Useful tips that will help you start your garden

It’s that exciting time of year when we get to transform our yards into paradise. After a long winter we are all excited and anxious to get started on our yards and gardens. We want to see flowers!

Everyone is anxious to get their gardens planted and to put their flowers outside.

Some people are so anxious that they don’t wait long enough and risk losing their plants in an overnight frost.

In the Toronto area, that risk exists until the second half of May. Once the risk of frost is passed in your area, it is safe to start planting and to move your plants outside. So, now is a good time to do that, if you haven’t already done so.

Perhaps you are like my father and I and keep your tropical plants, such as geraniums, aloe vera, hibiscus, elephant ear, etc. in the house over the winter and then put them out in the spring. Doing this saves us a lot of money because we don’t have to buy as many flowers in the spring.

Here are some things that we have learnt over the years.

-      First, wait until the risk of frost has passed. Nighttime temperatures shouldn’t drop below 5oC anymore.

-      Keep the plants out of the sun for about a week. Even though the temperature might still be cool, the plants need to acclimatize. Otherwise, they will get sunburned. Once sunburned their growth will be severely retarded, and they won’t look nice all summer.

-      When putting your plants outside, apply Liquid Mulch over the soil in the pots and let it dry for about 1 day. After it is dry it can be watered or put into the rain.

When I started doing this, I had one elephant ear plant. Now I have 5. I had one aloe vera. It grew very big and now I have 6.

Did you know that baby aloe vera plants that grow from larger mature plants are called pups? Most aloe vera plants start producing pups when they are around four years old.

Back to the main topic. Taking plants outside for the summer. This is where Liquid Mulch comes in really handy. Both for the potted plants that we take from inside our homes, and put on our decks, entrances, balconies, and walkways as well as for our vegetable and flower gardens.

Here is why:

1.   During the summer months insects will borough into the soil and lay their eggs or place their larvae or pupae. Then, when the plants are taken into the house for the winter the eggs hatch and the larvae and pupae become bugs, and they crawl or fly out of the soil and devour your plants. Especially since your plants in the house are the only thing that they have to eat.

The Liquid Mulch forms a crust on the top of the soil that prevents the insects from using your pots for their offspring. It does this very effectively.

The Vineland Research Institute in southern Ontario found that Liquid Mulch effectively prevents insects from entering and exiting the soil. Thus, it prevents them from using your pot for their life cycle. There are plenty of other places in your yard and in the neighbours’ yard for them to do so.

As a result, there is no need to put the potted plants into water to force the insects out or to kill them when you are taking your potted plants back into the house in the fall. They never went into the soil to start.

2.   The weeds seem to grow much faster than the garden we’ve planted.

The crust made by Liquid Mulch prevents weed seeds that are blown in from the surroundings from staying on the soil. It also deprives them of the moisture they need to sprout. So, they are blown away in the wind and your garden and your pots remain weed free.

3.   Plus, every time the garden dries out it retards the development of your vegetables and flowers. Liquid Mulch addresses this issue as well. That crust that Liquid Mulch makes lets liquid water from rain through but greatly decreases the amount of water that evaporates from the soil. In this way, the water is available to the plants, and they can resist the midday sun without drying out.

My father says that he really likes using Liquid Mulch because he doesn’t get any weeds growing in the pots over the summer and then when he brings the plants back inside, there are no insects that appear in the house. He uses it every year.

So, how do you use Liquid Mulch? It’s very easy. For the potted plants I always use the “Ready to use” product because it was specifically designed for potted house plants and it is “Ready to use”. Simply gently shake the bottle to make sure that the contents are uniform, open the lid and pour it over the soil until the soil is completely covered. Then let it dry before watering the plants again. You can read more about Liquid Mulch for potted plants and watch a video of how this is done here.

For the vegetable garden, I use the concentrate because I need a lot more. I mix 1 gallon of the Liquid Mulch concentrate (which is one 3.7 L jug) with 3 gallons of water (makes one pail) and then use a watering can (with the spout removed) and cover the soil. Once again, I let it dry before I water the garden. You can read more about Landscaping Liquid Mulch and also watch a video of how this is done here.

In both cases, drying takes about 1 day. Please don’t do it in the rain because the rain will wash away the Liquid Mulch before it dries.

You can choose from three colours. Black, brown, and Red. Let me know which of these colours is your favourite for your garden by clicking here and selecting the colour in the page that comes up.

The Liquid Mulch will last all summer and fall. It will keep your garden from drying out during the heat of the day and it will keep the insects from burying their eggs and larvae in the soil of your potted plants.

It has many more advantages. But I’ll cover those in a future blog.

Don’t forget the special 30% discount off ALL our products that is just for you because you read my blog. Thank you!

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A special thank you to my father, and all of you that have already reached out to me. You have truly inspired me. I am grateful.

See you on Instagram or in the store on this site!

Ruben