Most people stand with a water hose and spray the top of the dirt and watch the water flow downhill away from the tree, and think that they watered their tree. You must give your tree a deep root watering in order to call it watered. Here is the best technique for maximizing the effectiveness and saving water.

Turn your hose on a very slow drip and let it stay on the trunk of the tree for at least 8 hours at a time. Do this no less than 3 times per week. More often in the heat of the summer.

If you want to invest in a Tree Gator, a 20 gallon slow release water bag, that will work too. I recommend filling it everyday.

Happy Watering

There is no secret to keeping weeds out!

Click this link to find out more…Weed Control

Weed Prevention Chart

First question to ask is ‘Do I want color from my landscape?’ Many shrubs provide color, some bloom once per year, others bloom all year. Some shrubs have colorful foliage that breaks up the green bushes.

Second question to ask is ‘How much maintenance am I willing to put into my creation?’ Sorry to say that there is no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. Every bush requires one to two trimmings per year. Other bushes require three to four trimmings per year. Most of the time it is worth the extra maintenance to get the look you are going for.

Third question would be ‘Do I want all shrubs, or do I want to mix in some flowers or perennials?’ This would depend heavily on where your landscape design is, in perspective to the house. If you are landscaping the front of the house, it will be different than if you are doing the back of the house. In the front of the house, I prefer 75% or more shrubs. Flowers and Perennials become an accent plant only. The back of the house becomes wide open to use your maximum creativity.

Stay tuned as we continue to break down how to start a landscape design!

Evaluate Likes / Dislikes

• Do you want Color
• How much Maintenance
• Do you want Flowers in the design
• Or just all Shrubs

My In-Laws have had this problem for years and have used chicken wire on the planters after they plant the plants. Once the plants grow through you cannot see the wire, but it keeps the cat off long enough to get the plant established. Some other ideas that I have heard are as follows…(some are really good ideas)

1. Use Jacks. You know, that game we all used to play as a kid. Cats don’t like pokie things on their feet.
2. Use plastic forks. It will cost you about $1 for a big bag. Fork your own flower bed!!  Bamboo skewers look a little cleaner if you want to go that route. Once the flowers grow, they disappear anyway.
3. Nylon netting. Same concept as the chicken wire. Put it on top of the soil around the plants.
4. Mulch with stones. They can’t dig very well and don’t want to ‘go’ on stones.
5. Anything Citrus. Orange peelings, air freshener spray can be used.
6. Peat Moss. Supposedly cats don’t like it and it is good for your soil!
7. Pine Cones. Spread them around to make the cat work for his spot
8. Thorny rose cuttings. Stuck straight up in the ground works like the forks.
9. Make them an outdoor litter box. Get a bag of sand and place it somewhere out of the way, but close to your problem area and let them go to town in it. There always needs to be an alternative plan!!

Happy Cat Detering

First off, what is germinate, or germination rate? Germinate means ‘to cause to grow‘. Germination rate is the percentage of seeds in a package to actually break shell and make a plant. On bags of grass seed you will see typically a 75-90% germination rate. That means,75-90% of the seeds in the bag will make a plant.
So how to do you get seeds to germinate faster? MOISTURE. The longer that seed stays moist, the easier it is for the root and plant to push through the shell of the seed pod. If you are trying to grow vegetable plants, the best way is to use the tray with a cover on it. That gives you the perfect little greenhouse moisture effect. I did that with my kids a few weeks ago and the seeds pushed the top off in less than a week. If you don’t have a lid, than somehow you have to get constant moisture on the top, and heat on the bottom of the soil tray.

In the yard, when planting grass seed, the same concept applies. Obviously, you cannot put a large lid over the yard, so you have to revert back to the constant moisture thing. Watering as often as possible, (twice a day at least) for short periods of time (10 mins or so) is the fastest way to get the grass seed to germinate. Once the grass is established, watering long periods (1 hour or more) less often (3 times a week) is the best way to water the yard. We will discuss that further in another blog.

Happy Planting

When you see tiny little spider webs all the plant, that is a spider mite. The mite is extremely hard to see. It is usually a black dot about the size of the point on a pencil. This is a very simple problem to remedy. Just about any insecticidal soap will control these little guys, just read the label and look for spider mite. My favorite product is made by Fertilome, who only sells to independent dealers, not big box chains. It is called Triple Action Plus. It is an organic control of Insects, Mites, and Fungus, hence the name Triple Action. The Plus means organic. I’m sure Bayer and maybe even Ortho have a similar product, but make sure it is organic. Non-organic products you have to watch animals and children contact for a time.

If you only have one plant infected, but have multiple plants in the house, treat all of them at the same time to prevent the spread of the mite without you knowing it. One to two treatments should fully fix the problem.

• Overwatering
• Underwatering
• Wrong Sunlight
• Winter Maintenance

The question from Tracy was, “Can I plant a tree rose in a container or could it be planted in the ground?” The answer is both. A rose tree will survive a container or in the ground. When planted in the ground, less care will have to be taken as far as watering is concerned. Once established, watering only during hot dry seasons is necessary.

When planting in a container, you have to know the plant. Know what kind of moisture content it likes. Know where the sun is. If it gets morning sun only, less water is needed than if it gets all afternoon sun. Many people will kill a plant in a container during the winter. Why is that? Well, typically it is because they forget to water it. Because of the Eskimo concept of thermal warmth, the root system has to stay wet during freezing temperatures. If the roots are wet and freeze, that is good; If the roots are dry and freeze, that is bad.

Many people forget about sunlight when purchasing a container plant. They just want the most colorful thing they can find and put it in their container. Not taking into consideration whether the pot is under a porch or out in full sun. The rose tree wants as much sun as it can get to give the most blooms.
Watch for bug problems, and the infamous rose black spot and you will have a gorgeous plant for years to enjoy.

The most common squirrels in Tennessee are the gray squirrels. Gray squirrels breed in mid-December and again in June. They will always be working a ‘labor of love’ right before and during those times. Home ranges can be from 1 to 100 acres, depending on food availability.

Squirrel damage in a garden is difficult to control, and squirrels removed are quickly replaced by new arrivals. There are a couple of ways to try and control the damage…1. Newly seeded and planted gardens can be protected by placing ¼ in. wire mesh cages over the seeded areas or plants. Make sure to bury the wire several inches below the soil. You can remove the wire after the plants are established, or just let your plants grow through them. 2. Methyl nonyl ketone crystals are repellents labeled for border treatments to protect vegetable gardens. Use as directed. Most people don’t like this idea because it is a ‘chemical’. 3. If you are bored, you can set out live traps and remove Mr. Squirrel from your yard, but beware of Mrs. Squirrel!

Just remember, Squirrels are gardeners too, sort of. They bury peanuts and forget where they put them. They are one of the most effective forest restoration creatures on the planet!

We have two issues going on; Lora’s problem is the neighbor’s dogs are coming over and killing her bushes. Other people have their own dog’s killing their bushes.

Dogs are creatures of habit. My operations manager at my garden center was/is a dog trainer for the last 24 years and I asked him what solutions he had for this problem. He gave me the answer of training them to not use the bushes as a bathroom. If the dog is yours and you have lots of time to train, then using a shock collar or a citronella collar works well. Every time you let the dog out, you watch for him to hike and then you shock. If you are consistent, then the dog will start associating the bushes as a bad thing and will stay away. The citronella collar, instead of shocking will put off a mist of spray, and dogs hate citronella scent.

Now, for Lora’s problem of neighbor’s dogs. She obviously cannot use a collar on those dogs, so what are her options? Well, according to my friend, she needs to invest about $40 in an above ground electric fence. They are designed for dogs and you set them up around the perimeter of the shrubs. Let the dog pee on an electric fence and I would say that after the second time, your problem will be solved. Remember, dogs are creatures of habit, once he associates peeing on that bush as painful, he will not come back. Then you can remove the fence and sell it to a neighbor to get your money back!!