Niki Jabbour's Blog, page 56
February 4, 2020
Fertilizer numbers: What they mean and how to use them to grow better
Garden centers and nurseries are beautiful places, but they can also be very confusing, especially for new gardeners. Shelves filled with fertilizer choices are enough to make your head spin. What’s in all of those bags and bottles of fertilizer anyway? What do the fertilizer numbers on the package mean? And does it really matter [&hellip
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January 30, 2020
The Fish Pepper: How to grow this fascinating heirloom vegetable
The first time I ate a fish pepper, I fell in love. Fish peppers are medium-hot with a fiery bite that falls somewhere between a jalapeño and a cayenne. They’re very easy to grow in gardens and containers and the plants are not only productive, but also ornamental with pretty variegated leaves and fruits. The [&hellip
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January 21, 2020
Front garden design ideas: What to plant, eco-friendly options, patios, and more!
Front garden design ideas have really evolved in the last few years—and for the better. Walk through any neighbourhood these days and you’ll see that the traditional turf grass and tidy foundation planting look is being replaced by contemporary elements that are mindful of the environment. A good garden design will incorporate a few modern [&hellip
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January 18, 2020
The best early spring flowering shrubs for your garden
Light up the spring garden with easy-to-grow early spring flowering shrubs like azaleas, lilacs, forsythia, and fothergilla. These spring stunners provide eye-catching flowers for you as well as pollen and nectar for the early bees and beneficial insects.Whilecertainspringshrubs can grow quite large, many of newer cultivars are extremely compact, making them perfect for small space [&hellip
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January 10, 2020
Mulch calculator: How to determine the amount of mulch you need
Mulching is an essential spring chore for every gardener. Whether you’re mulching the vegetable garden to cut down on watering, dressing up your flower beds, or hoping to keep weeds at bay in shrub plantings, it’s important to know how much mulch you need for the job. Getting stuck with too little mulch – or [&hellip
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January 8, 2020
Coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ and other tickseed varieties that will make a cheerful splash in the garden
Coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ is a dependable, drought-tolerant perennial in my front yard garden. I bought a couple of tiny plants at a native plant sale a few years ago because my first house had them in the garden. They have since spread into a decent little sunny swath of yellow, surrounded by lavender, catmint, and black-eyed [&hellip
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December 30, 2019
The best herbs to start from seed for garden beds and containers
The first seeds I ever started were herbs: basil, lemon balm, chamomile, and parsley. I was amazed at how easy it was to grow my own herbs and quickly caught the gardening bug. In the below article, you’ll discover my favorite herbs to start from seed. Many popular culinary herbs are a snap to grow [&hellip
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December 23, 2019
Weeping Alaskan cedar: An elegant, easy-to-grow evergreen tree
Some horticulturists might have trouble choosing a favorite evergreen tree. Not me. If you ask, I won’t hesitate to tell you the evergreen tree I adore above all others is the weeping Alaskan cedar. Botanically known most commonly as Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (or occasionally by its newer genus, Xanthocyparis), this tree is a winner in every [&hellip
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December 18, 2019
New plants for 2020 gardens
One of the perks of being a garden writer is I sometimes get to trial new plants and seeds a year before they appear in retail nurseries,garden centres, or catalogues. I may also spot a striking specimen in other trial gardens a year or two before they’re released, or watch someone in the plant world [&hellip
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December 12, 2019
A vegetable garden planner for a healthy and productive garden
For me, a detailed vegetable garden planner is essential to growing a productive and healthy vegetable garden. It keeps me on track of when to sow seeds indoors, helps make crop rotation simple, and allows me to maximum production with a succession planting schedule.Whether you’re starting your first food garden or are a seasoned vegetable [&hellip
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