Get Reliable Gardening Advice for Your Gardening Questions

If you need gardening advice, remember... there is no such thing as a dumb gardening question.

I mean it... the only way any of us learn is by asking questions. So, we encourage our site visitors to ask questions, whether the questions come our way or you tap your local garden mentor in the neighborhood or at the garden store down the street.

We'll be posting some of the most frequent questions we get, along with our answers, on this page. You're sure to find lots of great gardening advice as time goes on.

So, won't you please check back often?

Looking forward to hearing from you... just use this quick and easy form to get your question headed our way...

Gardening Question #1: Watering Difficulty

Q: Help! our fine sandy soil won't take in water. When we water it, the water sits on top of the ground and does not soak in. How can we fix this?

A: Some soils dry out and become water repellent. I would mulch the ground with straw (I actually prefer lucerne) mixed with fertiliser, this will make the soil happy to accept water. You can also buy a wetting agent from your local nursery. This combined with the mulch and fertilizer will give you soil that is more useful.

Gardening Question #2: Excess Mulch

Q: I use mulch to control the weeds in my gardens, but I find that is always overflowing out of the gardens onto my lawn and walkways. It looks messy. Any suggestions?

A: Excess mulch is not only offensive aesthetically... It can also hurt your plants by causing root rot. There are a couple of things that can be done to prevent mulch overflow. First, you can use ground cover plants along the borders. This will be attractive and help to contain the mulch. Another possibility is to lower the soil level in the garden about 3 inches below the surrounding surfaces. Then you can add the mulch and rather than being higher than a nearby hard permanent surface, the mulch will be level with it, but still performing its job of plant care.

More Gardening Advice: Tricky Areas

Q: I have an area of my lawn near a bend in my sidewalk that is too hard to mow. But I don't want to leave it bare. What else could I do that would still be attractive, yet easier to maintain?

A: Making use of containers with plants is one solution. One large container with one plant can be used, or it is possible to make a small container garden with a variety of plants in containers of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Problem areas such as these are also ideal locations for accent objects such as an obelisk, a statue or even topiary bushes. Water features can add cooling and soothing effects to your landscape, and there are a variety of water features that can be built to fit into nearly any space.

Keep those questions rolling in, folks...

All the best,

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