Medications for Allergy

Gardening With Allergies – Leave Your Tissues Behind

What does gardening mean to you? Is it the smell of fragrant herbs? The feel of cool, moist soil? The thrill of spotting the first daffodil buds peek above ground? Does watching colorful summer marigolds and lilies burst into bloom lift your spirits? Or does gardening conjure up visions of endless sneezes, a dripping nose, and itchy, watering eyes? Gardening is enjoyed by 72 million U.S. households, making it the number one American hobby. But, if you’re a seasonal allergy, or hay fever sufferer, you may dream of prize-winning roses, lush flower beds, and aromatic herbs, yet think you can’t “dig in” to gardening activities for fear of aggravating those annoying symptoms.

Are You Green About Gardening?

So, you’re ready to start a garden, but aren’t sure where to begin? Try not to feel overwhelmed. You can become a successful gardener if you follow simple gardening instructions and basic steps. First, you need to plan your garden. Start by asking yourself the following questions:

Where do you want to create your garden?

What size would you like your garden to be?

Do you want a natural, free-flowing garden, or a formally designed garden?

Does the area where you’d like to create a garden get a lot of sunlight?

Or is it mostly shaded?

What kind of soil do you have?

Is it moist and dark?

Or is it dry and sandy?

What’s the pH level of the soil?

Is the area where you want to plant your garden protected from the wind?

Does your region get a lot of rain or is it typically dry?

How much time can you spend on garden maintenance?

What type of plants do you want to grow?

What kind of gardening tools do you have on hand?

What equipment will you need to borrow or buy?

The answers to these questions will help you decide what kind of garden to create.

The Next Step Is To Develop And Plant Your Garden

Here are some tips for starting out:

Prepare the soil in early spring.
Without a moderately fertile and well-drained soil, garden plants will not thrive and are more susceptible to pest and disease problems. Organic matter (compost) and organic fertilizer should be added to the soil on a regular basis.

Start small.
Ease yourself into gardening with a small flower or vegetable garden. Expand your garden only after you’ve gained some experience. It’s important to consider how much time you can actually devote to garden maintenance, recognizing that the larger the garden, the more time you will have to spend keeping it up.

Select the right plant for the right place.
If you want to plant a garden in a shady area of your yard, then select plants that do well in the shade. If a plant needs full sun, be sure it has a lot of sun exposure. It’s also important for you to select plants that are suitable or specifically developed for your particular region’s climate zone. Native plants are good choices, as are plants that have been specifically bred for disease resistance. Consult with your local garden center or county extension agency for specific suggestions.

Have a watering plan in mind before you plant.
Find out which plants need more water than others and try to group them together. Likewise, group plants together that need less water, such as many herbs, since over-watering can be harmful to them. Keep in mind that most garden plants and lawns need a good watering about once a week (i.e., 1-2″ per week) vs. just a little bit of water each day.

Always mulch your garden.
Mulching is the process of spreading wood chips, pine needles, cocoa hulls, chopped leaves, or grass clippings around plants. Mulch keeps weeds down, helps soil retain moisture, and protects roots from freezing during winter. Mulch also can add a finished appearance to most gardens.

Fertilize your lawn and garden.
It is important to fertilize, but never add more than indicated in the package directions. A little more than the recommended dose is not better and can cause more problems than not fertilizing at all.

Read up on gardening!
Ask friends and neighbors for advice. Join a local garden center or subscribe to a gardening magazine for ideas and tips.

See your doctor.
If you’re ready to start gardening and you have a history of allergies, talk to your doctor about available treatment options for controlling allergy symptoms.

Nondrowsy antihistamines

While traditional antihistamines can help relieve seasonal nasal allergy symptoms, they may have a sedating effect. There are other antihistamine options available.

Garden Tool “Essentials”

If you have ever picked up one of the many gardening catalogs, you probably have been tantalized by the broad array of gardening gadgets and tools. Or, you may have been overwhelmed.

There’s no need to go overboard, but there are some gardening tool “musts”:

Rake
Spade
Watering Can
Garden Hose
Sprinkler/ Other Irrigation Method
Gardening Gloves
Hand-Held Trowel
Bulb Planter
Pruning Shears
Wheelbarrow

Popular Garden Plants And Their Bloom Times

Several kinds of flowers, trees, and shrubs are usually at the top of every gardener’s list – but there are literally hundreds to choose from. You might want to consider gardening the following popular plants:

Annuals – Fast, Easy, Beautiful

Annual plants bloom for one growing season only, so they need to be replanted each year. Annuals bloom quickly and continue blooming throughout most of the season. You can expand the life of many annuals by taking them inside before the first frost. Some of the most popular and best performing summer annual flowers are:

• Impatiens
• Marigold
• Begonia
• Petunia
• Zinnia
• Sunflower
• Morning glory
• Daisy – various kinds
• Geranium
• Cornflower
• Vinca

Perennials – They’ll Keep Coming Back

Perennials are a great choice for your garden because they bloom year after year. They may get a little droopy at the end of each growing season, but with proper care, they will return! Many common perennials are bulbs and are planted in the fall, or corms and tubers, which are underground stems with buds and roots. These can be brought indoors to avoid freezing in the winter and replanted in the spring.

Herbs – An Aromatic Treat

Herbs are some of the easiest of all garden plants to grow. Herbs reward our senses with glorious fragrances, flavorings, and in some cases, flowers. Most herbs are hardy. Because many are native to Mediterranean regions, they can thrive in high temperatures with little water. Herbs are great for outdoor gardens and also make excellent plants for a sunny windowsill or balcony container garden.

Popular herbs grown inside and out are:

• Basil
• Coriander
• Fennel
• Mint
• Sage
• Sweet marjoram
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Parsley
• Oregano
• Summer savory
• Tarragon
• Chive

Roses – Majestic & Glorious

Roses are the traditional aristocrats of the garden. Unfortunately, many beginning gardeners are intimidated about growing them. But, if given the proper growing conditions and disease protection, roses can be grown by anyone.

Here are some basics to keep in mind:

• Select a site in your yard with full sun and protection from winter winds.
• Make sure soil is well drained.
• Get soil tested for pH and adjust as necessary to achieve a soil pH anywhere between 6.0.-7.0.
• Select roses bred for disease resistance.
• Plant roses in a hole at least 4 times larger than the root area.
• Mulch roses to retain moisture in summer and for protection in winter.
• Feed monthly with a 10-10-10 fertilizer starting in early spring through summer.
• Make sure roses receive about 1 1/2 inches of water per week in the summer, especially during very hot periods.
• Use a multipurpose fungicide and insecticide spray about every 7 – 10 days during the growing season.
• Prune roses back in early spring to remove dead and weak canes, and do an overall prune to cut back about 1/3 to 1/2 of last year’s growth.

Some of the most disease-resistant and easiest roses to grow are:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Carefree Wonder
• Peace
• Prominent
• Fragrant Cloud
• Double Delight
• Duet

Trees & Shrubs – They Flower, Too

Flowering trees and shrubs can brighten any garden or yard. And, with a little TLC, their blooms reappear beautifully each year.

These are some of the common ones:

• Azalea
• Beech
• Crab apple
• Lilac
• Crape myrtle
• Magnolia
• Wisteria
• Rhododendron
• Birch
• Dogwood
• Maple
• Hydrangea
• Oak
• Forsythia

Temperature is Everything

No matter how skilled you are in gardening, the climate of your region ultimately determines the success or failure of your garden. For this reason, experts consider a temperature zone map an essential reference for every gardener.

A zone map indicates which plants are most likely to survive in your garden based on your area’s average annual lowest temperature.

• The zone map: Divides the country into different temperature regions.
• Assigns a zone number to each region which indicates its average annual lowest temperature. (For example, if you live in Cleveland, OH, you are in zone 5, this means that it would not survive outdoors through winter in zones 1-4. Sometimes you will see a plant listed as hardy from zones 4-7, this means that it will not survive in the colder zones 1-3, nor the higher temperature zones 8-11.)
• Specific timing of the allergy season also depends on the temperature zone of your region and the amount of moisture in the air. As soon as the climate in your region becomes warm and moist, the onset of allergy season will soon follow.
• There are three seasons in the U.S. that cause the most trouble for seasonal allergy sufferers: spring – when trees bloom; spring/early summer – when grasses flourish; late summer up until the first frost – when weeds, particularly ragweed, thrive.
• The temperature zone map featured includes a list of popular garden plants nationwide. You’ll also find month-by-month tips for planting and maintaining a successful garden, no matter where you live.

Bringing Outdoor Plants Indoors

The end of summer doesn’t have to mean the end of gardening. In fact, early fall brings some of the most pleasant weather conditions for gardening. However, before the first frost, you need to start winterizing your outdoor garden.

You should begin by:

• Doing a final weeding and general cleaning up of all annual plants already dead.
• Lifting all nonhardy bulbs, bulb corms, and tubers out of the garden for indoor storage.

Some of the most common plants to bring indoors at this time include:

• Tuberous begonias
• Calla lily
• Canna
• Tropical waterlilies
• Dahlia
• Gladiolus
• Summer hyacinth

When moving these plants indoors:

• Remove the top foliage.
• Gently lift out the bulb or tuber from the soil and allow it to dry.
• Store, once dry, in shallow boxes filled with either peat moss, sand, dry soil, or sawdust.
• Place in a dark, dry, and cool, but frost-free, area until you are ready to plant them out again next spring.

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