When it comes to troubleshooting in the garden, it’s going to take both of us to solve the problem. Today’s blog is a few tips on what kind of information will help us answer your questions. The more information you can give us, the better we can help you.

5 Troubleshooting Tips for Help in the Garden

Take multiple pictures at different angles. For example: You suspect you have a problem in your turf. Take some pictures of the suspected pest, or disease issue. Close ups are great if you can get them, and if they are in focus. We also need to see the affected area in its entirety, plus the area directly around it. Zoom out even further to take a wider shot of the entire lawn and landscape surrounding it. Troubleshooting disease and insect problems can be challenging and looking at them from different views is sometimes necessary.

Same thing goes for when you need a plant identified. A beautiful picture of a flower can be better identified if we can see a good shot of the leaves and the entire plant as well.

Pictures really can be worth a 1000 words. While we like to hear your descriptions, pictures really can cut to the chase sometimes. When we get to see the “big picture”, we are able to give you the best advice.

A secured, Ziploc is a great way for us to be able to clearly see and identify the sample but not risk the spread of disease or insects in our stores.

P.S. Use gloves or tools yourself to collect your pest or disease sample and make sure to wash gloves and sterilize tools before moving on to another plant or area in the garden.

A question like, “My plant turned yellow, what do I do?”, is quite difficult to answer. We will in turn ask, “What type of plant do you have? Is your plant in the ground or pot? Does your pot have drainage? Does your plant get full sun all day or how much sun does it get? How often do you water it? do you feed it? With what?”

You see how this goes? I hope I don’t sound like I’m complaining, I’m really not. One of my favorite things to do is be able to help solve someone’s gardening problem. Getting the most info up front just cuts out some of the back and forth.

If you are embarrassed to tell us you’ve been neglectful and have let your favorite potted plant to dry out too much, how are we going to tell you a great tip that might revive it?

(Okay, I’ll give you the troubleshooting tip anyway. You can try soaking the plant by submerging it into a taller, wider container filled with water until it the water comes just over the rim of the dried out plant. Leave it in thereuntil the root ball and soil are totally soaked…could take a couple hours to remove all the air pockets in order to allow your roots to get the water they need to recover.)

Much thanks to all of you, who make our jobs possible!

~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy