MELINDA’S GARDEN MOMENTS

Nationally renowned garden expert Melinda Myers helps everyday gardeners find success and ease in the garden through her Melinda’s Garden Moments television segments. Melinda shares “must have” tips that hold the key to gardening success, learned through her more than 25 years of horticulture experience. Viewers from across the country find her gardener friendly, practical approach to gardening both refreshing and informative! On this page, Melinda shares some more extensive garden tips, which expands on the information provided in her one-minute TV segments.

Melinda’s Garden Moments Garden Tips!
New tips will be added throughout the growing season, providing timely step-by-step tips on what you need to do next in your garden! To view online streaming video of Melinda’s Garden Moments, visit http://www.melindamyers.com/garden-tips/garden-moments-5.html

Jump Start the Growing Season

Don’t let cold soil and late spring frost delay the start to your garden season.

Prepare the soil as soon as it can be worked. Then cover it with clear plastic for several weeks. This warms the soil for planting and helps germinate many of the weed seeds.

Lightly cultivate, removing the young weed seedlings without bringing more weed seeds to the surface.

Now start planting. Once the garden is planted, cover it with a floating row cover such as Harvest Guard, ReeMay, or Fast Grass. These spun fabrics let air, light, and water through; while keeping the plants warm. Anchor the fabric with stones, boards, or other heavy items. Leave enough slack in the fabrics for the plants to grow.

With this gardening tip you can plant a month or more earlier than normal. This means you will be harvesting fresh vegetables long before your friends and neighbors.

Just a bit more information: Use floating row covers to protect your vegetables from damaging insects. Cover broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts to keep out cabbage worms. The fabric creates a barrier preventing the adult moth from laying their eggs on your plants. No eggs mean no hungry caterpillars to munch on your plants. This also works great at keeping maggot off onions and radishes.

Once the season gets going pack away the floating row covers until fall. Break them out later in the season to protect flowers and vegetables from the first fall frosts. These fall cold snaps are often followed by a week or more of mild temperatures. The row covers can help you extend the harvest and beauty of your gardens

For more gardening tips, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

About Melinda Myers
Melinda Myers, best known for her gardener friendly and practical approach to gardening, has more than 25 years of horticulture experience in both hands-on and instructional settings. She has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in horticulture from University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a certified arborist, and was a horticulture instructor with tenure.

Outside the classroom, Melinda shares her expertise through a variety of media outlets. She has written 20 books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening, and the Birds & Blooms’ Ultimate Gardening Guide. She hosts “Great Lakes Gardener,” seen on PBS stations throughout the United States, and “Melinda’s Garden Moments”, which air on network television stations throughout the country. She appears regularly as a guest expert on various national and local television and radio shows. She also writes the twice monthly “Gardeners’ Questions” newspaper column and is a contributing editor and columnist for Birds & Blooms and Backyard Living magazines. In addition, she hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio program for over 20 years.

For her work, community service and media presence, Melinda has received recognition and numerous awards, including the 2003 Garden Globe Award for radio talent and the Quill and Trowel Award for her television work, both from the Garden Writers Association. She has also received the Garden Communicator’s Award from the American Nursery and Landscape Association and the Gold Leaf Award for Arbor Day from the International Society of Arboriculture.

For more information, visit Myers’ web site www.melindamyers.com. The site features regularly updated garden tips, podcasts, a garden club, e-newsletter, books, appearance information, “Great Lakes Gardener” television schedule and more.