In order to winterize your garden a fresh layer of mulch should be applied before the colds sets in. There are several different types of mulch that you can use, but leaves are also a great option. If you have a mulcher laying around your house you can use it to shred your leaves easily. The shredded leaves can then be placed on top of your perennials that have been cutback and around your shrubs and trees. The insulation from the shredded leaves will protect the delicate roots of your plants during the cold of winter.

If you don’t want to use your leaves as mulch you can still add them to your compost bin. Keep in mind that you will likely have more leaves than your compost bin can handle. Shredding them before you place them into your compost bin is a great way to compact the leaves and free up some additional space. Leaves are considered a brown ingredient so you will want to add enough green ingredients to offset them.

Take a trip to your local craft store or hardware store around the time that leaves begin to fall. Many places will offer large garbage bags that have fun designs on them. Simply fill these bags with all of your leaves for a bit of entertainment. One of the most classic examples of this option is the large pumpkin bags you see at Halloween!

You will spend your whole summer watching your gourds grow. When you see them change from their standard green color into a pale tan color, they are ripe and ready to be picked from the vine. Be careful when you do this. You want to leave at least 4 inches of stem on your bottleneck gourd which you will later use to hang it!

Now you have to wait. Take your gourd and place it in a safe location for it to dry out. The location should provide the fruit with good air circulation and should be a bit warm. After a couple months, give your gourd a shake. If you here seeds rattling around inside, your gourd is ready to be turned into a birdhouse.

Wash the skin of your gourd well with warm soapy water and dry it thoroughly. Use a drill with a 1.5” bit to create a hole in the side for the birds. Take a small spoon and insert it through the opening and clean out any gourd guts that are still in side. You can also drill several tiny holes in the bottom of your gourd for drainage purposes.

Now that your bottleneck gourd has been prepped, you can have a bit of fun with it. Take some paints and create a design on the exterior. That’s really all there is to it!

The first thing you want to do is to cut back any perennials that are done growing for the year. There are a few perennials that may add some winter interest to your garden and you may prefer not to cut these back until spring. Pick and choose which perennials will be interesting, and which ones will just look like a mess in your garden over the winter!

You will also want to remove any annuals that you planted in your garden. In less you live in a warm climate these annuals stand no chance of surviving very long and they won’t reseed themselves before this happens.

It is generally a good idea to thoroughly mulch your garden beds to prepare for the winter. Mulch acts as an insulator and will keep the root systems of your plants warm in cold weather. You can recycle some of your yard wastes, like shredded leaves, as mulch. You don’t necessarily need to purchase wood chips from your garden store to accomplish this task.

If you have any evergreens growing in your yard you should spray them with an anti-desiccant. Evergreen needles actually have pores and this product will basically protect these pores from drying out because of the wind. Evergreens that are not protected can become dehydrated and eventually die during a cold winter.

One of the easiest ways to get a jump on the spring planting season is to start seeds indoors. A greenhouse will provide a warm environment for your seedlings to develop and protect them from the harsh conditions outside. While many people start seeds indoors, few have the luxury of starting them in a greenhouse. A greenhouse provides more sunlight for your seedlings than they would receive on a windowsill.

There are numerous greenhouse kits that you can find. Many of these kits are designed specifically for backyard gardeners. They are fairly easy to build based on the actual layout and size you select. Some of these greenhouses are very small while others are several feet wide.

Before you decide to build a greenhouse in your backyard there are a few things that you should keep in mind. Maintaining a greenhouse requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Make sure you have the time you’ll need to take on these maintenance tasks so you don’t end up wasting money. It is also a good idea to check your local building codes to determine if you need a permit to build a greenhouse in your yard!

Time to harvest your pumpkins

There are plenty of different types of pumpkin seeds that you can buy from most garden stores. Each different variety will produce mature fruit after a certain amount of time has passed. Most seed packages will indicate how long you can expect this to take. This is a great way to help you determine when to harvest your pumpkins. Simply count the number of days that have passed since they were planted and compare that to what the package says. It’s not an exact measurement, but this should give you a solid baseline to start with.

Being able to identify a ripe pumpkin is actually pretty easy. The first thing you should look for is color. Your ripe pumpkin should be a nice bright orange color. Now give that pumpkin a gentle tap with your knuckles. Does it sound like a hollow thud? This is a good indication that your pumpkin is ripe!

Tip: You want to avoid picking your pumpkins before they are fully ripe. Although in many cases a green pumpkin will turn orange after it has been removed from the vine, you may notice that it also spoils much faster!

Time to harvest your gourds

Gourds have a tell tale sign that they are ready to be picked from the vine. Although gourds are very green during the growing process as they mature that color turns to a pale tan.

Tip: If you suspect that the temperatures will drop below freezing while you still have gourds on the vine it might be a good idea to pick them ahead of time. The freeze will likely damage the vine if not the fruit itself.

Tip: If you don’t see earthworms in your garden you can actually buy a container at most garden stores. Simply add them to your soil and they’ll get to work improving your soil.

How earthworms improve your soil

As an earthworm crawls around in the soil of your garden they actually create tunnels all over the place. These tunnels effectively aerate your soil which basically means that the root systems of your plants are getting more oxygen. The tunnels also prevent your soil from becoming compacted overtime. Most plants will not thrive in an environment where the soil has become compacted and it is deprived of oxygen.

Earthworms also naturally fertilize your garden soil. As an earthworm tunnels through your garden it will actually consume soil. What comes out of the worm is known as “castings.” Worm castings are filled with nutrients and can dramatically improve the quality of your plants!

For the most part you probably will never see the earthworms in your garden unless you are actually looking for them or you just happen to be digging around in the soil. If it has just rained a few earthworms might have been washed up!

Improve clay soil

If you have a lot of clay soil in your garden and find yourself struggling to grow healthy plants it is time to start improving its structure. One of the easiest ways to do this is to gently mix a bag of small pebbles into your garden. This will actually break up the clumping clay and provide some better drainage for your plants.

Tip: Be careful not to add to many pebbles to your garden soil. If you have too many pebbles in the soil your plants may become dehydrated due to lack of water retention. Effectively, you will have created too much drainage in your garden soil.

Other ways to improve clay soil

Just because you have clay soil does not mean you can’t have a healthy garden – eventually. Although it may take time, and maybe even years, you can improve clay soil so that your garden is filled with a rich, loamy alternative.

One of the easiest ways to improve clay soil is to add several inches of compost to your garden every year. Investing in a compost bin is an easy way to eliminate household wastes while also producing a valuable soil amendment for your garden. Mix the compost into the top several inches of your garden every year. You will quickly see improvements in the quality of your plants!

Sadly enough, even though we take the best care possible of our beloved vines, there is no guarantee that they will magically produce fruit on their own. These types of vines are different from tomatoes that self pollinate. Pumpkins, gourds, and watermelon vines all produce both male and female flowers.

In order to get fruit from any of these types of vines, the female flower must first be successfully pollinated by the male flower. If this happens, you will see your fruit begin to grow just a few days after the pollination has occurred. In fact, the growth is generally pretty rapid.

While hand pollinating the flowers will help to ensure that your vines produce fruit, there are still a few things that can go wrong. If you are growing multiple vines together, say a pumpkin, gourd, and a watermelon, you may encounter another problem. If your female pumpkin flower is pollinated by a different type of vine, this may cause your pumpkin not to develop.

When you go to pick up your pumpkin seeds you will probably notice that there are several different varieties to choose from. You will undoubtedly see a package of “great” pumpkin seeds that promises to produce super huge fruits. Unless you have a few acres that you can dedicate to growing these great pumpkins you should avoid selecting these seeds. One great pumpkin vine can grow upwards of 100 feet. Instead pick carving pumpkin seeds or “jack ‘o lantern” seeds.

Even if you pick pumpkin seeds that produce smaller pumpkins you should still be prepared for some unruly vines in your garden. Even your basic pumpkin can still grow to a lengthy 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. And that’s just one vine. If you plan on planting more than one seed it is a good idea to pick an area out of the way to grow them. You don’t want them to choke the other plants in your garden!

The good news is that you can tame your pumpkin vines a bit. The smaller shoots that break off from the main fine can be pruned. You will want to prune off of these vines as soon as they start to grow. If you break them off when they are bigger it can harm the overall vine!

Depending on the type of climate you live in your plants may have a difficult time during the fertilization process. This is particularly true if you live in an area that has seen a decline in the bee population. Bees are great pollinators and without them you may find that some of your vegetables are not producing the fruit you desire. But luckily you can pollinate the flowers yourself if you know how to tell the difference between the male and females!

Tip: Not all plants have male and female flowers. Some plants actually have self-pollinating flowers which means they have both the male and female reproductive organs. Tomato plants are a great example of this.

While every plant is going to be different from the next there are a few general guidelines that you can follow. First, the male flowers tend to grow several inches off of the vine whereas the female flowers tend to grow very close to the main portion of the vine.

Make sure to take a good look inside of the flowers. There is a distinct difference between male and female flowers that you can easily see by doing this. The female flower will have a grouping of small ball-like objects at the base of the flower. The male flower will have more of a pointy object in the middle that is covered in the pollen.

Another important way to tell the difference between male and female flowers is to look under the petals where the flower meets the stem. Female flower will typically have a lump here which eventually turns into the fruit if it is pollinated. Male flowers do not have this lump.