Home & Health Iowa City IA
Learn how to bring your garden and gardening skills beyond the soil. Find out about cooking tips, gardening crafts, and how your plants may even help keep you healthy.
Branching, shrub-like houseplants, such as scented geranium, hibiscus, flowering maple, begonia, and schefflera, need regular pruning to keep them healthy and attractive.
Long after the season for cut flowers has passed, dried versions of summer's bounty let you continue to enjoy color from your garden. Flowers that dry well are typically colorful, compact, strong-stemmed, and relatively low in moisture content.
Compost or humus is decomposed or well-rotted organic material, such as vegetable waste, leaves, grass clippings, and livestock manure. This crumbly, soil-like material improves soil texture by increasing the drainage of heavy clay soils and the water and nutrient retention of light, sandy soils.
There's nothing like fresh flowers around the house whether they come straight from your garden or from a florist. But when you take the time to put together an arrangement, you'd like it to last forever or at least for more than a few days! Here are some step-by-step tips for extending the vase life of cut flowers in Iowa City.
Gardeners love to share their interest in gardening, and sharing with their children can be particularly rewarding. Even 2- and 3-year-olds can help plant their own little patch, and watch as life unfolds around them. Here are some suggestions for making gardening enjoyable -- and safe -- for young children in Iowa City.
Before you design or improve your landscape, the first step is to inventory what you have. The best way to do that is to draw a base map of the site, accurately recording the size and location of permanent features in Iowa City.
Long after the season for cut flowers has passed, dried versions of summer's bounty let you continue to enjoy color from your garden. Flowers that dry well are typically colorful, compact, strong-stemmed, and relatively low in moisture content.
Terrariums can take many forms; all you really need is a clear glass container without drainage holes that's large enough to fit the plant or plants without them hugging the sides, which can lead to disease. You don't need an aquarium-sized home; a small round vase or candle holder can accommodate one special plant.
Swallowtail larvae feed on dill, fennel, and parsley. Butterflies bring an added dimension to your landscape in Iowa City. Lured by scent and color, they visit certain plants to feed on nectar, a sugary solution containing the carbohydrates that butterflies need for energy. Create a welcoming landscape by including butterfly-friendly plants and features.
Although it can be tempting to try to get a jump on the gardening season during an early warm spell, it's best to be patient and wait until the weather is right to plant in Iowa City. Spring weather in many parts of the country can be erratic, with unseasonably mild weather followed by a severe cold snap. To help you avoid the temptation of planting too early, make a calendar with planting times for various crops.
Seed catalogs and seed packets are the source of more than seeds for your garden in Iowa City; they contain wonderful photographs that can transform plain clay pots into beautiful containers. You can affix photos to pots using a technique known as "decoupage" (derived from the French "decouper" meaning "to cut out"), and as long as you seal the paper cutouts with some type of varnish or sealer.
Growing herbs indoors in Iowa City on a sunny windowsill can provide a convenient source of fresh basil, dill, rosemary, thyme, and other herbs. With a little planning and some good cultural techniques, your indoor herb garden will thrive. Tools and Materials containers (with drainage holes and waterproof saucers) potting soil or soilless seed-starting mix fertilizer herb seeds and/or plants.
These simple maintenance tasks keep your patio planters and window boxes looking their best throughout the growing season and help cold-climate gardeners prepare for winter in Iowa City. Tools and Materials Planted containers Water source, hose or watering can Slow-release and water-soluble fertilizers Scissors or hand pruners Seasonal flowering and foliage plants Chicken wire and loose mulch.
Bring an exotic touch to your patio, deck, or yard by making a small water garden in Iowa City in a tub. Use a plastic or glazed ceramic container or a plastic-lined, wooden half-barrel as the container, and add aquatic and marsh plants, and perhaps goldfish, for color and drama. Tools and Materials Plastic or ceramic container or wooden half-barrel Plastic liner, galvanized screws, and wood strips..
Compost or humus is decomposed or well-rotted organic material, such as vegetable waste, leaves, grass clippings, and livestock manure. This crumbly, soil-like material improves soil texture by increasing the drainage of heavy clay soils and the water and nutrient retention of light, sandy soils.
Gardeners love to share their interest in gardening, and sharing with their children can be particularly rewarding. Even 2- and 3-year-olds can help plant their own little patch, and watch as life unfolds around them. Here are some suggestions for making gardening enjoyable -- and safe -- for young children in Iowa City.
Combine flowering plants in Iowa City and those with attractive foliage in window boxes to add color to decks, window sashes, and porch rails. Tools and Materials Window box Potting mix for containers Water source and watering can Plants with attractive flowers and foliage Flowering plant fertilizer, water-soluble Design principles.
There's nothing like fresh flowers around the house whether they come straight from your garden or from a florist. But when you take the time to put together an arrangement, you'd like it to last forever or at least for more than a few days! Here are some step-by-step tips for extending the vase life of cut flowers in Iowa City.
Branching, shrub-like houseplants, such as scented geranium, hibiscus, flowering maple, begonia, and schefflera, need regular pruning to keep them healthy and attractive.