Garden Tips

There are a lot of ways to plant a garden, and a lot of difficulties to overcome while it's growing. In these videos, I'll show you some great little tips and techniques for planting a healthy garden, and address some of those tough issues that come up and how to deal with them. We'll also talk about construction projects, pruning and maintenance, and some unique planting ideas such as ponds and Garden Soxx. I'll also give you some great ideas for making sure your container plants are getting enough sunlight, and keeping those harmful garden pests off your plants and yourself without resorting to toxic chemicals or sprays.

Deadheading Plants with William Moss

What is deadheading? Sounds spooky.Well, it's not. It's just a funny word for pruning.

I'm here with William Moss who is going us to tell us everything we need to know about the process of deadheading and why it's important for the overall health of your bedding plants.

How to Install a Simple Garden Retaining Wall

I’m here with Kip Gardener from Filtrexx and he is going to show me how to use Gardensoxx to create a retaining wall for a sloping area of my garden that has a bad erosion problem.

Garden Soxx were originally invented for erosion control but because they are so versatile they have taken on multiple uses including planting in unexpected places. Today, we are going to see them being used as they were intended – to stop erosion. And then, of course I’ll use them to position plants in unexpected places.

How to Check the Sun Exposure in your Garden

Although I have been doing this for many years, I still worry about my sun conditions. To be a great gardener you have to know everything there is to know…about your garden. You need to know about the condition of your soil, you have to know just the right amount to water and then you have to know all about the sun…which you can’t control, no matter how you try…Until now.

You still can’t control the sun, but you can know where it shines the brightest and where it doesn’t. This type of accurate sun knowledge will help you make smarter choices and will guarantee that what you plant will grow!

Insect Repellent for Gardeners from Sloggers and Insect Shield

What do gardeners need most to protect themselves from the dangers of the garden (sun, ants, flies, chiggers, midges, ticks and mosquitoes)? This is not a trick question. There is actually a solution. Sloggers have invented these excellent products that take sun screen and a big hat to the next level. Sloggers have introduced a line of insect repellent gear that looks great and protects even better. The repellent, which is all natural (found in chrysanthemums), is odorless and harmless and is sprayed directly into the garments. The repellent saturated hats, bandanas, and other items are good for over 70 washes. With these cool hats and scarves, your life has just been made amazingly easy. It's the bugs who have the problem now.

Plant Files: Hostas

They’re everywhere and you may not even know what they’re called. They’re called Hostas and they are one of my favorite landscape plant. These hardy, herbaceous, perennials have leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season.  As you watch, you’ll recognize them. They’re all over doctors offices, public spaces, parks, lobbies, and in the backyards of all of your wise gardening friends.

Green Resolutions for the New Year: Installing an Eco Lawn

An Eco lawn is the ultimate green solution. An eco lawn uses 75% less water than a regular lawn…watch, read and go green!

An eco lawn is a combination of seven different fescue grasses that can reduce your water consumption, be a friend to the environment and will be the best lawn experience you’ve ever had! Not only is an eco-lawn environmentally friendly, the lack of maintenance required will make this lawn your new best friend.  This lawn is virtually maintenance-free, drought resistant and insect resistant. It even grows in shady areas, rocky areas and in poor soil.

My Garden Shed

Welcome to the smallest most efficient space that holds everything that I hold dear.

Welcome to my Garden Shed. It is 4X4 made of rough hewn pine. Let’s put it this way, it’s so small, it couldn’t be filmed inside. So, from my doorway, I am going to take you on a little tour.

How to Build a Water Garden

If you really want to bring your garden to life, integrate a water feature. Water features beautifully illustrate that a garden is a living, breathing thing!  This video shows you how I easily put together a water feature using common elements that are easily found in your neighborhood garden store. A while ago, I did a paving project and there was some leftover stone dust. As always, my water feature incorporates a raised bed, which very effectively houses my water feature. In the raised bed,  I fill it 1/2 way with a layer of stone dust. Then I dig a hole in the center of the sand dust where I put your pond liner. Then I back fill the area around the pond liner with soil. Once the pond liner is secure, I add some stones for a more natural look and to weight down the actual pond liner to make it more secure.

How to Cement Stones Around Your Pond

I’ve had my water feature in my backyard for about a year now, and I love it.  I love it so much that I want to make it permanent. Let me show you how…

I have an 80 pound bag of Quikrete which is sort of an “instant” concrete mixture.  As you see, I already had some nice natural stones around my pond, but they weren’t permanent, until now.

30 Minute Flower Garden

What else can you do in 30 minutes that will be this rewarding?

No more excuses. Welcome to your 30 minute flower garden. In 30 minutes you will be able to plant petunias, zinnias, hydrangeas and any other garden delight you have dreamed of, but always thought it would be too much work…Wrong!

Organic Fly Trap

I hate to complain, because I have a job that I love. But if I had to complain about one thing, I would say that these flies are driving me crazy!

So I decided to get some disposable fly traps and post them around my garden.

There are all different kinds of fly traps many that you can make yourself, but I bought this fly trap and all I had to do was put in a very strong-smelling bait, and fill it with water and turn it over. Then I used some twine that I had around the house to hang the traps around my garden.

Pond Maintenance

Being a gardener is a dirty job. And, a wet one. Today, I am going to take care of my 7000 gallon pond, which is full of sunfish.  When my pond is properly maintained, it will give me about 300 pounds of fish a year.

The first thing I have to do is put in some Mosquito Dunks which kill mosquito larvae. It is actually a chemical known as BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis). Once I have thrown several of those into my pond, I will also add some barley straw pellets, which raise the PH level of my pond and make it a much better environment for my fish.

Six Ways to win the Fight against Garden Pests

Your garden’s enemies are so small you can’t even see them, but they are powerful enough to wreak havoc on all of your hard work! Check out this video which focuses on my personal secret weapon (see tip #6). Below are five other non-toxic ways to engage in garden wars and win!