Summer is a glorious gardening season, full of days drenched in life-giving sunshine. Alas, sometimes our garden gets a little too much of a good thing and the plants we love become stressed. That’s when I remind myself of the three W’s.

Water Wisely

When watering, long and slow is the best policy. Water tends to spread out faster than it sinks down into most soils. If you flood your garden beds, you’ll see runoff but the roots more than a few inches below the surface will still be parched. Long and slow watering allows time for water to sink down. It also encourages roots to grow deeply (rather than stay near the surface), which makes them stronger.

Watch Out

Hot weather tends to keep us near the air conditioning or by the pool. That’s when problems can crop up in the garden. Weeds can grow at an amazing rate during the summer. Warm weather combined with humidity makes for ideal conditions for fungus. Even insects can gain a foothold. Take a moment in the cool of the morning to wander through the garden and check for problems. A few moments of correction can save hours later in the hot sun.

Wait

When plants are stressed, it’s best not to make things worse. Delay transplanting, heavy pruning, and even fertilizing. Each of these activities spurs plants into a growth cycle when it’s better for them to be resting.

If you enjoy herbs and organic gardening, you’ll want to meet Ann McCormick,
the Herb ‘n Cowgirl. A life-long gardener, she has spent the last ten years
devoted to writing and speaking about her favorite subject. Ann contributes
to regional and national home and garden and life-style magazines, including
Organic Gardening, Country Woman, Gardening How-To, and Neil Sperry¹s
Gardens. The Herb ‘n Cowgirl also shares her love of herbs and her gardening
techniques as a speaker and media guest. To find out more about the Herb ‘n
Cowgirl visit her website at www.ann-mccormick.com.

I’ve become addicted to those 5-pound, 99-cent bags of overripe bananas at the grocery store. I’ve been pureeing bananas in smoothies, baking them in brownies, and slicing them onto cereal. Why am I so infatuated with bananas? Partly, it’s the price. But the real reason I’m sold on these discounted fruits is what they do for my garden. After I munch the fruit, I bury the peels around the base of flowering perennials. Rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous, banana peels deliver a nutrient-laden punch to plant roots.

I bury the whole peel in a shallow hole (maybe an inch deep) near the base of roses and clematis. Other gardeners chop the peels before bury the pieces; some swear by burying the peel flat, skin side up.

Others puree the peels with water and pour the mixture on soil as a liquid feed. Digging kitchen scraps into soil is a way to compost when you don’t have room for a compost pile. I do this in the vegetable garden until plants are established and digging would disturb roots. When I build a new planting bed, I dedicate the previous season to burying compostable kitchen waste in that spot to draw worms and enrich the soil for next season’s plantings.

I also bury kitchen waste in my compost pile. I have a three-bin system and work my way from bin to bin through summer, burying compostable goodies. The kitchen scraps break down by fall, when I add compost to various perennials or vegetable beds. The only items that don’t fully decompose are corn cobs; I toss those back into the bins as I refill them each fall. Watch this How-To video explaining composting basics, and download plans to build your own compost bin.

Composting in place develops great soil. You can bury whole newspapers or phone books, or shredded paper, along with kitchen scraps. For tight spaces, use a post-hole digger to excavate a deep, narrow hole. I know a Vietnamese gardener who uses this method. Her soil is so fluffy you can reach your arm in up to your elbow. She grows fantastic vegetables.

My vegetable garden is keeping my table full of goodies-beans, tomatoes, and basil. I don’t have enough room to raise regular pumpkins, let alone the giant-size beauties they’re tending in the Lowe’s Giant Garden.

Giant pumpkins can grow to be true monsters. Last year, the official largest pumpkin weighed in at 1536.5 pounds. That kind of produce requires a crane to move it! Check out the latest progress on the Lowe’s Giant Garden, and let me know what’s growing in your garden. Post a comment below-I’d love to hear about it.

Julie Martens
writer, editor, & horticulturist
An avid gardener since she was a child, Julie has parlayed her greenthumb into a professional career, having served as a garden editor for Better Homes and Gardens, home garden, Southern Living, and Garden Escape magazines. Currently, her writing frequently appears in various garden magazines-Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living, Country Gardens, and others. She has also authored two books filled with projects and ideas for sprucing up the Great Outdoors: Garden Decorating and Garden Rooms.

Every year about mid-June, I scout garden centers for delphiniums. At that point, I can usually find them on discount, and snap up a few to add to the garden. Delphiniums are one of those short-lived bloomers that take a year to come into their own. The old delphinium saying goes like this: “First year grow, second year show, third year throw.” Last year my garden showcased a second-year delphinium that made every visitor gasp. Several compostings the previous year coupled with abundant June rains last year to yield a 5-foot-plus show.

When perennials shoot skyward like the delphinium or bow precariously under a heavy bloom load, I whip out my collection of stakes. I use a combination of decorative metal fencing, metal hoop supports, and spreading windthrow branches to lend leaning perennials a helping hand. Over time, I’ve learned to insert stakes early in the season, before strong winds and heavy rains pummel plants into odd positions.

I used to look longingly at high-priced, plastic-coated stakes designed to hoist perennials-then invented my own solution for a fraction of the price. I bought variously sized metal tomato cages and a pair of bolt cutters (about $15). With bolt cutters, I snip the cages into long-legged hoop supports of differing heights. The smallest hoops (the bottom section of tomato cages) slip into pots of amaryllis at holiday time. During the garden season, I shove them into soil to surround a clump of Allium caeruleum, a young Baptisia, or a potted heliotrope. I leave the top two circles of a tomato cage intact, cutting the same side of each level and opening the hoop to create half-circle supports, ideal for propping clumps of large, flop-prone perennials, such as Summer Sun Heliopsis, Peter Pan goldenrod, or Siberian iris.

For plants like dinnerplate dahlias or sunflowers that launch out of soil and rocket toward the sun, I grab a classic plant support combination: bamboo stakes and string. In the Lowe’s Giant Garden, the gardeners are supporting Mammoth sunflowers and tomatoes with 8-foot wooden stakes and baling twine. You can check on the Giant Garden’s progress at LowesCreativeIdeas.com/GiantGarden.

Do you have great staking ideas? I’m always on the lookout for ways to garden smarter, easier, and cheaper. Please share your best ideas-staking or otherwise-below.

Julie Martens
writer, editor, & horticulturist
An avid gardener since she was a child, Julie has parlayed her greenthumb into a professional career, having served as a garden editor for Better Homes and Gardens, home garden, Southern Living, and Garden Escape magazines. Currently, her writing frequently appears in various garden magazines-Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living, Country Gardens, and others. She has also authored two books filled with projects and ideas for sprucing up the Great Outdoors: Garden Decorating and Garden Rooms.

I used to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning house.  I was certain I would receive a visitor at any moment that would pass judgment over the general filth and disarray in my home.  I’m over that.  I’m older and somewhat wiser with three large dogs and two cats living with me.  The mysterious disapproving visitor never showed up.

These days, when I read magazines that tell me how often I should vacuum in order to keep my allergies at bay and not serve pet hair with my meals, I feel a brief pang of guilt and then I turn the page.  It doesn’t help that I daydream excessively and have poor eyesight without corrective lenses.  That’s a volatile combo when it comes to housekeeping and exactly why I ditch my contacts as soon as I get home.  I just don’t notice the hair until there’s a considerable accumulation.  It could be that I don’t even have a third dog, just a mass of beast hair that follows me and obeys commands.

But lest you think I’m gross and unsophisticated, I’ve been lulled into this sense of security by owning a very good vacuum cleaner.  By very good, I don’t mean the most expensive, but it has all the pet hair attachments, HEPA filter, and best of all, it has unrivaled sucking power.  This thing could mow my lawn.  While my old vacuum was limping along, wheezing through its final days, I was researching every model on the market trying to make my decision.  When I went to Lowe’s to buy my new best friend, I was star struck by the floor care aisle.  My yearning to own one of the sparkling beauties made my mouth water.  Obviously all that research had compromised my sanity, stoking my desire with promises of simplifying my life.  I brought my Hoover Wind Tunnel home, and it was love at first swipe.

Now, I do maintain a reasonably healthy home; I’m a bit obsessive about clean countertops and water filters, but when I (finally) notice the thick layer of hair, I’m secure in the knowledge that my trusty vacuum will subdue and eradicate.  So I leave it for a couple more days.  If the mysterious stranger does happen to ring my doorbell, I’ll park the vacuum in plain sight and explain the hair with a vague “science experiment” story.

Pam Hayes
Trend Communications Specialist
LowesCreativeIdeas.com

TO HOME WARRANTY OR NOT?

In today’s strained economy homebuyers are looking for ways to save money when it comes to their real estate transaction.  While it may seem as if purchasing a Home Warranty may be a “luxury” for your real estate purchase, it is more like insurance against many costly repairs that could be needed upon you moving into that new home.  Some great things to know about a home warranty:

While not everything in your home can be covered, A home warranty is essentially a service contact that covers the repair or replacement of the most frequently occurring breakdowns of home system components and appliances.  When a covered item breaks down (ie appliance, plumbing, etc.), you will call an 800 number (available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week) to initiate a service request.  The company will then contact one of their local approved and insured contractors to schedule a time for that specialist to diagnose the problem.  There is generally a small service call fee that you give to the contractor when they arrive to diagnose the problem (usually under $50).  The contractor will then repair or replace the part and you will not have to pay for any further services related to the call unless the part is not covered by the warranty.   Be sure to discuss the possible uncovered components of the broken part with the warranty company before you initiate the repair so you won’t be surprised if a component is not covered. 

So…how much does a home warranty cost and who pays for it?  A one-year warranty usually costs between $350.00 and $550.00 depending upon the additional coverage you may need (ie septic, well, pool, etc.) and can be renewed annually for slightly more. Should you get a home warranty?  That really depends upon you.  If purchasing a home that hasn’t been lived in for a while or is in need of repair, as a Realtor I say it is essential.  You never know what unexpected suprises you will get upon moving in.  If buying an REO or probate it is also essential as the sellers are exempt from disclosing many material facts about the property that a typical owner might know since they haven’t actually lived on the property and don’t know what works or doesn’t.  What I would ask you to weigh out is whether one of the biggest purchases of your life is worth spending under $550.00 to protect it during the first year…

Harvesting basil is the sweet summertime payoff after growing it. I love to gather armfuls of this spicy herb for use indoors. If you’ve got basil growing in your plot, here are four quick tips to maximize your harvest.

Wait until the plant has reached at least ten inches high before making your first cut. For the first harvest, clip stems just above the second set of leaves (counting from the bottom). New stems will form at this juncture, giving you a bushier plant.

Basil will benefit from regular clipping about every two weeks. New leaves have the best flavor. Don’t ‘save’ the basil for one big harvest at the end of the season. By then most of the leaves will be past their prime and bitter tasting.

During the growing season, keep the water coming. Basil is a tropical annual that needs lots of water to produce those succulent leaves. Water it as you would your tomato vines.

When daytime temperatures rise above 80 degrees, basil begins to flower. Resist the impulse to just pinch off the tip. Pinching off the flower spike (known as deadheading) doesn’t halt the flowering – it simply makes way for the next flower stalk. Instead, cut the budding stalks at least four leaf nodes down the stem. This will shock your basil out of flower production and back into leaf production, which is exactly what you want.

If you enjoy herbs and organic gardening, you’ll want to meet Ann McCormick,
the Herb ‘n Cowgirl. A life-long gardener, she has spent the last ten years
devoted to writing and speaking about her favorite subject. Ann contributes
to regional and national home and garden and life-style magazines, including
Organic Gardening, Country Woman, Gardening How-To, and Neil Sperry¹s
Gardens. The Herb ‘n Cowgirl also shares her love of herbs and her gardening
techniques as a speaker and media guest. To find out more about the Herb ‘n
Cowgirl visit her website at www.ann-mccormick.com.

With temperatures rising my herbs are also preparing for hot weather. As the thermometer goes up, so does the central flower stalk on my cilantro. Leaf production stops as it bolts and sets seed. It’s one of several cool climate plants in the herb garden that won’t survive the coming 100 degree plus weather. Caraway, chervil, and even catnip can show similar behavior.

This bolting is a source of frustration for southern gardeners. Why can’t they keep their cilantro alive? In hot climates, cilantro needs to be treated like a two-season annual. The first season is late February through June. Cilantro produces flavorful leaves during the cooler spring days and then sets seed and dies. By the Fourth of July the remains of the cilantro plant should be pulled up and discarded.

But that’s not the end of the story. Around Labor Day, gardeners in warm areas will plant a second crop of this spicy herb. As temperatures cool, these new cilantro plants will grow happily until winter frost ends production.

If you enjoy herbs and organic gardening, you’ll want to meet Ann McCormick,
the Herb ‘n Cowgirl. A life-long gardener, she has spent the last ten years
devoted to writing and speaking about her favorite subject. Ann contributes
to regional and national home and garden and life-style magazines, including
Organic Gardening, Country Woman, Gardening How-To, and Neil Sperry¹s
Gardens. The Herb ‘n Cowgirl also shares her love of herbs and her gardening
techniques as a speaker and media guest. To find out more about the Herb ‘n
Cowgirl visit her website at www.ann-mccormick.com.

While my college friends were surfing the beach and boys over Spring Break way back when, I was stuck in rural, land-locked Pennsylvania doing things like, oh, having my wisdom teeth extracted or painting my bedroom mauve (showing my age, huh?). Obviously priming and rolling wasn’t as much fun as sinking my toes in Ocean City, MD sand, but that experience did set a precedent for me. To this day, when spring rolls around, I get an uncontrollable urge for change.

This year is no different. So far, I’ve bleached out my hair, changed the paint color in my bedroom, bought a new contemporary bedroom suite, and. the biggie. totally changed the look of my kitchen for less than $500. I can’t say I actually did that part myself. I’m fortunate to have an incredibly talented father-in-law who happens to be a contractor. All I had to do was envision a look and pick out the product.

I’m a nature lover and enjoy bringing natural elements into my home. I chose Canyon Slate ceramic tile to cover the dark gray laminate countertop and tin-look tiles in pewter to add contrast and texture as a backsplash. When I first saw the transformation I was blown away. As you know, Creative Ideas is all about makeovers, but you just don’t realize the impact until it’s in your own home. I sat in my kitchen, literally staring at the walls (with a glass of wine, of course) completely content. (Well, I really want to change out the knobs and pulls now. and the lighting fixture over the island just has to go. and.well, I was content for a while!)

Jule Schreffler Eller
Trend Communications Manager
LowesCreativeIdeas.com