MELINDA’S GARDEN MOMENTS

Nationally renowned garden expert Melinda Myers helps everyday gardeners find success and ease in the garden through her Melinda’s Garden Moments television segments. Melinda shares “must have” tips that hold the key to gardening success, learned through her more than 25 years of horticulture experience. Viewers from across the country find her gardener friendly, practical approach to gardening both refreshing and informative! On this page, Melinda shares some more extensive garden tips, which expands on the information provided in her one-minute TV segments.

Melinda’s Garden Moments Garden Tips!

New tips will be added throughout the growing season, providing timely step-by-step tips on what you need to do next in your garden! To view online streaming video of Melinda’s Garden Moments, visit This Webpage

Planting Tomatoes

Nothing beats the flavor of fresh from the garden tomatoes. And no matter what size your landscape, there’s always room for at least one plant.

Space challenged gardeners can grow tomatoes in containers. Or try mixing them in with your shrubs and flowers.

No matter where they end up, planting is about the same. Carefully slide the plant out of the container. Gently loosen the roots of pot-bound transplants to encourage the roots to grow into the surrounding soil. Remove any flowers or small fruit.

Plant tall leggy plants deeper to encourage a larger root system to develop along the buried stem. Dig a trench, remove the lower leaves and set the plant in the trench carefully bending the stem upright. Cover with soil and water.

Set stakes and towers in place at the time of planting. Training tomatoes off the ground keeps the fruit off the soil reducing insect and disease problems That means more fruit for you to enjoy.

Just a Bit More Information: The way you train your tomatoes also influences ripening and productivity. Staked tomatoes will produce earlier but fewer tomatoes than caged plants. Plants grown in towers or cages will start producing a bit later but the overall yield will be greater. Plants left to sprawl on the ground will have the largest harvest. Unfortunately many fruits are lost to disease, insects and gardener’s feet.

For more gardening tips, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

About Melinda Myers

Melinda Myers, best known for her gardener friendly and practical approach to gardening, has more than 25 years of horticulture experience in both hands-on and instructional settings. She has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in horticulture from University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a certified arborist, and was a horticulture instructor with tenure.

Outside the classroom, Melinda shares her expertise through a variety of media outlets. She has written 20 books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening, and the Birds & Blooms’ Ultimate Gardening Guide. She hosts “Great Lakes Gardener,” seen on PBS stations throughout the United States, and “Melinda’s Garden Moments”, which air on network television stations throughout the country. She appears regularly as a guest expert on various national and local television and radio shows. She also writes the twice monthly “Gardeners’ Questions” newspaper column and is a contributing editor and columnist for Birds & Blooms and Backyard Living magazines. In addition, she hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio program for over 20 years.

For her work, community service and media presence, Melinda has received recognition and numerous awards, including the 2003 Garden Globe Award for radio talent and the Quill and Trowel Award for her television work, both from the Garden Writers Association. She has also received the Garden Communicator’s Award from the American Nursery and Landscape Association and the Gold Leaf Award for Arbor Day from the International Society of Arboriculture.

For more information, visit Myers’ web site www.melindamyers.com. The site features regularly updated garden tips, podcasts, a garden club, e-newsletter, books, appearance information, “Great Lakes Gardener” television schedule and more.