Yes, I do have a recipe that I copied from my wife. She copied it from another source that she has forgotten. So my apologies to the original author for this recipe but it does work. Puree 6 or so garlic cloves in a blender with about 2 cups of water and a few hot chilies like Jalapeños. Strain the puree into a spray bottle and add 1/4 t-spoon of liquid soap.

Spray this homemade potion directly on your plants. Insects and fungal diseases should avoid the plants that were treated. Keep this spray bottle around because you will need to retreat after each rain or watering.

I believe one of the best insects used for biological control of aphids would be the ever popular ladybug. Ladybugs are also referred to as lady beetles or ladybirds. Ladybugs will forage with gusto on an aphid diet. Other insects that will whet a ladybugs appetite are mealybugs, spider mites, thrips, and whiteflies.

Ladybugs can be purchased in small or large quantities. They will need enough food and water to keep them around long enough for them to lay eggs and begin another generation. Try to offer them a hibernation site on your property if you want them to winter over in your garden. Stack some dead leaves, hay or straw, at the base of a fence to allow them to have a place to hibernate over the winter.

Hydroponics entails growing plants without soil. Plants are placed in a liquid solution and supplemented with a liquid fertilizer and grown to maturity with out any soil around the roots. There some commercial vegetable growers that use hydroponics to produce fresh vegetables, like tomatoes, and deliver them to supermarkets all year around. The tomato plants are held upright by a mesh like fabric at the base of the plant and the roots are visible growing in the tanks of water below. Just imagine a fish tank with roots in the water and vegetative growth on top of the water.

Home grown vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes. peppers, cucumbers, radishes and herbs are good candidates for hydroponic gardens. I know there are websites that describe the process of starting a hydroponic garden or even how to grow an individual house plant hydroponically. Hydroponics could be a great hobby with the reward being fresh vegetables from your own pots or tanks.

A gardening professional speaking at a conference stated that just about every yard has a unique micro-climate. Micro-climate means that a unique climatic condition is created by buildings, house location on the lot, wall location, berms, and other factors that are a little different in most every location. Knowing and observing the climatic conditions in your yard will help you place appropriate plants in locations where they will thrive vs. another area in the yard where they may struggle.  For instance, knowing where the prevailing winds strike your yard would help you choose a location away from a windy location for a tender plant.

Another topic that gets a lot of discussion is borderline plant hardiness. The micro-climate in the yard may allow you to successfully plant a zone 6 plant in a zone 5 location. Placing the zone 6 plant in a protected area of the yard that is sheltered from the north wind and where it gets more heat from a southerly exposure to the sun will very likely allow the plant to be grown successfully. A good rule to follow would be is "don't fight your site". You will save time, money and energy by working with your micro-climate rather than fighting it.

The term evergreen is a catch-all word for a plant, tree, shrub, groundcover, vine or perennial that retains its foliage year around. Most often evergreen is used to label a tree or a shrub. The term semi-evergreen is also used to describe a plant that looses their leaves in the winter in cold areas and keeps their leaves all year in warmer climates.

Evergreen trees come in 2 general types. There are the thin leafed or needle leafed evergreen trees such as a fir or spruce trees. Most of the needle type are usually very cold hardy. The other type are frond or wide leafed trees such as the palm or magnolia trees. Most of the wider leaved evergreen trees are not cold hardy so they are found in warmer climates.

I do have a little info on edible flowers due to what my wife told me after attending a luncheon at a friends house. She was served nasturtium flowers atop of her salad and she commented that they were tasty and they made quite an attractive presentation. Not knowing that flowers were edible, I went looking for information. I will preface my comments with the statement that not all flowers are edible. Check with a poison control center before sampling any plant.

I found that flowers from bee balm, chives, daylilies, dianthus, hollyhocks, nasturtiums, pansies, roses, sunflowers, tulips and violets can be eaten and they provide an array of interesting tastes. Many food flower affection-ados prefer to grow their own tasty flowers so that they can be sure they are raised organically and do not contain any pesticide residue. Wouldn't the flowers in the picture make for an attractive dish?

Pruning a young azalea plant after the plant is through blooming will promote lateral branching and a more compact form. Prune lightly at the very tip of the branches for best results. Older azaleas should be pruned by removing larger branches from the interior of the plant. Removing the larger branches will allow more light in and the sunlight will inhibit disease. Cut away all dead or diseased wood below the infected area.

Older azaleas can be rejuvenated by cutting back the entire plant to 6 to 8 inches above the ground. If this method seems too severe, cut back the older plant over a 3 year period by pruning a third of the branches each year. Prune your azaleas in early spring before new growth begins.

A very simple and effective way to clean pots is to use a solution of 2 tablespoons of bleach in 1 quart of water. Wash and scrub the pots in the bleach solution. Leave the pots soak for an hour or more, then rinse and let them dry. Use this same bleach and water combination to clean garden pails and your pruning shears. Pruning shears can easily spread virus and fungus diseases as you move from plant to plant. If you are pruning obviously diseased plant material, it is advised that you use the bleach solution after each pruning cut so as to keep from spreading the virus or fungus.

Hardy bulbs can be described as bulbs that can be left in the ground safely all year around. Heavy frost and freezing of the soil around the bulbs will not harm a hardy bulb. Many fall planted bulbs are hardy bulbs. The most familiar of these bulbs would be tulips, crocus, daffodils and hyacinths. All of these bulbs are planted in the fall and produce beautiful spring color.

Tender bulbs are bulbs that cannot survive freezing temperatures or frozen soil. Tender bulbs can be left in the ground in warm climates but will die if left in the ground in colder climates. These bulbs must be dug up each fall and placed and wintered indoors and replanted in the spring. A very well recognized tender bulb would be the amaryllis. In fact most amaryllis are grown indoors in northern climates.

The term bulb is commonly used for corms, rhizomes, and tubers. The true bulb can be described as a sphere like structure that has dry, scale type leaves around the structure. The scales are attached at the base of the bulb. Roots arise from this base. Tulips and Lilies are examples of true bulbs.

Corms are very much like bulbs, except that corms have a swollen base where the food is stored. Buds are generally found on the surface of the corm. Crocus and gladiolus are good examples of corms.

Both bulbs and corms contain all the elements needed for growth. The bulb contains the nutrients needed to sustain growth for the first growing season.

Sure you can prune your Annabelle hydrangeas. Except, do not prune in the spring or early summer. Annabelle hydrangeas bloom on new wood on stems that have begun growing in the spring, so if you prune the new growth before they bloom, it will be the following year before you see a blossom.

Annabelle hydrangeas can be pruned back to about 3 inches above the  ground in the winter. In fact, many growers cut them back to get a more uniform look instead of having unattractive branches to look at during the winter. Annabelle's will bloom every year, no matter how they are pruned or not pruned.

Well, hungry deer will eat almost anything, but there are several ground covers that show Resistance to deer. Ajuga is the first plant that comes to mind. Most ajuga is quite tolerant to multi-zoned planting conditions. Ajuga is also colorful and when these plants reach maturity they will provide excellent ground cover. The Chocolate Chip Ajuga produces a very attractive dark leaf and provides fast cover. Other plants that can be used for ground covers that deer are not particularly attracted to are ferns, Lilly of the Valley, pachysandra, Snow-in-Summer, and vinca minor.

Deer are not fond of mosses such as Scotch moss or Irish moss. If you are looking for a larger plant for ground cover you might consider juniper. There are some low growing junipers that provide excellent ground cover and are deer resistant.

Available water is an important term in the world of plants and gardening. Having a pond 10 feet from a garden would seem to define the term 'available water', but it does not. Wilting plant leaves can be caused by too little or too much available water. A plants roots need to be able to extract water from the soil. The plant cannot do that if the soil is over saturated or the soil is too dense and water logged for water extraction. The ideal soil contains about a 50-50 mix of water and air. The 50-50 mix allows for good water movement as the plant roots attract moisture from the soil. The right mix of water and air will provide the most 'available water' for your plants.

Clay soils can hold the most water but many times they hold the moisture very tightly and thus it is not as available as other soils. Sandy soils are much more coarse and moisture tends to drain away quickly because of gravity, so the same amount of rain may cause a plant in sandy soil to moisture stress much faster because the moisture becomes unavailable to the root area. Medium textured soils offer the most water availability. Moisture is more 'available' for a longer period of time because the plant roots have more 'space' to access the moisture..

Sure, here are a few easy to grow and care for perennials. Except for giving them regular moisture, you can plant them and forget them. One of the first perennials to come to mind is the hosta. There is a reason you see a of of hostas in gardens and landscapes. They are tough and they also thrive in shady areas. Hostas come in many sizes and colors. They even come in blue such as the Halcyon. Another dependable shade performer is the Astilbe. They are easy to grow and they will brighten a shady corner with their plumes of color.

The Rudbeckia family produces plants that stand up well to summer heat and sun. The Black Eyed Susan produces stunning flowers. Black-Eyed Susans’ need to be grown in full sun in somewhat moist soil conditions in a well-drained area. Another favorite is the Daylily. They are tough and beautiful. The grassy foliage of the daylily surrounds large flowers. The final suggestion for easy to grow perennials is the Coneflower. Coneflowers provide summer color and are a great food source for birds.

Yes, I think the October Glory would be an excellent choice. The October Glory will do better in warmer temperatures than the native red maple, Acer rubrum, and that would be a plus in your states climate. The color of the brilliant red autumn leaves of the October Glory will also be more consistent and the leaves will be retained longer that the native red maple. The October Glory is an excellent street or lawn tree and the dense foliage is great for shading your property. Place this tree in a well drained location for best results.