Q: I hope to visit friends and family during this holiday, and would like to give away some garden-related items. Any ideas or hints?
A: A good first step is to understand the growth conditions of the recipient, because it is much easier to use plants that are suitable for their conditions than to try to change the conditions to suit a particular plant. This applies to outdoor and indoor gardening.
If you want it to be completely unexpected and cannot be requested, then the most practical method may be just a garden center or nursery gift certificate, as it allows the recipient to choose among the best candidates based on their situation and maintenance preferences. (Although it may be mundane, perhaps what they want most is a large pile of compost for planting beds or new vegetable gardens.)
If you are gifting plants, please consider the characteristics that the other party may like, such as specific flowering season, flower or leaf color, pleasant smell (floral or leaf), durable or unusual cut flowers, or commonly used in cooking Herb.
Gardening tools are another great backup tool; high-quality manual pruning shears-plus a holster for safe carrying, bypass trimmers, or perhaps one suitable for planting large numbers and often need to pry out rocks or building debris Digging rod for lovers. A lesser-known tool is the hori hori knife, which is a Japanese hybrid between a knife and a slender trowel that can remove weeds and plant divisions more easily. The manual field cultivator is an excellent tool for loosely tangled roots, moving mulch, and soil improvement for individual planting holes. Gloves are always worn, and long-glove gardening gloves with long cuffs provide more protection for the forearms against thorns and thorny leaves.
For those who have too much shade or no land of their own, if they want to grow vegetables or cut flowers next year, they can rent a plot of land in a nearby community garden in advance. Otherwise, indoor plant care products may be useful, such as plant shears (to save your regular scissors), extra pots and saucers, or large bathtubs or tarps for repotting tasks. A bathtub or deep tray can also be a convenient way to carry several plants in and out of the sink, or a soaking container for air plants or installed epiphytes (such as staghorn fern boards) that need to be soaked occasionally. For more and more indoor plant lovers, indoor humidifiers can greatly relieve the discomfort of sinuses and plants in the dry indoor winter air.
Books can educate and inspire novices and experienced gardeners, just like public gardens. There are countless great gardening books covering any topic you can think of, from introductions to niche topics. For gardens or botanical gardens that charge an entrance fee, those who are still learning what they like or looking for creative sparks of plant combinations may welcome the purchase of a one-year membership.
Q: We like to use fresh-cut greens during the December holiday and prefer to start decorating around the Thanksgiving weekend. If we have our own evergreen trees in the yard, can we cut some and use them or should we buy branches? (We don’t want to damage our plants.)
Answer: You can now prune the tips of conifers (acupuncture evergreens). Just be conservative and spread out your cuts so that you don't change the shape of the plant too much, because long pruning with in-depth study of older growth will not necessarily fill up. However, on dense plants, sporadic harvests will not be obvious, and if the plant is not too slow, it should last for many years. For the best longevity, keep cuttings such as cut flowers-cool, cool, with the cut ends in water-until they are used for wreaths, swags, garlands, etc.
You may have conifers in your yard that can be cut into various textures and colors, including juniper, lyland cypress, western arborvitae (also known as western red cedar), cedar, cypress, spruce, and hemlock , White pine and yew. Broadleaf evergreens include boxwood, cherry laurel, southern magnolia, and holly, but it is best to make sure we have experienced one or two frosts before harvesting the latter.
Shipped from the Pacific Northwest, the green vegetables purchased include poorly grown options here, some of which provide wonderful scents such as fir, sweet cedar and other juniper. Because they add variety and unique aromas to the arrangement, they are well worth using, even if you choose to mainly harvest your own green plants.
The Family and Garden Information Center of the University of Maryland Extension Department provides free gardening and pest information at extension.umd.edu/hgic. Click "Ask Extension" to send questions and photos.