If you keep a pomegranate plant for the fruit, you should not turn your bush into a tree. Heavy pruning of a pomegranate bush into a tree will result in less fruit production.

For More Information I put an article from the Green Thumb here.

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With the very existence of honeybees threatened by disease and CCD I hope they are able to get the ban lifted soon. Honeybee pollination is a vital part of our life.

For More Information go to: Best Lawn Mowers Reviews

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Phil The Gardener’s reply:
1.      If your tomato plants are growing too large for their allocated area you can prune them with sharp, clean shears.

2.      To encourage your tomato plants to grow bushy and full you should pinch the branch tips all during the growing season. Remove the last set of two leaves, including the stem, each time you pinch a branch.

3.      Cut out entire branches that are not blooming to keep plants contained. Leave some foliage above developing fruit to shade it and prevent sun scald.

4.      Remove dead or fading foliage from tomato plants. Keep only the growth that is green and healthy. Try not to cut away branches that are flowering.

5.      Train your tomatoes to grow on a trellis. This will save precious garden space. Growing vertically also makes it easier to locate and harvest the crop. Tie stray branches back to the trellis, or remove them completely if they are not bearing flowers.

Happy Gardening

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1. Before you even take the tree in the house, dig a hole for the tree where you expect to plant it after the holidays. Put the soil in a wheelbarrow and park it in the garage. You’ll need loose soil to backfill the hole, and the ground might be frozen after the holidays.

2. Keep your live tree in the house for as short a time as is possible.

3. Keep the ball plenty moist while in the house, but not in a tub full of water. You don’t want the ball to dry out completely, but by the same token it shouldn’t be soggy all the time either. Just moist. You can wet it thoroughly, but then don’t water again until the water is almost gone.

4. After Christmas move the tree outdoors as soon as possible and plant it immediately. If you were not able to dig the hole earlier, the ground is frozen, and the tree cannot be planted, leave it outside and pack bags of leaves or bales of straw around the ball. Find a way to heel it in in such a way that the amount of sun and wind the root ball receives is minimal.

5. Try and plant the tree immediately if you can. You do not want to store the tree on top of the ground during the winter if you can avoid it. Putting it in your garage is not a good idea either, it is likely to dry out in there. The absolute best place for the ball is in the ground, even if the ground has frozen after you dug the hole.  Just set the tree in the hole and backfill with loose soil. Make sure there are no air pockets around the ball. Backfill only with small particles of soil. If this cannot be done because the soil is frozen, just set the tree in the hole and backfill as soon as the weather permits.

6. Check the ball for nylon string. Cut and remove any nylon string. Sometimes the diggers wrap the string around the stem of the tree. If the string is a cotton type, like sisal twine, you can leave it on the ball but remove it from the stem. If the burlap is nylon it should be cut in many places or removed. If the ball is wrapped with a wire basket I recommend leaving it on. It will help to secure the tree and keep it from rocking back and forth with the wind. The roots will find their way through the wire and the burlap. Just cut the burlap where you can.

7. Do not plant the tree too deep. This is the number one reason for plants that do not survive. They should not be planted any deeper than they were in the nursery. The top of the ball should be one to two inches above the ground level. If you have heavy, wet, clay soil, you should plant it even higher and build a bed up around the ball. When you plant them too deep the plants literally suffocate.

8. Do not fertilize the tree at the time of planting. You can fertilize it in the spring, but only with an organic fertilizer. If you have compost available, mix some in while planting. Fertilizer can do more harm than it can good. I always recommend organic fertilizers. It’s hard to make a mistake with organics. It’s always a good idea to stake trees when you plant them. If the wind is constantly rocking them back and forth they will have a difficult time establishing new roots in their new home.

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It is great to have your flowers bloom indoors when it is in the cold dark days of winter. Beautiful flowering plants can brighten your house and lift your spirits on a cold winter’s day. Some bulbs have a great smelling bloom like hyacinths this can be wonderful to freshen your house as long as you’re not allergic to the smell.

Most spring flowering bulbs can be forced to bloom out of season as long as you follow the correct timing procedures. Some of the more common ones are crocus, daffodils, grape hyacinth, hyacinth, and tulips. Visit BloomingBulb.com for #1 quality Holland flower bulbs… at wholesale prices!

For more information on the process on how to force spring bulbs for Christmas come back for the next episode of forcing bulbs.

In case you missed the last episode Prevent Lawn Damage – Control Grubs in Lawn.

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The plugs will be cored about 6 inches apart anywhere from 2 to 3 inches deep. This will depend on the type of soil and the moisture content.

Lawn aeration allows air and water to penetrate the soil more easily and provides more oxygen to the roots of your lawn as a result, you will have a healthier turf.

In case you missed the last episode Save Your Garden Seed.

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I am not going to bore you with all the names of the flowers that can be planted between now and late October to give a little color to your garden as summer flowers fade away.

Suggested list of perennials to plant:

Anemone, Crocus, Daffodils, Dwarf Irises, Hyacinths, Siberian Squill.

Plant perennials in rows for a formal look or scatter seeds in open beds for a more natural look. Plant this month, so the young seedlings will be ready to be transplanted into their permanent location next spring.

As the weather cools down, plant new or replacement perennials and dig and divide overcrowded perennials. Move them to a new area or give some away to your friends and neighbors. Bearded and Siberian irises and peonies can be divided, now this is the ideal time.

The foliage and the seed heads on perennials can be colorful so don’t be in a big rush to cut them all back.

Migrating birds love these seed heads for food too.

Cut back those that might become weeds if they’re allowed to go to seed, also cut any blossoms that are looking past their prime or have some disease on them.

Sometimes you just run out of anything in certain areas of your beds and there is just no color. You can go down to your local garden shop and buy some perennials or late-season annuals to add in right now, check the ads that come in the mail there should be some sales.

Bulbs

Dig up summer bulbs that you want to keep soon after the first frost and put them in a cool dry area for winter storage.

Once the soil temperature drops below 60° spring flowering bulbs can be planted. You can be assured your bulbs will be disease-free healthy bulbs if you order them from reputable garden shops. Add in a good bulb fertilizer or bone meal as you prepare the soil.

As a rule of thumb, you should plant your bulbs three times deeper than the greatest diameter of the bulb. Remember bulbs always do better in well-drained soil. This keeps the bulbs from rotting over the winter.

By now you should have already selected your bulbs from your online catalog, but there is still time if you haven’t. Here are a few links to some online catalogs.

Gardens Alive

Wayside Gardens

Be adventurous try some new varieties of bulbs. This will give you an idea what really does well in your area.

Here are a couple of tips you can try to enjoy your more colorful flowers.

Pick some flowers that are in bloom and dry them for future arrangements.
Bundle the flowers together, hang them upside down in a dry sheltered area. They’ll be ready for your winter arrangements.

Resources for you.

Here are a couple of links to some sites that are a good resource to figure out what kind of bugs you have on your plants or in your house.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/buglinks/

Email From Mari:

Mari sent me a note requesting help for her garden.

She wrote “My garden looks terrible. My agapanthas are thinning and dying. What should I do?”

“Answer from Phil The Gardener”

Mari, make sure your agapanthas are in full sun, have good drainage, and are not being over watered.

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This is good to protect the tree from gardeners who are careless or even accidentally allow the weedeater string to slap the trunk of the tree. The trunk guard can protect the bark and cambium layer of your tree from damage by the weedeater string.

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One of the major problems with a lot of ponds is the water does not turn over fast enough. Water circulation is a key factor in controlling algae growth. The faster the water circulates, the harder it is for the algae to thrive. Most algae likes to grow in still water. There are some types of stringy algae that will grow in running water.

Algae grows best in sunshine. By shading your pond under trees or growing water plants in the shallow areas you can help control algae growth. Of course, under trees you will have a whole other set of problems to deal with.

Goldfish and koi feed on algae also.

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