Image by ThrasherDave via Flickr

Suppose I give you an image flower lovers can appreciate? Imagine a field such as seen under the warm California sunshine. It’s a grapevine field, with rows and rows to fill. Now substitute the grapevines with climbing roses! What a vision that would be to behold.

However, you must choose your climber with care, for some are only able to tolerate small amounts of sunshine and will bloom only with the proper amount of sunlight. You’ll need to keep it properly pruned for the better health of the plant. It will need plenty of room to spread its spectacular beauty. Some climbers grow taller and larger depending upon their climate. You’ll need access to the taller parts of the plant. You may decide to shape it.

Some questions to consider are: ‘how often will you want the climber to bloom’, ‘will you want a certain color theme among your climbers’, ‘would you need to treat it for bugs native to your area’.

A climber and a rambler are different types of rose plants. Climbers need to be tied to a structure to maintain stability. They have heavier vines, or canes if you will, than the rambler. The rambler’s vines are more flexible and must be trained to grow over an object.

As with many flowers, the best time to plant a climber is at least 6 weeks before the first hard frost or in the spring or fall when the weather is cooler, but not wintry. You could start the plant indoors and then move it to the garden. Build a teepee of wooden poles; make sure the height of the legs will suit your container; wind nylon wire or string in a criss-cross fashion around the poles to give the plant places to grab as it works its way up the poles.
An easy idea for use with climbers is a trellis, which is made with either lumber or plastic. Although, personally, I would think the plastic surface would be harder for the plant to grab and hold. You could substitute nylon netting in place of the string or wire.

If you have little ones who want to help garden, you could buy popsicle sticks for them to glue together in lattice fashion for use with your climber. If you are comfortable with the art work of a child, you could have he or she paint the container and put their own pictures and letting on it. One idea that may be of interest to moms or grandmothers is to allow the child their own climbing garden area. It would teach them the wonders of the rose on a level they could accept more readily.

I don’t like to complain, mostly because no one listens, but seriously I had a heart attack a few years ago that caused in-operable damage and in an instant I went from a what I thought was a strong and pretty healthy guy to a guy with very limited strength and energy.

This has put a lot of extra weight on my beautiful wife but she has never complained. So I was thinking that we could do two things that would make life a bit easier.

1. Get an automatic garage door. This would mean we wouldn’t have to go outside to cold car.

2. Get an automatic gate opener. This would mean that my wife and myself would not have to get out of the car in nasty weather to open the gate.

This is our year for landscaping and the old fence and gate have to go. When we are done we are going to have the backyard garden we have dreamed of for the entire 25 years we have been married.

We know we can get our garage door opener locally but we had to look around on the internet to find some gate openers.

TurnstyleGates.com is a website that has the greated gate openers. They also have a video that is pretty cool where a young lady told us about Turnstyle Gates, so we had a little info before we even started reading. She also pointed out where we would find more gate opener videos. I am very visual and really like pictures and videos. I also like the content that backs it all up.

Take a moment and head over there and see for yourself.

There are many different symptoms that can show where there has been a nutrient deficiency in a plant. Because all plants respond differently to a lack of nutrients it is not always easy to determine whether it is a deficiency or something else that is causing the changes to the plant.

Where you see abnormal leaf coloring, where the leaf has turned a pale yellow or changed to a paler color than normal, and the veins of the leaf are green, then this can be a sign of nutrient deficiency.

If the leaves are smaller than normal, or any part of the plant is showing signs of stunted growth, then this is a sure sign of a nutrient deficiency.

There are other signs such as brown blotches on the leaves, but this can also be leaf scorch so you need to consider the conditions that the plant is growing in to help analyze blotchy leaves.

If the leaves are showing tones of blue or purple that can be another sign to look out for.

To assist the plant, you should apply a soluble fertilizer, as this will have the fastest effect on its possible recovery.

You will need to check the pH of the soil to see that it is correct and take the appropriate action to remedy the situation if it is out of balance.
The nutrients might be in the soil but without the correct pH balance the plant won’t be able to make use of them.

Testing can be done with a simple and inexpensive test kit that you can buy from garden stores.

Make sure that the plants you are growing are compatible with the soil that you are growing them in and adjust the type of soil accordingly if you don’t want to replace them with plants that can flourish in those conditions.

Soil is a main food supply for your plants but sometimes plants need a little more help and that can be in the form of fertilizer or mulch.

Mulch is great for plants, simply because you are turning something that would normally be thrown out as waste into a food supply and a very effective one at that.

Mulch will help to maintain moisture in the soil and reduce the weeds in the backyard garden too.

Generally you should use mulch in damp weather so the plants will have sufficient moisture in the soil. If you are using mulch in dry conditions make sure you water the soil first to retain some moisture as it will be harder for any water to get to the roots of your plants through the covering of mulch.

Mulch keeps the soil moist but it can also stop the soil getting moist if the water can’t penetrate.

If you are using lawn clippings for mulch make sure you haven’t used any chemicals on the lawn prior to cutting, that could have a detrimental affect on your plants.

If you leave the clippings to rot this will often reduce any side effects that these chemicals might have on your plants.

Lawn clippings can also generate a lot of heat so spread them around lightly in thin layers and don’t smother your plants with it.

There are many different things that can be used for mulch, from lawn clippings and plant cuttings to straw, hay and bark.

All those autumn leaves that are blowing around your property can make good mulch but they really need to be left to rot before being used, as they can be quite acidic if used too soon.

If in doubt with anything you are using for mulch, leave it to rot and you can be sure it will be better for your garden.

Some people have the mistaken idea that all insects are bad. An abnormal paranoia of anything that creeps and crawls or slithers can sell a lot of chemicals and natural insecticides. The market feeds off people’s fear of insects. Parents teach their children to be leery of insects. While it’s true that there are many insects that can cause harm, they usually do so as a way to protect themselves and preserve their species.

Attacking all insects is irrational. It would cause a huge imbalance in nature if we didn’t have insects. It’s even necessary to feed off the predatory insects to keep the insect population under control.

If you need to attack insects, at least do nature the justice of attacking the ones that are only a threat to you or your plants’ survival or health. People who are allergic to certain insects have little choice but to rid their homes and property of them. A wasp or bee sting could put some people in the hospital.

Some insects that are beneficial and do not cause harm to us will cause harm in some form to our plants. Butterflies are beautiful creatures, but gardeners and fruit crop growers may not appreciate their caterpillars! Beneficial insects that don’t hurt us or our crops are ladybugs and some species of wasps. Honeybees can sting when threatened, but without honeybees, our honey supply would suffer. People aren’t the only ones who benefit from honey. Insects and other animals benefit as well.

If you must attack insects, natural insecticides can be safer for our environment than the chemical poisons that line the shelves of our stores. Natural insecticides are made from oils, flowers, seeds, and sometimes even bacteria.

Neem comes from the Indian lilac tree. It prevents feeding and is a growth regulator. Pyrethrum is one of the most popular natural insecticides for attacking insects. It is used to paralyze and must be applied directly. It’s contained in many pet shampoos for flea and tick control. Nicotine is well known as a tobacco product, seen mostly in a negative light because of the harm it causes lungs when smoked. It can also help control some insects. Rotenone and sabadilla dust can be considered exotic natural insecticides because they are made from plants that exist in other countries. Sabadilla can wreak havoc on a honeybee population, though, and is a short-term insecticide.

Boric acid has been used for many years to help control nasty little roaches. Ants have been an age-old problem because of their ability to bite and take over our kitchens. Wasps that do sting cause allergic reactions, fear in small children and many adults because of their aggressive nature. People usually use some form of spray to attack them so they don’t have to get too close and risk their painful stings. They’ve been attacked by hairsprays and soap solutions.

People who live in rural areas can be quite creative in their attempts to attack insects with homemade insecticides. Some say cinnamon placed around a central air unit can keep the ants from entering and invading the points used to help run the units. Whatever your preferred method of attack, please be sure to use caution and consideration.