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Create Garden Bones using Dwarf Evergreens

Lindsey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:23:04 +0000

“Garden Bones” is the term used to describe the architectural structure of a garden. It can be either natural or artificial. If natural, plants are used to create the garden designs. If it is artificial, then materials can be used to create structures like an arbour or obelisk. When people prefer to go green, they use an evergreen shrub or tree to create an architectural structure in the garden that really is unique. For centuries, evergreens have been used in large gardens to create designs.

Garden Bones has become quite popular among many homeowners who have small gardens. With the variety of dwarf evergreens available in the market these days, it is possible to create so many wonderful designs.

Dwarf Conifers are evergreens that have a mature height of less than 12 feet and they grow at a very slow pace. Dwarf Conifers are best planted in October up to March after which the sun begins to shine bright and they love sunshine. The soil should be slightly acidic but healthy and no fertilizer is required. Dwarf Conifers are slow to grow and that makes them expensive to propagate and buy. Not only will you will require certain supplies, like hedge shears, to care for the Conifers, but you will also need to dedicate a lot of time and effort in ensuring the plants are looked after well. Moreover, always ensure that you buy your evergreens from reputable nurseries as most come with a 1-2 year guarantee. Nurseries are spending time to propagate new varieties every year.

Varieties of evergreens that are popular among homeowners who grow them in their garden to create Garden Bones include Hudsonia, Minnima Aurea, Compressa, Meyeri’v, Conica, Gnom, Fletccheri are some of the commonly grown evergreen shrub and tree varieties.

Guide to Growing Herbs for Tea

Jay — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:24:40 +0000

Herbs are very good for health. You can use them in a number of ways like adding them to your food preparations or you can use them to make herbal teas. Herbal teas are known to be refreshing and invigorating to the body. There are different types of herbs that can be added to tea to derive various flavours. Growing herbs for making your teas is quite easy.

Grow the herbs you want in your kitchen garden or in pots, containers or trays. With freshly picked herbs from your garden, you can enjoy that refreshing cup of tea anytime you want to. If you want the easy way out, you can also always buy growing kits like the Gift Republic Grow It: Tea & Coffee package. But if you plan on growing your herbs in your backyard or garden, ensure you leave plenty of space amongst your herbal plants so you can place a couple of chairs and a table to enjoy your cuppa.

Herbs need to be harvested early in the morning just after the dew has dried which they still appear lush in the early morning cool. Herbs are at their peak when they are just about to bloom, so this is the right time to pick them. Have the herbs crushed only when they are ready to be used.

Crushing them too early will leave them drained of all their essential oils. The essential oils in the herbs add flavour to your teas and provide you with the health benefits. If the weather department has forecast frost, ensure you have all your herbs harvested well in advance. They can be sun dried and used later in winter, so you can enjoy a nice hot refreshing cup of herbal tea when it is cold outside.

Heirloom Tomato Plants: One of the most Common Garden Choices

Kyle — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:12:35 +0000

Tomatoes are one of the most commonly grown vegetables. At times, they are classified as fruits. Tomatoes are easy to grow and can be grown even in your small garden or backyard. Growing your very own tomatoes provides you not only with a uniquely nourishing fruit, but also immense satisfaction. Tomatoes can be grown in small vegetable gardens, in pots in your backyard, on raised beds, on rooftops, on patios or on large tracts of land just like farmers do. Heirloom tomatoes are specially grown tomatoes with a special flavour. These tomatoes are favoured by chefs as compared to the conventional hybrid varieties. This is because heirlooms tomatoes help enhance the flavour of their unique recipes.

Heirloom tomatoes are grown from seeds like other fruits. Here instead of chemical fertilizers, natural organic fertilizers are used. When organic fertilizers, free from chemicals are used to nourish the tomatoes plants, they produce naturally healthy tomatoes. These tomatoes also taste better and will be a big hit your cooking. Just make sure you use a real tomato knife, like the Global tomato knife 8cm, since all of the heirloom tomato’s juice is likely to leak out if you do not cut it correctly.Of course, you will find that the extra attention to detail and care will be worth it, as nothing tastes better than food you have grown yourself.

Prepare your bed of soil in a pot or a raised bed in your backyard and plant your tomato seeds. Water the soil to allow the seeds to sprout. Once the plant has grown and given forth flowers allow it to self-pollinate and soon you will find gorgeous tomatoes coming forth from the plants. These tomatoes are green at first and later on, as they grow bigger they change to a bright red colour. Ensure that you add the required amount of fertilizer to your soil so you get big red tomatoes.

Bean Bonanza: Easily Grown in your Garden

Kyle — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:52:25 +0000

The French bean, which is quite common in all our meals, is originally from the United States and not France as its name indicates. Beans are easy to grow and when the seeds are planted into warm earth between the months of April and middle of May, the bean plants bring forth lovely long tender beans. After the planting, you will be surprised at how fast the new plants have sprouted.

Soon you will have them as climbers or as bushes. Bean plants can be grown in pots or small containers or in carefully prepared vegetable plots in your backyard. The soil should be slightly acidic in nature and beans require shade to grow well. The soil for growing the beans needs to be full of nutrients and the texture should be light. You might want to use something like the Wolf-Garten spreader Perfect WE 430 to prepare the soil and make sure everything is evenly placed beforehand. The time of the year and soil temperature, have to be taken into account if you plan to grow your bean plant outdoors. Cold and wet weather is not conducive to growing beans, as the sowed seeds would rot immediately. Warm soil and temperature are ideal for the seeds to germinate and grow into plants. You can grow your bean seeds in glass jars and trays indoors and then have them transplanted into your backyard when the weather is conducive and favourable.

The bean seeds need to be sown at a depth of one and a half inches and at intervals of eight inches apart in rows that are spaced nine inches. Support the bean plants with pea sticks. Regular watering, feeding and mulching helps the plant to flower and turn into seeds. Beans have to be picked at regular intervals when they are four to five inches long.

Tips for growing Peppers in your Garden

Jay — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:31:16 +0000

Most people think peppers grow just like tomatoes. They believe that both have the same planning time, require the same amount of sunlight and similar spacing. They may both be in your garden but they certainly have different requirements. Both peppers and tomatoes love warm soil. Plant your peppers just a little after spring has set in when the soil has tuned warmer and feels really good.

Keep the soil beds raised for faster warming and use black plastic mulch to protect the roots from heavy downpour, which could drown your newly planted seedlings. Epsom salts provide the required magnesium for the peppers to thrive well. For healthy roots, add some compost. You do not really require too many tools to grow peppers; at most you might need to use a rake like the Wolf-Garten DR-M30. Drip water irrigation is the ideal method to water peppers in the garden. This method of watering peppers not only helps prevents diseases but also helps keep water to a minimum. Sweet peppers require mulching, as their roots are shallow. The addition of fertilizers at regular intervals is important as proper nutrition is released to the peppers in a slow manner throughout the season.

Since most pepper plants grow to a height of 2 feet, you can vary the spacing. Top leaves of the plants can touch each other as this will provide a shade for the peppers and roots when the sun gets too hot in summer. Use stakes to protect your pepper plants from high winds. Day and night temperatures play a crucial role in the flowering of pepper plants. During extreme temperature fluctuations, the flowers are most likely to fall off. However when the temperatures become cooler flowering takes place once again.

Advice for Growing plants in Containers

Paul — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:45:24 +0000

Garden lovers have a wrong notion that it is much easier to grow plants in containers than in a garden. Well, they are wrong. It is more difficult growing them in containers than in the garden. In places, which feature extremely hot summers, the pots tend to heat up and this can cause the soil inside to absorb the heat and be very warm thereby causing considerable damage to the roots. When you grow plants in pots, water fed to them is not retained in the soil as it is drained out. In summers, when you want the water to remain longer in the soil to cool the plant, it becomes impossible.

Frequent watering will wash out the fertilizers and your plants will be starved of nourishment. If your potted plants are undernourished then bugs attack them and diseases can affect them causing them to wilt. It is best you use large pots or containers for growing your plants so they get plenty of root space to help them grow better and healthier. When the roots are better spaced out the upper part of the plant tends to grow better. One advantage of potted plants, however, is that you don’t need to use tools like the Wolf-Garten DR-M30 rake, to care for them; indeed indoor potted plants are much more manageable than a regular garden. Have your container plants fed with good fertilizers regularly as it helps keep the plants cool and moist during the summer. You can add up to 25 % of fertilizer to the potting soil. Adding mulch to the top soil helps keep the soil moist too. Water should not be left to stagnate in the containers.

Caring for plants after water logging

Paul — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:24:01 +0000

At times, we become overzealous and think our plants require a lot of water especially during the hot summer months. We tend to flood the plants and soil with too much water, which can cause water logging. When water logging takes place, the roots are starved of oxygen and it results in poor functioning, eventually leading to root disease and even root death. This ultimately results in the death of the plant. At times, even heavy rains can be a cause of water logging in our gardens.

Now, how do we tackle soil that has water logged? After the deluge of the floods, use clean water to wash off the hard surface and have the debris collected. Remember to wear hand gloves, like the Bosch 2 607 000 134 protective gloves, when you are working on this to avoid contamination. As fungal diseases like botrytis are likely to affect plants, have the dead leaves removed at once.

You can even remove the plant from the soil, clean the roots and then replant it along with compost. If the plants that produce edible fruit are damaged due to water logging, have them discarded at once as they are likely to be diseased and it is better you do not eat fruits from these plants.

Plants that provide leaves for your salads and soups, if damaged due to water logging, must also be discarded immediately. There are chances of pathogenic spores being present in the soil after water logging, so it is best to avoid growing plants which provide edible leaves and uncooked fruits for at least 2 years.

Dealing with your Garden Pests

Kyle — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:05:23 +0000

Do you have a garden in your home? Then in all probability, you will also have pests. Pests are common to gardens as they thrive on soil and plants. You may have potted plants and decide to bring them into your living area to beautify it. Caution is the watchword when you plan on bringing in potted plants, as they are likely to contain pests and diseases. Pests which are likely to infest your indoor plants include the mites, slugs, snails, scale, mealy bugs and aphids.

Aphids are tiny little bugs that can suck the sap out of newly sprouted plants. When aphids attack, the foliage of the plant becomes deformed and loses colour. Ladybirds actually feed on aphids, but since the only ladybirds your are likely to have in your house are toys like the Wheely Bug Ladybird ride-on toy, there are better methods of aphid removal. Mites are also tiny insects and a magnifying glass is required to see them. They suck on the plant’s juices. The undersides of leaves are where they are located. The plants can be rid of mites by giving them a warm bath with water and you can leave enough space between your plants.

Slugs and snails are plant eaters and make your plant looking famished with no leaves. If you find silvery streaks on your pots and leaves then that slugs and snails have been there and require being got rid of at once. If you see specks of cotton fluffs on your plants, you can be sure they are mealy bugs. These pests suck the plants dry making the foliage sick. To remove these pests, use cotton swab dipped in alcohol and touch the bugs before you remove them. Scales look very much like dots and cause the plants to become deformed and sick.

Great Tips for Growing Juicy Strawberries in Your Home Garden

Jay — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:49:25 +0000

If gardening is your hobby, you must be familiar with the benefits of organically grown fruits. However, if you don’t have enough space to maintain a separate garden at home, you can fulfill your aspiration by growing strawberries in containers. Sounds good? Yeah! You can grow delicious strawberries in containers by following these simple but practically useful tips:

• The first rule for growing strawberries is to choose the right type of plant. With so many different varieties available, you should consult your local greenhouse to know the verities that are best-suited for your area.

• The best time to plant strawberries in cold areas is the early months of spring while they can be planted in the fall in warmer regions.

• Although strawberry plants can be placed inside the house, they do need sunlight for eight to ten hours in a day.

• The ideal soil for growing strawberries is the one with a pH of 5.3 to 6.5.

• Be regular in trimming off the old/dried leaves and other damaged parts of the plants.

• It is advisable to remove all the blossoms during the first six weeks of planting.

• If you have placed your plants in the hanging baskets, make sure to rotate them frequently.

• It is essential to protect your strawberries from spider mites and aphids. You can use a good insecticide for this purpose. However, strawberry plants can also be harmed by powdery mildew, which needs to be treated with fungicide.

• A monthly fertilisation is essential for nurturing your strawberries.

Gently pick up your strawberries when they are red and enjoy the naturally good taste of your organically grown strawberries. Even better, mix them up in a top notch blender, like the Kenwood HB 792, together with other delicious home grown fruits and vegetables, in order to start your day off with a tasty and healthy smoothie.

Tips for Gardening in the Winter

Kyle — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:27:46 +0000

There are certain tips you can follow to maintain the beauty of your garden helping it survive the harsh winter conditions.

The planting season is usually a few short weeks before Christmas. In the month of December, it is important to remove all plants claimed by frost and firm the land around it. Spray the fruit trees with pesticides while they are still dormant. Protect valuable trees and plant new ones in containers. Take extra care of the bulbous plants in the cold weather. Shake off snow from the hedges so that they may not be impeded in growth by the weight.

By the month of January, complete rose planting, but only if the ground is dry. Clean up the dead plants around the fence borders. Dig heavier soil over onto the top with a trusty tool, like the Wolf-Garten Multi-Star BA-M, in order to prevent over weathering. Plant the seeds you want to grow in spring and dig over areas which you have kept aside for annual plantations. Start bringing out the flowering bulbs for a spot of colour. Continue with planting of trees and shrubs.

Cover the vegetable growth for the time being, to shield from the harsh winds. Apply a good choice of nitrogenous fertilizers to fruit bearing trees and bushes. The earthworms would not be able to fix the nitrogen in colder atmosphere, so it would call for external supplements. Sharpen all the manual garden cutting tools in readiness for the year ahead. Cleanse the seed trays and tree pots.

By February, clear the remaining tops of dead plants. Prepare the seed beds that you have kept for the annual season with bone-meal. Sow seeds of plants that you wish to cultivate by middle of the year indoors. Extricate weeds from the bogs and cut overgrown hedges by the month end.

Start sowing beans and peas in the field after proper germination. Begin the cultivation of potatoes as well. Take out the containers that you grew the trees and shrubs in and have them planted outside in the ground.

With a little extra effort and protection, you can help your plants survive the harsh weather conditions.