Check this outPoinsettias:
Year after Year It might be worth a try.
Poinsettias are one of the most colorful and widely used of the winter flowers. Around mid-December they begin to appear everywhere. Now they come in such lovely shades of pink, reds, white and variegated colors. They are quite lovely and a real treat when a friend sends you one.
Poinsettias are actually a tropical flower. A florist has gone to a lot of trouble to provide us with this traditional holiday flower. The beautiful red, pink, etc that we see are actually colored bracts and not flower petals at all. The flower is the small insignificant little bud in the center.
The correct way to care for your poinsettia is to water it from the bottom. Remove the plant from the pretty foil wrapper and place it in a pan of warm water. When the top of the soil is wet to the touch remove the plant from the pan of water, let it drain a minute on a paper towel and then place it back in its foil wrapper. Poinsettias do not like wet roots and the roots will rot if left sitting in water. You know this is occurring if the leaves and bracts start to curl and fall off and the plant looks like it is going to die. If well maintained with good watering habits and small amounts of fertilizer during the winter and spring you are rewarded with a lovely house plant. In the summer repotted it in a larger pot and placed in a shady location it provide a beautiful green background for impatients and other shade flowers. The shape of the leaves make for a wonderful backdrop.
The big question about poinsettias is "How do I make them rebloom next year?" I've hear lots of ideas and I've tried most of them. My best bet is at the end of the summer compost last years poinsettias and start over again in December.
These plants belong to a class of plants known as Euphorbia's. Many euphorbia's are cactus and succulents and may be seen quite often in the Las Cruces area. Two of the most common are Crown of Thorns and Snow-on-the-Mountain.. My personal favorite is called e. myrsinites. It is just beautiful in the spring and lovely all year. It doesn't like water much. If you haven't seen a myrsinites you need to make a point to locate one.
Fall is definitely here. Most gardeners think the chores are over and they can sit back and take it easy until Spring. Wrong. Fall clean up is a very important part of gardening. Who hasn't raked leaves, stuffed them into plastic bags and let the garbage truck haul them off. There are alternatives to the landfill for most everything and there is cleanup that you might not have considered.
Start with your flower beds. Pull out annuals as they die. If you want them to come up again in you flower beds next year throw them into the middle of your grass. If you don't want them next year stuff them in that plastic bag. When your perennials, mums, etc have finished blooming cut those back to 12 inches and toss in the middle of your grassy area. In our climate leave your shrub and rose pruning until the spring. Rake your flower beds and your vegetable beds. Anything from roses, tomatoes or weeds of course should go in the plastic bag and the rest goes into the pile in the grassy area. That pile should be getting pretty big by now. Sweep leaves from sidewalks, driveways and patios and add to the pile.
Now take your lawn mower and mow over the pile. Spreading it out helps and big stems don't work well, but after several passes the pile should be reduced to a fine mulch. Any leaves on your yard should be mowed also. If you have a bag attachment on your lawnmower put it on at this point and just vacuum up all the debris. If you don't have the lawnmower bag now is the time to rake.
You have a wonderful mulch to place in your flower bed. This mulch will help protect more delicate plants from a freeze but because it is so fine it doesn't create a nice protected environment for insects to over winter in. In the spring most of the mulch will be decomposed. Just till it in the soil around your plants and it will help hold water in the soil next summer for your plants. Another advantage is that you will be retaining some of that fertilizer you put down earlier in the year.
Another alternative is to add all the mulch to your compost
pile. The small the pieces, the faster the decomposition. Let
your lawnmower work for you. It's good for your yard and it's
good for the environment.
Weeds are such an irritating problem. The perennials are the worst. They can be pulled up and with in a short time here they are again.
Early in the spring a herbicide like Roundup or Finale work really well with actively growing weeds. The key words are actively growing. Water them, fertilize them, and then zap them. On annuals this will often work all summer.
Later in the summer the herbicides don't work so well on perennials. It's time to get tough. Pick yourself a couple of nasty looking weeds and start chopping them off every time you see growth. Don't let that weed put on a full set of leaves again. Eventually the root will starve to death because it is not getting sunlight. You must be consistent for this to work.
Hot summer temperatures are especially hard on plants in flower pots. They all need to be watered every day. Watering in the evening before it gets dark allows the roots the entire night to have access to moisture. Potted plants need to be fertilized more often also. I fertilize once every two weeks with a half strength liquid fertilizer. Treat your potted plants well and they will reward you with splashes of color all summer long.
While driving around town I've noticed lots of dead tree and
shrub branches, especially Oleanders, that were not trimmed out
in the spring. Not only is the dead material an eye sore, it also
is not good for the plant. When a dead branch gets dry enough
it falls over, This leaves a tear on the tree or shrub that does
not heal well. The tear allows diseases and insects to enter the
tree or shrub. A correctly performed limb removal does not weaken
the tree in any way. If those limbs are not not full of green
leaves by now, it's time to cut them out.
If you haven't studied tree pruning there are some good books
available on the subject. On a large tree I encourage you to contract
a licensed arborist. They also do small trees and shrubs. When
an arborist is done with your tree you will be surprised at how
beautiful it looks. The 50 year old Mexican Elder in our yard
had been neglected for a long time. It is now beautiful, lush
and healthy. Take good care of your trees and your shrubs. They
purify your air and keep you cool.
Has anyone noticed that it's hot in Las Cruces. The firecrackers are pretty hot this year also. Last year it was so quite because the state had banned fireworks. This year the kids are making up for the lost fun. We may not be in drought conditions this year, but 100+ days can dry out your trees, grass and shrubs pretty quickly. This would be an excellent time to deep water your trees and shrubs. Also keep your flower beds and grass watered to. Don't give those firecrackers a dry blaze to land.
What a difference a week makes. Ah, the joys of gardening in the desert. Now it is hot and plants are starting to wilt. One of the easiest ways to keep your soil from drying out so quickly is to provide a mulch. There are many available on the market. There are pro's and con's to each. Plastics keep the weeds from growing through but they also keep the water from going through also. Black plastic heats the soil which might be nice for your tomatoes but not for your zinnias. Barks are a good choice. Large bark is pretty but the wind really blows it around and it takes a long time to decompose. Working in your flower bed next spring takes a bit more time to get all the big bark out of your way. Small bark is wonderful. It decomposes in a season thus providing much needed humus to your soil. When you water it does tend to bunch up easily. Pecan hulls are abundant in the Las Cruces area and are recommended by NMSU School of Agriculture as a good mulch. The wind does tend to blow it a bit. It decomposes in a year. Grass clippings (not bermuda grass), also makes a great mulch. Let it dry before putting around plants. A hint is to put layers of old newspaper under the grass. This really holds the water and prevents weeds from coming up. The newspaper will start decomposing as well over the year. The dried grass is not very attractive, but as your plants grow they hide the grass.
This year we have put down pecan shells. It really looks great and is a lot easier to work around than barks.
With all the rain we have been having you might be noticing powdery mildew on some of your plants. Mildew forms a white to grayish powdery growth, usually on the upper surface of leaves. Leaves of severely infected plant turn brown and shrivel. This condition occurs because of poor circulation between plants. Stake or prune plants to allow better air circulation. In a small courtyard, plant resistant cultivars. Applying a solution of 1 tsp baking soda in 1 qt water may help to control the disease. It is best to destroy the affected plants and then apply sulfur ever 7-10 days during wet weather to prevent a new outbreak.
Lots of insects are very beneficial as well as beautiful and fascinating to watch. If you have been out to your garden during the early evening hours you may have noticed a considerable number of insects around your garden. I don't seem to be seeing the really neat insects at the moment. I talking about ants, big, little and fire ants, black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders and huge roaches. I've already had two brown recluse spider bites and numerous fire ant bites. I don't want anymore.
My tip for this week is how to deal with the big red ants and black ants. Sprinkle uncooked Quaker hominey grits beside the bed and along the ant trail. The ants take the grits back to the nest where they are consumed. The moisture in the ants body causes the grits to swell and the ants burst. In just a few days no more big ants. If you have turtles in your yard, they will stake out the grits and eat the ants that come along. A little help never hurts!
I am looking for organic tips on how to deal with the big roaches, spiders and fire ants. Any ideas. Please e-mail me and I will spread the word.