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Start plants early and late.
National Gardening Association — Whether you live in Toronto, where the frost-free vegetable growing season is under 200 days long, or in Southern California, where it's over 300 days long, sometimes the season seems just too short. When this is the case, you can use the ...More…
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Weed and thin seedlings.
National Gardening Association — Healthy, vigorous vegetable plants produce the most flavorful and bountiful harvests. Give your garden plants the moisture and nutrients they need, and keep them weeded and harvested for tasty and nutritious crops. Provide adequate soil moisture ...More…
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Choose appropriate mulch.
National Gardening Association — Mulch helps minimize weeds, conserve moisture, moderate soil temperature, and make your yard look good. Mulched plants generally grow much better than similar, unmulched plants in the same garden. The two basic kinds of mulch are organic, such as ...More…
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How-To Project: Avoiding and Solving Common Bulb Problems
National Gardening Association — If bulbs have become crowded and are competing, dig and divide them. Reduce competition from surrounding plants by weeding and mowing regularly. To increase soil fertility, in spring when plants are growing, spread an inch of compost or feed with ...More…
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Determine need for fertilizer.
National Gardening Association — Most landscape trees growing in their natural environments rarely need fertilizer. However, trees growing in infertile soil along roadsides, in urban areas, and around new homes may need extra nutrients to keep growing strong. Apply in early ...More…
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Determine your hedge's habit.
National Gardening Association — Prune shrubs in a formal hedge to resemble a dense, smooth wall. Vigorous, rapidly growing shrubs need more frequent shearing than shrubs that grow more slowly. Dense hedges start with the right pruning techniques at planting time and regular ...More…
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How-To Project: Pruning a Needle-Bearing Evergreen
National Gardening Association — Evergreens with needle-like foliage, called conifers, usually need pruning only to remove dead, damaged, or diseased limbs. You can also prune to keep their growth compact. Pruning methods vary depending on the conifer's branching habit. Conifers ...More…
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Order the plugs or sprigs.
National Gardening Association — An inexpensive way to start a new warm-season lawn or patch an existing one is to plant plugs or sprigs in late spring to early summer. Warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, St. Augustine, and zoysia, spread easily from 2- to 3-inch sections of ...More…
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Choose planting pattern.
National Gardening Association — You can plant many crops directly in the garden, especially root vegetables, crops with large seeds, and seeds of plants that can mature within your growing season. The correct time to plant each crop varies widely according to the climate where ...More…
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Test soil pH, and adjust as necessary.
National Gardening Association — If your garden has heavy clay soil, you know what a challenge it can pose to plants, not to mention gardeners. Heavy clay drains slowly, meaning it stays saturated longer after rain or irrigation. Then, when the sun finally comes out and the soil ...More…
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Add a Brown Layer.
National Gardening Association — Compost - or humus - is decomposed or well-rotted organic material, such as vegetable waste, leaves, grass clippings, and livestock manure. This crumbly, soil-like material improves soil texture by increasing the drainage of heavy clay soils and ...More…
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Collect your equipment.
National Gardening Association — Prune your roses to increase blooming and decrease disease and pest problems. Do most of your pruning in early spring just before new growth begins, but remove spent flowers and dead canes whenever they occur. The goal is to keep the center of ...More…