Fall Gardening Tips

Summer 2017 came and went in a blink of an eye.

It wont go down as the best Summer weather ever but it was a great one for my garden.

All that rain and cooler temperatures kept my garden beds very green and lush.

Seems almost criminal to cut them back but the time has come.

I started by cutting back my tiger lilies, African Zinnia and Shasta daisies a few weeks ago.

They had already begun to turn brown and wilt.

Being extra careful not to cut off the emerging buds below.

Here are some websites to help you better identify which perennials you should cut back and when.

Naturework.com has great information on which perennials you should pinch and prune

Better Home & Gardens has a great list on which perennials to cut back

and

Fall 101 at Gardens Alive tells you the don'ts of Fall pruning

Everything in my garden is pruned back with the exception of  my Gardillas,

Echinaceas and

  Rudbeckias.

They will turn to seeds and hopefully give me some new plants in the Spring.

Next is the worse chore of all, weeding. The beds had alot more weeds this year because of the rain and it was a constant battle keeping them under control. Come Fall I make sure to remove as many as possible so they dont develop a deeper root system or spread.

 A mini garden rake is a great tool for this. It helps to ease stubborn weeds out by loosing the roots, making it easier to rip them out.

Now for the most important step of all and the one thing I highly recommend.

MUCLH!

This is 2 yards of it and approximately 6 hours of labour. 

So I can get these 6 Benefits of mulching.

Grillo Services has this great article that explains how

Mulch In The Fall For Healthy Plants In The Spring.

Last Spring I noticed a huge difference in my plants and garden beds. Less weeding, healthier plants and bigger flowers. As well as it looks cleaner with the mulch.

Here are the beds now, cut back, de-weeded and mulched.

There are a few plants that you can harvest seeds from for next year.

I collect my Cosmos and Zinnias seeds.

The flowers dry into these seed balls . 

Which I cut and store in a marked envelope.

Here is a more extensive list to help you harvest your seeds.

Top 10 Plants for Harvesting Seeds

Now to enjoy thus glorious time of the year.

Saved the best tip for last,

ENJOY IT ALL....from the cutting back, weeding, mulching, seed saving or  doing nothing at all.

Life is about doing what you love, being happy, finding joy and being grateful for what you have.

Lucky for me gardening is all of the above.

Happy Fall y'all!

Summer Garden Dreaming

This barren garden will look like this in 6 months time,

blooming with colour and life.

This Winter has been the worse as far.

 Starting with the ice storm that decapitated quite a few trees at Greenacre.

What took more than 50 years to grow was destroyed in a few hours.

Blizzard after blizzard. White out after white out.

Winter blasted my door and yes it is still sporting Christmas decorations.

We were experiencing a  3 day blizzard and -40'C technical difficulties

This popsicle making weather, 

had me dreaming of my Summer garden.

Then the reality that 6 months is a long time sets in. 

So why not just add colour to the snowy backdrop instead?

Make up some lovely urns filled with life and offer them to old man Winter in hopes he leaves early this year.

HGTV has a great post called Winter Landscape Brighteners on how to beautify your garden this time of year. Click on the pictures to get redirected to the original post.

 This wonderful garden chalkboard quote is a free printable by Shelly Renee offered at Canter Lane Design.
It will digging time before y'all know it!

 The first day of Spring is Thursday March 10, 2014

Spring Countdown

Ephemeras Vintage Garden's Printable Botanical Postcards are beautiful reminders at what lies ahead.
Why we dig and spend hours tending our plant babies.

No time like the present to get your seed on!

Mother Nature Network has a list of 17 easy-to-start seeds for beginner gardeners

 
Print these butterfly colouring pages I made for my little ones
because nothing can get done unless they are occupied.

Hopefully these will do the trick whatever you decide on doing.

Sending y'all Summer Garden love from Greenacre!

Get 10% off grow tent kits when you shop at www.AccessHydro.com. Valid until February 2014.

Evicting ants and deterring bugs from your home

Spring has sprung after a week of rain. 

These springful delights of colour.

Remind me of the glorious season that comes behind it...Summer.

My husband came home with these fabulous signs and I am debating on whether or not to change our Asian themed bedroom to a beach theme. I love the tranquil blue and neutral palette. Perfect for relaxing!

Which is not something I have been able to do since I found ants roaming around the house.

It's almost insulting that they are even in my house because I am extremely clean.

It's not uncommon for us to see a couple around this time of year but I always put out a couple of ant traps and they are gone within days. This year the traps became water coolers and the ants got bigger. That really got me worried because I thought they might be carpenter ants which would mean a worse problem then just regular ants.

After goggle searching what the difference between black and carpenter ants  .I breathed a sigh of relief because they are not carpenter ants. Yay!

Some of the differences just in case you too have this concern are;

that the carpenter ants have heart-shaped heads'
a smooth thorax
 and carpenter ants can be black, brown, red or a combination of these colours like this one pictured below.

Read more: Difference Between Black Ants & Carpenter Ants | eHow.com

Some tricks I picked up on the Internet are to place bay leaves in the cupboard.
because bugs don't like the smell of it. So I have one on every shelf in my pantry. So far so good. (touch wood)
Ants and cats are supposed to be repelled  by coffee grounds. Turns out I have one big ole'can of coffee grounds with their name on it.
You can also sprinkle cinnamon, mint, chili pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves or garlic in the area where you've seen ants and along your home's foundation to deter them.
I literally poured some cinnamon spice in a small crack I follow the ants too and that was the end of that. I was very but very liberal with the cinnamon!!

Click on the picture and read more information from Wikihow on how to stop ants coming into your home

and how to get rid of them once they are already in your home.

Click here for Wikihow tips on how to get rid of ants naturally

I am doing whatever I can to evict the ants for good!

Or at least until next year. At this point...I'll take it. 

 Oh my lovelies....Spring brings joy and vermin.

 Such beauty..

just bursting with life and colour.

Beeeeeeeeeeeautiful!!!!

 Just don't understand why ants would my prefer my kitchen over living out here with their compadres.

They must be the suicidal ants is all I can come up with.