Plant Gardens 101

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Potatoes, taters, spuds…call them what you will, potatoes are a staple in the diet of many people all over the planet. Potatoes are a nutritious, versatile vegetable, and they’re incredibly easy to grow. But before you run out to the garden with your shovel and hoe, there are a few things you should know about planting potatoes.

You may have heard old timers say that potatoes should always be planted on Good Friday. This old wives’ tale is absolutely absurd. Good Friday does not fall on the same calendar date each year and can fall anywhere from early March to mid April. If folks in New England or the upper Midwest tried to plant potatoes on Good Friday, many years they’d be digging through rock-hard soil that was still frozen solid. (more…)

The scientific study of the plant lore and agricultural customs of traditional societies.

A terrarium is an easy and beautiful project that you can successfully create in one hour. That includes the travel time to the local Nursery or Home Improvement store. Here are the steps to follow.

The Keys to making a successful Terrarium:

1. Select a container that is unique – This is one of the most important aspects of a terrarium. Often you will see a Brandy snifter as a terrarium container and this is perfect because it is very dramatic. Browse through the local nursery or home improvement store and look for something that is dramatic or unique. It could be anything that will hold soil and water. Think outside the box of “a Potted Plant.”

2. Selection of plants – People often fret over which plants go with which plants and you should give this no thought at all. Select an odd number of plants such as 3, 5 or 7 and select them with a variety of leaf shapes. Some should have slender stalks and others should have round and full leaves. Try to vary the color of the plants too. As you are browsing for your plants place them side by side to see what they will look like in an arrangement. Does it look attractive? Do the plants compliment each other. Move the pots around and look for attractive arrangements. (more…)

Treelike in form but not in size.

Wherever you live, and whatever the weather conditions in your area, your garden will have its own special climate – its microclimate – brought about by a number of factors working together. The factors include the orientation of your site, its protection from wind, whether it slopes or not, and the amount of sun and shade it receives each day. So as well as average conditions for your area, it is important to consider your site’s microclimate in its landscape design.

Any structures that you place on your site have an immediate effect on its microclimate. For example, a house creates a windbreak and alters the flow of air around and above it. There will be a warm area and a colder one created on either side of the building; and shade at certain times of the day. Walls and fences similarly have an effect on a site, as do natural features like trees and hedges. (more…)

A hand-weeding tool with a narrow L-shaped blade, useful for weeding in tight areas.

Ant season is on the horizon.

As the ground warms up in the spring, ants who have been dormant in the earth during the colder weather warm up and come to the surface. Queen ants fly off to find new nesting areas…and before you know it, ants are back in our world.

While ants play an important roll in the ecosystem, it is no picnic when they become pests in our world.

But all too often, when people have a pest problem they run to the store and buy a can of toxic pesticide, come home and spray the pest.

Whoa! Let’s step back and take a look at handling ant problems using a least toxic approach. (more…)

Garden furniture is now a fashion item as the patio and garden increasingly become an additional functional space to the home.

Before you buy any garden furniture it is strongly recommended that you do some research. Doing so will greatly increase your chances of buying garden furniture that is right for you and will last you a long time. Following are some important tips you need to consider before you buy.

Firstly decide whether you want stackable or foldaway furniture that will be put away in the shed or garage in winter or if you want permanent solid garden furniture that remains in situ all year round. If you want your garden furniture to be a permanent part of your garden for esthetic reasons then it is recommended that you go for heavy furniture made from hardwood, aluminum or wrought iron with rust proofing. It is well worth spending the money on the heavier more durable materials as this will be much more cost effective in the long run. (more…)

The Latin ending that indicates a plant family. For example, the Oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, belongs to the poppy family, Papaveraceae. Although Latin genus and species names are italicized, the family name (for some reason) is not.

There are many would-be orchid growers around who would love to start growing orchids but are put off by their reputation as difficult to care for. Orchids are quite resilient plants but there are a few techniques on orchid care that you can use.

Orchid growers will tell you that one of the best ways to learn is through experience. This can be quite costly though as orchids are quite expensive to buy and you don’t want a simple mistake to cause you to end up throwing your orchid away. Please bear in mind that each species has different requirements and that your environment will play a significant part in how your orchid grows. (more…)

The botanical name for calla.

With most kinds of gardening or landscaping, the gardener may exercise a rather wide range of choices when it comes to treatment; he may make his planting formal, informal, natural, highly decorative, or more picturesque.

With a rock garden, however, formal treatment is precluded. Neither the materials used in the construction of the rock garden, nor the plants which will occupy it, lend themselves to any formal arrangement. Straight lines, regular angles or curves, the trimmed plants, statuary, fountains, and all that sort of thing are so foreign to the whole conception of the rock garden that any attempt to introduce them would appear ludicrous. A rock garden is the most natural kind of garden there is, chiefly designed to be constructed with materials that are already present. A lot of fuss is just not appropriate or necessary

One may, however, choose between a naturalistic treatment and what may be termed “the Japanese style,” the chief difference being that in the Japanese style an effort is made to reproduce a miniature landscape. This requires an excellent sense of proportion and a knowledge and use of a wide variety of plant material. The satisfactory execution of a Japanese rock garden is much more difficult than that of a rock garden which will appear satisfactorily natural looking. Unless the services of a landscape architect are available, it is better to try the simpler form first. (more…)

Dug out of the ground when dormant, then shaken or washed to remove the soil from the roots before storage or shipment.

The art of tending bonsais has captivated people all over the earth. One would interrupt to think how species that can be so big would be able to fit a small pot or container. The miracle of this form of gardening is, of course, no longer a stealthy.

There are forty-five known species of the Chinese Elm Bonsai, most of which are evergreen in influence. The most visit habitats for the Chinese Elm are woodlands, hedgerows and thickets, most expressly in Northern composed areas.

The Chinese Elm bonsai is often interchanged with the species called Zelkova (also known as the Japanese Elm). The only difference between the two is the appearance of their fruits. The Chinese Elm has fruits with wings while its Japanese counterpart don’t.

More often than not, Chinese Elm is sold as an interior hide because it stays green although being kept inside your home. Although they do look good inside, putting them as a beyond décor could also do the yard some good. (more…)

A long inflorescence with individual flowers borne on short, unbranched side stalks off a larger central stalk.

As part of a species name, means “yellow.” For example, yellowroot, Xanthorhiza simplicissima, is a low shrub with yellow roots.

Growing your own carrots is reasonably easy. Of note, carrots are actually biennials which are grown as annuals. Carrots produce thin green leaves up to 30cm high, and long orange roots e.g. the carrots.

Carrots are strong in Vitamin A, B and C. Commonly they are orange however lighter coloured varieties do exist. Carrots need good quality soil, well manured from the previous season. The soil should be loose not firm to allow the roots to grow freely downwards.

The soil should be prepared as to be as fine as possible before sowing. Carrot seeds are very small and one trick is to mix it with some fine sand to help spread the seed more evenly and avoid thinning out so much later. The carrot seeds should be sown in drills about 1cm deep with and about 20 cm apart, gently firming over with a thin layer of soil. (more…)