A big thank you to Pennington, for sponsoring this post and this giveaway! All opinions in this post are my own. Please see below for additional disclosure.
I am looking at a gray Michigan sky, and a brown Michigan yard right now. The fabulous news is that yesterday’s rain washed out the LAST of all the snow around here, and today and tomorrow’s rain will really green things up quickly! And you know what they say about April showers… woohoo for May flowers!
I can’t wait to start my outdoor projects this spring. #1 on my to-do list is always to add some annuals. My favorite annuals are petunias! They are so bright and cheery. Take a look at last year’s pretties:
I like petunias because not only are they pretty, but they are also easy to care for. They should be planted in sun or partial shade, and they should be sheltered from the wind. They also don’t die when I forget to water them every day. Or every other day. Because yes, that happens. Petunias live pretty well on 2-3 waterings per week unless you’re in a dry area, or you are growing them in baskets. (In baskets, you have to compensate for the extra drainage and really should water them daily.)
As the old blooms die, they should be picked off. That encourages new blooms to grow. If you find that your plants are starting to look a bit scraggly, bite the bullet, and prune them back. It’s tough to do when your plant already looks sparse, but trimming petunias back and removing the spent blooms really makes them fuller and more beautiful – they will impress you in just a week or two. I also care for my petunias by fertilizing once a month, and I’m so excited to try Pennington‘s new Smart Feed Sprayer system on my flowers this year!
Pennington is already known for exceptional lawn and garden care products, and now they are aiming to make fertilizing easy for all of us gardeners with the launch of their Smart Feed Sprayer System. It makes fertilizing an easy spray – and well nourished plants and flowers of course give you bigger and better results every time. Check it out! (Note: Clicking the graphic below will show you an easy-to-read pdf version.)
The four-way adjustable sprayer just attaches to your regular garden hose. You just add the customized fertilizer tablets, and your plants get the exacts amount of nutrients they need. It simplifies plant feeding, and ensures that hearty plant growth. To use it, you twist off the clear sprayer canister, load one or two water-soluble fertilizer tablets into the sprayer, and spray your target area. Easy peasy!
There are three different formulas for whatever applications you need fertilizer for: All-Purpose; Tomato & Vegetable; and Flowers & Blooms. Pennington Smart Feed products are available at national home retailers and range from $9.99-$12.99.
Pennington would also like to give a Happy Hour Projects reader a boost on their spring garden with a giveaway for a $50 American Express gift card! Just enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
Central Garden & Pet partnered with bloggers such as me to help educate us all about their Pennington products. As part of this program, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the use of the products. Central Garden & Pet believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Central Garden & Pet’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. A winner will be chosen by random and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.
Make sure you don’t forget to water!
Roses don’t like soggy soil, so to help prevent this, add a bit of sand to your soil mix. :)
We like having automatic drip on our most sensitive plants so if we don’t get to water one day, at least they get what they need!
Remember to water your plants, but overwatering them isn’t good either!
im just starting out gardening so i dont have any tips yet!!
one garden tip is to use egg shells to fertilize the soil.
Use vinegar to kill weeds!
Because I don’t have a green thumb I try to keep it simple. I plant a lot of perennials so I don’t have to worry about planting every year
Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray.
I need all the garden tips I can get!
I guess my tip would be: get started!!!
With such a long list of tasks that would be what will finally get me to it
Water your garden plants from the bottom.
Spraying them all over can cause a lot of damage – especially tomatoes with blight.
Thank you.
I can’t wait to get started on my garden for the summer! If only this bizarre Minnesota weather would cooperate!
Weed Garden Often!
Newspaper works OK for stopping weeds but it unfortunately is too thin and breaks down much too quickly to be effective at stopping weed growth.
Instead try Kraft paper. Its commonly used underneath hardwood floors and is used as a mild vapor barrier as well as to isolate the wood floor from the plywood subfloor. Its nothing more than a thick paper roll which comes in 250′ to 500′ long rolls. Its also pretty inexpensive at around $8-$11 per roll.
I put down a layer overlapping each pass by 50% to give me double coverage and then cover that up with a nice heavy duty cloth landscape fabric (secured with landscape staples)
Yes its not free like newspaper but I have about 2000sf of mulch plant beds in my yard and year after year I just add some fresh mulch and they look great.
This is the pecerft post for me to find at this time
under #3, based on our understanding of what happened, Weiner sent the photo to Cordova by mistake. Cordova herself has said that she does not feel she was harassed by Weiner, so we have a hard time labeling him a harasser or predator until some new information backs that up.
så mye grønt og fint!så flink jenta di er, som har lært seg å strikke!mon tro om jeg skal ta en runde i huset på leting etter grønt jeg og..?
Don’t let too much time go by without weeding!
Start your own compost using kitchen vegetable scraps, grass clippings and dried up leaves. It’s easy and provides great compost for your vegetables.
If you barely started gardening I would suggest to keep it simple, be patient and enjoy it!
TRY NOT TO OVER WATER YOUR PLANTS AND WATER IN THE MORNINGS INSTEAD OF THE AFTERNOONS. WATER THAT STANDS AT NIGHT SOMETIMES HAS A TENDENCY TO CAUSE MILDEW OR MOLDS.
Make sure you read the card to know how much sunlight and water they will need.
Know what plants will grow in your zone
Do not over water the plants/flowers!
Don’t forget to water your flowers
Please read the little identification cards that come with the directions on how and where to plant your plants. They are there for a reason.
My number 1 gardening type is to research what you’re going to plant before doing so.
water the ground……NOT the plant! Keep the ground and roots moist BUT leave the water OFF the plant!
My garden tip is to save the water after you boil your vegetables…and after it cools down to room temperature…I put it on my potted plants on the deck. They LOVE it!
Choose productive plants
My tip is “don’t forget to water”!
My #1 gardening tip is to hire someone who knows what they’re doing. I’m amazed I have been able to keep a child alive, much less a plant!!
Thanks for the awesome giveaway! :)
I let my husband do it!
Fence around your plants to save them from being eaten. Learned this the hard way, ground hogs ate all my cucumbers last summer!
Water your plants either early in the morning or in the evening.
A tip…… ummmmm, find someone that knows more about gardening than you do and ask them questions. Honestly I’m not a great gardener however I am learning how to be a good one.:) Thanks for the awesome giveaway.:)
My tip is to use self watering containers, so the summer sun doesn’t burn up your plants if you forget to water.
Entered the rafflecopter form as “Wild Orchid”
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 @ gmail dot com
Since weeds never stop growing around here I need to make weeding a daily event. And use lots of mulch!
Don’t forget to weed!
My tip is just staying on top of things, keeping weeds out. We had a nice garden planted and everything that came out, some animal ate. So…if it’s gardening, do something to try to keep the critters out.
be sure the planting site gets enough hours of sun for that particular plant
Find plants for people like me who don’t have a green thumb!
My gardening tip is to make sure you leave enough room for veggies that grow on vines like cucumbers. There’s nothing worse than having the vines wrap around other veggies!
My #1 Gardening tip is to choose a spot that will get enough sunlight, especially once the trees and plants around it grow in.
Ooooh … I can do a lot with $50!!
Dont let me near a plant. i will kill it unintentionally.
be sure to read the little cards with the flowers so you know where to plant, how much water etc. Also to use weed ‘n feed to kill the weeds and a weed fabric protector. It will cut you weeding by 95 %!
Don’ start from seed. You’ll get lazy or the weather will change and you’ll never plant the sprouts. Just buy the plant!
Newspaper under lots of mulch keeps the weeds out of the beds. I have lots of giant beds in my yard & this is the only thing that works!
I don’t have any tips since I am not very skilled with plants but I am going to give it another try this year. I am planning on doing some flowers in my front yard and a few veggies. Wish me luck!
My tip is to make sure your plants get enough water
My tip is to start early to really enjoy your bounty & give plants plenty of water.
no tips because i don’t have a green thumb, lol; wish I did!
My tip is to start smart, you must be able to enjoy and control it.
My tip? Don’t forget to water your plants! I set a note on my phone so that I can remember how often I need to take care of my flowers. I can’t tell you how many plants died because of my forgetfullness!
Put newspaper down to control those weeds!!!
My tip is to SAVE money by checking Freecycle and your neighbors before buying something new. We share a tiller, lawnmower, and shovels with our next door neighbors (we split the cost). You can often get pavers and other supplies free off your neighborhood Freecycle group.
The #1 tip that I have is to ENJOY it. When you don’t enjoy it, only bad things come of it! :)
this one is strictly for the newbies…when picking flowers read the flower card to see how much sun they need…..learned the hard way lol
Don’t till, mulch!