Susan Albert

1 week ago | gardeningknowhow.com | Susan Albert

If you’re keen on creating a thriving pollinator garden, you’ll welcome any chance to feed hummingbirds and watch their aerial antics. To entice them to your yard, it’s important to grow the right flowers and plants for hummingbirds. This involves planting some of their favorite nectar sources, including native and non-native plants, trees and shrubs. These tiny birds zip up, down and all around while searching for food. The best plants for hummingbirds have tubular, red flowers.

1 month ago | gardeningknowhow.com | Susan Albert

The benefits of a backyard compost pile or bin are well known by seasoned gardeners, but sometimes achieving the right mix for that finished “black gold” can be tricky. If the pile is open, it can be derailed by too much or not enough rain, critters, lack of microorganisms, or cool weather. We can cause problems too by adding inappropriate materials, or not watering or turning the pile. Keeping your compost pile in balance will eliminate many problems before they start.

1 month ago | gardeningknowhow.com | Susan Albert

Diversity in a garden keeps things interesting – and one way of ensuring this is by including different textures, colors, and heights. Most gardeners adore bright or dramatic tones, plants that are capable of magnificent structures, and impressive foliage, whether that’s large leaves, variegated tones, or sweeping arches of ornamental grass. But how about fuzzy leaf plant options that catch the light, tickle the fingers and dazzle the senses with their silvery, furry folds?

2 months ago | gardeningknowhow.com | Susan Albert

If you live in an area that experiences cool weather in the spring and fall and predisposes your plants to frost injury, take heart. You can enjoy cool-weather vegetables earlier in the spring and extend your fall harvest well into winter. How? A DIY cloche (pronounced klōsh) for plants will warm the air around the plants at night and protect them from frost. Cloches were developed first by the French in 1623.

2 months ago | gardeningknowhow.com | Susan Albert

Growing hydroponic strawberries is increasing in popularity for many gardeners. It uses less space and 90 percent less water than strawberries grown in soil. Plus, soil-borne diseases are eliminated, as well as many pests. If all that wasn’t enticing enough, there are no weeds to pull!So if you fancy growing strawberry plants in a cleaner and potentially faster way, try something new and learn this simple deep-water-culture system.