Gardening With Confidence™

Welcome to Gardening With Confidence™ on WebTalkRadio.net.

MY GUEST THIS WEEK

My guest this week is Kathy Purdy founder of Cold Climate Gardening.

Kathy Purdy joins us this week to talk about Colchicums.  Fortunately for me, this very underused bulb has found its way into my southern garden.

Kathy shares tips on growing colchicums in your garden. It’s just perfect for my fall garden, where I’m always searching for great plants to extend the fall season.

Check out Kathy’s Colchicum article in American Gardener Oct 2007

TIP OF THE WEEK – Gardening thru First Frost

With the weather cooling again after a long, hot summer, the fall is the perfect time to be in the garden again.

We can begin to extend our season by visiting local botanical gardens, going on local garden tours and, of course, visiting our local garden centers.

Have a look around to see what interests you; note the colors, textures, turning foilage, and seed pods.  You will be amazed at what all is available.

Garden centers tend to carry plants when they are in their most interesting phase, such as the blooming phase,

but it could also be when the plant is showing off another interesting attribute, such as the peeling bark of a crape mrytle.

This, of course, makes sense from a business perspective since we consumers are not going to get jazzed about buying a plant in its dormant state.

Well, at least we are not as likely to be spontaneous.

But this is OK, I suggest you plan to go the garden center in the fall, and each season, for that matter, to see what is blooming and what’s of interest.

Then purchase what you like.  The good news is fall is also the best time to plant trees, shrubs, vines, and perennials.

The watering demands are not as high and the lower temperatures are easier on the plants and the people tending them.

Plan and plant for every season, extending our garden’s full glory for as long as we can.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Like Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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Welcome to Gardening With Confidence™  WebTalkRadio.net. This week my guest is Carole Brown with EcoSystemGardening.com

Carole Brown, founder of EcoSystemGardening.com shares with us her definition of ecosystem gardening and suggests 5 things we can start doing today to begin our ecosystem garden at home.  You can follow Carole on Facebook at EcoSystem Gardening and on Twitter @CB4Wildlife.

TIP OF THE DAY WEEK – Add Water to your Wildlife Garden

While many of us put out feeders for the birds and perhaps even a birdbath.  More often than not, this is done so we can watch with pleasure the wildlife up close and personal.  But providing water in a wildlife habitat should not be done for observation alone.

Did you know in the winter, a bird is 3 times more like to die of lack water than lack of food?  During the summer, when it’s often very hot, coupled with lack of rain, the birds and other wildlife are in jeopardy.

Providing a continual source of fresh clean water is a small thing you can do resulting in big awards.  By doing so, you help minimize the spread of disease to the birds and keep mosquitoes from breeding.

I also recommend putting birdbaths or any shallow vessel that holds water, at ground level, as well.  This makes the water accessible to a wild variety of wildlife.
Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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Welcome to Gardening With Confidence™ on WebTalkRadio.net.

7 Must-have Garden Tools

Chris Sabbarese joins us from Corona Tools to talk about the 7 must-have garden tools for planting a vegetable garden. The discussion also goes into how these same tools are used in the ornamental garden, plus discussing my favorite gardening tool.  Who knew tools could be so cool?

Corona Tools has graciously offered the Razor Tooth 8″ Pruning Saw as a give-away. Be sure to listen in at the end of the show to hear details to win.  

TIP OF THE WEEK – Saving Time with Tools

At any given time in the garden, I have my clippers in my back pocket. As best I can, when I start a new project in the garden or when I’m just going about my weekly maintenance, I try to anticipate what tools I may need and pull them in advance to  save me time from going back and forth to the shed.

So, if today I’m planting, I’ll head to the shed for a shovel and probably loppers too.  If you are wondering why I bring loppers to a digging project, I do so, because I find the digging easier when I can cut roots with loppers (or clippers) as opposed to using the shovel.

Another trick I’ve learned over the years, is to have a tools stashed in a handy spot in addition to those in the shed.

For example, I keep a hand trowel, a hand cultivator, and a pair clippers (pruners) on the south side of my 1/2 acre habitat which is on the opposite side of the yard from the shed.  That way when I’m walking through garden and see a tiny task that needs to be done,  I’m not discuraged by having to walk all the way to the shed.

These three are the ones I use most.  If the job needs more than these can do, I just make short work of it and go fetch the appropriate tool from the shed.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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WebTalkRadio.net

Learn tips to photograph your garden at home from Barbara

Pintozzi, garden blogger at Mr. McGregor’s Daughter.

TIP OF THE WEEK

When taking photographs of your garden, take the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Seeing your garden in a photo will teach you more about your garden than you will ever be able to do in person. Study the photo, note the angles, witness the stuff you walk by everyday, such as the hose, the utilities, the play set and such.

By evaluating your photos, you can better place screens and see what changes can occur to improve what your mind is making corrections for. If you shoot digitally, print out the image and draw-in your vision. It’s amazing how effective this can be.

Sketch your idea over a photograph

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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Gardening With Confidence™ WebTalkRadio withe my guest Sue Reed

Author of Energy-Wise Landscape Design is my guest sharing tips and information about conserving energy in the landscape. From placement of trees to the use of mulch, cooling the property in the summertime while allowing warm in the winter.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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Gardening With Confidence™ WebTalkRadio interview with Chris McLaughlin, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Compositng

Guest Chris McLaughlin shares with us everything you need to know about composting, or at least the bits we got to in this lively discussion. Learn how to turn your organic waste material into black gold as Chris takes us through the various types of composting. Whether in a townhouse or living on acreage, there is a composting method for you.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

While I wouldn’t trade-in my composting habits, there are times when I want it covered for aestictics reasons.  All I do is take some pine straw and lightly cover it.  Volia! No one knows it’s there.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Each week, Helen host’s a garden talk WebTalkRadio.net show called Gardening With Confidence™.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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