Tag: Garden

Are Stepover Apple Trees Worth the Extra Maintenance?

Are Stepover Apple Trees Worth the Extra Maintenance?

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If you are looking to buy apple trees, growing stepover apple trees is a great solution to having only a small amount of space for growing apple trees. Not only are they a great solution because of their size, but they can also be used as a great decorative accent, since they are low to the ground like a small hedge.

After seeing fully grown stepover apple trees, you might be interested in them equally for their beauty and their practicality. While they look like they could be complicated, it’s actually not too hard to learn how to properly maintain a stepover apple tree.

How Much Do Stepover Apple Trees Produce?

One of the most important things to consider when thinking about whether or not you should buy stepover apple trees is what you’re looking for out of your trees. While they are pretty and can be used as a kind of accent decoration in your garden, they are also practical.

Even though these trees are small, they produce a good amount of apples each year. Stepover apple trees might produce about six to 10 apples per season, and possibly even more. Planting several stepover apple trees would give you a good amount of apples per year to use in your household.

While they might not be great for commercial use, growing your own stepover apple trees is a great way to provide just enough apples for the amount that your household needs.

Stepover Apple Tree Maintenance

The most important thing about stepover apple tree maintenance is pruning. To a beginner, this might seem a little challenging. However, it’s actually very easy, and once you’ve learned how to properly prune a stepover apple tree, you’ll have learned most of the required maintenance.

Each year, you should reduce the arms of stepover apple trees by a third. If you don’t reduce them, they will keep growing out but not grow more fruit. It’s better to have several smaller stepover apple trees, rather than one or two with long arms.

Buying Stepover Apple Trees

CRJ Fruit Trees is a good company to buy apple trees from. Depending on how much space you have for your trees, you will probably want to purchase at least two stepover apple trees.

When you buy stepover apple trees, you will also need to buy the short wire fence that they require to rest their arms on. Make sure you do some calculations before you buy the fence or the trees.… Read More..

How to Choose a Garden Vacuum Cleaner

How to Choose a Garden Vacuum Cleaner

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Cleaning the backyard area of ​​autumnal autumn leaves by sweeping is a tedious and time-consuming job. However, if you use a garden vacuums for this purpose, the whole process will take very little time. At the same time, you do not even need to manually clean the leaves collected in a pile: with one press of a button, and they will be sucked into a special bag without residue.

A garden vacuum cleaner will make life easier for summer cottage owners and private homes. The best choice is a model that combines all three functions: vacuum (suction), fan (blowing), and chopper.

Such a device will help carry out weekly and seasonal cleaning in the garden and home areas. And if the area for cleaning is large, you don’t have to save money in a car park, so that later you won’t regret the wasted money.

Type Garden Vacum

Let’s look at what type of garden vacuum cleaner is better to choose when buying, and what criteria you need to pay attention to.

  • Leaf blower:
    Strong airflow blows leaves.
    They are best suited for small gardens or for areas with many trees and shrubs that grow.
    The blower will help remove rubbish from hard-to-reach places (from under bushes, from corners and cracks between fences or houses).
    This device just exploded but is ideal for moving large amounts of garden waste into one large pile, which can be easily collected later.
  • Combination garden vacuum cleaners:
    Some machines combine the function of assembling a vacuum leaf with a blowing function, there may also be a function to grind waste.
    There are devices with plastic and metal crushing knives.
    When buying, you must remember that metal slats are more durable and durable than plastic. Some models allow switching between modes (blower-vacuum chopper) at the touch of a button, while in other models switching between modes is not very convenient (you need to replace the nozzles and so on).
    Combined sheet blowers and garden vacuum cleaners are best suited for their purpose because of their flexibility.
    Some discomforts present the model with a nozzle that can be removed and changed during the cleaning process.

Electric vacuum cleaners are not only the quietest and cheapest option but also the easiest and most agile at work.

Garden vacuum cleaners are not only able to suck up trash, but also create an inverted airflow – working as a blower, which brings benefits that are no less great in private plots.

CHOOSE CAREFULLY!

Before buying, make sure the handle is an ergonomic vacuum cleaner and the strap is wide and comfortable. And in general, it should not be too heavy for you. See if the vacuum cleaner, as well as the body and grinding blade, are made of quality materials. The good speed created by the vacuum cleaner must be at least 300-320 km/hr. If a little less, you decide, but when less than 270 km/hour, you must refuse to buy.

If the airflow cannot be adjusted, the risk … Read More..

How to do Proper Pruning of Your Shrubs

How to do Proper Pruning of Your Shrubs

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Shrubs and bushes can add a lot to your property when they are well maintained. Lawn care is not limited to simply mowing the lawn or raking the leaves. There are many other aspects of the yard that need some tender loving care. When bushes aren’t tended to properly you can end up with the result of unsightly and diseased plants. Pruning those shrubs may seem like a daunting task at first, but the results can be quite beautiful once you get the hang of it.

Why do I have to prune my shrubs?

Pruning enables a plant to grow into a healthier state. Cutting back overcrowded branches allows more air to circulate throughout the plant while allowing more sunlight to reach into all areas of the shrub.

Pruning keeps the shrub healthy by removing dead, damaged, diseased branches, and other plant material that may cause damage to the rest of the shrub over time. Dead branches also attract insects which can lead to further disease. Keeping the plant free of sickly branches is essential to the health of the plant.

When should I Prune my shrubs?

Non-flowering plants

Plants and shrubs that do not flower can be cut back after its new growth has formed. Shrubs such as the burning bush and barberry are kept primarily for their foliage, and pruning is done to maintain healthy growth. Major pruning jobs should be done to these types of shrubs preferably when they are dormant during the winter months.

Early spring flowering shrubs

The best time to prune shrubs that flower in the spring is right after they have bloomed. Shrubs such as lilac, rhododendron, and forsythia bloom flowers on the wood growth from the previous year. Pruning these shrubs late in the growing season will reduce the number of flower blooms it will produce in the following spring.

Summer flowering shrubs

These types of plants should be pruned back in the winter and early spring. They produce their flowers on the growth from the current season and should be pruned while they are dormant or before they begin new growth. These types of shrubs include crape myrtle, the butterfly bush, and potentilla.

How do I prune my shrubs?

General Pruning

1. This type of pruning will remove any of those damaged, diseased, and dead branches. First, remove any of the growth that you do not want. Remove dead limbs at the base without making the top of the shrub wider than the base. Avoid cutting back more than 1/3 of the bush during yearly pruning.

2. Thin out the areas of outer growth that are too thick. This will ensure that the inside of the bush will get plenty of ventilation and sunlight. Using clippers, cut along the branch in the thicker areas at the plant base or right above the new growth.

3. Remove the suckers. These are the small branches that grow along the base of the trunk. Remove the small, verticle limbs (otherwise referred … Read More..