Why You Should Always Have Garden Furniture
November 28, 2008
You’ve put a lot of work into your garden, from planning to digging to weeding to all the little tasks that keep it looking beautiful. Sharing your garden with others is the next step, and doing that requires more than pretty rows of plants. You created a garden to enjoy, didn’t you? Imagine your garden in use - garden benches and patio furniture to provide places for people to sit and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Choosing garden furniture can be the ultimate expression of your pride in the garden you’ve grown.
When choosing garden furniture, you should take into account the kind of use that your garden will get. Is your garden meant to be a relaxing haven for just you? A place where you’ll read and sip iced tea, away from the bustle of the modern, busy world? In that case, what better piece of garden ‘furniture’ is there than a classic hammock, slung between trees or on its own stand? And of course, if you put up a garden hammock, you’ll need a small garden table close to hand to hold your iced tea and book when you pull your hat down over your eyes to snooze in the sun.
Three Stumbling Blocks to Growing Grapes in the Backyard
November 27, 2008
Are you one of those home gardeners that don’t know the three stumbling blocks to successfully growing grapes in your backyard? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
I have grown grapes successfully under the worst of conditions since 1975 and I can tell you that most of the problems gardeners encounter are because they don’t understand the nature of the beast that they are growing. So let’s look at the problems that I see when people, like you, have me come and analyze what problems they are having growing the backyard grapevine.
The first problem I see is that gardeners want to grow some grapes but they are unaware of the variety they are growing and its growth habit. This leads to many problems from the get go. Each variety has to be treated as an individual. The most common varieties in local nurseries are either Concord types or the European vinifera grape. It all depends on whether you live East or West of the Rockies. In the East, Concord types are common. In the West, especially along the Pacific Coast, you will find the vinifera varieties. Each distinct type have differing growth habits and this influences what you will have to do to maintain them.
Want a Garden but Not Enough Room or Soil? Then Hydroponics Gardening could be for You
November 25, 2008
Hydroponics gardening is a great idea for anyone who wants a garden but doesn’t have enough land or soil. Hydroponics gardening is, essentially, a way to cultivate plants using a nutrient solution instead of soil. With hydroponics gardening, it’s easy to grow lovely flowers and succulent vegetables virtually anywhere you want! It’s true that hydroponics gardening needs much less time than an ordinary garden. In fact, you might spend only five minutes a day maintaining you’re hydroponics garden. Once a month the nutrient solution will have to be changed but this will only take a few minutes. Big fruiting vegetables like peppers and tomatoes may not be able to thrive but most other vegetables and flowers will do great.
Tips for the newbie to hydroponics gardening.
While hydroponics gardening can be a little confusing sometimes when starting out, you’ll soon get the jest of it. The same as you need gardening supplies for a ordinary garden, you’ll need hydroponics supplies for your hydroponics garden. The most popular system is the passive system. This is where the plants sit directly in the nutrient solution. All passive air systems use an aquarium air bubbler otherwise the solution can become deoxygenated and could rot the plants. If you can find the right system for you, hydroponics gardening could produce you with all the flowers and vegetables you could possibly want.
A Look at Fall Flower Bulbs
November 23, 2008
Most people would think of fall as a season when trees are changing colors and dying. For many, the autumn leaves are our last dance with color before the dark, gray winter sets in. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Fall flowers can offer a splash of rebirth and color in a season otherwise known for falling leaves.
Bulbs are living plants and contain their own storage of food. They are quite self-sufficient and will strive to bloom, no matter when or where they are planted. Fall flower bulbs are planted in the spring or summer and flower in the early fall. Some examples are lilacs, colchicums, and saffron crocuses. The colchicums are extremely unusual in that they will bloom without being planted, though they do need soil to develop roots.
When selecting fall flower bulbs, you should look for bulbs that are firm and free of visible defects. If you desire large flowers, buy large bulbs. Small bulbs will produce smaller flowers.
Most fall flower bulbs cannot survive the winter. These have to be dug up each fall and stored until planting time. Bulbs should be stored in a cool, dry place. A dry basement is ideal. If you do not have a basement, a dark, unheated closet or utility room will also work.
Gardening - An Expression
November 21, 2008
Give the same plants to several people, you will see several arrangements. Each one distinct and different, yet, using the same plants.
This is the ultimate reward of gardening- a means to express, to create with the help and inspiration from the gifts of Nature.
Gardening is not just physically and aesthetically
rewarding.It enriches the spirit. It awakens one’s creativity that lies dormant from neglect, or lack of motivation, or a popular excuse, not enough time.
Gardening is fast becoming a popular hobby of the times. From the tropics, to the frigid climes, gardening centers are offering more choices to tantalize even the most conservative taste.
Each year, gardeners look forward with excitement to their gardening; a hobby they take passionately. What new plants are being introduced? What variety of surprises awaits them? The ornamental gardener will be glorious with the new plants or hybrids for the present growing season. The vegetable/herb gardener looks forward with anticipation at harvest time.
With so much variety to choose from, what factors determine which plants to buy? After considering the soil, weather, sun/shade location factors, the choice is all about self- expression.
Wild Flower Garden - Recreate the Splendor of Nature in Your Own Backyard
November 19, 2008
A few years ago I made the decision to create a wild flower garden within my existing garden. I had been working to develop a more earth friendly approach to my garden, trying different options for fertilizing and pest and weed control. The next logical step for me was to establish a wild flower or natural style garden.
I was new to this and thought that this particular section of my yard would require little work. After all, if these flowers grow wild without any human help then I had found the ultimate “no maintenance” garden…right. Wrong. As I researched, I learned that I had to design my wild flower garden to take account of soil type, light and moisture.
However, I also found that if you are prepared to learn from nature, it becomes a delightful journey with guaranteed success, after all, mother nature has been growing flowers and trees since time began.
If you are considering a natural wild flower garden, remember for success you need to work with your local environment and choose plants that will thrive in those conditions. Again, learn from nature, check out local forests, meadows and parks. What kind of wild flowers grow there and just as important, exactly where are they growing, under trees, out in full sun, between rocks or at the edge of a pond.
How to Grow Cooking Herbs
November 17, 2008
Grow your own cooking herbs to add fresh zest and flavor to your menus year-round!
Is It a Cooking Herb or a Spice?
The first thing to know in selecting which herbs to grow is the difference between cooking (culinary) herbs and spices. The cinnamon stick you put in your hot chocolate or apple cider is a spice while the parsley on the edge of your plate is an herb. 1.Cooking herbs are usually the fresh or dried leaves of plants while spices are the ground seeds, roots, fruits, flowers, and/or bark. 2.Herbs grow very well in temperate zones, while spices generally come from tropical areas. 3.Herbs add subtle flavor, whereas spices are generally more pungent and add more robust flavor.
Herbs run the gamut of about 70 cultivars, broken into categories of medicinal, ornamental, and aromatic as well as culinary or cooking herbs. To start growing cooking herbs, it’s best first to select where and how you want to grow them.
Site Selection
Most cooking herbs thrive in just about any location that gives them plenty of light, good drainage and nutrition. In addition to outdoor garden spots, culinary herbs can be grown in patio containers, as indoor herb gardens, or in greenhouses using soil-less growing techniques like hydroponics or aquaponics.
Greenhouse Calamities ? Thoughts from a Novice Gardener
November 15, 2008
Greenhouses are a great addition to anyone’s garden. They come in all different sizes and you can nestle them right where you want them and with smaller versions of greenhouses you can move them quite easily. That said, as great as they look and of course smell, there should be some type of manual to buy when you are first setting up shop in there. There are many things no one bothers to tell you and if you don’t know, you don’t ask. Here are five things I learned by plodding along on my own:
1. Never assume that your seeds are not growing and then buy plants instead. I started growing tomato seeds, in the proper seed tray, and within a month nothing had happened. However, I used pretty expensive potting soil and didn’t want to waste it so I dumped it on the floor of the greenhouse and turned it in. Then, I planted 6 tomato plants into the ground and had homemade salsa recipes salivating in my head. A month later I had well over 30 tomato plants tumbling over each other. The worst part was that I didn’t label the plants and wasn’t sure which ones to thin out. I thinned and ended up with the orange pixie variety mostly and they were about the size of a mutant cherry tomato.
High Intensity Discharge Grow Light (Generic)
November 13, 2008
HID lamps are categorized in three groups :Mercury Vapor , Metal Halide, and Pressurized Sodium. For plant cultivation, Metal Halide (MH) or Pressurized Sodium (HPS and LPS) are the ones commonly used in grow rooms.Mercury Vapor - Mercury Vapor lamps are common, but they are not the most energy efficient for lighting plants or anything else. Mercury Vapor lamps have an average life of 24,000 hours. A black coating that deposits it’s self on the inside of the bulb decrease light output after a significant amount of use.
Pressurized Sodium:
High and low pressure sodium lamps (HPS and LPS) are considered the most efficient lighting option for plant’s in flowering phase. Sodium causes this type of lighting to be a yellow/orange color. A ten minute warm-up period is needed before you can turn on light after turning it off.
The life of the HPS and LPS are the same as the Mercury Vapor, however, the energy requirements (wattage) is about half. HPS lamps are usually chosen for outside or warehouse applications where color is not important, and where instant lighting is not required. When Pressurized Sodium lights are used in plant applications, they are commonly used only during the plant’s flowering phase.
Online Garden Seed Exchanges
November 12, 2008
If you’ve been gardening for any length of time you have probably realized a couple of things.
1: Gardening can be quite expensive
2: Finding the plants you really want can be a daunting task.
If you’re anything like me, you enjoy making changes to your gardens on pretty much a yearly basis. I call this “puttering”. I’m always adding, moving, and redesigning. After all, what good is puttering in the garden if there’s little to do? While this is good therapy and for many like myself the ultimate form of relaxation mixed with exercise, it can cost a bundle!
I’ll remove a section of garden with a brilliant new garden design in mind and head off to the local garden stores, only to find they have nothing I wanted. In the past I’ve settled for what was to be had, only to find myself not happy with it next year and the “puttering” begins again.
Then I discovered???.. ONLINE SEED EXCHANGES!!!!!
