Hot Tips

1) Rather than edging, create a garden border by compressing mulch into a shaped groove. It looks good and its easy to maintain and mow around. (See illustration)

2) Put soap shavings or human hair (talk to your hair salon) around plants to discourage rabbits.

3) Always prepare a $10.00 hole for a $5.00 plant. Site preparation is extremely important.

4) Fill the bottoms of large pots with crushed plastic (e.g. milk cartons) or styrofoam packing peanuts. You'll need less soil and the planter will be lighter in weight.

5) Always put a permanent plant marker in when planting. In the Spring, weeds and flowers look very much alike.

6) Remove the top bud on a stalk of gladiolus. That way all the buds on the stalk will open.

7) Use a sharp knife to divide tubers and fleshy-rooted perennials. A clean cut causes less disease and the cuts heal faster.

8) When first planting peonies, remove all the flower buds for the first few years to help the plants mature. This will ensure better blooms in the future.

9) If you want to plant beans in the Port Washington area, wait until mid-June so the soil warms up.

10) Coffee grounds are a good organic mulch.

11) Get a cheap plastic scoop at the feed mill to help in potting, moving fertilizer, etc.

12) Usually, deer don't like daffodils.

13) Avoid garden fights with your pets. In a fenced yard, leave a "dog patch" of mulch next to the fence. They won't wear off grass and flowers trying to patrol their territory, they won't track as much mud into the house, and you will have a path to tend the rear of your garden or a neat mowing edge away from the fence

14) If you want buddleia (Butterfly Bush) simply stick cuttings from the mother plant in the ground where you want the new plants. Fifty percent of the cuttings will root.

Got a hot tip? Share it by sending it to mail@portgardenclub.org.

Back to Port Washington Garden Club home page