Southern Gardening

JoJo: I can’t wait to go outside, Joe Me too, I want to plant flowers and corn and….

Gary: Look…I know it’s the winter months and you want to get out in the garden. But there’s got to be something better than this.

JoJo: This is all we’ve got.

Handmade Valentine's gifts are always appreciated and here’s a great idea for that special gardener, a DIY herb garden kit. An herb garden kit is a practical gift to give and your local garden center will have all the components for the kit. Let’s get started. I’ve chosen this cute little crate to hold the herb kit components. I’ve selected a variety of herb seeds that are easy to grow indoors. Because herb seeds are small, many are pelletized for easier sowing. The seeds need growing mix and I love these peat pellets. Place a pellet into a peat pot, add water, add watch them expand.

Renewal pruning is radical and not for the faint of heart, but it’s an effective method to salvage an overgrown shrub when compared to removing and replacing the plant. Sometimes a landscape shrub overgrows its location. Renewal pruning is an option to help rejuvenate a severely overgrown bush. The optimal time of year of renovate a shrub is before new growth starts in the spring. So, for Mississippi I recommend such severe pruning be performed in the January and February time frame. The pruning tools will vary depending on the diameter of the branches and limbs.

Many gardeners consider green to be the color of spring, but this year yellow is the first color popping. Daffodil blooms are for many gardeners the first visible signs of spring. These vigorous plants thrive joyously in sunny, well-drained places and are a mainstay of the spring garden. Because they are long-lived bulbs, daffodils make for a glorious landscape legacy. In Mississippi the yellow flower are a more traditional looking daffodil, but there are many other selections. Dutch Master are early spring bloomers that display bold yellow flowers that makes a striking planting.

Going to your local garden center in the early spring can be challenging because many summer annuals are not blooming. Today I’ll share some thoughts for great early spring plant selection. Southern Gardening is at Buds & Blooms where they’re getting ready for the spring and summer season. In the greenhouse there are rows upon rows and trays upon trays of plants. How do you decide on what to get for your landscape and garden? Here are my top tips for early spring plant buying. A good tip whenever you’re shopping for plants is to inspect first.