Dec 24, 2014 | Blog, Winter
If you don’t have a green thumb, the Christmas Cactus is the holiday plant for you. They prefer diffused light, and it’s best to let the soil dry 
completely between watering. Avoid overwatering. While you don’t have to worry too much about the temperature, 70 degrees is suitable. Try to avoid drafts by keeping them away from frequently opened doors. Pruning lightly after flowering re-energizes the plant. Once summer arrives, the cactus can be put outside in indirect light. This encourages it to set buds and bloom more heavily the following holiday.
The Poinsettia requires more care. These tropical plants love sunlight, so place it near a sunny window — the more direct sunlight, the better. If you want to keep the poinsettia in bloom as long as possible, try and maintain a temperature of 65-75 degrees during the day. It can go down to about 60 degrees at night. Avoid drafts and temperature shifts; this will injure the leaves and cause premature leaf drop. The plant should be watered when it feels dry to the touch. Allow the water to drain out the bottom, but avoid letting the plant sit in water.
Cut Holly is best suited in a cooler location or outside. You’ll find that it dries out quickly; once that happens, the berries drop and the leaves become brittle and sharp. Keep the holly branches in water and soak wreathes or swags overnight before displaying to make them last a bit longer. You can treat most potted hollies as annuals, but it’s best to keep them indoors until they can be planted in the spring.
Nov 17, 2014 | Blog, Winter
Most of the leaves have fallen and been raked into piles;
but that’s not quite the end of your outdoor “to do” list.
Once all of the leaves in your area have dropped, do yourself a favor and clean out the gutters. Gutters and downspouts direct rainwater away from your house; but if they’re clogged with leaves and/or other debris, they won’t work properly, resulting in damaging ice dams once the temperature drops below freezing.
In a previous blog, we touched on fall fertilizing (http://three-z.com/2014/10/03/fall-fertilizing/). Again, if you haven’t spread a lawn fertilizer yet, there’s still time. This is a critical application which prepares grass roots for the long, cold winter ahead and ensures nutrients will be available to them in spring, when growth resumes.
As far as the mower goes, some will advise that gasoline should not be left in your lawn equipment for more than two months. Before you stow away the mower and other gas-powered equipment for the winter, run the engine until it’s out of gas. However, there’s another school of thought – others advocate adding stabilizer to a mower’s fuel tank, briefly running the mower, and then putting it away for the season. It’s really a personal preference. Now’s also a good time to sharpen the blade so it’s all ready for the first spring-time mow!
Don’t forget to drain and store garden hoses and protect outdoor faucets from freezing weather. If you know you won’t be using the outdoor spigot until spring; shut off its water supply if that is an option.
It’s never too early to start thinking about your Christmas tree! If you plan to plant the tree after the holidays, save yourself some work by digging the hole now while the soil is workable. Make the hole twice as wide as the root ball will be. Then, fill the hole with mulch and protect the soil with a tarp. And another fun holiday tip…be on the lookout for berry-covered branches for use in indoor decorating.
Oct 14, 2014 | Blog, Flowers, Gardens
The USDA, or the United States Department of Agriculture, provides a Plant Hardiness Zone Map. It is the standard by 
which gardeners and growers determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a certain location. The planting and growing season in Zone 6 ranges from mid-March (after the last frost) through mid-November, which is considerably lengthy. Most of Ohio falls in zone 6; the majority of Northeast Ohio is in Zone 6a. (This means the coldest the area gets is between -5 and -10 degrees Fahrenheit.) So what exactly does that mean to a Northeast Ohio gardener? To get a more accurate breakdown, we recommend you visit the USDA website —http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ or check out this article which was published shortly after the hardiness zone map was updated by the USDA — http://www.cleveland.com/insideout/index.ssf/2012/02/what_new_hardiness_zone_means.html.
So what perennials are suited for Zone 6? Gardeners and growers need to be aware that the weather in this area can abruptly change, which all of us are accustomed to – it can be 80 degrees and drop to 40 degrees the very next day! Only in Cleveland, right!?! Despite the temperature swings, it’s actually a very favorable environment – a long growing season complimented by generally mild temperatures.
For a through list of flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees and shrubs that thrive in our hardiness zone, please review the information on this site: http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Gardening_Zone_6. You’ll quickly see that we have an assortment of perennials to choose from, keeping our gardeners and growers busy all year long!
Oct 3, 2014 | Blog, Fall
The late fall fertilizer application should be a priority, and yet most homeowners skip this application. Why is it so 
important? The fall treatment concentrates on root growth and development — key to your lawn not only surviving the winter, but also getting off to a great start in the spring.
Even when the ground is covered in snow, turf roots are active through December. A late fall fertilizer application provides “food” that keeps the grass roots growing thick, storing nutrients for the winter slumber. If your lawn does not have a strong root system, parts of your lawn may not survive the long, cold Cleveland winter. And if this winter is anything like last winter, you need give your yard a fighting chance!
If you are maintaining your own lawn, be sure to read and follow the directions on the bag. Some of them recommend fertilizing twice in the fall — once around Labor Day and another around Halloween. But remember, too much could do your lawn more harm than good, so don’t ignore the manufacturer directions. If you’re contracted with a lawn care provider, make certain to follow through with your late fall applications.
In general, fall is an optimal time to pamper your lawn. If you’re looking for more general lawn care information, here are a few websites to peruse: www.ohioline.osu.edu and www.bygl.osu.edu.
Aug 8, 2014 | Blog, Gardens, Summer
Love a nutritious, fresh salad? Consider growing a salad garden next season. It doesn’t require a lot of space – a small 4′ x 4′ 
or 4′ x 8′ raised bed is plenty of room to grow a great salad garden! In just a few easy steps, you can be on your way to having your own salad garden. Given the fall season is rapidly approaching, you can use the winter months to spend a little time researching and planning for your spring plant.
One of the best things about having a backyard garden is that you have the flexibility of growing what you enjoy eating the most. You can also control exactly how the vegetables are grown; maintaining a strictly organic environment if that is important to you.
Helpful resources in setting up your salad garden design can be found at www.GrowVeg.com. (You can give it a try for a 30-day free trial.) GrowVeg is simple to use and easily creates vegetable garden plans and lists. For example, using the planning tool, you can get all of this in a four foot square salad garden— one cucumber plant, one tomato plant, one bell pepper or other pepper plant, two lettuce plants, two baby spinach plants, one arugula plant, five Radishes, and three onions. That’s quite an assortment of fresh options and enough to provide a good amount of healthy ingredients!
The end result is worth the effort. Sure, you can run to the grocery store to purchase all of the items you need for a dinner salad, but by investing some time and patience, you can grow it all at home for a fraction of the cost.
