If you have ever propagated plant cuttings in water, you must have noticed that they easily die soon after they are transferred to the soil or vice versa. How to convert cuttings from water to soil without killing them? The best way to help a plant or cuttings replace their water roots with soil roots …
Convert Water Roots to Soil Roots: Step-by-Step Guide Read More »
The old saying goes “feed the soil, not the plant”. Microbes are essential for strong, healthy plants. How do we increase soil microbes? To cultivate soil microbes, we can maintain soil moisture by mulching, and growing cover crops. We can feed them with sugar, compost, and add worms. We can introduce more microbes into depleted …
8 Ways to Cultivate Beneficial Microbes (Effectively) Read More »
If your lawn has issues with brown spots or water puddles where water just cannot penetrate the soil, you may have heard of the method of just poking holes into the lawn, or lawn aeration. Is it legit or is it just a myth? Lawn aeration is necessary for lawn maintenance once a year. It …
If your lawn pools water and has brown spots even after getting plenty of water, chances are the soil is hydrophobic or water-repellant. A quick way to help water penetrate into the soil is to use a soil-wetting agent. The best soil-wetting product is one that fixes the root of the problem by breaking …
7 Top Wetting Agents for Lawn (With Editor’s Pick) Read More »
Your body thermometer and food thermometer may be at your fingertips. But can you just stick any thermometer in your garden to check the soil temperature? What are their differences? Food thermometers can be used to check soil temperature but they are not ideal because of their short (4 inches or 10 cm) and thin …
Soil, Compost & Meat Thermometers: Any Differences? Read More »
It’s a nightmare to end up with anaerobic compost or soil with little or no oxygen—they are sticky, stinky, slow to decompose, and are not suitable for growing plants. It often happens when compost piles get too wet and saturated with water. It is also found in areas in your garden that are waterlogged, compacted, …
Removing the old soil off the root ball during repotting may damage fragile roots. But it is not going to kill your plant. In fact, there are situations when it is necessary to do so, especially when repotting succulents and for switching seedlings to a hydroponic system. In this article, we will go through …
Cleaning Soil Off Succulent Roots: 4 Simple Steps Read More »
Have you thought of increasing the soil temperature to give a head start to your seeds before spring comes, to protect young seedlings on cold days, or just to protect your garden from frost? You can increase the soil temperature by covering the ground using plastic sheets or mulch, a low tunnel, a cold frame, …
7 Ways to Increase Soil Temperature (Effectively) Read More »
Do you know that a small number of plants need to grow in highly acidic soil because they have a higher requirement of certain nutrients that are most available in low pH environments? While most plants thrive in slightly acidic or near-neutral soil, a small number of herb, vegetable, ornamental flowers, shrub and trees, actually …
It can be confusing – sometimes it’s called “pine bark”, sometimes “fir bark” or even “orchid bark”. Most people use the terms interchangeably, but their differences are quite significant especially when it comes to potting up your orchids, bonsai, and other houseplants. What exactly are the differences? Fir bark is a better growing substrate than …
