Four Investments for a Better Garden in 2021

Whether you're a seasoned master gardener or someone just getting started growing your own food, there's always room for improvement. As a new gardening season approaches, consider making time to invest in developing your gardening skills, perhaps trying new varieties of tomatoes and vegetables and building the best garden soil possible;  important steps to take towards a healthy, productive gardening season in 2021. 

 

Investment Number One: Grow your gardening skills. The more you know, the better you’ll grow. Taking classes, joining a local garden club and finding someone to mentor you along your gardening journey are three ways to strengthen your gardening knowledge and techniques.  Consider joining Hoe and Hope Garden Club, a well-established local organization whose membership includes all levels of gardening experience. You can learn more about Hoe and Hope by visiting their website http://hoeandhopegardenclub.com/.  

Find a garden mentor. A garden mentor is someone with the training, knowledge and experience to help you make good decisions when it comes to planting, growing and harvesting your crops. This could be a neighbor, a friend or someone in a local garden shop that you can bounce garden questions and ideas off of.  

Investment Number Two: Build your garden soil. Soil quality has the greatest influence on your crops and yields. You can overcome a lot of gardening mistakes if your soil has good structure, drains well and is healthy and rich with microbial activity. Adding organic material on a regular basis, utilizing plant fertilizers, effectively and incorporating cropping strategies that build and maintain soil microbial health are methods that will pay off in larger yields. It’s a good idea to test your soil before the season begins. Stop in and pick up a soil sample jar and information form, then mail the sample off to Colorado State University.   In return, you'll receive a report detailing the quality and fertility of your soil. Bring us your report and we'll help you figure out what to do. 

Investment Three: Buy the best tools you can and take care of them. Good tools make every garden task easier, safer and more effective. Create a designated storage spot for each tool and get in the habit of cleaning your tools and putting each tool away after you’ve used them.  This way, you won’t waste time looking for tools.  

Investment Four: Get out in the garden every day, even if it’s just a walk through to observe what’s going on. Working in the garden isn't all about the chores you "have to do". Whether you're growing tomatoes or dahlias, make sure you pause every now and then and enjoy your garden. It's one of the healthiest aspects of your life. Enjoy it!  

 

 

 

 

 

Houseplants with a Holiday Flair

While Poinsettias are the most popular holiday choice, there are many other plants with vibrant flowers and colorful foliage that will add a festive mood to your holidays and beyond. Moreover, houseplants help clean the air we breathe and elevate our moods. Here are a just a few of our favorites. 

With its red flowers and dark green foliage, Anthurium delivers some of the best of holiday colors. Anthurium plants thrive when placed near a bright window. It will do okay in low light situations, but don't expect it to flower as well.  Allow the soil to dry slightly between each watering. 

Aglaonema are one of the easiest houseplants to grow. Also known as Chinese Evergreen, you can grow this plant in low, medium or bright light situations and still enjoy its colorful foliage. 

Kalanchoes are succulents with thick green leaves and bright, cheerful flowers. These plants prefer bright, indirect light in order to flower well. As with all succulents, it's best to avoid over-watering. Let the plant dry, then water thoroughly. 

For outstanding foliage, Polka Dot and Frittonia are easy-to-grow and both offer outstanding color. Polka Dot plants prefer bright, indirect light, while Frittonia does well in lower light situations. 

In addition, cyclamen and holiday cactus are still very popular plants during the season. As a general rule, all of these houseplants will do well when kept at normal room temperatures. You'll want to keep your houseplants healthy and growing by feeding them every two weeks with houseplant fertilizer such as ferti-lome's 20-20-20. On the weeks you don’t fertilize, water with Super Thrive, a vitamin solution that includes Kelp. This supplement will help your plants thrive, especially during the winter months.  Houseplants make easy, beautiful gifts for teachers, co-workers and hostesses. They're a gift that will last long after the holidays are over.  

 

Gift Ideas for Gardeners

 

 
Got a gardener on your Christmas list? Give them gifts they will use to make their gardening hobby more enjoyable. Gifts such as a garden knife, a good set of pruners, a pair of trimming scissors, scoops and trowels and gardening gloves. For versatility, it's hard to beat a garden knife, also called a HoriHori knife. 

Once you use it, you'll want this tool with you every time you work in the garden. This versatile tool can be used for digging, weeding, planting, opening bags of soil or mulch and cutting garden twine and many other chores. A good set of pruners is another essential tool for every gardener. They'll use them to prune roses, perennials, shrubs and small tree limbs. 

Choose a quality bypass pruner for best results. Trimming scissors are handy tool to have for some of the finer work in the garden, such as deadheading and light pruning. They are also useful indoors for keeping houseplants neat and trimmed. This is the tool we use at the 'Bin for all of our trimming chores. 

Garden scoops and trowels are useful for many tasks, including digging, weeding, filling pots with soil and planting. Seeds, seed starting supplies such as heat mats and grow lights are always welcome gifts. For the gardener who has everything, buy them a 'Flower Bin Gift Card. With a Flower Bin Gift Card, your gardener can purchase exactly what they want. Finish up your Christmas shopping for your gardener with a good pair of gloves. These are Christmas gifts your gardener will really use and they'll think about you every time they do. 

 

Norfolk Island Pine: A Living Christmas Tree

 

Norfolk Island Pines are popular houseplants, even more so this time of year because many people use them as living Christmas trees. You can find Norfolk Island Pines in a variety of sizes, from less than a foot to over 5' tall. The smaller trees make ideal table-top Christmas trees. Keeping your Norfolk pine healthy and looking good through the holidays and beyond comes down to these things. Norfolk pines like bright, indirect light, at least 6 hours a day. It's a good idea to turn them every few weeks to keep them from growing lopsided. They do best with consistent watering, like most houseplants. Water your tree when the top inch or two of soil feels dry. Water thoroughly and be sure there is no standing water left in the saucer under the plant. Norfolk pines like to be in place where the room temperature is sixty-five to seventy degrees and away from drafts. The more difficult part of keeping your Norfolk pine looking lush is to provide sufficient humidity. Norfolk pines like high humidity. Some ways to increase room humidity is to group your plants close together, use a pebble tray under the tree or add a room humidifier.  A pebble tray is easy to assemble an effective way to raise the humidity level around your plants. Fill a saucer with rocks and add water until the rocks are slightly above the water line; then place the plant on top of the rocks. Make sure the water level is below the bottom of the pot.  Feed your Norfolk pine every two weeks during the growth period. Use a standard houseplant fertilizer such as 12-6-6. With a little care, your Norfolk Island Pine will be around for many Christmases to come. 

 

 

How to Care for your Flower Bin Poinsettia

Poinsettias are native to Mexico and Central America. Poinsettias were introduced in the United States by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. The Poinsettia we know today is a result of the significant contributions of Horticulturalist Paul Ecke Jr., whose innovations transformed the poinsettia into the country’s best-selling potted plant. Poinsettias have thin foliage leaves that vary in color from pale to dark green. The showy parts of the poinsettia that most people think of as flowers are specialized leaves, called bracts. 

The actual flowers are tiny yellow clusters found at the very center of the bracts. Poinsettias are available in a wide variety of breathtaking colors from solid red to variegated leaves. 

We also dye a few poinsettias for added color and interest. Our dyes are safe for the plant and people. Proper care for your poinsettia begins before you leave the store. 

If you choose, we will gift wrap your poinsettia in foil and ribbon. We cut a drain hole in the foil on the plants we wrap so your plant will drain properly.  We will carefully bag your poinsettia when it’s cold, to protect it on its way home. Once you get your poinsettia home, unwrap it and place it in a room where it will get bright light, but not direct sunlight.  Poinsettias don’t like drafts, so keep your plants away heater vents, fireplaces, doors and cold windows. The ideal room temperature should be around 72°F during the day and no cooler than 60°F at night. Water your poinsettia thoroughly when the soil surface is dry to the touch. Poinsettias don’t like to sit in water, so discard any water that may collect in the saucer under the plant. With the proper care, your poinsettia will last through the holiday season and retain its beauty well into the New Year. At The Flower Bin, we grow all of our own poinsettias, so you can be assured that the plant you are purchasing is locally grown and of the highest quality.