Hort Shorts
- Add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to your watering can when watering overly dry plants in outdoor containers. The soap will act as a wetting agent to better moisten the soil.
- Make a handy outdoor wash-up station—slip leftover slivers of soap into an old piece of panty hose and hang near the spigot.
8Harry Potter fans will find their favorite villain among this summer’s garden fare. The coleus ‘Lord Voldemort’ has dark purple leaves edged in chartreuse. - Hostas grow well in pots and combine nicely with other plants in containers.
- Plastic tubs sold as cookout beverage holders make inexpensive containers for miniature water gardens. Try water lilies or small floating plants such as water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) or water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). If necessary, control mosquitoes with pelletized or doughnut-shaped natural insecticide, sold in the pond section of garden centers.
- Add a spray of water from the garden hose to peat, perlite or dry potting soil to suppress dust as you work.
- Bottle trees are fun craft projects that add nostalgic charm to gardens. If you don’t have colored bottles, coat clear ones with stained-glass spray paint.
- Don’t fuss over nasturtiums and cosmos—they prefer infertile soil. Over-fertilizing will produce lush foliage at the expense of blooms.
- Cleome and Verbena bonariensis (verbena-on-a-stick) add airy height to flower beds.
- Before buying, inspect plants for any insects or diseased leaves.
- Trim back petunias, begonias and impatiens when they become leggy. This will encourage fuller growth and new blooms.
- Labels on pesticide and herbicide containers bear three-tiered descriptions for indicating levels of toxicity to the consumer. “Caution” indicates the lowest degree of toxicity, “Warning” the next, and “Danger” the most hazardous. These labels refer only to degree of potential harm to the user, not to the environment.