Clay soil can be black or red, is as fine as dust, and is hard for plants to move through. Clay soil is waterlogged in wet months and rock hard in summer. If water does reach a plant’s roots, the plant will drown because water can’t escape. This is called root rot. Clay soil does… Click here to read more…
Search Results for: clay soil
How to Plant in Clay Soil
Some gardeners have fertile malleable soil in their backyards, and many have clay in their backyards. Does having a clay based soil damper any future hopes of a garden. No! absolutely not. How to plant in clay soil; well, that takes patience and work. Planting in clay soil is great for the vegetation that have roots strong… Click here to read more…
Mike McGroarty’s “Secret” Bed Building and Potting Soil Recipe.
Raised Beds and Potting Soil. The Recipe is the Magic that makes for Beautiful Plants! A good potting soil recipe and a good bed building recipe are interchangeable. A good potting soil recipe is an absolute must. You can’t fool around and get a potting soil recipe wrong. I poor potting soil recipe will stall,… Click here to read more…
Amending Garden Soil
When to Amend Garden Soil and When Not to. The two types of garden soil that really need to be amended the most are clay soil and sandy soil. Clay needs to be amended to loosen it up. The roots of plants need to have the ability to transfer oxygen through the soil to the… Click here to read more…
The Best Topsoil for You
This is the time of year when people are buying topsoil for their landscaping and gardening projects. Topsoil varies depending on where you live, but essentially, with a good top soil, it shouldn’t have to be screened. With the screening process clay based soil gets run through a screener and a shaker which makes the… Click here to read more…
Why is one side of my Japanese maple, or just one large branch completely dead?
The damage you see in the above photo is called Vertcillium Wilt. Verticillium wilt attacks all kinds of plants, usually with devastating results. I’ve had it attack at least three if not four of my pretty mature Japanese maples. Verticillium Wilt is a soil borne, fungal type of disease that affects the plants ability to… Click here to read more…
Growing Christmas Cactus and Amaryllis
Christmas in August? Believe it or not, now is the time to work with your holiday plants such as poinsettias, amaryllis and Christmas cactus to prepare them to be in full bloom during the holidays. Christmas Cactus and Amaryllis are two of the more popular indoor plants in the United States. They both have excellent… Click here to read more…
Planting Blueberry Bushes
Edible landscape plants are quickly becoming the hottest thing in gardening. We are seeing a real trend with homeowners who are moving away from the traditional ornamental landscaping and opting for plants that provide food as well as beauty. Blueberry bushes, with their antioxidant-rich berries and spectacular fall foliage, are becoming one of the most… Click here to read more…
Transplanting Japanese Maple Trees in 3 Easy Steps
Transplanting a Japanese maple is not difficult, but there are a few key things to know to prevent doing serious harm to your tree. The two most important factors in successfully transplanting Japanese maple trees are depth and timing. If you can at all help it, only dig your Japanese maple when it is dormant…. Click here to read more…
Lawn Installation. Hand Seeding, Hydro Seeding or Sod? Which is better?
Mike’s Plant Farm 4850 North Ridge Road Perry, Ohio 44081 It doesn’t matter whether you are installing a new lawn at a new house, replacing an old lawn at an existing home, or rejuvenating the lawn that you have, you have options of how the grass seed is applied or whether or not it makes… Click here to read more…