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Improve Your Garden Soil with Organic
Matter & Composting:
A garden
cannot thrive without a healthy soil
foundation. Health of the garden
depends upon organic matter.
Organic matter covers a wide range of
products including peat moss, animal
manure, newspaper, leaves, straw,
sludge, kitchen scraps and garden waste.
Any of these can be mixed in directly
with the soil, although some gardeners
choose to make their own compost.
Composting
is the best and quickest way to convert
the organic matter into a form that the
soil can make available to plants.
Getting started is easy. All you
need is a container to put your compost
in. Many people use a large wooden box,
but just about anything will do.
Place the box in a shaded area of your
lawn. Include anything in your
compost that is green and not cooked.
Do not include leaves & twigs, because
they slow the process down. The
key to a good compost heap is to keep it
moist and warm. Sometimes cardboard
boxes are put in the bottom of the heap
to provide more insulation.
Organic
matter improves the structure of the
soil by helping particles bind together
into clumps. This builds tilth,
a quality of the garden that makes soil
easier to penetrate. Organic
matter also provides nutrients to
organisms in the soil that recycle the
soil nutrients into a form that plants
can use.
Ace
Hardware & Hearth has a variety of
products for all of your composting
needs. Including:
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Roebic
Bacterial
Composter
This product is a complete
composting formula to
accelerate the composting
process. Easy to use and
safe for the environment.
Works on green or dry grass
clippings, weeds, shrub
trimmings, vegatable scraps
and peelings.
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Premier Peat Moss
Sphagnum peat moss is well
suited for indoor and
outdoor horticultural
applications. It conditions
all soils by improving
aeration, water drainage,
nutrient/water retention.
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Also Available:
Twin Oaks - Composted Manure
Twin Oaks - Dehydrated Cow
Manure
YardRight Pelletized
Limestone
YardRight Pulverized
Limestone
And More! |
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Perennial Planting Tips
Perennials
are plants that live for more than two
years. Examples of these include hosta,
daylilies and peonies. Perennials
are much more low-maintenance than
annuals or biennials because once you
plant them they keep blooming year after
year. They also require less
watering and fertilizing because their
roots grow deeper and are more durable
than annuals. Many perennials will
spread on their own adding more color to
your garden every year.
Although perennials have less upkeep
there are still some helpful tips you
should take into consideration when
beginning your perennial gardening.
• Pay
attention to the bloom period of each
perennial. Bloom periods can last
anywhere from one week to a month or
more. Even continuous bloomers
have a peak blooming period.
• Try to pick
a planting spot that gets partial to
full sun. Some perennials are able
to grow in full shade, but you will have
a wider plant selection if you choose a
sunny area.
•
Check the
USDA zone rating to find the right
plants for your growing region.
This can be found at:
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
• Follow the
planting instructions that come with
your perennials. Once planted,
make sure they get plenty of water in
the beginning growing stages.
• A deep
watering once a week works better than a
daily sprinkle. Also, be sure not to
water your plants too much.
Drowning your plants will deprive them
of oxygen, causing the plant to wilt.
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Tips for Planting Flower Bulbs
• You
can get a better garden effect by
planting bulbs in clusters instead of
planting one bulb by itself. Even
if it is a small cluster, the colors
will pop-out more.
• You can't
tell the difference between bulbs just
by looking at them so keep the label
with the bulbs until planting. This way
you will know where you are planting
each of the flowers.
• You can be
fairly flexible with where you plant the
bulbs in your garden. The best
places to plant them are where the soil
drains well. Avoid areas where
there is water build-up and be sure to
plant the bulbs where they can get a lot
of sun.
• Plant the
pointy end up! If you can't find
the pointy end then don't worry, most
plants will find their way to the top.
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