Gardening with Chickens in New Jersey

All around the country, more and more people are trying to eat locally sourced foods, and what’s more local than your own backyard? It’s a philosophy that’s led people to plant vegetable gardens, grow herbs for cooking and in some cases, raising chickens. And while chickens are a great source of eggs, they’re also very useful gardening tools. Before you go shopping for chicken feed in New Jersey, you may want to learn a few ways chickens can help your garden grow. Writing on the blog the Prairie Homestead, free-range chicken expert Justin Rhodes lists some of the ways keeping chickens can be beneficial.

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Why Is It Important to Mulch Plant Beds?

If you’re an amateur gardener, you’re surely familiar with just how relaxing and even therapeutic the hobby can be. There’s really nothing that compares to working with the soil, getting your hands dirty, and eventually being able to experience and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Then again, gardening is not without its occasional frustrations. Unwanted weeds can strangle your plants and crops. Water can evaporate or freeze during inclement weather, leading to less than vibrant results. Nature, in other words, can sometimes choose to give your garden a rather hard time.

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Your Guide to Winter Bird Feeding

Not all birds fly south for the winter. The ones that stay up north face a tough few months once the weather gets colder. Most of their natural food supply has been exhausted, and insects have died or gone into hibernation. As we’ve said before, birds are beneficial animals, helping pollinate our flowers and feeding on potentially harmful insects. And backyard birds rely on us to help them get through the winter. You see a birdfeeder in your yard, they see a port in a storm. With that in mind, here are a few types of birdseed New Jersey birds will enjoy feasting on this winter.

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A Guide to Choosing Christmas Trees in New Jersey

Christmas is coming, and this year, you’re doing something different. You’re leaving your artificial tree tucked away in the attic, and heading out to buy the real thing. Before you do that, you may want to read our guide. We know what you’re saying: Why do I need a guide? Aren’t all Christmas trees basically the same? Not quite. Keep reading to see what separates the different branches of this family tree.

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Winterizing Your Garden and Flower Beds

Now that there is a chill in the air our minds are focused on fall: cool weather, falling leaves and a chance to prepare our gardens for winter. Fall is the time to prepare your beds for the coming seasons through careful maintenance, from leaf and weed removal to final applications of mulch. Here are some tips from the gardening experts at our garden supply store in NJ to help you along. 1. When will the frost arrive? Winter means different things in different parts of the country. The USDA maintains an online map of the country’s “plant hardiness zone. It lets gardeners see which plants are most likely to thrive based on their region’s annual average minimum temperature. It’s

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Autumn Gardening: Fall is for Planting

When you have a garden, autumn can be about more than just growing mums. We believe fall is for planting, and as summer ends, it’s time to get your fall flowers into the soil. Let’s take a look at what you might want to plant for this fall. First, you should have a strategy. When your summer flowers start to fade, rejuvenate the borders of your garden with some late season blooms. Perennials that you plant in the fall will develop strong roots in cooler/wetter months and will take off when spring comes again.

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fall garden center in NJ
Fall

Transitioning Your Summer Garden to Autumn

We’re writing this in August, but our minds are focused on fall. It’s not that we don’t want you to enjoy the rest of your summer. It’s just that Mendham Garden Center – like all good garden centers in NJ – wants its customers to be prepared for changes in the seasons. That’s why we’ve put together this guide for transitioning your summer garden to autumn. Follow these tips to get your yard ready for when September comes.

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MGC Victory Garden featured in Garden Center Magazine

Mendham Garden Center was recently featured in Garden Center magazine for our MGC Victory Garden in Chester, NJ! Visit their website and read the full article to learn how our New Jersey garden center is helping to foster growth and build connections through community gardening. Visit our Chester location to see the Victory Garden, and to see our full selection of plants, tools and equipment for your lawn and garden.

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Properly Maintaining a Weber Grill in New Jersey

Memorial Day weekend. Graduations and Father’s Day. The Fourth of July. Summer gives us a lot of chances to break out your Weber Grill in New Jersey, and a lot chances for our grills to get dirty. Even when there isn’t a holiday on the calendar, warm weather and outdoor cooking go hand-in-hand. Before you plan your next BBQ, read our tips for properly maintaining your grill.

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100 Years of Japanese Beetles in New Jersey

  Here’s an anniversary that’s not exactly worth celebrating: 2016 marks 100 years since the Japanese beetle was first discovered in America. From the Reading Eagle newspaper, July 22, 1923: “Seven years ago, concealed in imported azalea roots, an unsuspected grub entered this country from Japan. The destination of the roots was Burlington County, New Jersey. They got there and the grub came with them. It burrowed in the ground and hatched the Japanese beetle that already has done much damage and threatens to do much more.” A century later, the Japanese beetle is still a major gardening headache. As the newspaper account put it, “whatever green thing that comes in its way is grist for its insatiable devouring mill.”

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