All the Dirt on Gardening

This is a busy season in the garden and most of us are wishing for rain or recovering from rain. Remember spring when it was cool outside and the garden possibilities seemed endless? Summer's heat dashesd some of those spring fed dreams because watering and mulching take up a lot of time and there are so many fun things to do. A new e newsletter from Fine Gardening's Janet Macunovich provides watering ideas worth considering - Excerpts and the link Water makes up 90 to 98 percent of every plant we grow. It holds leaves and stems aloft, just as air in an inner tube keeps a tire round. All the nutrients plants need to grow, color, flower, multiply, and defend their tissues against pests are produced by the solar-powered chemical reactions that take place in the watery soup within the cells. Twenty years of gardening has taught me to ignore generalities .. . The first step when determining a watering regimen is to test your soil's water-holding capacity. First, soak a 12-inch-...

Fine Gardening Magazine's Janet Macunovich has a terrific column on dividing perennials today. (Read about Macunovich here and here . Don't miss that second link - It's how to access her articles online for $25 at practical gardening institute dot com. ) At the Fine Gardening link, Macunovich provides plant division tips with photos of the process plus videos. The basics she covers include: Divide healthy plants in cool weather, starting at the drip line; keep the diggings cool and moist while you amend the soil; use the healthiest parts as transplants, and, spread them widely enough to establish their own root system Scroll down the page for other helpful videos including how to divide plants with taproots, running roots, woody roots, etc. Keep scrolling to find a list of what to divide when and how. It's everything you need to know in order to rejuvenate older plants. When making divisions for your gardens put a few into pots to give as holiday gifts Click here to ...