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Closing Up Your Container GardenDebbie Rodgers All good things eventually come to an end and so summer is waning, even as autumn gives most of us a fresh start. Ill bet your summer container plantings arent really benefiting, though, from the "back to school-oh I love a clean notebook" boost and arent dying as gracefully as summer itself is. Youre going to have to help them through this! Saving Summer I understand if you just cant bear the thought of waving good-bye to your wave petunias just yet. Thats okay - you can bring some of your tropical annuals indoors for the winter, to ease the pain of parting with them. If you have the space, a sunny window and enough moisture, you can save palms, ferns and other tropicals. Likely though, youll have more success with taking cuttings and helping your plants clone themselves. Its kind of like Day of the Triffids without the evil. Pick a healthy plant with no nasty bugs or blights. With a sharp knife, cut off non-flowering stems 3-4 inches 8-11 cm long, and strip the leaves off the lower two-thirds of the stem. Dip the cut edges in rooting hormone, available at your local nursery, and stick them in dampened sand or peat moss, or a glass of tap water. Place the pot, tray or glass in a sunny spot and wait 3-4 weeks. If the cuttings are in sand or peat, dont forget to water to keep them damp throughout that time. When the roots are at least 1 inch 2.5 cm long, you can plant them in potting soil in attractive containers and winter them on a sunny windowsill or table. This method works well with annuals such as geraniums pelargonium, coleus, and some ivies. You can also try propagating impatiens this way. Cleaning Up Now that youve rescued what you can, get ruthless and empty all of your other outdoor containers. If you have a compost heap, chop up the remains and toss them there. Soil too! This is particularly important if youve been using terracotta or ceramic containers, as the moisture in the soil will expand when it freezes and youll end up with cracked pots. If there are any crackpots around my house, I want them to be of the human variety! Next, wash out the empty containers to remove any disease and fungal spores. If your terracotta pots have a white build-up from water, potting soil and fertilizer chemicals, soak them for 24 hours in white vinegar and water with some baking soda added. Then scrub them with a stiff brush in warm soapy water. Rinse thoroughly. Air or sun dry the containers and then stack them with layers of newspaper between each. If you have a spot to store them where they wont freeze over the winter months, all the better. If not, as long as youve made certain the pots are dry and well layered with paper, they should be fine until the spring. Now youre ready to put on a show of fall color. I can tell you EVERYTHING you need to know. Check under “Fall Planting Tips” on the fre*e articles page of my webs-site.
| RELATED ARTICLES Decorating a Childs Room - 8 Simple Strategies to Make You Both Happy! When it comes to decorating a childs room, your approach should be much different from decorating an adult bedroom. Design Elements A well-decorated room can still lack personality. To give your room a personality, choose from among these basic design elements, modify them to suit your tastes and implement them in a way which is just right for you. Unfinished Furniture… Finish It Yourself! Unfinished furniture has started to become extremely popular in the last few years. As customers have discovered the benefit of buying unfinished wood furniture, the industry has responded with an even larger selection.There are many benefits to buying unfinished furniture.One is that you are able to see what you are buying.Unlike finished furniture, you will be able to immediately see if your furniture has defects like discoloration, knots, or clear weak points. The Ten Most Important Feng Shui Design Tips If you wish to learn how to manage interior design according to feng shui design guidelines, there are some major tips you must know. We wish to help you achieve a balanced and harmonic feng shui design for any environment you wish it to be. Read the next paragraphs and learn the feng shui design most important tips. How To Build A Waterfall The number one, most asked question that I receive about water features is "How do I build a waterfall" Bathroom Remodel - The Plan Planning a bathroom remodelEach home project of this nature can be broken down into 5 distinct steps.Following through each step will help this often confusing process make more sense and produce a better outcome. 10 Home Decorating Ideas To Quickly Update Any Room Not all home decorating ideas require a heavy investment of time and money. If youre looking for a few affordable home interior decorating ideas to freshen up a room over a weekend, try these ten: Electrical Safety in the home Electricity is a wonderful part of our lives, clearly enabling us to do so many of the things we take for granted. Food preparation, entertainment, communication, and so much more are all dependent upon the delivery of electricity. And yet, coming into direct contact with electrical current can severely injure you. In some cases, it can even kill you. Here are some things you can do to keep safe. Some of what we suggest may seem obvious, but we include it here because we believe its impossible to over emphasize the importance of safety. Rustic Accessories the New Buzz in Home Decor ARA - As the cooler seasons draw closer, thoughts and activities drift slowly from the outdoors to the inside, and the annual human version of hibernation begins. We re-acclimate to shorter days and longer, colder nights. There is a sense that the house must be buttoned-up for the winter. Fall Pond Cleaning Great question.The answer is it really depends.Doing a full pond cleaning during the colder winter months can be very stressful on your fish.However, if the pond is really dirty and full of muck - then you may want to consider it because all of the decaying organic matter in the pond can cause problems if the pond ices over, and this begins to de-gas and rot. Door Hardware - the Focal Point of the Home. The door is the focal point of the home which is why door hardware is so important, creating a striking first impression as well as securing your property against intruders. Help Choosing Door and Window Hardware Who would be the best person to help you find suitable fixtures and fittings for doors and windows Why Its Important to Get Pre-Approved Having a pre-approved mortgage will give you the confidence of knowing exactly what you can spend on a home before you start looking. You will also be protected against interest rate increases while you look for your new home. Create a Romantic Shabby Chic Bedroom Create a Romantic Shabby Chic Style Bedroom What Are Light Fixtures Used For Light fixtures are something not many of us think about. But, the way we light a room can cause us to feel a certain way or enhance what we want to accomplish in that room. There are many types of light fixtures for all areas of the home and even outdoor lighting fixtures for landscaping designs. Real Estate: Financial Considerations $$$ Raw land as opposed to improved property is much more difficult to finance through traditional lenders. The main reasons are that it generates very little income, development costs can be expensive, there are no buildings or improvements that can be used as collateral, and it is often considered speculative. Essential Tools For Home Improvement NC—While the home may be a familys castle and an escape from todays hectic world, its probably not perfect. Decorating styles change. There are pictures to hang and shelves to install. Things break. Its too pressing to ignore, but too minor to engage a professional. The question becomes one of where to begin. Scented Candles – Take Me AWAY! Remember the old Calgon commercial—"Take me away Calgon!" Theres only one thing that can take you away faster than a Calgon bath, and thats a scented candle. Whether you want a breath of fresh spring air, or you want to transport yourself to a South Sea paradise minus the hassle of airport security, crowded, delayed flights and lost baggage, grab a scented candle, and travel wherever your imagination leads. Smell is a powerful sense, and you can use it to alter your mood within seconds with the flicker of a candle. In fact, why not keep a supply of scented candles in the bathroom when you dont have time to luxuriate in the bathtub. Envelope yourself in fragrance while you shower, dry and blow-dry. Creating a Mood with Scents Have you ever noticed how the warm scent of a candle wafting through the air can be uplifting, energizing, or make you cozyOr maybe theres a certain body spray, soap, or perfume that just keeps you going through the day.Did you wonder why maybe that Key Lime candle smeeled yummy but also energized you or even motivated you to cleanOr why that Apple Pie scent really helped you appreciate fallWonder no longer, study after study has shown that scents do affect your mood!Take a look below of some scents that can really enhance your moods: Hot-Weather Fish Feeding Facts Summertime provides the best time of the year to water garden – and also to be on the alert for high-temperature problems. |
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