though in some parts of country they can be grown year-round. A single head of cabbage can weigh anywhere from 1 to 8 lbs. and showcases tightly compacted leaves, which are crisp but tender. To help your cabbage maintain optimal flavor, it is important to use proper home storage methods once the cabbage has been purchased. Correct storage slows the metabolic processes that cause the plant cells to deteriorate, preserving the quality, texture and flavor.
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Home Remedies For Bugs On Kale Plants
Home Remedies for Bugs on Kale Plants. Kale is a cold-hardy, leafy green well-suited to life in cooler climates. While kale is a relatively low-maintenance crop that draws few serious pests, from time to time insects may invade a particularly lush plot. Fortunately, there are several easy home remedies that effectively remove insect pests while posing no threat to children, pets or plants.
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Facts On Scrub Pine Trees
Facts on Scrub Pine Trees. The scrub pine is a medium-sized evergreen that is native to North America. A resilient and hardy tree, it can often be found growing in very poor, sandy soil. While it has the potential be relatively tall under ideal growing conditions, in less than prime circumstances, the scrub pine will exhibit a stunted growth pattern, remaining quite small.
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