Author Archives: Mendham Garden Centers

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Garden

It’s the closing moments of December 31, 2018. The old year is about to fade away, making room for the new one.

And after you’ve counted down until midnight and popped open the champagne, you take a minute to look into the future. You think about the resolutions you’ve made for the coming year…and wonder if you’ll be able to stick to them.

We can’t help you get to the gym every day or read more books. But we can offer some alternative resolutions, ones geared to your garden.

Here are 10 resolutions that can make gardening in Hunterdon County a new experience in 2019.

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October Gardening Chores: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden

October Gardening Chores

Leaves can damage your lawn, so make sure you rake them up.

October is here! The leaves have turned from green to marvelous shades of red and gold, and in some cases have begun to fall.

But even though the weather is getting colder, there’s still plenty you can do with your garden. In fact, the cooler temperatures can help make October gardening a joy. Here are a few October gardening chores you should focus on this time of year.

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Back to School: 5 of the Best Gardening Books

best gardening books

Fall is here and school is back in session. By now you’ve probably gotten your kids acclimated to their regular academic routine, but what about your own education?

Specifically, your gardening education. You could always read the other entries in our Gardening Guide, where we use the collective knowledge from our garden center to discuss everything from lawns, to landscaping, to birdfeeders, but you might want something a little more in-depth.

There are a wealth of great gardening books out there, enough to fill a lot more than just one blog post. Here are a few of the best:

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Summer’s End: Getting Your Garden Ready for Autumn

Chester nursery

Whenever people write poems about autumn, they tend to focus on the inexorable passage of time, and how fall seems like the end of the growing season.

But here at our Chester nursery, we choose to see autumn not as an ending, but as a new beginning, the start of a new growing season and a chance to try new things and prepare for the winter.

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How to Maintain a Vegetable Garden

garden fertilizer New Jersey

You don’t become healthy by accident. It takes work: eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, etc.

Your vegetable garden is the same way. It can only remain healthy through proper maintenance. Before heading out to buy plants, seeds or garden fertilizer, New Jersey gardeners might want to read up on a few ways to maintain a healthy vegetable garden.

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Anyone Can Garden with These 5 Easy-to-Grow Vegetables

Garden supply New Jersey

Which sounds more appealing?

  1. A salad made from vegetables you grew yourself
  2. A salad made from vegetables that spent days traveling from a farm to your local grocery store

We think the answer is A, and not just because we’ve got a stake in the world of New Jersey garden supply. Fresh, home-grown vegetables will always win out over their store-bought counterparts.

At the same time, the idea of growing your own vegetables can seem pretty daunting.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Anyone can start a garden with a little patience, and the help of these easy-to-grow vegetables:

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5 Ways to Prepare Your Garden This Spring

Spring is finally here, and if you’re like us, your thoughts have turned to your garden.

Maybe you already know what you want to grow, and spending your days dreaming of all the different flowers, shrubs and trees you’ll plant this year.

Or maybe you’re worried that your garden just isn’t ready. It’s been sitting idle all winter, and you’re just not sure it’s ready for planting.

If you fall into the latter category, don’t fret. You can have your garden ready for the spring planting season with these garden preparation steps.

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How to Build a DIY Bird Feeder

DIY bird feeder

If you want to become a bird watcher, you could pick worse places than New Jersey, where you’ll find such colorful creatures as the blue jay, the cardinal and the brilliant yellow goldfinch (our state bird).

And don’t think that you need to trek through the woods with binoculars to spend time with birds. When you build a DIY bird feeder, you can let the birds come to you.

Here are a few suggestions for building your own bird feeder.

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How to Care for Your Natural Christmas Tree

Christmas Trees in NJ

For some folks, the idea of keeping a live Christmas tree in their home can seem a bit daunting.

Watch holiday mainstays like A Christmas Story and A Charlie Brown Christmas, and you might come away thinking that putting up a live tree will lead to nothing but frustration and disappointment.

If you’re part of the countless number of people considering buying live Christmas trees in New Jersey this winter, don’t worry. There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure your evergreen tree stays green this season.

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New Jersey Deer Control Tips

New Jersey Deer Control

Deer are gentle, majestic creatures. They can also destroy your garden.

Are you fed up with deer feeding on your plants and flowers? It doesn’t have to be a losing battle. Use these New Jersey deer control tips to protect your garden this year.

1. Keep the plants deer love closest to home

Deer love plants that are smooth and full of flavor. This list includes berry bushes, roses, azaleas and chrysanthemums. Keep these plants close to your home to keep an eye on them.

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