Answering more of your questions

In the interest of how people find my gardening pages I occasionally see certain questions pop up.

If I were the searcher I would like those answered.

After you garden for awhile you sometimes forget how many things were a mystery at first.

So to the person who asked,”What is peat moss used for in gardens?” there is my post, I ♥ Peat Moss, but in sum I would say it is simply a soil conditioner.

Peat moss helps retain moisture and it breaks up clods of clay soil by providing clumpy organic material.

What it isn’t used for is mulch. It can dry into a hard cakelike substance that causes the water to run off and deprive plants of the moisture ( the opposite effect for when incorporated into the soil).

That is a reason you want to bury the edges of any peat pots:

They would wick up moisture to the surface and cause the roots to dry.

There is also the odd use of peat as a part of the mix that you use to create tufa containers, and here is an informative video to show you how to make them.

Another question that came up, “What season should you start gardening?”

Any season, really. It just is a matter of finding out what to do in that season, so a garden calendar for your climate zone is helpful.

A few of you fellow Northern gardeners are scoffing at me, now, aren’t you?

What does one do in the winter?

Well…. a huge part of garden success is in the learning and the planning, and wintertime is ideal for that!

Gather your garden books (or get some from the library), use a notebook and pencil and make plans. View how-to videos, and of course, read garden blogs.

But if you are thinking about real hands-on, touching-the-earth gardening, the fall provides preparation time: get your garden spot ready for next spring season when all the garden planting begins for that year. Just dig in!

Tags: peat moss, beginning gardening