Garden Stakes – How To Stake Your Plants

Executive Summary by: Marc Warren

Garden Stakes: Tall, fragile-stemmed plants like delphiniums often need help weathering storms.

If you’ve ever tried to grow tomatoes without staking the plants or growing them in cages, you know how hard it is to salvage a decent crop. Properly staked plants have no visible means of support the foliage grows up to hide the stakes, strings, and wires.

garden stake

There are several different ways to stake plants. Bamboo Canes: Bamboo canes are lightweight, sturdy, and available in several thicknesses from pencil-thin to several-inch canes suitable for staking tomatoes or large flowered dahlias.

Add more ties as the plant grows taller. For multi-stemmed flowers such as chrysanthemums, use a single stake to support more than one stem. Tie twine or yarn to the stake, gather the stems, and loop the twine loosely around them.

Insert four or five canes around the plant. Add rings of twine every 6 to 12 inches as the plant grows. Pea staking is most successful for plants that don’t grow taller than about 2 feet.

Bonsai Care – Tools and Materials

Executive Summary by: Daniel F. Hall

Bonsai trees are beautiful and they can make wonderful ornaments. Special care and precision tools are required to ensure that your bonsai stays healthy and well maintained. Always remember to buy quality tools that will last rather than inexpensive tools.

The main categories of the bonsai tools required are pruning and cutting tools, potting, a good pair of scissors and the wiring tools.

• Wiring Tools

To bend and shape the bonsai you will need wire and a number of tools.

• Pruning and Maintenance Tools
• Scissors
• Potting Tools

Potting tools are needed when potting a bonsai as well as later on when the bonsai roots are pruned and cut.

Many nurseries or bonsai specialists will have beginner kits or bonsai care kits available for sale.

Check out my other guide on pond pumps and bush garden