My Garden info

  Indoor Plant Hacks  Try these simple reader-tested and approved indoor plant hacks, then sit back and watch your houseplants grow and thrive. Being a houseplant parent has grown in popularity in recent years. According to civicscience.com, 66% of consumers in the United States own at least one houseplant. With so many people growing houseplants, there's always learning to do and our readers shared the best plant hacks for indoor gardens. 1. Use ice cubes to water houseplants A birds and flowers reader has a secret plant hack to prevent waterlogging on the ground. "I put ice cubes on hanging plants," says Roslyn Francis of Lodi, California. "When the snow melts, the soil absorbs the water and it doesn't drain out of the bottom of the pot." 2. Get creative with plant placement Some plants need full sun, some like full shade and some like a little bit of both. A hack that will give all your plants the space they need is to use furniture like long...

 Low-maintenance shrubs  While trimming is an annual task for many woody plants in the landscape, some low-maintenance shrubs do not require pruning at all. In fact, these shrubs form a very pleasing shape without any pruning or shaping. They are easy to grow, have a refined shape and usually thrive without any pruning. Also, you can use your pruning shears for more demanding tasks like cutting bouquets. Plant several of these easy-care, no-pruning shrubs, and you'll create a lush and wildlife-friendly landscape. 1. American Arborvitae An easy-care and cold-tolerant evergreen shrub, American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) makes an excellent hedge plant. It has a smooth texture and medium green color. Its thick branches give it a compact shape that doesn't require pruning, although if desired, it can be trimmed for a more shapely, formal look. 2. Boxwood Slow-growing boxwood (Buxus spp.) is a perfect candidate for low-maintenance shrubs that don't require club ...

 The perfect fall and winter vegetable garden These vegetables do best with low temperatures and low maintenance Compared to growing a summer vegetable garden (watering, weeding, combating summer pests and heat-related fungal problems), growing a fall and winter garden in Northern California is positively easy! As temperatures cool and days get shorter, pests and diseases almost disappear. Fall and winter rains take care of watering for you, and the soil is often wet after heavy rains. Most winter vegetables don't need fertilizing and tomato, pepper or squash plants should provide the abundance that most hopeful gardeners expect, although they are often much higher in nutritional value than their summer counterparts. So in late summer and early fall, when your squash plants are still going strong and your tomato plants haven't stopped producing yet, find or make room for cool-season vegetables like garlic, fava beans, peas, cauliflower, and broccoli in your vegetab...

Lactuca Serriola  You Didn't Know About Did you know that one of the most underrated garden and health champions could be growing right under your nose or even between the cracks in your sidewalk? This is Lactuca seriola, a wild and often misunderstood herb, also known as prickly lettuce or compass plant. Lactuca seriola is not your run-of-the-mill garden green, nor is it a thorny intruder in your yard. It's a versatile, unpretentious plant with incredible qualities that benefit your garden and your health. From increasing the fertility of your soil to calming your digestive system, this plant offers many benefits you may not have imagined. 1. Garden Green Guardian As a dynamic accumulator, the roots of Lactuca seriola penetrate deep into the earth, drawing up essential nutrients that are often inaccessible to other plants. These nutrients are then stored in the leaves, which are cut and left to decompose, effectively returning these essential elements to the soil....