Category Archives: Health/Lifestyle

Advice for New Gardeners: 11 Tips from Oak Street

Kris’s Garden

Gardening is more than just a hobby. It teaches patience, fosters creativity, and has been shown to improve mental health!

Whether you’re a seasoned green thumb or just starting out, cultivating a garden can bring immense joy and satisfaction. But where do you begin? There is no shortage of information in books and online that will help you through your gardening journey, but we decided to make it easy. Read below for our list of tips for new gardeners.

  1. Start with the Soil A great garden begins with healthy soil. If you haven’t already, get a soil test to understand your garden’s needs. 

    Kris’ Garden

    Amend accordingly, and consider starting a compost pile for better soil nutrition.

  2. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Dirty There’s something therapeutic about getting your hands in the dirt. Gardening isn’t just good for your plants—it’s good for your soul. Studies show that it can reduce stress and improve your mental health.
  3. Choose Plants with Care When selecting plants, especially groundcovers, be mindful of their growth habits. Certain plants can overrun others or grow too large and create too much shade. It’s a good reminder to consider how plants may behave in your specific space.

    Kris’ Garden

  4. Consistency is Key Spend a little time in your garden every day.
    Even a few minutes of weeding can make a big difference, and your garden will be neat and well-maintained.
  5. Regular Grooming Pays Off Deadheading and grooming your plants regularly will encourage healthy growth and keep your garden looking its best.
  6. Support Your Local Nurseries Frequenting a good independent garden center is one of the best ways to ensure you get healthy plants and expert advice. Local shops are here to help you grow your garden and knowledge.
  7. Embrace Experimentation One of the joys of gardening is trying out new and unfamiliar plants. Don’t be afraid to experiment—there’s always something new to learn, and you might discover a new favorite.
  8. It’s Okay to Start Small There’s no need to invest in large plants immediately.

    Kris’ Garden

    A small shrub in a one-gallon pot will grow just as well, and you’ll get to watch as it grows and matures. In the meantime, you can fill the space with colorful annuals to brighten up your garden.

  9. Protect and Nurture Wildlife Creating a garden that supports local wildlife is incredibly rewarding. Always limit pesticide use, and if you have to use it, choose the least toxic options available.
  10. Keep Learning Gardening is a lifelong journey. There’s always something new to discover, so take advantage of classes, books, blogs, and online resources. The wealth of information out there is truly endless.
  11. Observe and Enjoy Finally, remember that gardening is meant to be enjoyable. Don’t stress if everything doesn’t happen according to plan—gardens are forgiving. Take time to stroll through your space and appreciate what you’ve accomplished.

For those of you who have joined us more recently, we hope these tips inspire you as much as they’ve guided us over the years. And for our longtime readers, we hope this serves as a reminder of the simple joys of gardening.

If you haven’t already, check out our Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channels for more gardening inspiration and to stay up-to-date with what’s happening at Oak Street Garden Shop. 

As always, feel free to stop in and talk plants!

– The team at Oak Street

Don’t Stress If A Plant Is An Ugly Duckling – Imperfection Can Be Beautiful Too!

Oak treeI have a tiny oak tree out back that used to be on its way to attaining an impressive size – until Hurricane Ivan hit and toppled a huge hickory tree onto it, effectively topping it.

I know I should have taken it down when the tree company came to clear out the downed hickory, but I couldn’t do it. I liked that little oak, and over time it’s become my crazy tiny oak tree up in my rock outcrop – a hurricane survivor.

I was working up around that oak this morning, cutting a few dead branches out of it and wondering at its tenacity. Below it, also improbably growing in the rock outcrop, is a shrub called Thujopsis dolobrata – a prized specimen I planted years ago.Thujopsis dolobrata

Unfortunately the Thujopsis started dying one summer, a victim to the previous fall’s drought. I watched anxiously as branch after branch eventually turned brown and died.

Unbelievably, about a third rallied and is still alive. I cut out the dead and now have half a shrub under my dwarfed oak tree. What a pair of misfits in the garden!

My imperfect garden might not be to everyone’s taste; but I’d rather have a little imperfection than everything being “just so”.  A friend in the horticulture profession said it well:

Imperfect Leaf“Plants are living things like humans. They need water and sun and some need food and each grow in different ways. That yellow leaf at the bottom of the dracaena doesn’t mean that there is something wrong or that the plant is dying – it’s just a natural part of the life cycle. People need to understand that imperfect is beautiful.”

My physically imperfect tree and shrub were caused by events out of my control – a hurricane and a drought. Other imperfections are simply part of a plant’s life cycle, yellowing leaves, and damage caused by insects or animals.

While it’s important to maintain a healthy landscape, it’s also important to know when to relax and appreciate that some imperfection is normal and not always cause for immediate alarm.

With proper watering, fertilizing, pruning and general maintenance, your plants will be better prepared to weather anything nature throws at them – and you will too.

By Kris Blevons

 

 

 

 

A Place To Sit…

This afternoon, glass of wine in hand, I take my usual late day walk through the garden, observing the landscape in the afternoon light. I can’t help but pull stray weeds – pull them now or pull them later, right? I hear the water rushing below after the recent rains, and decide to sit for awhile on a bench there.

A dear garden friend (now gone) once turned to me after seeing this bench, saying, “I bet you don’t sit here much do you? There’s always something to do.” I think of her comment often, but now is the perfect time of day to sit, listen, and watch. A movement catches my eye and my gaze settles on the tiniest of tiny worms dangling in the air in front of me. It jerks down, then sways. What is it? I watch as it moves down a bit more, with seeming enormous effort, until it hangs in front of me on its invisible thread.

I watch as it slowly, impossibly, begins to rise. I tilt my head up, looking at the branches of the Japanese maple above me, wondering. How would that distance translate for a human? A mile? 5? I watch til it disappears up and away from sight. This is why there are benches in gardens…

By Kris Blevons

Gardening For Your Health

What are you doing to stay healthy? Maybe you work out daily or at least once a week. My sister plays tennis, bikes, and walks too. A co-worker uses Zoom to take an exercise class every Saturday and eats a well balanced and nourishing diet.

For myself, walking, eating right, and generally staying as active as possible are my goals. Of course there’s more to staying  healthy than just physical exercise, and gardening  can provide mental as well as physical rewards. If  I’m upset about something,  I get outside and immerse myself in gardening tasks, and I’m able to relax as my mind focuses on the plants and the environment around me.

Working  the soil, planting a garden, taking the time to observe changes as plants grow, these are all activities that are healthy for our bodies as well as our minds. Our children should be allowed to play and get dirty as well; introduce them to plants and gardening by letting them plant their very own small space with a few vegetables or some bright flowers. Help them tend it and you’ll be nourishing your relationships too.

We all lead incredibly busy lives, but more and more time is being spent looking at our phones, tablets, and laptops, inevitably resulting in less movement and more sitting and staring, completely unaware of our surroundings or people. Take a break from the devices for awhile and get outside again. You’ll be glad you did.

By Kris Blevons