Home Gardening Advice from an Expert
Does all this time quarantined at home have you itching to start a garden or some landscaping projects?
We’re all about spending time outside and getting our hands dirty, it’s can truly be therapeutic to spend time in nature and some Vitamin D is always a good mood-booster. With so much time at home, there’s no better time than now to plant some beautiful flowers or veggies. Since we aren’t exactly experts in the gardening department, we decided to call in a professional to give us some advice. Luckily, we didn’t have to look far for an industry expert!
Our junior designer, Larson, was able to get the inside scoop on gardening from her husband, Kolton, who is a commercial landscaper in the Houston area. Kolton has done landscaping projects that have ranged from large commercial buildings such as the HP campus in The Woodlands to residential home landscaping and has even done animal exhibits at the Houston Zoo! He also has vegetable-producing home garden of his own.
Kolton answered some basic “gardening for dummies” questions for us to share with you. Read his tips, tricks and advice below and shop some of our favorite gardening essentials. No green thumb required!
Kolton Folkerts, Commercial Landscaper & MHI Husband.
Larson Folkerts (LF): When is the best time for planting?
Kolton Folkerts (KF): Spring time. It brings on the best planting weather, usually after the last freeze occurs which is often times in early March, although it’s hard to predict. You want the weather to be warming up but not scorching hot. If you plant too late, the plants will burn so don’t wait until summer.
LF: What are some basic supplies needed on hand?
KF: Shovel, gloves, wheelbarrow, watering hose, rake, hand shovel, a good attitude.
LF: How do you know what plants grow best in your area?
KF: Google! There are regional guides with ‘zones’ that will let you know what plants will do well in your area and how to care for them. It’s really important that you look at your zone and know your plant hardiness level before you decide what to plant. For example, Houston is in Zone 9 and there are specific guidelines for our zone that are different than say a midwest zone. “Full sun” in Texas is different than “full sun” in Iowa due to climate and these are important things to know ahead of planting. Once you figure out your zone, Google which plants are good to grow in your zone and be sure to look at when you should plant them. Certain plants are going to be prone to different diseases, bugs and growing conditions based on geography, so do your research on which zone you live in.
Also, it’s important to remember that vegetable gardens are seasonal so you want to make sure you’re planting in-season fruits and vegetables.
LF: What’s the difference between in-grown planting vs. raised beds vs. container planting?
KF: When you’re planting in-ground, you’re planting directly into the soil and whatever moisture is in the ground the roots will get. Raised beds are enclosed garden areas and you layer soil on top of the ground within the enclosed area and when you water, the moisture drains through the layers of above-ground soil. When you do container planting, you’re just leaving the plant in a pot or bucket. When you’re watering a container, there’s normally a few holes in the bottom of the bucket so when the water runs out, that’s all the roots will get. Make sure to give those extra water! Don’t overcrowd your plants in pots either. Give them space so they don’t grow into each other, that will block sunlight and water.
LF: How do you set up a raised bed?
KF: Raised beds can be a lot more work to DIY at home. Try to do your homework first to figure out the best configuration for your space. Railroad ties work great for raised beds and will last a long time. You can usually find railroad ties at a local hardware store. It also never hurts to add automatic watering to raised beds!
LF:How do I know how much of a certain vegetable to plant in my vegetable garden or how to space them out?
KF: When you purchase vegetable seeds or ones that are already started in containers, there will be information with them that says how far to space them between plants and between rows. For example, Jalapeño plants need 14-16 inches between plants and 2-3 feet between rows. If you’re going to plant two rows of Jalapeño peppers, there needs to be at least 2 feet in between the rows and then in each row you can place a pepper plant every 14 inches. So if you have a box that’s roughly 6 feet long by 4 feet wide, you could plant two rows of peppers with 5 plants in each row for a total of 10 plants.
My advice is to pick a handful of vegetables you want to plant, calculate all the spacing and measurements based on recommendations and then draw it out with the dimensions of your raised beds. Plan your garden before buying all the seeds or plants! While you might want to do 10 different vegetables, you might only have room for 4. Don’t forget about containers too! Some fruits or vegetables you can grow by themselves in containers.
LF: When should you water and how do you know if you’re over/under watering?
KF: If your weather is good and sunny but not scorching hot (spring weather), you can water just about every 2-3 days. But when summer temperatures arrive, you need to water every day, especially here in Texas. You know you’ve given your plants a good water when the water pools up at the top of containers or at the base of the plant and does not soak into the bed mix anymore. If the water pools up easily, the ground is saturated and that’s good! Plant materials will have a yellow tint if they’re getting too much water and will look shriveled or wilted if they’re not getting enough water.
Watering is something you can’t get lazy about if you’re going to garden/plant around the house. The first thing I ask people when they call me saying they can’t keep anything alive is “do you have irrigation” and usually they say no, so I ask “do you water your plants” and 99% of the time they say no. Your plants aren’t going to live if they don’t get water, whether it’s from you hand watering or from an automatic watering system. Automatic watering is always a plus and will never hurt you to have! If you know you’re not going to want to hand water every day or every 2-3 days, look into getting some irrigation. If you have landscape irrigation already, you can tap into it for your vegetable garden.
LF: What’s the best way to get rid of weeds in garden or yard?
KF: Get your hands dirty and pick them by hand! Weeding by hand isn’t fun but it gets the job done. Round-Up and other chemicals will kill weeds but will also kill whatever it sprays. So be careful spraying it around your plants. Do not spray in your vegetable garden, that is food you want chemical-free going into you and your family’s mouthes. You can use a Post-Emergent on your yard depending on what type of grass you have and the weeds you’re trying to kill.
LF: What should you look for in fertilizer or mulch?
KF: You want any bed mix to be light and fluffy, this allows it to drain well. For the vegetable garden, look for a compost mix that has good drainage. For flowers, trees and plants, just a basic bed mix with good nutrients is fine. As far as fertilizers go you may want to use organic, that way you keep chemicals out of your food. I use microlife, but there are plenty of options at the hardware store.
LF: Advice on quarantine gardening?
KF: Go all out, have fun with it, just don’t forget about your plants in 2 weeks or get bored with it. If you’re going to plant things, take care of them! Water, water, water! If you have kids, get them involved, gardening is fun for the whole family. Maybe even give the kids a little container plant to be responsible for!
Check out some of our favorite gardening supplies and decor! If you have any more gardening questions for our resident expert, shoot us a message on Instagram @moorehouseinteriors or comment below!
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