Gardeners Photograph your hard work

You toil and toil to propagate a lovely garden, but do you photograph your hard work? It is imperative that the world see your creative side as well. A gardeners hands and eye for beauty and composition are not unlike any artist or professional photographer.

Vivid pink Azaleas (Photo credit: Dawn Gagnon)

Grab your cameras and commemorate your accomplishments. If you have some you'd like to share with this site please let me know through a comment and I will happy to help you display your talent and your artistry through the lens of your camera. Remember, a picture speaks a thousand words.. :)

Red blossoms on a branch (Photo credit: Dawn Gagnon)

Flowers All Year Calendar 2013

For sale, 2013 Calendar, lovely flowers all year long, not just in Spring and Summer Calendar. Makes a wonderful and thoughtful gift for Mom, Grandma, Aunts, and Sister.

Flowers All Year 2013 Calendar by DawnellasDesigns

Growing bigger tomatoes

A scanned red tomato, along with leaves and flowers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you would like huge tomato plants you may be missing out on this handy little tip. Those living in the South know that having a large root base and plenty of warm sun and water produce big healthy tomato plants. Here's a great tip if you buy your tomatoes already started.

• If you purchase tomato plants that are already about 8 to 12 inches tall, strip all the leaves except for a few off of the top. Every leaf you remove will form a root which will create a huge root system on a young plant. The bigger the root system, the bigger the plant, the more tomatoes you'll yield.
• On a raised bed dig a hole big enough to accommodate your tomato plant. Remove your plant from its container and if the plant is root bound loosen by hand the roots at the base. 
• If you want to ensure better root production, you can apply rooting hormone to your plant prior to placing into the ground. 
•  Lay your tomato plant down sideways, yes, side ways and cover with a few inches of soil and compost leaving an inch or two below the cluster of top foliage. Do not bury too deep the warmth from the sun and quick absorption of water will help promote root production faster.
• At the neck of the plant just below the cluster of leaves at the top, wrap a 3-4 inch piece of newspaper around the plant. This will protect the plant from pests since it is the only part exposed.This will help prevent tomato cut worms from feasting on your newly planted tomato bush. 

How to correctly prune your rose bushes

Photography by Dawn Gagnon

Roses are a beautiful addition to any garden but they do require some maintenance to keep them looking beautiful. Proper pruning and dead heading your roses is one part of the maintenance that must be done every season.

1. Prune your rose in early spring and once all danger of frost has past.

2. Make sure you have clean, sharp by-pass pruners and thick gloves. Some roses like the Joseph Coat are extremely thorny and can really cause a lot of damage to your hands and arms.

3. During the growing season, prune roses by looking for the first set of five leaves where you'll see a leaf bud. Prune just above this bud at a 45 degree angle that will assure the new growth will grow outward from the plant and not inward. This can be done as you dead head your roses.

4. Remove all dead and dying wood and any spindly canes that are less than the diameter of a pencil. Also look for sucker growth. These are canes that shoot out from the base of your plant under the main bud union. The main bud union is where all the main canes of the rose bush emerge from. Anything growing and shooting out from under this is a sucker and should be removed completely.

5. If you have a problem with cane borers, it is suggested that you can cover fresh pruning cuts with basic white school glue to prevent infestation.

6. Once roses go dormant for the year and have been exposed to several hard frosts, cut the rose down to one third of its original size and only leave three to four healthy canes for best results. Add a thick layer of fresh mulch.