A fresh cover of mulch gives any garden a boost in appearance, providing a uniform cover and color and making your plantings look like new. If you’re planning to mulch now or in the fall, keep some important Do’s and Don’ts in mind:

DON’T create a mound of mulch around young trees’, shrubs’ and hostas’ crown or trunk. This volcano-shape of mulch causes water to run away from the plant’s base, keeping moisture from the roots. As a result, a new tree or plant’s root ball can actually shrink beneath the ground. Create an open ring or berm around plantings to let the water seep down where needed.

DON’T: Mulch too much around new or established trees and plants, since thick layers too close to the roots invite pests and disease.

DO keep mulch height to about two inches, especially around young trees. This is enough to discourage weeds from growing around the trees and in your garden. Water can seep down through this thickness, which provides enough cover to keep roots cooler in hot weather.

DO purchase quality mulch, made from fresh organic materials. It’s actually a mistake to try to save money by mulching your own wood, since you may not be aware if logs or cut-down trees, pulled-up shrubs or even tree leaves have any types of rot or disease. Fresh, pristine mulch is worth the investment, keeping your garden plantings safe and sound.

DON’T mulch before you test your soil’s pH levels. Your soil might need some doctoring with lime or other pH adjusters to achieve its healthiest levels before you cover it with mulch.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Your vegetable garden and flower garden, as well as your flowering trees can make you the best neighbor ever. Not only for the beauty factor that impresses neighbors passing by, but because they make great gifts to bring over. No reason. You’re just sharing your bounty.

Last summer, my next-door neighbor popped over to give me a bag of onions that she had grown in her garden. She had way too many to use, and she knew that this Italian household cooks often with onions. It was a spectacular gift, a sweet offering, and we were beyond touched at her thoughtfulness.

Imagine how happy you can make your neighbors when you pop by with your extra organic tomatoes, peppers, thyme, or rosemary.

Make your gift pretty by packaging your goodies in a basket, and print out a recipe card for your favorite homemade treat. If you have kids, they can decorate a simple paper bag to hold those peppers.

We’re all so busy with our to-do lists, but it adds so much to nurture your relationships with your neighbors! What will you be growing in your garden this year, and who among your neighbors would love your thoughtful gift of some fresh and fantastic veggies or herbs?

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Don’t let this snowy New Jersey weather destroy your outdoor container plants.

Container Plants

Your outdoor container plants do not enjoy the same kind of protection during the winter months that ground-living plants do. Plants situated in ground beds have roots located far below the ground’s surface where temperatures remain much more constant than the above-ground dramatic temperature swings that container plants must endure. So it becomes an important task for the health and survival of your winter container plants and other dormant outdoor container plants to insulate those planters, or switch them to more protective outdoor garden containers or garden urns.

Simply put, the larger the garden container, the more soil present within it to insulate roots, and the more space available to pile on organic mulch as an effective temperature protectant. So you may wish to re-pot your existing garden plants to larger pots or ceramic garden décor urns, bowls, or other planters. At the same time, you may refresh the planter’s soil by adding a mix of additional potting soil, peat and other organic planting supplies to give the soil additional nutrients.

Which types of containers provide the best insulation for plants? Look for wood planters, which provide enough insulation from temperature surges, and look also at impermeable materials such as metals and concrete. Even thicker plastics provide good insulation against the winter cold. But be sure to move your outdoor plant containers off of porch surfaces that can get ice-coated and conduct colder temperatures into and through more permeable planters such as those made from ceramic. In harsh winter cold, some ceramic planters can crack or shatter, exposing your plant’s roots to the elements.

For any outdoor container, provide a healthy layer of insulation on top, in the form of added mulch, and organic tree trunk wraps may also add an extra layer of protection for younger trees and more delicate plantings.

Of course, smaller and lighter outdoor container plants may be moved into your garage for a bit of extra protection from harsh winds, ice, snow and plunging winter temperatures that our New Jersey region has been experiencing lately. It may not be 70-degrees in the garage, but your plants will thank you for giving them a break from the elements.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Your snow-covered property can help you envision a new plan for your spring garden layout. If you stand at a distance from your front, back or side gardens, you’ll see where the snow blankets your evergreen trees and azalea trees, and you’ll also clearly see the ‘blank spots’ in all of your garden landscaping designs. Ideally, your landscaping will look impressive all year round, not just in spring and summer when the brightest organic flowers and fullest trees are in bloom. So looking now at what you can plant in the spring and summer to be full and beautiful next winter puts a positive spin on all of this record-breaking New Jersey snowfall. That blanket of snow points out where you could use some evergreen plantings.

The green foliage of evergreens looks especially attractive in a white-blanketed landscape, and their ranges of colors and subtle variegations provide attractive detail to your garden design year-round. In warmer months, when those evergreens and sturdy winter plants are revealed, their beauty is shown in the streaks of color and the textures of their leaves and needles.

Some evergreens deliver flowers and berries in several seasons, adding a pop of color your landscape year-round as well.

Here are some evergreens to consider for your gardens’ blank spaces and balance of design:

Blue spruce trees – They grow to be both a strong focal point, a guard against wind, and may also be decorated with winter holiday lights.

Wintergreen plants — These provide a range of colors and textures in your garden beds, with red and purple groundcover often spotted with red berries and broadleaves, and many of our local Morris County home gardeners pick this organic wintergreen to brew teas.

English-ivy – An evergreen that retains its color year-round, and that some people include in their gardens because it’s a plant that legend says symbolizes ‘marital happiness.’

Boxwoods — One of the more popular evergreens, boxwoods create an attractive garden border.

The Farm’s knowledgeable staff can advise you on pairing the right evergreens with your property’s layout, so bring photos of your home and gardens and be prepared to share each section’s exposure to light and drainage information, so that The Farm’s experts can guide you to the right variety of evergreens and winter-hardy plantings to enhance your garden design right away, and look spectacular next winter as well.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Planning the landscape of a garden or a yard can be intimidating. Many start off by choosing plants that look pretty in the nursery without looking into which plants are best for the landscaped plan decided upon. In researching the proper plants, you will have better success with your garden.

Don’t only look into the colors and beauty of a plant when choosing plants for your garden, look into the purposes of the plant and how the plant will work with your landscape plans. Plants can be used for screening, shade, erosion control, noise control, and for simple beauty. Use all of these specifications to build a great garden for your home.

Getting started, understand the plants growth habits and requirements to grow properly. So many don’t research the size that the plant can reach, the amount of sun or water a plant may need, tolerance to the weather elements, or the type of soil a plant will need. What about trees that crack sidewalks and bust through pipes, proper planning can help you avoid this. Also, the texture of a plant is of great importance, don’t plant a rough or thorn filled bush in the middle of a walkway.

Things to look into when choosing the right plants are the size of the plant at full maturity, insects that the plant may attract, sun and shade requirements, moisture and drought tolerance, seasons roles in your plants life cycle, planting zones with their specifications, and soil type that best suits your plants of choice. It is vital to understand what is needed for your garden to thrive.

Research a plant encyclopedia or leave plant planning to the experts. Doing your homework or hiring a professional in regards to choosing the right plants will solve this. Why spend so much time and money on a lovely garden that won’t work when you can simply do it right the first time.

Back when our parents started their families, gardens and yards took on a different view from what we are now accustomed to today. Lawns appeared freshly cut, lush, green, and adorned with beautiful flowers along a structured pathway. Fruit and vegetable gardens were in perfect rows and were decorated with handy labels. Gardens sat at only one end of the backyard, while fruit trees were placed strategically in areas that needed shade most.

Today’s top trends in gardens and yards have a whole new approach. Low maintenance and wild array is what people are looking for this day and age. Many families are too busy with their careers, education, extra curricular activities, and with entertaining friends and family. Finding time to mow a large yard and to stick to a gardening regimen becomes harder and harder as we fill our days with more tasks. I’ve seen many front and back yards that posses a wild array of beauty, no structure, but speaking beauty in a way that our parents would only find at a botanical garden or like place.

Saying no to lawns is a big movement currently. Lawns take up too much of our water supply and this water supply can be used for better things. Sticking to a lawn free yard helps our environment and wildlife.

Organic, need I say more? All natural with no chemicals are what people want. Using no chemicals is better for our environment and our health. We aren’t limited to shopping at local farms and farmers markets anymore; we can find what we are looking for in our own organic gardens.

Fruit and vegetables aren’t just found in the backyard in one single corner any longer. A good friend of mine has a wildlife setting in his front and backyard. His yard consists of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits throughout. Edible plants are strewn about his property. What more could you want? Go out front and grab that perfect herb for the meal you are presenting for your family and friends!

Ever since humankind figured out how to successfully plant and farm vegetables, gardening has been a way of life. Gardens have become not only a viable food source; they have become creations in living art.
Not that you need to make art with your food, but planting a garden can be a cheap source of food, as well as a wonderful therapy.
To plant a garden, all you need is a little bit of sunlit land, some good soil, and some seeds. Then all you have to do is water every day, make sure the weeds don’t take over, watch your little seeds grow into delicious fresh vegetables ready-to-eat.
There are several ways to go about getting the land ready for planting. If you’re starting from scratch, you can either dig it up, turn it over, and mince it into loose soil, or borrow, buy, or rent a rototiller and let it dig and turn.
Depending on where you live, your soil may be already good and rich. If your soil is full of rock, too sandy or full of clay, you may need to add a layer of top soil to supply the kinds of nutrients your plants can use to grow healthy and strong.
Then you need to decide which way the water is going to run. You don’t want runoff to strip away the soil around your plants budding roots will it tries to grow. Water your soil after all the digging and mincing and observe how it flows through your garden. When you start planting your rows of seeds or starter plants, you’ll want the rows to go in the same direction as the water did, so the water runs down your rows, not over them.
Decide which vegetables you want to grow. And plant them at least 4 to 6 inches apart. They look little as you plant, but as they grow, they’ll need room. Water them at least once a day and watch them grow!
Planting some marigolds her and there throughout the garden will help keep pests away. And a good pest repellent made of a little dish soap and water can be sprayed on your plants if they start having little holes.
Yes, this is a simple version, and getting a good garden book will help, but planting isn’t very hard and you can have wonderful fresh vegetables to go along with your natural meats, and enjoy meals that cannot be duplicated!

Not many hobbies provide as many benefits as gardening does. Sandra Mason, Unit Educator of Horticulture & Environment for the University of Illinois, realizes the physical and health benefits of gardening. In her article, The Health Benefits of Gardening*, she writes: “What if I told you there is an activity that can provide strength and cardio training and increase flexibility. Plus the activity can relieve stress and provide nutritious food. You get all that and you don’t have to buy an expensive towel rack to do it.” The bending, digging, hauling, and squatting involved in gardening provides physical exercise to strengthen and tone muscles, lose weight, lower blood pressure, and prevent disease – such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes. However, most people don’t garden simply for the health benefits. Exercise is simply an added bonus, like chocolate chips in your zucchini bread – you love it, but you’d eat the bread even if it didn’t have chocolate in it.

Many people derive joy simply from creating something with their hands. Watching a plant grow from seed is like watching a miracle. A tiny seed, the correct mix of water and sunlight, and a green sprout emerges from the dirt. Soon that sprout is a large plant bearing fruit of its own. The act of growing more and more plants – exotic plants and those which are difficult to grow or just a favorite kind – is what makes many people happy.

One major benefit of gardening is the ability to grow your own food. Some people enjoy reaping the benefits of their hard work, while others like that they can save on their grocery bill. Gardeners love to share the fruits and vegetables that they grow with neighbors and friends, whether in raw form or in a recipe, like chocolate chip zucchini bread, for instance.

Mason, Sandra. (2005, January 3). The Health Benefits of Gardening. Retrieved February 9, 2010, from University of Illinois Extension website: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/champaign/homeowners/050103.html