You know those plant stands that you find in discount stores? The ones that are made of wire, metal, or wood that often have three legs, but just don’t seem very sturdy? Don’t buy them. Just don’t do it. When you’ve got one of your favorite ceramic pots with your favorite fern sitting on it and it topples over, leaving you with a broken pot and dirt everywhere, you won’t be happy. Trust me, I speak from experience. I have many indoor plants … [Read more...]
Choosing Binoculars for Backyard Bird Watching
If you like to watch the birds and other critters that visit your backyard habitat, you need a decent pair of binoculars to do so. There are a lot of low cost binoculars out there, but they will frustrate you with poor visibility, difficulty with adjusting them, or even poor durability. Expensive binoculars tend to have too high a magnification level and/or lens size for the purpose of looking at wildlife in your backyard. Ideally, a nice … [Read more...]
Mantis 2-Cycle Tiller Review
Preparing your soil for seeds or plants by tilling it or mixing it can really help your plants get established. Plants and seeds put out roots to gather nutrients and water, and tilled soil makes it easier for the roots to penetrate. Manually mixing soil is very hard, so we opted for a tiller. Mantis Tiller Review The tiller we have is a Mantis Deluxe 2-Cycle Tiller. It's pretty small, weighing it about 25 pounds, and the tiller is only 9 … [Read more...]
Review of Aluminum Raised Bed Corners
Raised bed gardening in my neck of the woods is a great way to avoid dealing with our sticky clay soil and it's practically the only way to grow root vegetables. I have two large raised beds that I installed last year and am making use of for tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and cucumbers this year. Gardening in a raised bed solves many issues - soil condition, drainage issues, and height (making it easier to reach). Building a raised bed isn't … [Read more...]
How to Save Time Watering Your Garden
I can not tell you how much I appreciate having this sprinkler system installed in my vegetable beds. All I have to do is hook up a hose and set a timer. It has been quite the time-saver for me and due to its customizable shape, I am not wasting water on things I don’t mean to water. As much as I love having a large vegetable garden, I do not enjoy watering. Standing there with a hose or even setting up a sprinkler that I have to move around … [Read more...]
Bird Feeder Pole – Stops Squirrels From Reaching Seed
Part of the joy of having a garden is watching the wildlife that comes to call. Bird feeders are a great way to attract birds to a specific spot and supplement the native foods and habitat in your yard. For those of us that have plenty of squirrels in the yard, it can be frustrating to see them empty the feeders just about as quickly as you can fill them. Some bird feeders have built-in features to prevent squirrels from reaching the … [Read more...]
How to Support Leaning Plants and Flowers – Curved Garden Stakes
The irises were gorgeous this March and April with many yellow flowers blooming in the front yard along a stone path. One good thunderstorm came through and flattened most of the flower stalks. Now we were stepping over the blooms to avoid crushing any future flowers. Needless to say this didn’t work very well. Luckily, I remembered that I had purchased some stakes last year just for this purpose. I hooked them together to form a wall in front … [Read more...]
Best Hummingbird Feeder: Review of Four Types of Feeders
Watching hummingbirds is one of my favorite past times. Not only do we have a lot of plants that the birds can feed from, but we also hang up several feeders. There are many different types of hummingbird feeders available. The best ones are easy to clean, easy to fill, and are sturdy enough to last several years. I have reviewed four popular feeders, providing the pros and cons of each. I have owned and used each of these feeders for four … [Read more...]
Self-Watering Planter Box: Why I Love My Terrazza Planters
ORIGINAL POST: 4/22/13 In the hot dry conditions of a Mississippi summer, vegetables and flowers in a planter or raised bed will wilt and require you to water them every couple of days. With a garden the size of ours, that's a lot of time dragging a hose around. The solution I found was a self-watering raised bed. This content includes affiliate links. I get a small percentage of the sale for purchases made through links in this post. … [Read more...]
How to Protect Tomatoes from Frost
It’s only the middle of March, but we have had a week with no freezing nights, and the temperatures have been in the 70’s the last couple of days. To me, that always signals that it is time to start planting. This content includes affiliate links. I get a small percentage of the sale for purchases made through links in this post. However, I use each product I review and only recommend those that I like and have worked well. Read my disclosure … [Read more...]