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How can I continue to supply water for birds when the temperature is below freezing?
Buy an electric water-warmer for your birdbath and a “wiggler” to make your water move slightly. Movement attracts birds.
Which gardening gloves are best?
There is a vast array of gloves – and of tasks to which each is suited. Try heavy, leather gloves for thorny tasks and thin, rubber-palmed gloves with cotton, breathable backs for delicate tasks where your fingers need to feel things like seeds and seedlings.
In November 2008, I bought a cyclamen plant with beautiful glossy dark green leaves and a flowering habit that produced dozens of brilliant red flowers until April 2009. In May, I put the plant in a shed and withheld all water and other care, allowing it to go completely dormant. In early September, I put it out in my backyard and began watering and fertilizing. It quickly produced new growth. In October, I returned it to a cool, south-facing bedroom where it did so well last year. As of Dec. 25, the plant has put out 15 or so healthy-looking leaves but gives no hint of any flowers. What can I do to jump-start the flowering process?
What a brilliant plants man you are. You have done everything right. Cyclamen like a cool temperature – as low as 40 degrees F at night, 65 degrees F max during the day – with ample, but indirect, sun. Now you must fertilize. New buds will soon appear with the addition of a water-soluble, high phosphorus plant food. When the blooming stops, do all the same things, all over again.
I have some Christmas gift plants still in bloom. How can I save them to bloom again?
You do not specify which plants you have. It is often wise to throw out any Christmas gift plants you don’t know how to take care of. Quoting the immortal Henry Mitchell (“The Essential Earthman,” page 4), “Either give them the conditions they require, or throw them out. There is no point making yourself miserable by watching a poinsettia, cyclamen or greenhouse azalea die over a period of three months.” So – throw out paper whites out and buy more next year. Amaryllis can rebloom if you allow it to have 90 days of complete dormancy in a cool (40 degrees F) place. Then bring it back into the light, water it, and put it in the garden all summer, feeding it monthly, bringing it indoors when weather gets cool in late autumn. |
