GARDENING IN the FALL and WINTER

Practicing Easy Lawn Care

2009-02-17T17:32:00.001-08:00

For many, having the a beautiful lawn needs the services of a professional lawn care company to take care of all their lawn care requirements and that this is the only way. It is not always the case and for home owners it really only needs the proper knowledge to be able to do it on their own. Whether they are into the traditional methods of lawn care or promote organic lawn care, there are just a few simple things they need to do to allow them to grow their lawns without the excessive weeds and pests that would otherwise hinder the proper and healthy growth of their lawns.

Taking Soil Care Into Consideration

In the spring and early fall it is important to take a few easy steps to take care of the soil underneath the lawn. First, soil can get compacted so that the root system of the grass is also too tightly compacted. The way to solve this is to pull plugs out of the grass in order to increase aeration. There are machines that a person can rent in order to aerate the lawn. There are also some lawn care companies that will come out twice a year in order to aerate the lawn. Either way, the plugs should be left on the lawn so that they can decompose and add nutrients to the lawn, helping it to grow.

One other tip you should be aware of when it comes to lawn care during the spring and early fall is that you should check the properties of the soil to determine what nutrients are missing and should be added. The availability of simple testing kits are common in most garden supply stores, and these will allow you to determine exactly what nutrients in your lawn soil is lacking. As soon as the test is completed, the needed fertilizer should be procured and applied to sort out the soil's deficiencies. Just remember that when you apply the fertilizer to sweep back into the lawn the fertilizer that may inadvertently fall on the sidewalk or driveways so that you do not waste any of it as they can be expensive.

Taking Pests Into Consideration

There are some pests that need to be taken care of in lawn care such as grubs. In the spring, a section of grass should be pulled up to check if there are grubs in the root system. If there are, one solution to this is to buy nematodes from a garden supply store or catalogue. Nematodes are microscopic worms that will kill the grub larvae so that the grubs never are able to affect the roots.

There are other pests such as insects that can harm your lawn, so to eliminate these you should consider planting trees and shrubs around the lawn so that birds will be attracted to your yard, and the birds will take care of the duty to eat the insects. In addition to this step, you can also go to your local garden supplier and buy green lacewings and ladybugs that will help you in fighting off destructive insects that would otherwise destroy your lawn.

French Garden Design and Style

2009-01-21T15:34:00.001-08:00

Horticulture, in simplest terms, is the cultivation of a garden. The word itself comes from Latin in two parts: Hortus, meaning garden, and cultura, meaning cultivation. Garden cultivation is considered a form of art and, like all art forms, it has different styles.

The traditional French garden style was first developed during the Baroque and Rococo periods of the 17th and 18th centuries. The gardens of the era were majestic exhibitions of power and riches constructed by royalty and aristocrats for the purpose of impressing guests. Inspired in part by ancient classical gardens, traditional French garden style is formal. The garden design is geometric, organized and disciplined, and the gardens are almost always laid out on level ground. The terraces that are often a feature of such gardens are artificially created, and elaborately designed stairs are included to link one terrace to another. Because of the largely flat topography, traditional French gardens use large sheets of water for their reflective qualities or as impressive, artificial fountain displays. Below is a list of the main attributes of traditional French formal garden design.

* Yards are contained of square frames and constantly shuddered by neat, squared bushes

* Flowerbeds are also geometrical in shape rectangular, oval or circular.

* Parterres are an important feature of formal French gardens. Vast detailed geometric designes were created on the ground with colored stones, gravel, dirt and even flowers. Parterres are often lined with boxwood, lavender, or rosemary. Parterres de broderies or rather, embroidery parterres, are magnificently elaborate. Visitors can view parterres from garden terraces.

* Water features are mostly canals and large, flat pools. Most of these water fountains have engines to operate them.

* Allees, meaning axes or rides, is the term used for the garden walks or pathways, bordered by trees or neatly clipped hedges that provided the framework of the French garden style. A fountain or accenting garden ornament of some kind is the usual destination of such straight pathways.

* French Garden Ornaments: In French garden designs, you will find a lot of statues, columns, trellises, sundials, birdbaths and more. Symmetrical placement occurs with these objects.

*Vegetation: Planting designs are most often created according to color. French gardens predominantly use pastel colors with a touches of yellow, red or orange and some lilac and blue. Ideally, gardeners should choose plants that bloom all year round.

* Primarily French in origin, and available as an optional feature, Orangerie is a large glass-enclosed room in the garden where you'll find lemon, lime, and orange trees blooming during the cold winter months.

Most of the time Herb Gardens will be in French Gardens. The French garden style is well-planned and organized, providing different locations for various gardens types such as fruit, rose or herb. Large Herb Gardens are other features that cover more than just pathces in the garden. Paving is used in a specific pattern a chessboard pattern or a circular pattern, laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Seats are often placed in the center or in a corner of herb gardens. Some of the more common French herbs are lavender, rosemary, sage, marjoram, thyme and sweet bay.

A famous example of the traditional French formal garden style described above is the Versailles Gardens located just outside Paris. King Louis IV hired landscape architect André Le Nôtre to create the Versailles Gardens, in 1661. These gardens occupy an area of 800 hectares, very roughly about 400 acres, on the west side of the Chateau de Versailles. The gardens have meticulously manicured lawns, parterres of blooming flowers, and dozens of valuable statues and sculptures. The most impressive feature of the gardens, however are its 1,400 fountains. An enormous system of pumps and reservoirs, including fourteen water wheels, was built to bring the waters of the Seine River up to the garden. Still, there was never enough water to run all the fountains at once. The fountains would be turned on one by one as the King, Louis IV arrived. Today, they are only operated on Sundays.

If you aren’t planning a visit to France, you can still get an idea of the traditional formal French garden style by visiting the Conservatory Garden in the northern sector of New York City’s Central Park.

Despite the fact that traditional and formal gardening styles of France influenced the designs of gardens around the world, not all French gardens are traditional. France has many less formal gardens, including the Giverney garden overflowing with blooming flowers as shown in Monet's beautiful paintings.
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Things To Know Before Purchasing A Portable Garden Greenhouse

2009-01-18T09:49:00.001-08:00

In general, the growth season for plants and crops is the Spring is the time through the fall. But if people want to extend the growing season they will want to invest in a structure that allows this to take place.
These are known as portable garden greenhouses. Before investing in such a structure, the avid gardener should conduct an investigation. While researching you should compare the different kinds and probably talk to the local commercial nursery for their advice.

Research : Comparing The Performance

There are many movable garden nurseries in the marketplace today. Some are quite costly while others are very uncomplicated in nature and yet serve rather nicely as a nursery.

First Off it is noteworthy to assess one’s level of interest. For example if the movable garden greenhouse is to be used as a hobby or for allowing for the kids or grand kids to study about plants and planting, one may look at a modest type of portable garden greenhouse. However, if one is dedicated to their floras and possibly relies on the product for a living or for putting food on the table, they might wish to invest in a more costly movable garden nursery.

The plain difference between the prices of the 2 extreme ends of portable garden greenhouses is the way the greenhouse is manufactured and the materials that are utilized. For example, a more high-priced movable garden nursery might include rain gutters, hinged doors, windows that adjust to different heights, the materials used for the shape, etc.

On the other hand, a less expensive version of this type of nursery might be a single paneled type of material that lets the sunlight through, includes less framework and intricate design, and has a basic ventilation system.

To Boot, the consumer might wish to build a portable nursery applying a model that merely attaches together and is draped with a different type of cover that is less elaborate, but just as effective. For instance, there are covers that can be placed over a movable greenhouse that are built out of polyethylene which is fortified and woven together for maximum sunshine to filtrate through as well as defending the plants that it holds.

Some Other Opportunities To Search

Before making the purchase of a movable garden nursery, there are other ways to do one’s homework. For instance an curious buyer might like to visit a local greenhouse and speak to the faculty and seek to discover more about portable nurseries. In addition, one may want to ask for a recommended product and with that good word focus more closely on that specific merchandise. This research can be done by going online or talking to other greenhouses in the area to find out if there is agreement.

Likewise, it is critical to inquire about other elective equipment that might be needful. One such piece of equipment is a movable greenhouse heater. If it is determined that this equipment is necessary it is essential to research what kind of warmer is best. This is because the gardener wants to have the appropriate equipment which can develop the appropriate measure of warmth. Illustrations of fuel that can be utilized by assorted heaters include electricity, propane and diesel. If applying any of these heaters it is important that correct ventilation and safety measures be used.

Learn the Secrets: Rose Gardening Made Easy

2009-01-16T01:07:00.001-08:00

There are many people who may have been gardening for years and have finally made the choice to start a rose garden.The reason people tend to put off such a garden, even if they have always wanted one, is because they have heard that roses are finicky and tend to die if they are not properly taken care of.However, there are a few easy steps that can make rose gardening easy.

Quick Tips

The first tip in rose gardening made easy is that roses love sunlight.Therefore, when planning where to put the garden, it should be in a place where it gets direct sunlight for the majority of the day. There are a few rose varieties that prefer shade for part of the day, but the majority loves the sun.The only other exception to this is if the climate is extremely hot, then almost all roses will need some reprieve from the sun in the afternoon.

The next tip for rose gardening made easy is that roses like to breathe. Therefore, roses do not like to be planted on top of each other, they like to have adequate room between plants so that air can flow and pass between them. This is true of the plant itself, since it is important to trim off dead and diseased branches as well as thinning out the healthy ones so that airflow is increased to the plant.

Roses also like to have their roots watered, rather than to have water poured over the entire plant, which is tip number three in rose gardening made easy. Roses need careful attention in watering, needed good drainage in the soil so that roots can grow and expand, picking up as much water as possible.

The fourth tip for rose gardening made easy is to match the type of rose bush with the climate that it prefers.In other words, take the climate that the garden will be placed in and find rose bushes that prefer that climate. Rose bushes can be found in almost any climate, so there is little risk of not finding an appropriate strain. In addition, rose bushes are not as fragile as people think, considering the rose bushes were growing just fine in the wild without human help before they were ‘discovered’ and treasured for their beauty.

Finally, there are some roses that need to be taken in during the winter months. If that is the case, then container gardening is a great choice and will beautify the inside of the house or sunroom during those dreary months.

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Feeders Bird Baths Make Nice Garden Water Features

2009-01-11T17:59:00.001-08:00

Feeders bird baths are not only a great way of attracting wild birds and enjoying nature, they also enhance the beauty your landscape by adding a garden water feature. They can be a work of art as well. Decorative bird feeders and bird baths make wonderful house warming gifts. Bird baths are made of different materials, such as porcelain, marble, ceramic, resin, plastic and steel. Of all the different bird products, the bird bath perhaps is the most interesting one as it presents a pleasant view of different species of birds feeding and taking a bath.

The bird bath is an artificial puddle of water created for the birds to have bath and drink water. A shallow basin is put on a pedestal and a depth of two inches is sufficient for the wild birds, as they do not submerge their entire body in the water. They just dip their wings and splash water all over the body. You can heat up the water in bird bath with solar bird baths. The wild and migratory birds can get warm water to bathe in during the winter from your backyard. You can even add a suet bird feeder during the winter months.

The feeders bird bath like any garden water features should be cleaned regularly to maintain proper hygiene and to prevent the spread of any diseases. Different species of birds carry different harmful viruses and bacteria, which could affect the health of other birds. It is amazing how fast the feeders bird baths can get dirty. The bird bath can be scrubbed clean; however, a tablet containing naturally occurring bacteria and enzymes can be used to break down organic waste and keep the bird bath clean with less scrubbing, which will leave more time for bird watching.

Cats and birds of prey would love a meal of birds if the can manage to get one or two from your feeders bird baths. To prevent this eventuality, the feeder and bird bath should be placed near a big tree or a bush. That would ensure that the wild birds can fly to safety when there is an attack from birds of prey or cats. A safe environment will ensure that they drop in to your garden every time they fly over. You will be pleased to have different types of birds at different times of the year, every year.

Choosing a Garden of Beauty: Rose Gardening Tips

2009-01-10T05:42:00.001-08:00

There are many people who would love to have a rose garden but have become disheartened at their attempts to grow roses in the past.Perhaps they attempted to grow a container rose garden, or chose their favorites roses to grow but they died as soon as the first winter hit. Although roses can be temperamental and arguably more difficult to grow than other flowers, it is possible to grow a beautiful rose garden by following some rose gardening tips from the start.

How to Build the Garden

The first rose gardening tip is to see that the soil is adequately prepared in the garden. Soils can be sandy, made of clay or a mixture of all types and it is important to make sure that there are enough nutrients in the soil to feed the roses when they are planted. One way to do this is to use compost, which is rich in nutrients.A compost pile is easy to make in the back yard. All that is needed for a compost pile is some grass clippings, some old vegetables or fruit peels, or trimmings from pruning the bushes, all thrown into a pile to decompose. After a few weeks, the soil in the pile will be rich with nutrients from the decomposing pile which is great for feeding hungry roses.

The next rose gardening tip is to carefully choose the rose bushes that best fit the climate in which they will be growing. Although it would be nice of the favorite type of rose bush happened to grow in the same climate as the person lives in, but this is not always the case and can lead to disappointment if that person tries to grow it anyway. There are certain roses, like the tea roses, that grow well in hot climates, while others are better in climates that have a strong winter.

The third rose gardening tip is to plant the roses in direct sunlight. Roses love the sun and need a lot of it. The only exception to this is in extremely hot climates, where it is a good idea to have some shade for the roses in the afternoon.In addition to sunbathing, roses need to breathe, so it is vital that rosebushes be planted far enough apart so that air can pass easily between them.Even though the rose bushes need to be planted a good distance apart, that doesn't mean that helper plants cannot be planted in between them. These plants can help to keep detrimental insects away from the roses and attract 'good' insects to the rose garden.

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Making Your Homes More Attractive With Flower Gardens

2009-01-09T16:24:00.001-08:00

Flower Garden Design

Who does not love the sight of flowers. Having a bouquet of fresh flowers can brighten up any day, lift the spirit of a depressed heart, cheer up a gloomy face, and even cause new friendships or let love flourish.

A true appreciation of life can be felt each spring as you pass by a body of water with it's surface filled with beautiful water lilies gleaming under the spring sunlight. Even in the fall the brilliance of asters and the gleam of goldenrods decorating fields as you walk through brings a feeling of enrichment. Even at home flowers bring beauty and happiness, the kitchen enhanced with garlands or the windows beautified, or the living room transformed simply by the presence of plants and flowers bring the added sense of serenity.

To many men and women flowers are more than creations of decorative beauty. They are delicate living things that excite the imagination. More than simply an epitome of natural beauty, flowers also make a great display of a relaxing sight that could give the human individuals a splash of freshness every time they encounter a fine presentation of floral arrangements.

It is certain that floral arrangements brings a sense of happiness to people. A personally tend floral burst can provide even more happiness to a person receiving it knowing that a lot of effort has been place in the preparation of this display of beauty. Even the experts themselves claim that a floral burst brings a unique kind of relaxation to individuals and more so from personally tended floral blooms. This said, for those that want to bring this feeling of satisfaction and happiness to others that creating a flower garden design could be ideal for them.

The Right Kind of Flower Garden Design To Plan

Should you decide to create your very own flower garden, then there are some important considerations you need to make and provide attention to in order to be able to proceed in the right direction. The very first concern you will need to deal with is to determine what kind of flower garden design you would want to install inside your house or in your garden backyard.

Whether it may be a perennial flower garden design or something better in your own choice, it would best be a source of satisfaction and relaxation for you and the people living within your home as you consider putting the right kind of flowers together in a wonderful landscape that would best work for your interests.

A Garden Year Round: Container Rose Gardening

2009-01-08T14:23:00.001-08:00

For people who do not live in a house that has a backyard, it is still possible to build a rose garden that lives in the house.Container rose gardening is a great option for those who live in condominiums or apartment complexes that have good sunlight at least in one window of the house for a large portion of the day. Roses love sunlight, so in order to have a container rose gardens, high sunlight is incredibly important.

Easy as One, Two, Three

The first tip for container rose gardening, even white rose gardening, is to plant the roses the early fall.his system can work for the winter months as well for roses that do not do as well in the colder weather.As stated earlier, the containers must be placed in a well lit area, such as by a window with direct sunlight, or on a deck or patio.However, unlike roses that are planted outside, container rose gardens must have some relief from the sun since the containers heat up much more quickly than the ground would outside, and can cause damage to the roses if there is not some relief in the afternoons.

The types of containers that are used are very important as well in container rose gardening, since they have to hold all of the food and water that the roses need. If the container is not big enough for the plant to grow over the course of the winter months then the plant could grow sick and have to be replanted. Roses love water, so the container in rose gardening must allow for the drainage of water, since roses have to be kept moist, needed water more than most plants.

Container rose gardening also needs good soil that is specific for potting rather than regular gardening outdoors.This type of soil will provide the drainage needed in the pot and will not get compacted and hard the longer the time that the rose is in it. Many potting soils will contain fertilizers, which helps with plant growth.However, some do not, so it is good to know which kind was used so that more fertilizer can be added as the season goes on. That way the roses will stay happy.As far as aesthetic appeal, adding other plants in with the container rose gardens to help balance the look of the pot and create a piece of art through flowers.

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Summer Vegetable Gardening Tips And Ideas

2009-01-07T20:31:00.001-08:00

Nothing can compare to the satisfaction you get when you see the produce in your garden after months of hard work and nothing tastes better than freshly picked vegetables from your own garden. Vegetable gardening requires space but it is also possible to grow the vegetables in window boxes and enjoy a small kitchen garden.

Few Summer Vegetable Gardening Tips

The first summer vegetable gardening tip is to plan your vegetable garden, just as you plan your house. Success and manageability of produce of your summer vegetable garden largely depends on advance planning.

Another summer vegetable gardening tip is to plant your garden in beds rather than rows. This eliminates the wastage of compost in paths between rows and it can be concentrated on the growing plants. Beds are also better as walking between the rows spoils the soil structure. Another important summer vegetable gardening tip is to make sure that the beds are small so that you can reach any weed and plants can be harvested without putting steps on the beds.

One important summer vegetable gardening tip is to choose the location that is sunny and has enough air. It is always advisable to prepare the soil before you start planting. A good summer vegetable gardening tip is to break up the compacted soil and remove the weeds and rocks from it. Spring vegetables need consistent watering for successful results.

Once the beds are ready, you need to figure out what vegetables you would like to have. You must keep in mind that there are some plants that are planted in summer but are ready to harvest only by early fall.

Another summer vegetable gardening tip is to secure the stems of some plants such as tomatoes that need extra support. Also, put a small wire fence to secure your garden from animals like woodchucks and skunks.

Other Resources

To get more useful summer vegetable gardening tips, you can consult vegetable gardening guide that gives basics and essential tips for vegetable garden production in all seasons. You can get the guide especially written for your area. This guide is a wonderful resource for less experienced gardeners but is equally useful for experienced ones. It gives you detailed, step-by-step guide that you can follow to get a healthy produce from your vegetable garden starting from site, plan, soil preparation, manure, compost, adjust soil pH, fertilizing, irrigation, drainage, weed control, nematodes, disease control, insect control and pesticide protection.

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About Garden Guides On Some Useful Spring Vegetable Gardening Tips

2009-01-06T16:24:00.001-08:00

Spring vegetables can be planted between February and March and some of the most common vegetables grown during this time are beet, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, kohlrabi, endive, onion, mustard, Irish potato, rhubarb, radish, rutabaga, turnips and spinach.

Spring Vegetable Gardening Tips

One good spring vegetable gardening tip is to grow kale, rape and mustard together and then harvest them together. To increase the yield of mustard greens, keep the buds cut when they are around two inches. Once you finish planting your spring vegetable garden, put down straw mulch so that moisture will be retained and weeds will keep away.

Another important spring vegetable gardening tip is to start vegetables like pepper, tomatoes and eggplant indoors when soil warms.

A great spring vegetable gardening tip is to involve your kids in the whole process. If your child shows interest in helping, you can easily involve your child in bringing up the spring vegetable garden. This will also help them learn the value and importance of patience. For tilling the grass and getting the soil ready for plantation, get down on your hands and knees along with you child and start plucking out the weeds together. When kids are involved in the gardening process, one spring vegetable gardening tip is to take them to the local gardening centre and allow them to pick the seed of their choice. Tell the child that taking caring of that particular plant will be his/her responsibility.

At the appropriate time, plant the seeds and let your child water the plants. When the child watches vegetables grow, it is absolutely thrilling for them. Spring vegetable gardening is a wonderful hobby for adults as well as children as you get to eat the nutritious food and enjoy the result of your hard work. Another important spring vegetable gardening tip is that once you harvest, you must fertilize the soil and then again sow the garden beds. This way, you will be able to harvest more vegetables in fall and summer.

You can also indulge in summer vegetable gardening and prepare your own garden. You can get lots of summer vegetable gardening tips from books and internet that will help you get the best yield. One important tip worth mentioning here is that best way to plant summer vegetable garden is in equally spaced rows. You can get many such useful tips online that will make your gardening experience much more interesting and fruitful.

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Vegetable Gardening Tips

2009-01-05T19:26:00.001-08:00

The popularity of home vegetable gardening has increased in the last few years and one in every three families does some kind of home gardening. There are some basic home vegetable gardening tips that you can follow to become a successful gardener.

Home Vegetable Gardening Tips

There is not much choice available for urban gardeners in terms of garden sites, but it still remains the most important aspect for successful gardening. Areas that are full of sunlight and that have deep, fertile and well-drained soil is ideal for any kind of gardening. Make sure that the plot is located near a water outlet and does not have other shrubs and trees.

Another important home vegetable gardening tip is to select the appropriate crop. Depending upon the size of the garden, you can choose the vegetables ideally suited for them. Crops like cantaloupes, watermelons, cucumbers and water squash need large spaces to grow. Beets, beans, onions, carrots, spinach and tomatoes are small garden vegetables. Plantations can also be chosen as per family needs but make it a point not to over crowd the plot.

A good home vegetable gardening tip is to plan the garden just like you plan your house. A good planning reduces the effort you will have to put in later and will increase your return on labor. You need to separate the long-term and short-term crops so that long-term crops do not interfere with harvesting and care of short-term crops. Crop rotation is another home vegetable gardening tip as it helps prevent insect build-ups and diseases.

An important home vegetable gardening tip is to have a soil that is fertile, deep and well-drained. Organic matter or sand can be added to the soil if it is heavy clay. Granular soil is ideal for planting and if you do thorough preparation of soil, it will reduce your work of planting and caring for the crop.

Proper fertilization is another very important home vegetable gardening tip. The amount of soil required will largely depend upon crops and soil types. You should plant your garden early in the fall and spring so that vegetables will get ideal conditions to grow and mature. Spring is the time of nice weather and an ideal time for you to start your home vegetable garden. Some good spring vegetable gardening tips are to involve your kids in the entire process, prepare the soil for spring vegetables, choose the appropriate vegetables, and make your child a part of each and every process. Gardening needs patience, and spring gardening can offer a good lesson of patience to your kids.

Another useful home vegetable gardening tip is to provide the plants with enough water at the roots so that the water is able to penetrate the soil up to the depth of six inches. To get rid of unwanted plants in your vegetable garden, use along-handled hoe. Avoid using chemical weed control, as it is not necessary in small areas.

Mulching is a good home vegetable gardening tip that will increase the yield from your home vegetable garden. Control the pests using chemicals if necessary.

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The Practice Of Bee Keeping

2008-12-26T18:45:00.001-08:00

Beekeeping

Some people collect rocks or shells as a hobby while others may find bungee jumping or fishing more suited to their tastes. There are millions of people around the world however that is abuzz about their particularly sweet hobby – bee keeping! Of course, bee keeping is not just a hobby; it can also be well-suited for a side job or even a full-time enterprise. The good news is that to start this buzzing practice, you do not need much money to get your start.

Considerations To Make

Bee keeping can be a sweet and rewarding hobby or vocation but there are a few things to consider before making the commitment to raise bees. First of all, bee stings for apiarists (bee keepers) are commonplace so you should be sure that you and those who will assist you are not allergic. You will know an allergic reaction to a bee sting if you see it – swelling at the sting site, possible welts or rashes on the body, wheezing and swelling of air passageways.

While you may be able to handle most of the basics of bee keeping on your own, it is always helpful to have a partner help you with some of the chores. Heavy lifting is a particular problem when moving the hive boxes so having a helper could be a godsend, unless of course, you can handle the added burden.

Research Ahead

Bee keeping is more than just tending to the hives … it is understanding that there are specific duties and activities that take place at distinct times throughout the year. Bee keeping duties wait for no man regardless of whether or not it is the deep cold winter or a sweltering summer. Apprentice with an apiarist or head to the library to check out as many books and resources as possible.

You must know the difference between the drones, queen bees and workers are in order to succeed in bee keeping as the roles of each are very important to the survival of the hive. Learn what the frames are for, why you smoke some hives out and how to harvest honey and the comb produced.

The important thing that everyone wanting to practice bee keeping appreciates is that the bee keeping equipment is not costly at all nor is it cumbersome or difficult in maintaining. However that said, it is still important for you to diligently research and find out what you really need to purchase only these when starting off. A reliable bee smoker, a good bee suit, veil and hive tool are considered to be the minimum set of tools needed necessary for the job to be done. There are however a list of other equipment needed in the bee keeping hobby that one needs to consider such as the winter protection in addition to honey extraction tools. Just ensure that your level of commitment and your continuing knowledge is used well to guide you through your new adventure in bee keeping.

How to Care for an Indoor Bonsai

2008-11-27T13:23:00.001-08:00

A bonsai plant is a striking reminder of a longstanding art. Because bonsai trees are so attractive, many people love to display them in their houses. Special care is required for your indoor bonsai trees since they're not exposed to full, natural sunlight and outdoor weather. In spite of their hardy appearance, some bonsai plants may be fragile when it comes to light and water.

Watering Your Indoor Bonsai

When you bring a bonsai tree indoors it will require sufficient lighting to replace the natural sunlight that it would have been receiving outdoors. Your plant will appreciate being located in an area with lots of air movement. The type of bonsai you have will dictate how often you need to water it, as will the state of the soil it is planted in. Some plants or trees need to have damp soil while others thrive well in spite of a drought.

Your bonsai tree will thrive in high humidity, which can be achieved by regular misting. A humidity tray may be used but make sure that the pot is not exposed to the water but is instead on some pebbles or a stand.

Pruning and Cutting

The indoor bonsai tree will still need to be regularly pruned and cut to maintain its appearance. Bonsais often appear changeless; however, they are definitely a living, growing tree. A bonsai tree needs to be repotted somewhere between one to three years, depending on the type, whether it's an outdoor or indoor plant. The branches will also need to be maintained to keep its style intact.

You might need to reduce the amount of fertilizer you use during the winter, depending on the variety of your bonsai. This is because some tree species hibernate during the season and do not need as much nutrients as in warmer months. An indoor bonsai will have difficulty experiencing each season in turn since it's in an unnatural setting.

You need to be on the lookout for pests and other irregularities that might appear on your indoor bonsai tree. Since they're indoors, they will likely attract mites and spiders from the outside. Use a soft, damp cloth or brush to carefully clean the branches and leaves of an indoor bonsai.

When to Cut Your Orchid

2008-11-25T22:29:00.001-08:00

Very frequently you will happen to have an orchid that continued to grow year after year but that only ever brings forth one flowering pseudobulb. If you wish to increase the number of blooming growths, you can do so by a method of cutting with a knife in order to produce back shoots. With luck and an appropriate species (such as one from the Cattleyas), you will one day have a truly astonishing orchid.

Proceed as follows: Take a plant that has several back pseudobulbs, say four or five. Slice the rhizome in two between the bulbs, taking care not to otherwise disturb it. That's basically it, but here are some things to keep in mind:

The best time to cut most orchids is during their resting phase, usually fall or winter. When they next enter into their growing stage, you may observe them sending forth two growths from one pseudobulb at the place where you cut it.
Don't ever cut an orchid unless you are sure it is in perfect or near-perfect health. Cutting as described above will not harm a healthy plant, but could be stressful to a weak or sickly one.
If you cut the same plant for back shoots every year, you will eventually have an orchid that is both bigger and more stunning that it would have been without the knife. This is the way some of the astonishing specimens are produced that you see in orchid shows.

There is more that can be said about the art of cutting to produce more blooms, as well as the process of taking cuttings to start more plants. To learn more about these and other secrets of orchid cultivation, a good guide such as that written by Nigel Howard is highly recommended.

The most up-to-date guide to contemporary orchid care, it is widely acknowedged, is Mr. Howard's Orchid Care Expert, which may be downloaded from the Internet. Howard's clearly written guide will provide a full immersion in the subject. Also, check out the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing library of information on many facets of orchid cultivation.

Don't Go In the Greenhouse Alone!

2008-11-24T22:38:00.001-08:00

One of the enjoyable side hobbies of orchid devotion is that of seeking out references to these mystery-shrouded flowers in literature and popular entertainment.

Among the earliest short stories in which an orchid plays a primary role is a strange little piece by the pioneering science fiction writer, H.G. Wells.This story is really not so much science fiction as it is horror, though. You can find it in short story collections as well as on the Web under the title of "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" or simply, "The Strange Orchid."

Wells lived and wrote during the years of the first great orchid mania, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was also a time when there were still some isolated and relatively unexplored places in the world, which fired contemporary imaginations with fantasies of unknown monsters that might yet be lurking in some jungle or mountain fastness.

In his story, Wells built on the well-known mechanism of flowers discharging their scent into the air to attract insects, which in turn carry pollen from one plant to another, aiding the plants' reproduction. What if--Wells wondered--there were a flower that took this a step further by evolving the ability to use its scent to overpower and feed on large animals?

The story centers on an Englishman with a passion for orchids who has acquired a rare specimen. After months of tending to it he is excited to see that it is about to blossom. He goes alone one day, eager to enjoy the first sight and odor of the unknown flower. Later, his housekeeper discovers him on the floor near the orchid, which is emitting a powerful scent and looking very strong indeed (and evil!). An ominous red tint suffuses its
leaves and it has already pushed some of its finger-like shoots round the orchid lover's neck and beneath his shirt front.

With an inarticulate cry she ran towards him, and tried to pull him away from the leech-like suckers. She snapped two of these tentacles, and their sap dripped red.

Then the overpowering scent of the blossom began to make her head reel. How they clung to him! She tore at the tough ropes, and he and the white inflorescence swam about her. She felt she was fainting, knew she must not. She left him and hastily opened the nearest door, and, after she had panted for a moment in the fresh air, she had a brilliant inspiration. She caught up a flower-pot and smashed in the windows at the end of the greenhouse. Then she re-entered.

She tugged now with renewed strength at Wedderburn's motionless body, and brought the strange orchid crashing to the floor. It still clung with the grimmest tenacity to its victim. In a frenzy, she lugged it and him into the open air.

Then she thought of tearing through the sucker rootlets one by one, and in another minute she had released him and was dragging him away from the horror.

He was white and bleeding from a dozen circular patches.

Thanks to the quick thinking of the housekeeper in this story, the orchid's victim survives--this time.

Fortunately, orchids that feast on blood do not actually exist.You can, though, view this tale as symbolic of the strange grip that orchids can have on anyone who falls under their spell. People who succumb to orchid fever--and that includes everyone who decides to try their hand at growing them--tend to contract the illness for life. Now you've been warned!

If these intriguing plants have put their bite on you, you'll want to find out as much as you can about how to grow orchids successfully. The most complete guide to expert orchid growing, it is widely acknowedged, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the Internet. Mr. Howard's guide is a full course in itself, suitable for novices as well as the more experienced. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which features an ever-growing database of information on all topics of orchid cultivation.

Blooming Orchids Need to be Kept Cool

2008-11-23T07:14:00.001-08:00

So, you've tenderly cared for an orchid for months and now it is finally rewarding you with a gorgeous bloom. Should you treat the plant any differently now? The best answer one can give is: Perhaps.

Although the variety of your orchid will be the final determinant, as a general rule it would be prudent for you to remove the plant to a cooler and drier place that that in which it was grown. This will help the flowers to last much longer than in a warm and moist greenhouse or other typical growing room.

Most orchids will not be harmed by putting them into a cooler, drier location when they are blooming. Most will positively benefit from it. Nevertheless, you should ensure that the temperature of your orchid's temporary new home should never get below 50 degrees F. at night.

Here's an experiment you can carry out if you happen to have two orchids of the same variety which blossom at around the same time. Leave one in your growing room, and place the other in a cool, dry place as recommended above. You will almost certainly notice that the one in your "cool room" will have fresh flowers for a significantly longer time than the one that was left behind.

The flowers of even the best-kept orchids will finally begin to fade at some point, of course. When this happens you can move the plant back to the warm growing room. Just take care to shade it from the sun until it has re-adjusted to the warmer surroundings. Otherwise it can become scorched.

One of the keys to success in growing orchids is understanding their life cycles and the different stages they go through. Every stage requires a different kind of care, and the blossoming stage has its own unique "rules.".

The most up-to-date guide to contemporary orchid care, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded from the Internet. Mr. Howard's ebook is a complete course in itself, appropriate for neophytes as well as the more experienced. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which contains an ever-growing database of postings on all facets of orchid cultivation.

Hobbyist Enjoy Healthy Foods With Their Home Garden

2008-11-22T09:13:00.001-08:00

There is an increasing trend towards growing a home garden so that fresh produce is readily available to enjoy for meals, or for freezing and canning. One primary reason for this is that people are learning more about the pesticides that are routinely sprayed on the fruits and vegetables that are available in the supermarkets these days. The produce grown in one's own back yard provides better nutrition.

Not only that, but for many people starting and cultivating a home garden for the purpose of providing wonderful foods for the table is an enjoyable endeavor. Gardening has long been a popular hobby for many people all around the world, but when you add the extra incentive of being able to provide your family with nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables that have not been contaminated with chemicals and pesticides, it is easy to see why the popularity of the garden has grown.

In addition to concerns about the quality and safety of store-bought produce, another reason why people love to have a home garden bursting with wonderful foods is that you can go out and pick the vegetables at just the right time to assure freshness. Compare this with tomatoes, for example, that are picked long before they ripen, transported, stored and finally put on the store shelf.

In that scenario, which is common of the vast majority of produce sold in the grocery stores today, the tomato has been detached from its life-giving parent plant for many days and sometimes weeks. But with a vegetable garden just outside your kitchen door, you can pick your tomatoes when they are at their peak of ripeness and be able to have the freshest tomatoes to add to your salad or for your famous tomato sauce.

Most of the common and popular vegetables that are available in the produce sections of grocery stores can be grown in home gardens. Some of the most popular varieties are carrots, green beans, potatoes, peas, beets, broccoli, cabbage, and many varieties of squash, just to name a few. And don't forget about all of the wonderful berries that can be home grown as well. Technically a fruit, tomatoes are one of the most popular foods that people enjoy including in their home gardens. They are easy to grow and simply delicious plucked off the vine.

Produce from a vegetable garden can be used immediately or it can be frozen or canned for later use, and many people include herbs in their gardens too. In fact, herbs can be even more convenient as they can even be grown indoors, making your gardening efforts even more simple and easy. And, just as those fresh vegetables taste better and are better for you, you will also find that fresh herbs from the garden are superior in taste and flavor as compared to the dried and packaged varieties.

Aside from all of the benefits of a home garden for providing wonderful food and tasty herbs for your meals, many people simply love being in the garden, weeding, watering and tending their crops. There is a great sense of satisfaction in planting and tending the garden and in seeing your efforts bloom and grow. And, sharing a meal of good food with friends is a feeling many people treasure.

No realestate is finished without some type of grass, as well as some forms of shruberry to help enhance the overall quality of the building. The added value of curb appeal can make the difference when selling a house or increasing the value of a home. Any little bit helps and you do not always need a professional to do the landscaping for you. There is no downside to get some advice from professionals or some knowledge prior to you beginning tearing up your front yard. A few trees, some nice green grass and you will have it down pat before you know it. Who knows? Possibly you will decide it as a career that you might be curious in following. The following are some of the frequently asked question people have for landscaping so that you can have an idea of how landscaping is done and how it can be easier than you might think.

At what point should I hire a landscaper?

You should hire a landscaper if you don't have a "green thumb" and you are not going to have the necessary time to commit to getting rid of the prior landscape and planting the new. There are certain steps that must be put into place to prevent soil erosion so it will need at a minimum a weekend of hard work. Landscaper's are not inexpensive but you can find one at a fair cost contingent upon on how big the area is and how much labor you intend to complete yourself. If you are going to maintain the area, you will save money as well.

Perennials and annuals - What makes them different?

Both are, of course, plants but the variation is in the time span in which they last and how frequently you are required to plant them again. Annuals must be replanted eash year. Some examples of annuals are any type of vegetable, sunflowers as well as flowers such as violets. Perennials are plants that will renew themselves. They include trees, bulb plants such as lilies, tulips and include roses as well as other hardy plants that become dormant in the winter months. The majority of ornamental grasses are thought to be perennials.

How do I decide which type to plant?

The type of plant you select will depend on your environmental condition and how much you want to water. It will also be dependent on the amount of sun your yard receives throughout the day. Some plants thrive in the shade while others will wilt. For those individuals who live in drought prone areas, they should consider planting plants that are hardy that require little water and really help to conserve the soil from process of erosion. Numerous individuals choose to have rock gardens and cactus if they happen to live in desert environments.

At what time is the ideal season for planting?

The ideal planting season is dependent upon what variation of plant you want to grow. Bulbs are best planted in the fall so that they have time to root within the soil. Other plants are more suitable to planting in the months of the spring. Some plants will not produce flowers or fruits for one or two seasons later so you have to prepare for this. Trees will need to go through several years before they become substantial enough to provide enough shade or produce fruit.

How can I protect my newly planted greenery and flowers from the weather and elements?

At the time of the beginning weeks and months numerous plants are in danger of dying from the atmospheric condition however you can take the necessary steps to help prevent this from happening. Wind and rain are two of the biggest threats. To guard your plants from both you will have to provide them with protection. You can lay down a a barrier to protect between the ground and the plant. This will help secure the plant's roots and prevent too much water from absorbing into the ground. The additional gain will be suppression of weeds from growing up through the barrier. To prevent wind erosion of the soil, spread hay or straw in and around the plants to assist in protecting the soil. If you put a bag that protects around the plant that will maintain the plant warm enough to prevent frost.

For a lot more informational value go here: City Landscape as well as Landscape Designer and certainly try Landscape Plants

Bean Plant Growth

2008-11-21T20:54:00.001-08:00

A favorite vegetable for gardenering, are the many varieties of the bean plant and by becoming aware of the grow zones and seasons you can reap the full benefits. All types of beans, ranging from the common snap pea to soy beans, are a healthy addition to any diet. High in protein, the bean is one of the base ingredients in a vegetarian’s diet, as well as an excellent side dish for those with a preference for meat.

For gardeners, the first stage of bean plant growth is important and you will need to be sure to purchase good seed products before planting. High quality seeds have a much higher chance of the plant taking root, which will result in a higher yield in your garden. While these seeds may be slightly more expensive, the overall increase of bean plant growth is worth the investment, especially if you intend on having a larger garden.

The best plant growth conditions for beans range in temperature from no lower than 61 degrees Fahrenheit or 16 degrees Celsius. Temperatures below these levels will endanger the growth for the plant and in fact may even cause it to die.

Germination can take several weeks to be accomplished and can range anywhere from three days to an entire month, however, most bean plants begin to break ground around two weeks after planting. At this point, the bean plant growth stage is termed as a seedling because the plant is at a very young stage in its development. This phase of the bean plant growth cycle is vital, as a healthy seedling will mature into a robust plant. If your seedlings are dehydrated or over watered, as well as planted too early, your crops will suffer and the amount of beans gathered later in the cycle will be diminished.

From the point that your plant has become a seedling, it takes an average of at least fifty days for your plant to produce pods and be ready for harvest. This means that there is realistically only one growth cycle for beans in a year. Planting of beans should occur no earlier than March to ensure that your plants have had adequate time to grow during the season before fall frosts strike. Frost can seriously harm bean plant growth, and care should be taken to avoid this. In colder climates, this can be tricky, therefore a greenhouse alternative can be used to help grow the plants.

Because it is an annual plant, they can grow again each year for several seasons at a time. Seeds should be placed about two inches apart during planting a garden and when the plants have started growing, it is recommended to remove any weaker plants, so each plant has about 4 inches of space on each side. The soil should be fully cultivated to help prevent the garden from being overtaken by weeds.

Orchids Are Everywhere, If We Know Where to Look

2008-11-20T08:16:00.001-08:00

Many people "know" that orchids are entirely tropical or subtropical in nature. But in fact, orchids can be found in virtually every part of the globe outside of the deserts and the polar regions.

About 85% of orchid species may inded be found in the tropics and subtropics, but that leaves a large number to the more temperate zones. Among other things, this means that you will not be out of luck if you live in a coolish area and want to grow orchids, but do not have a hothouse or other such area in which do so so.

There are tens of thousands of orchid species. You could be surprised to learn that there could well be orchids growing in your own vicinity, even if you make your home in a cool region. Take the fairly common Lady Slipper.

Lady Slippers (also written Lady's Slippers and Ladyslippers) is a name given to a large subfamily of orchids, the Cypripedioidea, with many members that grow in cool climates over much of North America and Europe. If you live in the New England states of the U.S., or the Appalachian mountains, or even in Canada, you could have Lady Slippers growing wild in some woods near you.

One species of Lady Slipper is the state flower of Minnesota. Another is the official state wildflower of New Hampshire. The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has a Lady Slipper as its official flower.

If you are thinking of growing orchids, especially in an outdoor garden, you would do well to consider a native species. It will already be adapted to your particular climate, and--if you live in a place that has low temperatures in the winter--you might not even have to bring it inside when cold weather arrives.

One of the prettiest native-American orchids is the Yellow Lady Slipper. It is also among the easiest orchids to grow in a garden. On the other hand, the Pink Lady Slipper is extremely difficult to grow.Although both of them are lovely, you would be better off growing the Yellow Lady Slipper if your orchid growing experience is limited.

Nurseries that specialize in orchid plants tend to run out of stock from time to time. Nevertheless, Lady Slippers are generally some of the easiest orchids to obtain. They are also cheaper to acquire, generally, than more exotic orchid plants. They are an excellent orchid for getting your thumb green, so to speak, before you take on the rarer or more "foreign" types.

All of the rules governing successful orchid growing apply to the Lady Slippers and related plants. You need accurate information before you begin trying to grow these or other orchids, and the best, most thorough guide to modern orchid growing, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the web. Howard's wonderful guide will provide a complete education on the subject. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing database of postings on many aspects of orchid cultivation.

Are You Letting Your Orchids Rest?

2008-11-19T06:11:00.001-08:00

Orchids require "rest" time every year. The exact time for this depends on the species, but for most orchids it should start some time in the fall and continue well into winter. You must treat your plants differently at this time than you would during their energetic growth periods (spring and summer usually). This is an often-overlooked part of growing orchids successfully.

A good general practice is to allow your orchids rest from November through the middle of February. How do you do this? Basically by lowering the temperature where you keep your plants, and by restricting their water.

For orchids that originate in hot or very warm regions, you should keep the temperature at about 60 0r 65. For species from cooler climes, you can let the temperature drop to as low as 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

During this time, provide your orchids just enough water to keep them from shriveling. The bulk of the moisture should be supplied by misting or by taking steps to keep the air humid. From time to time, though, you should poke down into the soil and examine the stem, roots and rooting medium of your plants. If these are beginning to dry out you can water them directly.

Some species will continue to grow during the winter. These will need somewhat more water than those that truly go dormant. If you see new shoots coming up, though, try to avoid wetting them or they else they might rot.

Some orchids are deciduous. This means they will lose their leaves after they have finished their growth for the year. You need to give these as much sun and light during their rest period as you can. This will allow their pseuduobulbs to ripen, which in turn causes them to grow stronger and flower more freely.

Proper orchid care is not that hard or mysterious. But to prevent problems will require more detailed information than can be included in a short article. The most up-to-date guide to modern orchid care, many agree, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded online. Howard's clearly written guide will provide a complete education on the subject. Also, be sure to visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing database of articles on many topics of orchid cultivation.

Winter Vegetable Gardening Yields a Spring Harvest

2008-11-18T14:57:00.001-08:00

When you think of gardening, chances are that you probably don't consider winter the best time to do it. After all, very few plants can survive in the harsh, cold environment. Why else do the trees lose their leaves and such? However, there are a number of sturdy, rough plants that you can choose to grow for harvest in the springtime. Winter vegetable gardening does not really include actually growing these plants during the winter. Rather, most of the growing takes place in the fall before winter time, and the plants are merely sturdy enough to survive the cold better than other plants.

Sturdy Plants

Which kinds of plants can cling to life when the temperature dips to zero? There are still enough that you can undertake winter vegetable gardening. You have such varieties as carrots, cauliflower, and beets to grow over the winter. While surely not as numerable as plants designed for growth during the normal gardening season, these vegetable gardening seeds will grow during some of the harshest winters that we experience as far north as states like Oregon and Pennsylvania, which tend to be temperate in the summer and can experience some very cold winters.

However, winter vegetable gardening also incorporates some other tools to help you grow during the off-season. Consider building walls or windbreaks to help keep the temperature around ten degrees warmer on the coldest days, and exterior greenhouses can help keep the plants in temperate weather even when there is ice on the ground. On same days, you may even need to ventilate greenhouses to prevent an excessive amount of heat from harming your plants. Considering that the ground can freeze up to half a foot deep depending on the temperature, you should take every precaution available to give your plants a fighting chance. By following these tips, winter vegetable gardening should never be a problem.

As previously stated, winter vegetable gardening doesn't really involve growing plants in the winter, when they will grow very slowly, if at all. Instead, it simply helps these plants to survive so that you can pick them in the spring for delicious vegetables like beets, carrots, and cauliflower. It does take a little more work and is slightly more expensive than traditional gardening, but there is no reason why a season should stop you from practicing one of your favorite hobbies. It can be a challenge at times, surely, but winter vegetable gardening is an incredibly rewarding experience.

For more about gardening please visit www.organicgardeningzone.com

Home Vegetable Gardening for Great Home-Grown Food

2008-11-17T13:16:00.001-08:00

There used to be a time when literally everyone had their own garden. Of course, the grocery store changed all of that, and now the trend is that most people don't have any garden at all. This is a sad statistic because home vegetable gardening can save you hundreds of dollars a year, as millions of people still appreciate each year. As if that weren't persuasion enough, you can also grow one hundred percent organic food with no extra chemicals which can have harmful side effects. Home vegetable gardening is more widely practiced in countries like France where it seems like literally everyone has a garden, but it is still fairly popular over in the United States.

Self-Sufficient

Home vegetable gardening is a great way to supplement what you purchase at the grocery store. There is absolutely no reason why you can't grow enough corn, carrots, beets, and other veggies to last the entire year for your family, and those are hundreds of your own dollars that you won't need to spend. Not only that, but you can go completely organic for a fraction of the price of organic food in stores while getting the same benefits. Organic foods tend to be tastier and more nutritional, but they can be pretty expensive if you go to a health foods store.

However, you can also grow food in the winter time by practicing what is known as winter vegetable gardening. The selection of plants that can grow during the winter is somewhat limited, but you can still grow vegetables like beets, cauliflower, and carrots for an early spring harvest after the ground completely thaws. You'll need to practice some different methods of home vegetable gardening, but being able to pick those vegetables in the spring can be well worth the effort. Be warned that you might need to spend a little extra on supplies like greenhouses and raised gardening beds, but even these supplies won't set you back too much.

It's a wonder that more people don't practice home vegetable gardening. It is incredibly simple to pick up, even if you are a novice, and you don't need that many tools to do it. In fact, it is pretty difficult for a garden to turn out a failure, although lack of maintenance can harm the vitality of your plants (i.e. forgetting to mix plant food, compost, or manure into the soil before planting seeds or not watering them enough). Home vegetable gardening is a great hobby that will save you money and give you some very delicious food in the process.

For more about gardening please visit www.organicgardeningzone.com

The Advantages of Having a Hydroponic Greenhouse

2008-11-16T00:05:00.001-08:00

A greenhouse is a great thing both for hydroponic gardeners as well as those who grow in soil. Generally speaking, a greenhouse has the same advantages for either. However, hydroponic gardening is especially well suited for a greenhouse setting, since temperature, airflow and light are more easily controlled.

Many plants do exceptionally well in a hydroponic greenhouse, among them strawberries, peas, Welsh onions and others. Also, flowers such as orchids are great for greenhouse gardening.

Hydroponic gardeners find controlling light to be particularly challenging. Since the plant is grown in water rather than soil, algal growth can be an issue; however, preventing light from getting to the surface of the water is easy in a greenhouse, since light can be controlled with shades and shutters.

Obviously, just like plants which are grown in soil, plants grown hydroponically also need plenty of light. A greenhouse does not inherently have more light than would an outdoor setting. Because the light is filtered and diffused within the greenhouse, the grower is able to provide a more warm and consistent light for growing. The plants are shielded from reduced temperatures, yet given plenty of sun.

In winter, you will get low temperatures in northern climates of course, but the sun will be be full for several hours. Be sure that your greenhouse has a translucent polycarbonate wall as it will keep the ideal temperatures for growing plants inside even while it is cold outside.

You can install vents and fans to keep the inside of your greenhouse from getting too hot; hydroponically grown plants do need a consistent temperature, just as soil grown plants do.

Growing plants in a greenhouse allows you to garden in all kinds of weather. Without a greenhouse, your only option may be within your house, something not everyone can do.

Unlike growing in your home, a greenhouse has significantly better light and watering setups. There are few homeowners who have the room to install high pressure sodium grow lights or metal halide lights for their vegetables – not to mention running irrigation systems through the guestroom!

When you have a greenhouse, these systems can be placed optimally for your plants, making things easier for you as a gardener. This is especially important for hydroponic gardeners, since the water and light are far more important than in soil gardening – a soil garden is typically much better at being self-regulated in this regard.

It is also easier to set up a feeding system in a greenhouse, something which is very important for hydroponically grown plants. With good soil, plants can gain most of the nutrients they need easily. However, a gardener must arrange for all nutrients to be delivered properly when gardening hydroponically.

You will also want to look at pH levels. When in a hydroponic setting there is greater probability in the shifting of the pH. Acid and alkaline levels can shift rapidly when growing in water. A hydroponic garden allows for the gardener to set up a system that has automatic pH controls.

You can build your own greenhouse or buy one which is pre-assembled. These are a great investment for anyone interested in indoor hydroponic gardening. They can be purchased in a wide range of sizes, with modular systems also available so you can expand along with your garden.

Great Orchid Growers Treat their Plants Rght

2008-11-15T00:03:00.001-08:00

Most folks can successfully grow orchids if they take the time to learn about the differences between the major families of these exciting plants, as well as their varied needs.

Orchids come from a wide variety of environments which differ from one another in almost every respect. As a result, you will find that some species produce their flowers early in spring, others in summer and yet others during the dull days of winter. Their respective times of beginning their seasonal growth also vary, but for convenience you may rest all of your orchids in the winter. The majority will then begin to push up their young shoots as soon as the days lengthen and the sun gains increased power.

When orchids are in their growing periods (as opposed to their dormancy), they must be treated differently with respect to heat, based on where they originated. East Indian orchids require the most heat. Inside, maintain the air temperature around them at 65 degrees Fahrenheit at night and 70 degrees at day. In the outdoors they will thrive at up to 75 degrees in the early spring. During the hottest parts of summer they will tolerate temperatures as high as 85 or 90. Just be sure to shade the plants from the direct rays of the sun at these times.

If you are growing these East Indian-originated orchids, you should make sure that the atmosphere surrounding them is well supplied with moisture. Mist abundantly! You can also splash water over the paths and tables in your greenhouse or other growing area. A nice, moist, rising heat will be produced this way. Be sure and do it every day.

Brazilian orchids come from a cooler climate one that is not so highly saturated with moisture. They of course require less heat and less moisture but they do need a considerable degree of warmth during their growing season. The same applies to the majority of orchids that originated in Mexico. They should be heated artificially to approximately 60 degrees at night and 65 or 70 by day during the spring. As days lengthen the temperature may be allowed to increase so that during the months of May through August the night heat may range from 65 to 70 and
by day from 70 to 85 degrees.

There are also the cool orchids, so called. These should be kept in a separate area from other orchids, if you can. These plants' native habitats are the Andean countries of South America, where they are found growing high up. These must be grown at lower temperatures. You might try a range of 45 to 55 degrees during the winter, and 50 to as high as 65 during the summer. However you grow them, you must ensure that they are shaded from the sun most of the time. You can easily kill the cool orchids with too much heat!

There are numerous other groups and subgroups of these plants, too many to go over them in a limited space. If you want to learn more, the best and most complete guide to modern orchid growing, beyond question, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which may be downloaded online. There are many books on the subject of orchids, but Mr. Howard's guide constitutes a complete education all to itself. And, you will find it suitable for beginners as well as more seasoned orchid cultivators. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing library of articles on all aspects of orchids.

Why The Bamboo Orchid Are Thriving As an Indoor Plant

2008-11-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

One of the most prized flower species in the world is the orchid, of which there are thousands of variations. One of the most beautiful and admired types of orchid is the bamboo orchid plant. Some orchid varieties are inexpensive or simple to take care of, while others are rare and need specific environments. The bamboo orchid is an uncommon breed of orchid, and should be cared for by an advanced gardener.

The flowers of the bamboo orchid plant are typically soft purples, pinks, or whites.These flowers emit a lovely fragrance. The plant is quite different from other species of orchids because it can grow as tall as five feet high when it is in the wild. It receives its name from the tall, stiff stem of the plant. It can resemble reeds or bamboo, which is quite different from other orchid varieties. Normally they flower through the summer and early autumn, however there are some environments in the world where the blooms can be found all year. Because of the beautiful colors and fragrances of the flowers, they attract numerous species of butterflies, birds, and bees.

In the wild, the bamboo orchid plant is found in the Pacific Islands and parts of Asia. However, it can now be found in locations such as Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Hawaii. Though there are more areas than ever where the plant is growing, it is still at risk of extinction in several of its native habitats. Though there used to be many of these orchids growing wild in Singapore, it is now estimated that less than two hundred plants are present in the country.The drop in orchid population is closely linked to the destruction of the rain forest. These tropical plants thrive in tropical forests that are frequently destroyed to create grazing land.

Experienced orchid growers may successfully care for the bamboo orchid plant indoors. It is important to create the proper environment for the plant, so that it will grow and thrive. The bamboo orchid naturally grows in humid environments.If you live in a dry location, you are able to simulate the humidity by placing a bowl of water close to the orchid. As the water slowly evaporates, it will simulate humidity for the plant. While the orchid needs some sun during the day, it also needs shade. Placing your plant near a window should give it enough exposure to light. If you live in a tropical location, you may be able to grow your bamboo orchid outside.

Each variety of orchid has a specific set of environmental needs that have to be met for its success. If you want to try your hand at growing a bamboo orchid plant, consider visiting a garden center or orchid association for advice on what your plant will need. They will help you find a suitable plant and make sure that you have the proper setting and food for it to bloom and thrive.

Forcing Bulbs Indoors

2008-11-08T03:06:00.001-08:00

Bring Outside Bloomers Inside

Looking for a while to brighten up those dull winter days? Start in the fall to force spring blooming bulbs inddors and you can have lovely blooms in the middle of winter. Growing bulbs indoors is easy and fun, and takes up very little space. Creating a simulated short winter does the trick. Fool potted bulbs into thinking t's winter by putting them in a cool closet, in the refrigerator, or if it's cold outside, in a foam cooler on a balcony, patio or porch. By doing this, they will grow sturdy roots and start to sprout in preparation for spring.

Start With Good Soil

You can make your own potting soil, or use any commercial organic potting mix. You can do it easily.Use 2 parts peat moss, one part perlite, and one part sterilized potting soil. Get all these things mixed together well. These ingredients will make a nutrient filled potting soil that is clean, porous, and moisture retaining,.

Unsterilized soil from your outside garden because it may contain bacterial or fungal pathogens that could infect the plant roots, so it's better not to use it.

Going To Pot

After you have the soil ready, choose the pot you want to use and place a few pieces of broken crockery over the drainage holes. Place it so the soil can't fall out during the planting process, but with enough free space to allow water to still drain out the hole.

Begin by filling the pot half-full of soil mix. Keep the pointed ends up when placing the bulbs in the container. Without actually letting the bulbs touch, plant the bulbs as closely together as possible. Fill the pot with soil mix, then water the bulbs thoroughly from the top or immerse in a tub of water. That will settle the soil around the bulbs.

Give The Bulbs Some Time

Early blooming bulbs like crocus, daffodils and snowdrops work well. You can get some lovely bulbs to use from many places. For instance, click here for Daffodils from Breck's, plus many other lovely flowering bulbs). To force these early bloomers takes about 12 weeks. Tulips and bulbs like them need longer, about 16 weeks. The flowers will be taller if they are left in cold storage longer.

Too short a time in storage will result in smaller plants and sometimes flowers that start to grown then die.

The Bulbs Need Light.

When the right number of weeks is almost up, start checking the pots now and then. Fine white roots coming out of the drainage holes, and/or shoots 2 or three inches above the soil, are signs to take the pots out of cold storage.

Once the bulbs are at this point, they should be placed in indirect lighting for a while before moving them to direct sunlight. Be carefuly not to allow the soil to dry out.

It also works better to first move bulbs to a fairly cool location if possible, such as an unheated entryway or closed off back bedroom, where the temperatures are in the ’50s, before moving them on to the heated areas of the house, and into more direct sunlight.

Don't Throw The Bulbs Out - Reuse Them.

The bulbs can be reused if you cut the flower stems off after the blooms die. Make sure the foliage has plenty of sunlight to continue to grow, as this gather nutrients for the bulb to bloom next year.

After the foliage withers, don’t pull the leaves off. Leaving the leaves in place, store the bulbs in the pots in a cool, dry place until they can be planted outside. Don’t try to make the same bulbs bloom inside again, as the bulb is weakened from being forced to bloom. Blooms, if any, produced from a second forcing would be small.

Planting the bulbs in the garden allows them to return to a natural schedule with the seasons. After a year or two they should be back on schedule and making a beautiful display of blooms at the appropriate times.

Gardening Design with Annuals

2008-11-07T02:37:00.001-08:00

Gardening Design with Annuals

Most flowers, and some non-flowering plants, can be divided into annuals, perennials and biennials. Biennials bloom only every other year. Perennials will lose their flowers, but then come right back the following year - often for many, many years. Annuals, by contrast, bloom one year and never again, typically dying out entirely.

As a result, annuals have to be freshly planted every year - hence the name. But as a kind of reward, they offer garden designers the widest array possible of stunning color and style choices. Annuals are the brightest, the most intense and among the most beautiful flowers available.

If you want a garden that is full of the deepest colors - shocking yellows, deep purples, vibrant reds - annuals are your best bet. If you want to pack your garden with an effusion of flowering plants, annuals will give you what you're looking for. Just don't forget you will have to re-do the effort every year. But then, for some, that's part of the fun!

Annuals can be further divided into Spring, Summer and Fall annuals. Spring annuals such as pansies, violas or snapdragons can be planted in early Spring. Summer annuals, such as petunias or impatiens should be planted later, in order to avoid exposure to any late cold snap.

Unless you grow from seed, you'll pick up some annuals already growing, probably already in bloom. Look for soil that has been kept moist but not wet. Excessively wet soil promotes diseases and harmful growths that often don't show up until after you've had the plant for a while. Soil shouldn't be too dry, either. That leads to sickly plants that sometimes don't survive transplanting.

Young annuals are fragile and if the conditions in which they were raised before you acquired them aren't right, they often won't last very long. Best to invest your time and money in ones that have the best chance for survival.

Give them that chance by planting in loose, well fed soil. For fertilization, fish emulsion or other commercial mixtures containing the right amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients are a good start. Just follow the directions on the package.

Annuals can be planted close together, provided each has adequate soil, water and nutrients. A good guideline is to observe wild flowers in a densely packed area. Nature has figured out long ago how much room, sunlight and water a plant needs to thrive.

Many annuals are best acquired before they've begun to blossom. When you find young ones that have many healthy looking buds, you can bet you'll have lots of flowers before long. Since they haven't blossomed yet, they'll have the maximum life span.

Picking out healthy plants isn't hard. If it looks healthy, it usually is. Straight sturdy stalks (for those that grow that way naturally), no wilting, bright greens (with little or no browning), and other obvious signs rarely lead you astray.

Don't worry too much if your first gardening design experiments aren't 100% successful. In some cases, plants will die no matter how well you treat them. Annuals are relatively inexpensive and you'll have plenty of room in your budget to create that carpet of color you want.

Gardening Design - Winter Choices

2008-11-06T01:39:00.001-08:00

Gardening Design - Winter Choices

Most gardeners who live in cold climates just pack up for winter and head inside. Watching the landscape through a window, they see stretches of snow covered ground, dead stalks and a few hardy evergreens. Not a bad view, actually!

But for the truly adventurous there are many choices of shrub or tree that can help brighten even those gloomy winter scenes, inside and out.

Holly has been popular around Christmas for centuries. With year-round foliage and colorful berries, it will bring life and color into your life. The bush tolerates cutting even in the dead of winter, so you can prune a few to hang on the door, or make a nice decoration for the dinner table.

China Holly is a delightful variation. Rounded and about 8 foot high, they're drought tolerant and just beautiful. Inkberry Holly is a nice choice, too. It's shorter and the black berries make for an interesting difference from the usual type. Winterberry Holly is a good choice if you want to attract those few bird species that hang around during the cold months.

Birch trees add an artistic touch to the gardening design and can be used as lining around your property or as a centerpiece in the lawn. Since they're deciduous they lose their leaves in the late Fall, but the subtle coloring of the wood and the shape of the branches make them natural sculpture.

Paper Birch has bark that makes an interesting appearance, as it sheds and folds. A variety known as Yellow Birch is a colorful type. Young's Weeping Birch grows only to six to twelve feet, making it a wonderful shorter version. Most birch trees can grow 60 feet or more over a period of decades.

Yew trees have long been associated with the Christmas season in Great Britain, but can be grown in many countries. Their evergreen needles and bright red berries provide a nice bit of color during winter. Be sure not to eat the berries, which are poisonous.

Several Japanese species have evolved in the windswept areas and form lovely additions to the home. The Japanese Barberry is a roundish shrub that does well in certain parts of the country. They're hardy up to Zone 3. A few feet high and wide, they produce lovely Fall colors and the berries will last until very late into the season.

The American version will thrive in Zones 2-8 and its fruit is a favorite of birds. They're also deer resistant, so if you live in an area they frequent you get two benefits in one bush. During the other seasons you might enjoy the fragrant foliage.

Complete the picture with a tall grass that can add to the scene in winter. Plume grass is an ornamental and will last all year round in Zones 4-9. With a thin shaft and puffy top, you'll enjoy seeing them against the background.

Don't let winter stop you from enjoying your green thumb. Pick some winter plants today and enliven your gardening design for the winter.

Herb Gardening Tips

2008-11-05T01:21:00.001-08:00

Herb Gardening Tips

Herb gardening is becoming more and more popular every day, and for a good reason. Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants. When most people think of herb gardening they automatically think of cooking, but herbs are also grown for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.

One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs for use during the winter months, especially if you plan on cooking with them. First the tops of leafy herbs have to be cut, washed, and hung up for the water to evaporate. Then, tie stems together and hang up in a paper bag to dry. After two to three weeks they must be removed; crumble the leaves, dry them out in the oven, and store in a glass jar.

One of the most common herbs gown in herb gardening is basil. “Dark Opal” and regular green basil are beautiful additions to any garden and often used as decoration. Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves. Basil isn’t just used for its looks; it is used for extra flavor in tomato juices and pastes.

Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought and a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn’t want plants that require a lot of hassle. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.

Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell. Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden are thyme and sage. Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Lavender is probably the best smelling herb in all of herb gardening and is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.

Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell. Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.

Flower Gardening is as easy as 1,2,3

2008-11-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

Flower Gardening is as easy as 1,2,3

Flower gardening is becoming more and more popular every day. Flowers can brighten everyone’s day, they smell nice, and are a great hobby. Flower gardening is simple, inexpensive, and loads of fun. Flower gardening can be done for yard decoration, simply as a hobby, or even professionally.
There are some decisions that have to be made before even flower gardening can be started. You must decide if you want annuals that live for one season and must be replanted every year, or perennials that survive the winter and return again in the summer. When buying and planting, pay attention to what kind of flowers thrive in your climate as well ass the sun requirements.
When flower gardening, you must decide what type of look you want before planting. For instance, mixing different heights, colors, and varieties of flowers together in a “wild-plant style” will give your garden a meadow look and can be very charming. If short flowers are planted in the front of your garden and work up to the tallest flowers in the back you will have a “stepping stone style”.
You can order seeds for flower gardening from catalogues or buy them from a nursery. Most people will go to the nursery and buy actual flowers and then transplant them. After you have prepared your garden area and bought flowers, it is a good idea to lay the flowers out in the bed to make sure you like the arrangement and that they will be spaced properly.
One of the easiest processes in flower gardening is the planting/ if you have seeds just sprinkle them around in the flower bed. For planting transplants dig a hole just bigger than the flower, pull the container off, and set the flower in the hole right side up. Cover it with the loose soil and press down firmly, then water.

Maintaining a flower garden is even easier than planting one. Although they might make it on their own, a bag of fertilizer applied in the early spring is a good idea. Pinch back any blooms after they start to fade and keep them good and watered. To save yourself work during the next season of flower gardening, rid your garden of all debris and spread out organic nutrients like peat moss or compost. Don’t forget to turn over the soil to properly mix in the fertilizer and rake smooth when finished. If you have perennials planted be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

Flower gardening is as easy as 1, 2, and 3: simply decide what to plant; plant it, and water, water, water! Flower gardening is undoubtedly gaining in popularity and gives anyone excellent reason to spend some outdoors and test out their green thumb.

Hummingbird Feeders Add Beauty to Your Garden

2008-11-03T16:22:00.001-08:00

Their feeding habits, their ability to hover, and their being the smallest birds in the world make hummingbirds really amazing to watch. These birds are small, averaging 3.5 inches from head to tail.

For feeding the humminbirds the best way is to place a nectar feeder high up on a tree branch to prevent it from other animals eating it away. Hummingbirds are attractd to a combination of sugar and water. This blend is the closest approximation to flower nectar available. When you prepare homemade nectar you should not use honey, molasses or any other artificial sweeteners.

A simple recipe for homemade nectar is 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water, bring to a boil melting the sugar, set aside to cool. When this mixture is cool you can fill your feeder. This is a 1 to 3 mix. You should not add food coloring to the mix.

Hummingbirds rely heavily on flower and prepared nectar for their energy needs, however, they will also eat small insects for protein. You should be able to successfully attract hummingbirds to a backyard feeder with a proper combination of cleanliness, timing, and consistency.

A hummingbird feeder has to be clean and the nectar fresh or the bird will not feed from it and if it does, it may become sick. A hummingbird feeder should be colorful, red and orange seem to be the best colors for attracting the birds. For the hummingbirds in the area to see the feeder easier, it would be a good idea to attach a red ribbon.

There are a couple of different types of hummingbird feeders. The dish type has a perch and allows a good view of the way a hummingbird feeds. The gravity fed bottle feeder has no perch so that eliminates the problem of other animals landing on it to feed. Hummingbird feeders come in many different styles and shapes from simple glass or plastic bottles and home made feeder plates to beautifully hand blown glass bulbs that enhance the charm of any backyard.

The best time to hang your hummingbird feeder is shortly before spring. If a hummingbird is drawn to the bird feeder during this time, it will likely return throughout the spring, summer, and well into fall.

Adding flowers and feeders to your garden will attract hummingbirds. The same plants you have in your yard will attract butterflies as well as hummingbirds. By going to your local garden supply shop you will be able to locate feeders and plants to attract the hummingbirds.

Don't stop gardening in the fall!

2008-11-02T02:16:00.001-08:00

Don't stop gardening in the fall!

Many gardeners do not even consider fall gardening because of the winter frosts that might make an early appearance. On the contrary, fall gardening will result in excellent vegetables and will extend crops long after spring planted plants are finished. Vegetables produced from fall gardening are sometimes sweeter and milder than those grow in the summer and offer a brand new taste to the same old veggies.

What you choose to grow during you fall gardening will depend on your available space and what you like to eat, just like spring plants. Even the crops that enjoy the heat, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be pretty late in the year in southern areas. However, there are some plants that will quit towards the end of summer like snap-beans, summer squash, and cucumbers. If these vegetables are planted around the middle of the summer they can be harvested until the first frosts as well. Hardy, tough vegetables will grow until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong will only be able to grow through light frosts. Remember that if you have root and tuber plants and the tops are killed by a freeze the edible part can be saved if a large amount of mulch is used.

When fall gardening, make sure and pick the vegetables with the shortest growing season so they can be full grown and harvested before the frost arrives. Most seed packages will be labeled “early season”, or you can find the seeds boasting the fewest days to maturity. You may want to go after your seeds for fall gardening in spring or early summer; they are usually not kept in stock towards the end of summer. If they are stored in a cool and dry location they will keep until you are ready to plant.

In order to know exactly when the best time to start fall gardening, you must know about when the first hard frost will hit your area. One of the best ways to tell this is by a Farmer’s Almanac. They will give you exact dates and are rarely wrong. You will also need to know exactly how long it is going to take your plants to mature.

To get your soil ready for fall gardening you must first remove any leftover spring/summer crops and weeds. Crops leftover from the last season can end up spreading bacteria and disease if left in the garden. Spread a couple of inches of compost or mulch over the garden area to increase the nutrients, however, if spring plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, if any. Till the top layer of soil, wet it down, and let it set for about 12-24 hours. Once this has been done, you are ready to start planting.

Many gardeners will run from fall gardening so they don’t have to deal with frosts, but if tough, sturdy vegetables are planted they can withstand a few frosts and give you some wonderful tasting produce. Fall gardening gives you the chance to enjoy your vegetable garden for at least a little bit more time.

Planting A Primrose Path

2008-11-01T12:49:00.001-07:00

Planting A Primrose Path

An area of any size, a path of any length, or even a simple wooded corner has in it a potential Primrose Path. Whether four feet long or four hundred, it can have charm. It isn't necessarily length and size that make for success, but rather an indefinable element compounded of composition, arrangement, Tightness, and vigor of the plant material involved.

The soil on our Primrose Path is partly composed of rotted leaves and old stumps. It is rich and black and loose, and almost always slightly moist to the touch. The nearby stream runs with ample water the year round, and in flooding spring rains the primroses are occasionally under water. Our slope is slight and to the southwest. The plants bask in morning sun briefly till about eleven, when trees shade them, then again filtered sunlight dapples them through the afternoon.

Of course a brook isn't essential. And primroses will thrive as happily on east, south, or west slopes—but not so well on the north. They definitely do want a cool moist area, and shade from the noonday sun. In other words if your garden is high, dry, and hot, better to plant marigolds!

We have well over a hundred plants now, and our goal is unlimited. Each year we buy a few more from the catalogues, the local nursery, and the grocery store. (You can successfully transplant primroses in full flower.) Every year we also start more plants from seed (partly because a thousand of anything is costly).

Plant seeds outside in May, in a small six by six seedling corner of the vegetable garden that gets five hours of sun daily. We sow seeds one eighth to a quarter of an inch deep in light well-drained soil. In two weeks or so seedlings first appear. We thin them to stand six inches apart.

In the fall we cover the small thrifty plants with pine or evergreen boughs, and then leaves. The boughs prevent the leaves from packing on the crowns. The plants remain in the nursery through the first winter. Early the next spring they are set on the Primrose Path.

We dig a hole and loosen the soil in the area around it, giving each plant a site with plenty of good growing room. We free it from roots and encroaching greenery. A few trowels full of leaf mold or superphosphate mixed in the earth under the plant is helpful. Set each plant and firm the soil up around the crown but never cover it. Water, and then the fun begins. Observe how they take hold and grow. If there are normal spring rains no further watering is needed.

One of my favorite pastimes is to wander in our nearby woods with a small dump wagon or basket, collecting leaf mold and material from inside old rotted stumps. Both can be used in Or on top of the soil, and will greatly spur primroses to their best. Many of the first-year plants will flower the following spring on the Primrose Path. They'll be tentative, small blooms, to be sure, and only a few, but enough to reveal colors. The subsequent spring they really let go and bloom riotously.

The Rattlesnake Fern

2008-10-31T13:15:00.001-07:00

The Rattlesnake Fern

Be not alarmed by the rattlesnake fern (Botrychium vir-ginianum, 5 in.-2 ft.) which has no special affinity for its namesake. This charming yet stately little plant is common and happy in rich shady woods. Here the plumelike sporophyll springs stiffly up amidst a cluster of sterile fronds. This fern fruits when small as well as large.

The royal fern (Osmunda regalis, 4-6 ft.) is a tall dramatic one with great high fronds. The root of it, as with some of the other osmundas, is the source of the familiar orchid potting material. It is most at home along the banks of streams where it rises in dignity to wave its dense and lovely fronds in the breeze. The spring fronds are golden brown and appear in clusters from the midst of its cushion of black wiry "osmunda" root.

The sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis, 3 ft.) is sensitive to frost, not to human touch. At the first real cold snap in the fall it folds up for the season. The coarse erect fronds are thin in texture. The sporophyll appears in midsummer. The dark green berry-like nubs on it are actually rolled-up pinnules holding spore cases. Do examine these delicate forms under a magnifying glass.

The toothed wood fern (Dryopteris spinulosa, or Aspidium spinulosum, 3 ft.) has graceful curving fronds and interesting scaly stems. You may wander through great stretches of it enjoying the feel of feathery fronds on bare legs, and stirred by the rhythmic swaying patterns created in the gentlest breeze. Notice how the fronds spring up in an almost perfect circle from the ground. This fern loves to find a decaying old tree stump to grow in.

Fern Culture

Ferns may be dug in the woods spring or fall. There are also a number of mail-order growers that specialize. If you bring your own from the woods, observe the direction they face and plant them so they face likewise. Your success is assured if you can match up the new location in your garden (including soil and exposure) with the spot where you found them. However, it is heartening to know that many ferns grow in more than one type of soil and location. They are far more adaptable than we give them credit for. This is one factor that makes them easy to transplant and grow.

Also note, as you dig, how shallow the roots of ferns are. Set them likewise in your garden. In general, a northern exposure is ideal; east or west is also fine, and, occasionally, for some few ferns, a southern slope.

While ferns need moisture in the soil they never want sog-giness. Good drainage is vital. For most species a safe rule is: Filtered sunlight or none at all. Ferns require absolutely no upkeep. Their roots are too near the surface for cultivation. Nature keeps a fine, cool, leaf mulch over the ground all year.

These constantly rotting leaves contribute to soil enrichment. The old fronds of some sorts brown and drop during the summer. If you are the neat type these can be trimmed away. We like this rusty brown note amongst the midsummer greens, so we don't bother to trim.

Ideal fern soil is, of course, woods soil. If you should want to create a fernery in a place where you must change the soil, the perfect mixture is equal parts sand, garden soil, peat moss and leaf mold. If you have no peat, change the mixture to two parts leaf mold. Of course if you plant ferns in an area similar to where you found them in the woods, you need move no soil, and do nothing further. Just let them take over.

But, on general principles, carry a bushel basket and shovel in the trunk of your car. We enjoy exploring woods and always have an eye out for some old decaying stump to scoop out for our newly planted ferns at home. Also valuable is the rich black leaf mold just under the leaf surface of the forest floor. In our wanderings we are often stopped by the beauty of a fern shape silhouetted against an old tumbling stone wall, or against the dark still waters of a stream. And we may pause to admire that one yellow frond curving up against a rough-textured tree trunk, and reflecting one small flicker of filtered sunlight.

Not only for their beauty, great as it is, but also because of almost no upkeep, ferns are for you. In other words, if you, like we, are pining to be a lazy gardener, plant ferns!

The Wonder Of Snowdrops

2008-10-30T04:40:00.001-07:00

The Wonder Of Snowdrops

One of the first flowers to emerge in our snow garden at the end of the winter are snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis). Pure white and delicate they are, with wax like single and double flowers. Each cup-shaped blossom has six petals. The outer three are white, and the inner three striped green. Deep in the cup is a small cluster of yellow stamens. The blossoms hang down, so be sure to tip one up so you can observe the charming formation within. If you have a magnifying glass handy, take a really good look. The inner rims of the double flowers are "scrunched" and crinkled pale green.

Plant snowdrop bulbs 3 inches deep and about 3 inches apart and have about eighteen to a square foot. They also do best if allowed to form a good root growth before winter deeply freezes the soil, so set them out at the same time as the eranthis.

Would you like an unlimited supply of ink-blue, 3 inch-tall daisies that sit on a cushion of feathery green fernlike foliage? If so plant the so-called Greek anemone (Anemone blanda atrocoerulea) in your garden in the snow. Set a dozen tuberous roots in a cluster, each 2 inches apart and 3 inches deep.

Early Iris

Add a note of purple with Iris reticulata, 2 to 4 inches high, with utterly enchanting flowers touched with deep orange "fur" along their out curving petals. Stir a bit of lime in the soil under the bulbs before you set them. Plant 3 inches apart and in groups of a dozen. Another early iris is I. danfordiae, the golden-yellow counterpart of I. reticulata; both come at the same time. Danford iris grows but 3 inches high and is a must,

Both these iris bring fragrance to the early garden. A scent akin to that of sweet violets emerges as they unfurl into the first tentative warming days.

Then another tiny flower—glory-of-the-snow, chionodoxa, —comes poking up through snow and ice. The 4 inch stems may bear anywhere from 8 to 15 blossoms, each blossom with curving tiny petals and white centers. There is Chionodoxa luciliae, bright blue, plus the white and pink forms; also C. sardiniensis, gentian blue and huge, with 15 flowers to a stem.

The water lily tulip, Tulipa kaufmanniana, on 6 inch stems, opens out flat to reveal a white interior that shades to yellow at the petal base. When in bud the carmine-salmon-pink ex¬terior is a delight. Since the flowers fold at night and open each day they are constantly changing form. The folded bud is slim and pointed and utterly beautiful. The seed pods are also lovely—such interesting peaked shapes. It is gratifying to see them burst open and spread their seeds abroad. Thus they naturalize and increase from year to year.

The early crocuses—another of the "great eight"—bring white, blue and yellow to the little flower corner. The earliest of all is Crocus susianus— a gold crocus with a brown exterior. C. moesicus, a brilliant golden yellow, follows closely. Crowding along together come C. tomasinianus, pale lavender with a silvery gray exterior, C. seiberi, deep blue with gold in the throat, and C. korolkowi, yellow with a bronze exterior. Plant these in generous groups 3 inches deep and 2 apart. The clumps will spread each year—lending greater gaiety to the small winter garden. Often flowering with the early crocuses is the miniature yellow jonquil—Narcissus jonquilla simplex.

Last of the eight to appear are the scillas: Scilla sibirica, bright blue, S. bifolia, rich dark blue, and S. bifolia alba, pure white. They punctuate the finale of this winter garden. Further south all these plants would probably bloom in February, possibly January.

The Beauty Of Dianthus

2008-10-29T16:17:00.001-07:00

The Beauty Of Dianthus

If you've ever seen pinks (dianthus) spreading its charming gray green leaf tones and giddy little fringed and fragrant flowers through the Cape Cod cemeteries and along the roadside, you'll know you must have them on your own home property. What a variety of dianthus are yours for the growing.

White, pink and mauve flowers with fringed and tangled petals —fragrant always. These long-lasting lovely little harbingers of early summer are utterly irresistible.

Consider the area where you'd like to naturalize dianthus. They need full sun, will hold their own in field grass if given a good start. They like light sandy soil but will thrive in poor soil if it is on the sandy side, not clay. When you have selected a possible area for your project, buy a few plants and set them out and see what they do the next year. This we did in a part of our meadow where the black-eyed susans and daisies grow. The few plants thrived so we started our project.

To naturalize dianthus in a field, dig a good spot for each plant, removing all grass roots and clearing a space around each planting site. The dianthus will take over if you give them a very good start. Keep grass from growing over them the first year or two. Water them during droughts the first year. After that the dianthus comes up along with the field grass and merges with it. The dianthus area may be mowed, along with the rest of the field, but not too close to the ground. Once a year is enough, preferably in late August or September, by which time the plants have had a chance to reseed.

Year after year dianthus will grow and multiply, sending their fragrance far and wide. Ours grow in our field within fragrance range of our sleeping porch. We are naturalizing many things within range of this porch, for we like to sleep on summer nights with nature's scents about us—along with the sound of the whip-poor-wills.

Sometimes hollyhocks can be established in the wild and sometimes not. If you have a sunny rich soil, perhaps near a pile of manure or compost, they are worth trying. Once I saw masses emerging from the edge of a dump in Vermont. If hollyhocks do take hold, they will return year after year, cross-fertilizing to bring a variety of colors and shades.

One huge day-lily, a nameless but beautiful golden yellow variety, flowers along a wall in semishade. It gets no attention from one year to another—yet through each July it is a sensation of lovely yellow trumpets. Nearly thirty flowers come at once on our plant. We can see it from the living room windows, but it is worth frequent trips outside for closer examination.

Tradescantia (spiderwort) is a plant that will grow and hold its own in tall grass and untrimmed areas. It sends up charming flowers—blue, pink, violet. The white with a blue center is the subtlest and loveliest of all. The first blooms open in June, then the plant rests in mid-summer. It flowers again in the early fall, persisting until frost.

Have you ever seen yucca, towering 12 feet high on the Santa Maria coast ranges in California? It is sometimes called Adam's needle, and might better be named Adam's Candle, for it rises like a great white torch—high on the steepest slopes. Yucca doesn't grow as tall in the east—maybe only 6 or 8 feet. But even then its striking form and fearsome foliage, with thread-like raffles on the ends of stiff leaves, make it a fine contrast to our lush feathery mid-summer plant shapes. Plant yuccas in a dry sunny spot and forget them.

Johnny-jump-ups are charming little flowers that will grow, among other places, in the gravel of your drive. Once you get them started on your place there is just no telling where they will turn up. They grow like grass through our vegetable garden and we let them, removing them only to plant other more important things. The little plants shade the ground, keep it cool and serve as a wonderful ground cover. Remember, though, they face to the south, so grow them where you can

walk along to the south side of them so you can look directly into their appealing little faces. They will grow anywhere in full sun or semishade—just start them off and let them go.

A selection of ferns for you.

2008-10-27T23:33:00.001-07:00

A selection of ferns for you.

The Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides, 15-18 in.) with rich dark glossy leaves, is one of the sturdiest and most dependable. Last year's fronds are still green as this year's new ones emerge. You can easily recognize the Christmas fern for each pinna is shaped like a long Christmas stocking, foot and all (foot against the stem). Light brown scales also cling to the stalk. One plant for years remains one plant. It spreads by spores alone, not by underground runners or by division of clumps.

The evergreen wood-fern, leather wood-fern or marginal shield fern (Dryopteris marginalise 2-3 ft.) weathers almost any winter and is found among snowy boulders in thickly forested areas. It is common, easy to grow, and spreads very slowly, remaining a single plant for some time. You will recognize this fern by fruit dots located on the margins of the pinnae, the chestnut brown scales on the stems, and its habit in the growing season of erupting its roots several inches up out of the ground!

The common polypody (Polypodium vulgare, 4-10 in.) sends a parade of erect fronds marching across the surface of rocky ledges where they are bright green whether surrounded by snow or by summer. They soften harsh ledges wherever they grow, also cling to steep banks, and make splendid terrarium material.

The ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron, 4-12 in.) is almost evergreen. You can find its twisting turning stem and delicate green pinnae snuggled in any bank of snow along with ground pine and cedar. It takes many hard freezes before this fern finally gives up. It is ideal for terrariums.

Bublet Berries

The berry bladder fern (Cystopteris bulbifera, 2-3 ft.) not only likes rich moist woods but is often found clinging to limestone cliffs. A fine ground-cover for large areas, it spreads rapidly. You will know it by its tapering almost vinelike fronds, but more especially by the tiny bulblets at the base of the pinnae that drop to the ground and sprout (hence the "berry" in its common name). It also bears the more conven¬tional fruit dots.

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum, 3-4 ft.) which has a nice Scotch sound, does thrive in great sweeps in Scotland as well as in almost every country in the world. In England it was the basis of an old time medicine. And in rural areas many a mattress was stuffed with the fronds to prevent rickets! Bracken is an informal fern suitable for casual plantings. It is one of the most adaptable and will grow anywhere—wet, dry, sun, shade, high, low, hot, cold. Where nothing else will live the bracken fern will thrive, and spread furiously. The sporophyll edges curl under, and spore cases are hidden beneath these rolls.

The cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea, 3-5 ft.) is not only one of the loveliest ferns but also one of the easiest to grow. You will know it by the abundance of golden brown wooliness on its unwinding fronds in the spring. Also characteristic are brown wool-like hairs on the stem, a tuft of down at the base of each pinna, and several long slender lovely sporophyll during the summer. The fruiting stalk is a rich cocoa brown, erect and clustered.

The fragile fern or brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilia, 5-18 in.) is not too fragile to grow the world over, even in the frigid areas of Greenland and Alaska. Thus it actually is a robust grower; the brittleness of its stems is responsible for its name. Clinging to shaded rock ledges, it also grows on the ground, and is among the first ferns to start up in the spring.

Use hay to improve your soil!

2008-10-27T15:17:00.001-07:00

Use hay to improve your soil!

You may think of hay as that sweet-smelling stuff that fills the lofts of country barns with something soft for the young to bounce on. Perhaps in your youth hay came down a chute in the barn and you fed it to your pony, hoping he wouldn't nip your fingers. Or is hay to you that beautiful fragrance over New England meadows in early summer, when it lies freshly cut, neat and combed?

Whatever your previous concept, one thing is sure: If you are looking for a guaranteed low-labor method of soil improvement, hay can be one of your best allies. A thick layer of ordinary field hay will actually prepare any area for planting, literally transforming a piece of nubby ground into soft soil ready for growing plants. And no digging and sod removal are involved. All this will occur in eight months to a year, depending on how tough the field is.

Suppose you have a desire to plant flowering shrubs, or a hedge of the self-sufficient multi flora roses at the wilderness edges of your place, or where the area is thick with weeds, field grass, heavy turf. Perhaps the very thought of plunging a spade into such matted earth fills you with dismay. A disc harrow and tractor seem needed to penetrate. Suppose you would like to set out some fruit trees, but the place for each tree must be dug and prepared at least 3 feet in diameter, which is a prospect to give you pause. But with the hay treatment it will be easy to prepare these or any areas you wish to plant.

How To Plant Sans Spade

First you decide on the shape and size of area you'd like to plant next year, and then pile hay 2 feet deep on that area. The grass or weed growth beneath is deprived of air and light. No matter how tough its fiber, it soon dies and rots. Very likely you have noticed that when heavy leaves are left on a lawn, a brown spot develops beneath, so it is easy to understand how the grass under deep hay could completely disintegrate in a number of months.

Having piled on the hay, forget the whole thing till next year.

When you remove the hay, the area will be free of grass and ready to work. Roots dead and rotting under the soil surface are left to fertilize and add organic matter to the soil in your new planting. You should not have to do any over-all spading of the area. Simply trowel out enough soil to make a hole as large as each new plant requires. Depending on what you are planting you conceivably may want to remove the few unrotted roots encountered. In any case, run your spade around the edge of the area to sever live roots coming from the surrounding sod or scrub growth and thus prevent them from encroaching.

Where To Find Hay

How does one come by hay? There are many possibilities. Do you live near a parkway or in a semi-rural area where the edges of the road are mowed? If so, the workmen are usually delighted to deliver the raked piles to your place—saves them carting them to the dump. Have you a meadow that is cut annually? Or do you know anyone who has? Just ordinary meadow grass is fine for this purpose. And of course you can buy "spoiled hay." There is nothing sloppy or unattractive about spoiled hay. It is as dry and pleasant to handle as fresh cut material. It has merely been caught in the rain so that it cannot be fed to livestock. Farmers bale it for organic gardeners to use as mulch. It costs $5 a bale delivered in our vicinity, and $2 if we go and get it. Three bales would prepare an area 12 by 12 feet for planting. You take the bale apart and fluff up the hay as you spread it.

After you have laid hay thick on the chosen area, bacterial action begins in the soil beneath. As the hay decomposes it helps enrich the soil. Earthworms gather in abundance and thus aid in transforming both grass roots and hay into organic matter. Nitrogen in the soil is used up by the bacteria that decompose organic matter. Subsequently the nitrogen is returned to the soil many fold, but in the meantime supplementary nitrogen feeding may be indicated. A sprinkling of lime over the earth before you lay on the hay is not a must but does keep the material sweet.

You can prepare for planting and achieve the same end with compost topped by hay. Spread the area with layers of grass clippings, dead weeds, straw, pine needles, corn stalks, weeds or any organic matter that you would put in the compost pile.

You actually are building a compost pile "on the spot," on the place you are preparing. Then neatly cover this material with a layer of hay, or topsoil if you have no hay. The soil is not essential but looks neater. Add lime in the layers as you arrange them. When you plant the following year the hay or compost which has not completely rotted can easily be removed and used elsewhere as a mulch.

Salt hay is all right as a mulch but since it won't rot it doesn't contribute the same food value that fresh cut hay or other organic materials do. All winter under the sleet and snow as Christmas passes into Ground Hog Day, decomposition is taking place under your hay. Then come spring, when the snow melts away and the land dries up a bit, rake away the hay and there is the miracle of fresh new black earth. I must say we greatly prefer this rather indirect approach to digging up a new area for planting—and what could be simpler?

Ferns That Like Meadows

2008-10-26T12:51:00.001-07:00

Ferns That Like Meadows

The hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula, 2-3 ft.) is found in sunny openings in rocky woods where its light green lacy fronds grow in dense masses. It spreads madly, and even when transplanted produces new fronds from underground runners all season. The fronds taper gradually at the tip. When cut, crushed, or dried, the foliage gives off a wonderful sun-on-the-meadow scent.

Interrupted-fern (Osmunda claytoniana, 4 ft.) is very like the cinnamon fern but the identifying feature is its freedom from tuft at the base of the pinnae. On the sporophyll the orderly march of pinnae up the stem is interrupted by a section of twisted curled dark brown spore cases—a most interesting feature and, of course, the reason for its name. Very hardy, very easy, very beautiful.

The lady fern (Athyrium filisfemina, or Asplenium filis-femina, 3 ft.) though delicate to look upon, is tough, and a rank grower. By fall it becomes raggedy and loses its color, but all summer its soft green fronds and feathery look make it a must. The curved fruit dots are one of its identifying features;

also, the pinnae increase in length sharply from the tip of the frond to the base, giving it a triangular look.

Maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum, 1-3 ft.) is a delicate, lovely species that grows in rich moist leafy soil. It will be content in a rocky, well-drained location, especially on a steep bank. In the spring the fronds uncurl in small wiry button¬hook designs of a deep magenta color. These fronds open into a sort of semi-circle pattern. The whole effect of the plant suggests, in color and texture, wild columbine, or meadow rue. This is the fern that dances. The fluttering delicate pinnae are ever in motion, so susceptible are they to every breeze. New fronds constantly emerging from the running rootstock produce fresh green foliage from April to September. This is one of the most beautiful of all ferns in its swirling patterns, its rhythms, and dancing grace.

The marsh fern (Dryopteris thelypteris, 2 ft.) grows under the speckled alders, or perhaps you'll find some plants in a sunny bog among the cattails, facing their fronds helter skelter in any old direction. This is a rampant grower. Its lower pinnate are very long, and the pinnules of the sporophyll appear pointed because of reflexed edges.

The New York fern (Dryopteris noveboracensis, 1-2 ft.), though related to the marsh fern, is different in that the fronds taper at both ends. New Yorkers are said to burn their candles at both ends, hence its name! The fronds, thin in texture, grow erect and are arranged in parallel ranks facing the light. Stems are smooth and scale-free. What a pleasant odor the fern emits when crushed, and what a fine ground-cover it creates, multiplying and spreading rapidly. Look for the fruit dots on the margins of the pinnules.

The oak fern (Dryopteris disjuncto, 1 ft.) is a delicate and beautiful triangular-shaped fern whose very pointed pinnae grow opposite each other on the stem. It thrives in the company of hemlocks and cedars and must have constant dampness and perfect drainage.

The ostrich fern (Pteretis nodulosa, or P. struthioteris, 4-7 ft.), a lovely plumy variety, reproduces from its underground runners one new plant every second year. It spreads most rapidly in rich wet woods. In July the short bronze sporophyll, resembling curled fronds, rises up in the center of the plant.

The Beautiful Benefits Of A Small Lawn

2008-10-25T03:37:00.001-07:00

The Beautiful Benefits Of A Small Lawn

Although we enjoy tremendously our big meadow-lawn, we also get a great deal of satisfaction from the 12 to 15-foot swath of regular mowed lawn around the house. We have developed some easy procedures for its maintenance. All are in the let's-keep-it-simple vein.

We cut this strip of lawn each week. We feed it with a 5-10-5 chemical fertilizer in early April, an organic one in mid-summer and again in early September, and that's it. Our lawn is more "grass" than lawn in the orthodox sense. We have a democratic assortment of grasses in it and a lot of clover. It's heartening to see the clover in the quick, lush summer periods unfold its myriad furry white flowers, spread its seed, and grow thicker. Some say clover stains clothes and is slippery. But we love the flowers, and sometimes when we most need it we find a four-leaf clover!

Though our lawn is heterogeneous, it pleases us and feels fine to walk on, particularly bare-footed in the morning dew. This is supposed to do something special for you, I forget now just what, but something significant.

Permanently Improve Your Soil

The surest way to success with lawns, as with all parts of the gardening, is to work toward building up the quality of the soil. The slow-acting organic fertilizers do this. Applied midsummer and fall they gradually improve the earth. Among the best are dried ground fish meal, bone meal, pulverized sheep manure and shredded cattle manure, and wood ashes from the fireplace. But in the spring, especially in a new lawn, a quick-acting chemical mixture encourages rapid growth before crab-grass stirs to action. There is another advantage in using chemical fertilizers in the spring. The bacterial action needed to release food elements in an organic fertilizer does not occur until the soil temperature rises above 60 degrees.

Much spring grass growth occurs when the mercury is well below this. The elements in chemical foods are immediately available and promote a quick and welcome early growth. The lawn fertilizer compounds containing urea-form nitrogen are excellent and time-saving too.

The principal of developing a good lawn is to encourage grass growth when weeds are weakest. This means feeding twice a year: in early spring before the perennial weeds really get under way, and in early September when crabgrass and annual weeds have spent their vitality and there are still two months of good-grass growing weather before frost.

Don`t Worry About Weeds

How much weeding you do depends upon your temperament. We make good use of one of the long hollow tubes (Killer Kane is one of the trade names) that contain a liquid weed killer for spot treatment of dandelions and other broad-leaved weeds. Beyond that we do nothing. But if you do pull or spray crabgrass, do it early before it goes to seed. (The seeds can lie dormant in the soil and sprout many years later). So eliminate the crabgrass when young, level the spot and reseed with a good grass immediately. Keep the soil moist until seedlings become established.

Never weed unless it's really fun. My mother used to love it. In her seventies she'd settle for the afternoon on a cushion beneath a large hat with gloves and a basket. This, she always said, was her golf. Our "golf" is a host of other activities—flying kites, swimming, exploring woods. Well—you should take your golf where you find it, and if it is weeding lawns, more power to you. It really does improve them.

Rolling & Cutting

It does seem rather ridiculous the way we feed our lawns so they will grow, and as soon as they grow we cut—and complain about the need for frequent cutting. But then, a lot of things we humans do seem sort of silly and we keep right on doing them. Actually a vigorously growing lawn is best able to resist diseases and weed invasions.

Small lawns are fine. If you possibly can do so, keep yours small enough so you can enjoy it, with mowing quickly done and never a chore. A strip of green lawn makes a pleasant setting for a home. Looking from the inside out, we find it quiet and inviting. Perhaps a robin on the green is in a tug of war with a large and resisting worm. Or maybe a rabbit darts across. Considered from a distance, a house rising from a frame of lawn looks attractive and the fragrance of newly-cut grass is an additional joy. A lawn is indeed important but, for us, acceptable only if it is a small one. Let the rest be meadow!

Create your own garden retreat.

2008-10-24T11:12:00.001-07:00

Create your own garden retreat.

You should arrange at least some part of your limited garden to provide an area where you can rest and think, a peaceful observation point. I prefer a natural "planted" space instead of the old-fashioned gazebo garden-house structure. Though we all want some gay flowers and brilliant sunshine, we also need the seclusion of a quiet area, a cool reflective private spot. Here you will almost taste the freshness of the air you breathe. You can listen to the mourning doves, and the phoebe—the wind rustling the maple leaves. Smell the warm dry scent of summer, the fragrance of the lilac drifting on the breeze.

Our own private retreat is a cool shady spot—a hillside above the brook. A hillside and a brook are, of course, not essential. They just happened to be there for us.

Bulldozed level, this terrace hideaway is twenty feet long and fourteen wide. Two spreading maples provide shade. We made a small retaining wall about two stones high (three in some places) to hold back the bank on one side, and hold the land up on the other side. A rope hammock is attached at one end to a cedar post, set for the purpose, and at the other end to one of the maples.

Bird and Worm`s Eye View

When you are in the hammock you are sometimes beneath the world and sometimes above it—depending on which side of the hammock you look from. Out one side you look up at the curve of the meadow. The land lies above, and you beneath. Out the other side you are in the greenery of tree tops looking down through leaves to the brook with a totally different perspective. This is, to our way of thinking, a pretty neat trick and it makes the hammock an ever-fascinating place to be.

The terrace-retreat itself is shady, but beyond the limbs of the maples the sun shines. Japanese iris grows in the sun fringing the area where we sit; so does Jacob's ladder, blooming from May on into July, the violet flowers touched with white, and each stalk of delightful foliage a small green ladder.

On the other side of the terrace a stretch of Dutchman's breeches spills down a steep rocky bank to the brook edge. The blossoms greet us in late April when the first days of the hammock begin. A pink and a white dogwood add to the shade and beauty. Lilies-of-the-valley (especially for fragrance) cluster beneath; foam flower parades in soft white along the bank; gold thread peeks from the leaves; jack-in-the-pulpit rises in dignity in the lea of the wall; white trillium, bloodroot, and red and yellow wild columbine bloom in succession; blue forget-me-nots and cardinal flowers thrive at the brook's edge; Virginia bluebells nod their bell-like flowers flanking the terrace up and down the hillside, and maidenhair, cinnamon, and royal ferns grace the area.

Though no pines stand in the vicinity, pine needles cover the terrace floor, for we have access to a fine source of them. Each spring we spread a carpet of fresh and fragrant needles gathered in two old bedspreads dumped in the back of the car and carted home. They contribute a pungent scent, a rich brownness, and a pleasant four-inch-deep rug, soft and resilient to walk upon.

A Place To Call Your Own

Haven't you some small area of your garden, a remote corner with no sun, an area of trees, a thicket perhaps, even a shady spot where growing things has been difficult? If so, with some pruning, replanning, and possibly additional planting you can create an ideal retreat complete with hammock, simple comfortable outdoor furniture, and possibly a few old stumps of special character. The area can be large or small—really tiny —and still achieve its purpose, still become an inviting spot to while away an hour or a day, a place dedicated not to doing, but to the simple art of being.

Our shady retreat has given us the opportunity to grow some of the loveliest of plants, ferns, some evergreens, certain shrubs, and many flowers. Most shade-loving plants need no special care after they are established.

Mountain laurel is a grand broad-leaved evergreen for the secluded shady area. It wants sandy, peaty soil, always acid (no lime). Rhododendron is another fine flowering evergreen. When you look out the window in winter, rhododendron tells you the temperature. When you see the leaves curled like cigars, it is very, very cold and you had better put on that extra sweater.

Moist & Acid

Azaleas in shades of crimson, pink, flame, white and yellow are especially successful in a woodland setting. Some are fragrant. The plants grow from two to ten feet tall. Acid soil and oak leaf mulch are beneficial. The white fragrant blooms of the swamp azalea open in July, later than the others. It does not need its feet in a swamp to thrive, but do give it shade and rich leaf mold soil.

Other favorite plants for shade are crested iris, countless varieties of native wild violets, and myrtle or periwinkle (Vinca minor). Bleeding heart (the tall variety) and begonias (especially tuberous) add loveliness. Blue phlox is lavender-colored with a meadow scent. Spiderwort has white and blue flowers and spidery gray-green leaves. Each bloom lasts only for a day, but many flowers continually come. Japanese anemone bears sturdy rose-colored blossoms. Mist-flower unfolds furry blue-violet blossoms in autumn, and spreads marvellously.

This shady area provides a splendid summering place for many of the houseplants which will also add a decorative note. Tuberous begonias in tubs will be lovely, and if by chance you are orchid raisers, as we are, here is the dream spot for the orchids to summer. They like morning or afternoon sun, so we hang ours (using cut up re-shaped old wire coat hangers) in the trees at the edges of the area, and set some on the retaining walls where they get sun until about eleven in the morning and again after four in the afternoon.

Rose Gardening in Spring

2008-10-23T15:45:00.001-07:00

Rose Gardening in Spring

If you live in an area where you can start seeing the promise of spring in late March or early April, then you're an "early spring" rose gardener. However, if you live where March and April bring the season's best skiing, then just keep waiting out old man winter until your turn at spring arrives and then follow the tips in this article.

Early spring is a time of great activity in the rose garden as you prepare for the beautiful buds that will be sprouting almost any day. Here's a summary of what needs to be done in order to prepare your roses for the tough growing season that lies ahead.

If you covered your roses with dirt or other protective winter coverings, your first step is to gently remove the protective materials so you can introduce your dormant bushes to the warming spring sun and gentle rains that lie ahead.

Before beginning your spring pruning activities, cut back any dead and damaged canes that did not survive the winter. Be sure to clear away any debris and residue from around the bushes as well.

Prepare the soil to nurture your plants by adding some organic compounds. You can either buy pre-packaged organics from your favorite garden supplier, or you can mix up your own recipe using composted manure or mushroom compost, or any of the usual meal blends which can include alfalfa, cottonseed, fish or blood meal.

Work your soil with a spade or other tool if it has become too compacted during the winter or if you notice standing water after watering your plants. Roses require well-drained soil to thrive.

After soil preparation is done you can plant any new additions to your garden including container-grown roses.

Next it is time to begin your fungicide spraying regiment either immediately or, if you prefer to wait, approximately 14 days after you complete your pruning. Opinions on the best time differ. The choice is yours.

Remember to rotate through different fungicides during the year to prevent any fungi from becoming immune to any one product.

Don't use any pesticides unless you see evidence of damage, but remember to keep a sharp eye out for aphids which are as much a sign of spring as April showers are. Hit them with a blast of water to remove them, or apply insecticide in a mister to the affected areas.

Imagine how hungry you'd be if you just woke up from a long winter hibernation! Well, your Roses are hungry too. The best way to coax any type of roses from dormancy to budding is to feed their little bellies now and every other week through the remainder of the growing season. Water well after feeding!

There! Your rose garden is ready for spring, but your work is far from over. If spring is near then summer can't be far behind.

Autumn rose care

2008-10-22T14:43:00.001-07:00

Autumn rose care

September and October are your rose's finest hour. If you have faithfully followed our suggestions up to this point, you should start to see full, colorful, magnificent blooms as your reward.

Your work isn't quite through yet, however. While fall is the best growing time, you also need to start thinking about the coming winter months.

Your rose bushes are working hard to produce blooms which will delight you and make you proud. They need a lot of water to fuel the process. Continue watering deeply and do it as often as is needed to maintain growth. If you are going to be showing your rose blooms then watering daily is fine as long as you do not use too much.

Keep applying water-soluble fertilizers until the end of September, and don't be afraid to use some of the commercially available bloom-boosting fertilizers. You can recognize these because they will have a large number in the middle of their formulation. Stop all fertilizing activity at the end of October so your bushes will be able to begin the journey into hibernation.

Conditions are still good for blackspot and mildew to form, so continue with your spraying program right through the end of October.

You can cut roses for bouquets through the end of October without harming the bush. If you want to let rose hips form, then just remove the petals of your spent roses.

This is also a great time to start planning next year's garden, so visit the web and start ordering catalogs to read throughout the winter. Order your new roses early while the best selections of the different rose types are available. Rose growers know the best time to ship your new bushes according to your climate zone. Always verify the details of the shipment with your supplier.

Miniature Roses are under rated!

2008-10-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

Miniature Roses are under rated!

Whether you're planting miniature roses indoors or out, they are very easy to grow. Although these little guys have often been frowned upon because they give off little or no fragrance, they're the perfect accent to any home or garden. Miniature roses are practically maintenance-free. Just give them a "bath" once a week and they'll last forever.

There's a common misconception about miniature roses. When people hear the term "miniature," they assume these roses will make a perfect houseplant. Prior to moving your roses indoors, consider that miniature roses can grow up to four feet in height. This large house plant will undoubtedly need an ample source of light. The micro-mini roses however, only grow to approximately five inches in height and are just as easy to maintain. If you're still determined to keep your miniature roses indoors, there are several tips that will make caring for your roses a simple task.

Place your plant in direct sunlight. These flowers flourish in the sunniest windows of your home. If the stems of your miniature roses appear to stretch out, leaving wide gaps between the leaves, your rose is not getting enough light. You should either move the plant to a new location or provide supplemental light. Make sure to bathe your plant on a weekly basis. Spraying your plant will reduce the risk of a spider-mite attack. Gently mist the top and underside of the leaves. The spray will remove dust. Make sure that your plant looks comfortable in its pot. If the pot is too small, the plant will be cramped. If the pot is too large, your roses will be reluctant to grow.

Outdoors, most miniature rose types bloom from spring until the winter season. If you cover your plant with mulch, it will have a good chance of surviving frost and the coldest winters. You can plant your roses directly into the ground, a hanging basket, or in an 8 - 10 inch pot. Make sure your plant isn't shaded by large trees or anything that will cast a shadow. These little plants love direct sunlight.

If you choose to plant your roses directly into the ground, dig a good hole about one foot in depth and width. Take your rose out of its pot and gently untangle any loose roots. Place the roots down into the hole. Take loose soil and refill the hole so that your miniature roses are planted levelly. Water your plant thoroughly. These same rules apply to potting your plant.

Don't let the soil dry out. The first three weeks are crucial to any plant's health. Water your new plant every day for three weeks. These types of roses do enjoy their water! However, after the three-week period is over, your goal is to keep your soil moist. Check the soil on a daily basis. If it feels dry, give your plant a little water.

Miniature roses will look great in your living room or along the edges of your flower beds or anywhere your home needs a little burst of color.

Watch out for Blackspot on your roses!

2008-10-20T17:14:00.001-07:00

Watch out for Blackspot on your roses.

Blackspot is a prevalent rose disease that is caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae. Should your rose bushes develop the telltale signs of Blackspot, remedial measures must be taken immediately. Otherwise, the bush will begin producing fewer blooms and the rose's ability to survive the winter months will be jeopardized.

Blackspot is easy to recognize in its latter stages, but might not be noticeable in the beginning. In fact, by the time blackspot starts showing signs, as few as 3 to as many as 10 days have already passed since the fungus first germinated. The first visible symptom is black-colored spots on the leaves. As the disease progresses, a yellow ring forms around the black spots and the spots spread through to the underside of the leaves. Spore-producing spots will be visible upon close examination. The black spots will continue to grow and soon the entire leaf may turn yellow. Many of the yellowed leaves will begin falling off the bush.

Blackspot is a fungus and as such, it spreads. It'll easily jump from one rose type to another for as long as it's left untreated. The fungus can survive on the fallen leaves through the winter, and also on the cane where it has been infected so growers cannot rely on the harsher weather to kill it.

Like most fungi, Blackspot thrives in warm, moist environments. Spores will germinate after 7 hours of being wet and when the ambient temperature is between 65 F (18 C) and 75 F (24 C). The warmer the weather, the quicker the disease spreads.

Proper care of your roses is the only way to prevent this disease from developing or spreading. Since spores can survive on fallen leaves, it's crucial during the fall season to rake up and remove all dead leaves from the ground and cut away any infected canes. In the spring, when roses are still dormant, head to the nursery and purchase wettable sulphur and a soap containing fungicide and then spray all rose bushes thoroughly with both. The spores cannot adhere to the sulphur, so the leaves are protected whenever they're covered. Because the sulphur will wash off in rain it's important to reapply whenever necessary.

The fungus needs a wet environment for germination, so take extra care to keep the leaves moisture-free. For example, plant roses in sunny locations as opposed to shady places so that the morning dew evaporates more quickly. Use sprinkler hoses when watering so that only the roots get watered and not the leaves. Water early in the day, so there's plenty of time for water to evaporate. Prune the bushes regularly so that air can flow freely among the leaves and be sure to allow plenty of space between your roses for the same reason.

When roses exhibit symptoms of Blackspot, first cut away affected parts and throw clippings in the trash, not the compost pile (remember the fungus on leaves won't die). Then spray all the leaves with sulphur.

If given a bit of tender loving care, your roses will produce beautiful flowers year after year!

All About Floribunda Roses

2008-10-19T15:11:00.001-07:00

All About Floribunda Roses

The name 'Floribunda' is of Latin origin and means "many flowered" or "abundance of flowers" and this variety of rose certainly lives up to its name. These roses have been described as some of the most colorful of the modern rose types. Typically, their flowers are arranged in low-growing large clusters. The Floribunda rose is the result of crossbreeding a Hybrid Tea and a Polyantha in the 1920's. The Floribunda is considered by many to be a better breed than the Hybrid Tea because of its capacity to produce many blooms over an extended period of time. Many people grow them for display rather than to use as cutting-flowers. They're a beautiful landscape plant that can produce an abundance of color season after season.

Floribunda rose types, much like their ancestors, come in a large assortment of colors and styles. The difference is, however, that these flowers are much more vigorous and hardy than Hybrid Tea roses. Generally, Floribunda plants can grow up to four feet tall. A notable plant of similar size that has become increasingly popular over the last few years is the Rob Roy. Its roses, which offer a sweet soft scent, bloom in a deep red color. The flowers will bloom continually from spring until late fall provided there aren't any severe frosts. They're extremely bold in mass planting.

Prior to planting your roses, you should pick a garden location and get your soil prepared. Add a nice compost of manure or other organic matter to your soil. It's worth mentioning that active blooming roses flourish in a few inches of organic mulch. It's also suggested that you plant your flowers 18 - 24 inches apart from one another. You want to provide ample space for them to grow.

Dig a hole that will be deep enough for roots to spread without any restriction; about 8 - 10 inches deep is fine. If you wish, you can add bone-meal to the soil, as it is high in phosphates. Now you're ready to plant. Remove your plant from its plastic container and gently place it into the ground. Backfill the hole with loose soil and then pack any loose soil firmly with your palm. Repeat this process for every plant. When you're finished, water your new plants thoroughly. For the first couple of weeks, you should water your new roses on a daily basis. After that, a weekly irrigation should be sufficient.

Basic pruning should be done in late winter months. Most gardeners choose January or February, depending on their climate. Remove all debris and dead foliage from the plants and their flower bed surroundings. Snip any dead bark-like canes. Old flowers must be removed in order to promote new growth for the coming season.

Although you should try to maintain some shape to your roses, be gentle with the cuts. It's been noted by many horticulturists that Floribundas under one year of age flourish with a cane length of 6 inches. If it's warm enough you'll want to fertilize the ground during this time. Add organic matter to your soil and watch your flowers bloom beautifully in the months to come.

The Most Common Types Of Rose Diseases

2008-10-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

The Most Common Types Of Rose Diseases

There's nothing worse than seeing all of your hard work destroyed by a rose disease or fungus. Roses can be weakened during the winter dormancy and become more susceptible to disease when the growing season begins.

Even if the bush survived winter unscathed, spring rains and summer's heat and humidity can open the door to a variety of fungus infections.

Here is a summary of the most common diseases which could pose a threat to your roses.

Powdery Mildew

This is a fungus disease that produces a white powder along the tops and bottoms of the leaves and along the stems. Left untreated the plant will not grow to its full potential and the leaves will die and drop off.

Rust

Rust looks like an orange powder which appears on the underside of leaves and will spread to other parts of the plant.

Blackspot

Hybrid tea type roses are blackspot resistant, but many other varieties are susceptible. The disease appears as circular black spots on the plant's leaves which range between 1/16 to 1/2 inch in diameter. Left untreated, blackspot will destroy your plant's foliage.

Rose Mosaic

Unlike most rose diseases, which are fungal in nature, Rose Mosaic is caused by a virus. Symptoms generally resemble discolored mosaic patterns and yellow and green.

The only treatment is to remove the infected plant from the garden. Make sure that you also remove all leaves and clippings which fall from the affected plant.

If you are unable to stop the spread of fungus-based diseases by simply cutting back the affected areas, see you garden supply professional and ask about commercial fungus treatment products.

You can reduce the chances of your roses being affected by fungus if you follow these tips:

Always water the soil around the rose plant and never water the plant itself.

Clean your rose beds regularly and remove all clippings and fallen leaves.

Cut any diseased canes or blooms and dispose of them in your trash can.

Practice regular pruning and pay special attention to pruning out the center of the bushes to allow air to circulate.

Seal all cuts. Elmer's Glue works fine. It's safe, effective and inexpensive.

Feed your roses regularly. Wee-fed roses are better able to resist infection.

Choose disease-resistant rose types whenever possible, especially if you live in areas with high heat and humidity. Remember that disease-resistant does not mean disease-free. It simply means that there is a less likely chance of the plant becoming infected if you follow all of the tips that you read here.

Caring for Your Indoor Bonsai

2008-10-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

Bonsai plants are the stunning result of an ancient practice. There are many people who choose to have bonsai plants in their homes because of their beautiful appearance. However, extra care is needed for indoor bonsai plants. This is mostly because they do not receive the full benefits of natural sunlight and natural weather conditions. They might appear to be hardy. But there are some bonsais that are quite delicate with regard to water and light.

Watering Your Indoor Bonsai

When you bring a bonsai tree indoors it will require lighting to replace the natural sunlight that it would have been receiving beforehand. Monitoring how frequently it is watered is also important. Your bonsai plant will also thrive if kept in a well ventilated area. The amount of water you give your bonsai hinges on which variety you have. Soil is another important consideration. There are those bonsai trees and plants that need damp soil, while others do just fine with drought like conditions.

Misting your plant might be a necessity. This will help to create a rainforest humidity in which your bonsai plant will thrive. If using a humidity tray, be sure to place the pot on some small rocks or a stand so it isn't directly immersed in the water.

Bonsai Cutting and Pruning

Indoor bonsai trees still require pruning and cutting on a regular basis in order to maintain their appearance. Simply because bonsai plants look as though they are frozen in time, does not mean that they do not grow. Indoor and outdoor bonsai plants need to be repotted somewhere between every year to three years, depending on the variety. Another important consideration is maintenance of the branches so it retains its shape.

Cutting back on the amount of fertilizer during the cold months is usually recommended, depending on the bonsai variety. This is due to the fact that there are certain species of bonsai that hibernate during the season. So they don't require as many nutrients as in the warmer months. Indoor bonsais may not fully experience the full cycle of seasons because it is in an artificial environment.

You also need to keep an eye on your indoor bonsai for pests and other irregularities. Spiders, mites and various other pests are very happy to make a home in your indoor bonsai. The best practice is to clean the leaves and branches with great care using a damp cloth or a brush.

By following these tips for bonsai care, your tree is sure to be an attractive feature of your home for years to come.

Grow Your Own Basic Herb Garden

2008-10-16T03:37:00.001-07:00

No matter where you live in the world most cultures like to use herbs in their cooking to provide the flavours and aroma that we have all come to love. With the enormous spread in popularity of Gourmet Cooking shows on television we are encouraged to expand our culinary tastes to include dishes from all over the world . As most professional chefs prefer to use fresh herbs in their cooking why should we not follow in their steps and grow our own basic herb garden at home.

It is quite easy to put in a basic herb garden to grow the ones used the most. Most of the common herbs used as spices in cooking can be successfully grown in average soil but some do request rich soil, such as oregano.

Additionally, some herbs in a basic herb garden such as parsley are biennial in nature. This means the first year they are grown they will not be useful for seasoning. It is during the second year that the crop can be used. Ideally, with parsley, , plant a new crop of seeds one year after planting your first parsley plants so that in a couple of years they will overlap, providing u sable seasoning every year.

Most of the herbs grown in a basic herb garden such as, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil are tolerant of direct sun, but will require a minimum amount of water to survive. You can harvest leaves, sprigs and twigs from any of your herbs as they are growing giving fresh organic herbs for your kitchen.

However, some plants like thyme is a very forgiving plant and if it dries out will likely come back when an appropriate amount of water is given. Since some have different soil requirements and can grow under slightly different conditions, having them separated by variety can help get them started and keep them growing throughout their life.

Plant Herbs Close To Where They Will Be Used

In most cases it is easier on the grower to plant the basic herb garden close to the kitchen for easy harvesting of the fresh crop. Remember, the entire growth does not have to be cut and used at once. With the right care, the spices will continue to grow and be usable during the entire season. Drying or freezing the extra cuttings at the end of the season can possibly supply the spice throughout the winter, often lasting until the next crop produces the following year.

If you are little short on space why not consider companion growing? When planting a basic herb garden that would take more room than available, certain herbs can be planted among other plants, especially tomatoes. Parsley can play well with other plants specifically tomatoes, asparagus and among roses. Broccoli and cauliflower also welcome rosemary in their midst. Basil also likes to grow alongside tomatoes too.

The only problem with planting herbs among other plants is that they can be mistaken and trampled on inadvertently when weeding, pruning and maintaining the other plants in your mixed garden bed. A basic herb garden is a valuable addition to your kitchen supplies and really wont take to much of your valuable time to look after.

Keep These Home Gardening Tips In The Front Of Your mind

2008-10-15T00:33:00.001-07:00

There are tons of different home gardening tips, indoor gardening tips, organic gardening tips, vegetable gardening tips – no wonder the average gardener finds it so overwhelming to figure out just which specific tips are going to be most useful to them. If this is your situation, you should know that out of all of these, there are a few home gardening tips in particular that are going to be useful for you to learn.

In order to understand and fully use these tips properly, you may need to learn a bit more about what home gardening is all about.

What it is

Home gardening is a type of gardening that continues to grow in popularity. Home gardeners can product tasty, nutritious vegetables and beautiful flowers, and to be a successful gardener you really need to take advantage of the different home gardening tips that are out there.

Home Gardening Tips

One of the best home gardening tips is to choose the right garden site. Which particular type of plant you are working with will determine plant placement as most plants need deep, fertile and well drained soil along with being exposed to full or near full sunlight. Being near a water outlet and away from competition from existing trees and shrubs is a great location for your garden.

Of course this is one of the most important tips of all because if you do not choose the right location for planting, you are not going to have any success.

It is very important in home gardening to select the right crops to plant. Deciding what vegetables to grow is one of the major decisions you will have to make and it is also the most important process you will worry about as a home gardener.

Vine crops such as watermelon, winter squash and cucumbers are going to require larger amounts of space and more work, while if you want to take an easier route you should stick to vegetable plants such as tomatoes and potatoes.

It really all depends on your skill level and the amount of time and effort that you are going to be willing and able to put into this, which will determine how serious you can get into your gardening. Regardless, these tips are going to come in very handy and help get you started.

Choosing Outdoor Furniture

2008-10-14T21:43:00.001-07:00

Everybody waits for the summer season to arrive. The delightful sunny weather which exudes a spirit of independence leaves you enthused like no other time. Many would consider this time as the most opportune for revamping your garden patio with new furniture. With the passing away of winter your old stuff also start to look jaded and in ruins. Have you already noticed the rust spots on the chairs? If this is happening then consider getting some new patio furniture so that you can give it a completely fresh look.

If buying from Argos garden furniture then you will find that a large choice is available in a variety of size, material, design and styles, and you could strike some good bargains too. While buying, remember the wet seasons too. The best ones are those which last long, can take in heat and wet weathers with equal strength and which require low or zero maintenance.

This makes them rust and corrosion-proof. They come in various shapes and sizes, from simple stools to elegant bar high-chairs. When the prime factor in selection is how hard-wearing they are, then the perfect choice would be wrought-iron furniture. Not only do these have their characteristic age-old flavor with a Victorian touch to them but with some designs incorporated, they can give your garden patio a splendid facelift.

For making your furniture blend perfectly with natural ambiance, opting for wooden ones makes most sense. The color of wood is naturally earthy and this heightens the elegance of your landscaped garden patio as well as blends naturally with the surrounding plant life. Selecting this material is however not that simple and it involves a lot of labor. To make them immune to different weather conditions you have to apply wood preservatives and coatings.

Garden furnishings made of wicker offer you the convenience of weather-resistance as well as beautify your garden. Essentially plant fibers wickers are treated to incorporate durability for enabling multi-use. Wicker has the reputation of resisting both hot and wet weathers without compromising of quality, which makes it the best material for garden furniture. When buying patio furniture, it is wiser to buy the complete set and not one by one. Not only would you have a single design for each, the savings that you get from buying the bundle is enough to make you consider the idea.

Maintaining A Hydroponics Vegetables Greenhouse

2008-10-13T08:39:00.001-07:00

Hydroponics is not only an easily-learned method of growing, it is also simple to sustain and is completely eco friendly. Would starting a vegetable greenhouse using hydroponics be an option? Children learn hydroponics early on in a classroom setting, showing just how easy it can be to grow your own vegetables.

Hydroponics is Healthy for Your Family and the Environment

Using hydroponics not only enables you to enjoy bountiful fresh fruits and vegetables, but also saves water and benefits the environment by reducing the release of harmful pesticides and herbicides into the atmosphere. Lettuce, tomatoes, chilli peppers, bean sprouts are just some of the examples of easy crops to grow.

When you choose a hydroponics vegetables greenhouse, you will be able to enjoy vegetables and fruits all year round. Imagine having all the fresh herbs you want. You can have a continuous supply of your favorite herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, chives, chervil, parsley, sorrel, mint, sage, cilantro and dill and many other herbs.

Advantages Of Using Hydroponics

A couple of advantages that the hydroponics growing method has over conventional field crops is that the roots are always exposed to oxygen, water and nutrients in a controlled environment. Instead of setting up a sprinkler system or hauling the hose around outside, you can conserve water by growing your plants using the hydroponics growing method.

For a field crop, the quality of its exposure to water will determine how much oxygen the plants are getting. Not enough water and the plant will dry up from too much air and oxygen while too much water will not let the plant gets the oxygen it needs. A crop field can compete with a hydroponics plant for growth only if the soil and watering system is excellent.

Air Fertilization for your Greenhouse

There are some special considerations that are involved with a hydroponics vegetables greenhouse and that includes the fact that during the winter, the levels of carbon dioxide can be lower in the middle of the hydroponics vegetables greenhouse and that means those center plants will not grow as much as the others. You can remedy this through the practice of enriching the greenhouse atmosphere with carbon dioxide, a practice known as air fertilization.

To get a good harvest from the hydroponics vegetables greenhouse you do not need to have any gardening experiance. To meet the requirements of the family a hydroponic vegetable greenhouse will provide you with the controlled environment you will need.

How to Get Started in Herb Gardening

2008-10-12T20:14:00.001-07:00

Just imagine your pasta and pizza without the finishing touch of oregano or the delicious mince dumplings without the pinch of sage! The outcome is sure to be bland and boring. This is what the herbs do for you’re your culinary skills - they uplift the taste and flavor of any dish. In addition to that they make the dish look colorful and inviting. Thus the defining character of any dish is the work of appropriate herbs. While you can buy them in the local grocery stores, it is always better to home grow them in your backyard; the addition of garden fresh herbs will definitely make your cooking and dining experience even more enjoyable.

Plant type

Before getting started in the task of herb gardening, you must learn about the different types of herbs. The herbal plants are of three types:

Annual---the herbs like basil, chamomile, dill, chives, lavender, lemon, mint, oregano rosemary, sage, tarragon or thyme are planted each spring and live for only one season.

Perennial---the herbs like catnip, balm, lovage, marjoram or thyme live for many years. Although they shake off the leaves during winter, their roots remain alive and in the turn of spring they bloom into new foliage.

Biennial---The plant like Parsley grow for two years. The first season is for growing foliage, next the seeds are formed. After that they die at the end of the second season.

Choice of the location

For herb gardening the question as to where to plant is very critical. Not all the herbs have same light or temperature requirement. While most of the herbs need exposure to the sunlight for at least 6 hours per day, the herbs likes chives, cilantro, dill, and mint are grown in the shade.

Soil type

Make sure of the soil requirement of a particular herb before planting one. In general an extra rich and over fertilized soil is not suitable for planting good quality herbs. Over fertilization kills the flavor of the herb by reducing the essential oil content of the herbs. The herbs do better in the moderately rich soil. In addition to that, your herb garden must have excellent drainage quality, so that soil does not contain extra water. Growing herbs in raised beds or containers is also a good idea.

Daily care of your herb garden

Just like with vegetables, other herbs require about an inch of water per week. However, those planted in containers tend to dry out more quickly and hence need more frequent watering. To get a better grip, with the soil keep garden beds weeded.

One interesting thing about herb plants is: they have inherent power to resist pests and disease attacks. This is due the aromatic natural oil, they are bestowed with; the aroma repel pests and insects naturally. Still, herbs are susceptible to the attack of insects like aphids, and diseases such as powdery mildew.

Keep these information in mind when you are going to start your herb garden for the first time; your care for your herb garden will result into great pleasure everyday all through the year.

Requisites Of An Organic Vegetable Garden

2008-10-11T21:14:00.001-07:00

In deciding upon the site for the organic vegetable garden it is well to dispose once and for all of the old idea that the garden "patch" must be an ugly spot in the home surroundings. If thoughtfully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly cared for, it may be made into a beautiful and harmonious feature of the general scheme, lending a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, borders, or beds can ever produce.

With this fact in mind we will not feel restricted to any part of the premises merely because it is out of sight behind the barn or garage. In the average moderate-sized place there will not be much choice as to land. It will be necessary to take what is to be had and then do the very best that can be done with it. But there will probably be a good deal of choice as to, first, exposure, and second, convenience. Other things being equal, select a spot near at hand, easy of access. It may seem that a difference of only a few hundred yards will mean nothing, but if one is depending largely upon spare moments for working in and for watching the garden and in the growing of many vegetables the latter is almost as important as the former this matter of convenient access will be of much greater importance than is likely to be at first recognized. Not until you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, will you realize fully what this may mean.

Exposure.
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But the thing of first importance to consider in picking out the spot that is to yield you happiness and delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure. Pick out the "earliest" spot you can find a plot sloping a little to the south or east, that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late, and that seems to be out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. If a building, or even an old fence, protects it from this direction, your garden will be helped along wonderfully, for an early start is a great big factor toward success. If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will add very greatly to its usefulness. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is altogether underestimated by the amateur.

The soil.
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The chances are that you will not find a spot of ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere upon your place. But all except the very worst of soils can be brought up to a very high degree of productiveness especially such small areas as organic vegetable gardens require. Large tracts of soil that are almost pure sand, and others so heavy and mucky that for centuries they lay uncultivated, have frequently been brought, in the course of only a few years, to where they yield annually tremendous crops on a commercial basis. So do not be discouraged about your soil. Proper treatment of it is much more important, and a garden- patch of average run-down, or "never-brought-up" soil will produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than the richest spot will grow under average methods of cultivation.

The ideal garden soil is a "rich, sandy loam." And the fact cannot be overemphasized that such soils usually are made, not found. Let us analyze that description a bit, for right here we come to the first of the four all-important factors of gardening food. The others are cultivation, moisture and temperature. "Rich" in the gardener's vocabulary means full of plant food; more than that and this is a point of vital importance it means full of plant food ready to be used at once, all prepared and spread out on the garden table, or rather in it, where growing things can at once make use of it; or what we term, in one word, "available" plant food. Practically no soils in long- inhabited communities remain naturally rich enough to produce big crops. They are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant food stored in the soil into available forms; and second, by manuring or adding plant food to the soil from outside sources.

"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil containing enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain; "light" enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable.

"Loam: a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That hardly covers it, but it does describe it. It is soil in which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. An instance came under my notice last fall in one of my fields, where a strip containing an acre had been two years in onions, and a little piece jutting off from the middle of this had been prepared for them just one season. The rest had not received any extra manuring or cultivation. When the field was plowed up in the fall, all three sections were as distinctly noticeable as though separated by a fence. And I know that next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under, will show the lines of demarcation just as plainly.

Gasen Redeye is the webmaster of My Oganic Food Info. Here you will get more information on Organic Gardening.

Using Fruit Trees In Small Yards

2008-10-10T13:12:00.001-07:00

Almost monthly we find that we are being fed a new exercise, or diet, plan cleverly crafted to make us alter the way we live.

It is true that we all should really examine closely our current lifestyle with a view to eating a great deal more vegetables and fresh fruit and taking far more exercise. One thing we might want to do is to consider growing one or two fruit trees in our garden. However, as most yards are only rather small spaces, it is highly likely that you might be rather restricted in what you can do.

The majority of us understand that organic fruit and vegetables are much better for us than the alternatives but the increased cost is often too prohibitive. We also understand that the more fresh the fruit or veg is the more vitamins and minerals it will contain. By growing our very own fruit trees we can produce organic fruit at a vastly reduced cost furthermore, because it can be harvested immediately before use, such fruit is also as fresh as possible.

The largest number of us live in a built up residential environment where it is common to have backyards which leave only an incredibly small area in which to grow a garden. Such backyards are highly unsuitable for large mature trees which can, eventually be the cause of a selection of problems. The roots can force themselves into foundations, branches can force themselves against walls and windows and they also restrict the light. The most obvious problem is that such a large item in a little backyard will simply look unsightly.

Even in the smallest space something immensely beautifull can be created. Professional landscape designers can create the most amazing plans but, with a fair bit of effort and time, it is possible to do this yourself. To do it properly you will need to study a little to understand which are the best shrubs, plants and trees to use and the correct way to use them.

If you have a incredibly small yard the inclusionaddition of a fruit tree will add beauty and interest. In the spring the tree will be covered in amazing looking, and sweet smelling, blossom. By the time of fall the tree will be covered in ripe fruit perfect for the picking. Even during the winter a fruit tree can still look rather interesting and such a tree will be a focal point.

It is now possible to buy dwarf fruit tree types, these are created by grafting the main stem of a fruit tree to carefully chosen dwarf root stock. Modern dwarf root stock, such as M9, is more reliable than older types of dwarf root stock. M9 root stock can cause a fruit tree to grow incredibly small but still producing a vastly increased amount of fruit.

Modern compact fruit trees can be cultivated in small yards as the dwarf variety produces a large amount of fruit from the tinniest of bushes. A dwarf fruit tree will not often be larger than 1.8m high but the growth rate can be decreased even further by cultivating it in a container. By following a well planned pruning regime you can restrict the growth while retaining a aesthetically pleasing architecture.

Amongst the most useful of fruit trees for the gardener with only a small yard, is the spur apple tree. While the tree is still able to reach to around 1.8m in height it has such an upright habit that it often appears rather strange covered in a multitude of ripened apples.

As well as apple trees there are dwarf varieties of fruit tree such as pears, plums, figs, cherries, nectarines and various other alternatives.

Growing Trees in Small Spaces

2008-10-09T07:01:00.001-07:00

Everybody has different tastes and preferences and this is also true when it comes to gardening. Some people find one garden appealing while others may not, however, it is reasonably safe to say that the vast majority of folk enjoy trees. A quality garden often features at least one specimen tree or a small number of small trees as a backdrop to their flower garden.

Specimen trees are those types of tree which has something appealing about it that is rather unique. Such a tree may have beautiful and fragrant blossom or maybe unusual fruits. Other specimen trees may have unusual architectural qualities about them such as the monkey puzzle tree or corkscrew hazel.

Even in the smallest of backyards it is often possible to include a small specimen tree. When choosing a specimen tree it is important to choose one which is suitable for use as a focal point to your garden design. When restricted by space common garden and landscaping designs are simply not possible. In such cases you always need to keep in mind that you do not need to follow any set design, you need to adapt designs to match the space available. So it may not be possible to place specimen trees in a central location but this is not a necessity, often a specimen tree placed in a corner can bring that small portion of your yard to life.

Another factor in moving away from a centrally located tree is that is helps create the appearance of space. When placed in the centre of a small yard a tree can sometimes make a space appear smaller! One advantage to using trees in small spaces is that you will only need to buy one, or possibly two, trees. Therefore your budget may be able to accommodate the purchase of a more expensive, high quality, unique or unusual tree which further enhances your yards beauty.

Evergreen or Deciduous?

Evergreen trees are those types of tree which do not lose their leaves during the cooler months of the year. The great thing about using evergreens in a small yard is that there are often dwarf or miniature species available which means that it becomes possible to grow more than one tree and even a collection of evergreens with different hues. In such backyard designs it is possible to create a small garden which maintains color throughout the year.

Deciduous trees are those types of tree which lose their leaves during the colder months of the year. Although many consider the leaf drop too much of a problem when such trees are grown in small spaces it is a matter of opinion. Deciduous species often have unique qualities and their continual change through the seasons often creates different moods and adds interest to a small place. Species such as corkscrew hazel or willow can look spectacular during the winter months as their main appeal is their contorted branches which are not really visible with leaves present.

Other types of trees and shrubs can bring great interest to a small space. Dogwoods are available which have a variety of differently colored branches ranging from deep black through to red and even bright yellow. Maples and Japanese Maples are often a good choice for a small yard as they can be kept small and their brightly colored and ever changing leaves add color and interest to even shady corners.

Overall creating a garden in a small backyard is not an impossibility. In fact there are so many species of trees and plants available which are highly suitable for use in small spaces that you may surprise yourself at what is truly possible.

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