Plant Gardens 101

A flat level edging, usually of stone or brick, between a flower bed and the lawn, making it easy to mow the grass without damaging the plantings.

Having your own property is not only a luxury but a responsibility and as such you should keep it in optimal condition and attractive at all times. Besides the physical aspect of your house the other important part one should never overlook is the landscaping work, you could hire someone to do it for you or you could do it yourself. In most cases property owners end up hiring someone to do the job but this is not cost effective.

Learning how to do these tasks yourself provides great satisfaction because all the work has been done exactly how you wanted. In order to get things done the right way you need to own at least the most basic set of garden tools unless you intend to visit your neighbor every time you need to do some yard work. (more…)

The language used to denote the scientific names of plants. In the 18th century, when Carolus Linnaeus invented the binomial system for plant classification, Latin was the universal language of scientists. In his system (still in use today) the first Latin word indicated the genus and the second pinpointed the species. Since that time, many new names for plants have been derived from other languages, especially Greek, or from the name of the place where a previously unknown plant was first found or the person who discovered or cultivated it. Whatever their origin, however, all scientific plant names are treated as Latin. Thus the redbud tree is Cercis (from the Greek) canadensis (from the place where it was first identified). The Siberian wallflower is Cheiranthus (from the Greek) allionii (after the Italian botanist Carlo Allioni).

There are lots of ways that we can make a garden look beautiful no matter what the size of the garden is. The best way to make the best out of your garden is by using some landscape designing ideas. Before you go all and buy tons of landscape magazines you may want to see what parts of your garden you want to change and the type of look you are aiming for.

While the various magazines can be of help you will find more use for landscape designing looks and ideas if you roughly know what you want your garden to look like. One of the main methods for getting the best landscape designing looks is to see about utilizing the whole of your garden in a manner which highlights each part of it.

The best way to go about this is to see how your garden looks before you start the transformation process. You can section out the garden so that you have a more manageable area to work with. Decide in the beginning where you will have grass growing, this should help you to work out just how much lawn mowing you will be doing. (more…)

The male reproductive organ of a flower, including the anther, where pollen is produced, and the filament, which supports the anther.

Any of a number of fungal diseases that cause rusty-looking spots on leaves or stems, particularly in cool damp weather.

Before you start on your first composting project of the year, have you thought about what you were going to place your compost in? I don’t mean, “In my garden,” or even, “In my houseplant’s soil,” those are all moot points. I mean, have you considered whether you were going to compost out in the open for anything and everyone to see, or perhaps in a compost bin or compost tumbler? After all, these are important points to consider and they may hold the key to a successful composting project.

There are quite a few methods when it comes to composting; some use the open composting method by building a pile of compost out in the woods or yard, others use compost tumblers and bins. I prefer the compost tumbler method out of all of them mainly because I lead quite a busy life and can’t commit to watering down my compost constantly if it’s out in the open in addition to turning the pile on a regular basis. However, that’s not to say that a compost tumbler is better than open composting; both methods produce the same amount of compost in the same amount of time so long as you keep your compost heaps aerated. (more…)

The French word for everlasting.

Greenhouses can be built from plans or you can buy greenhouse kits. For most people, greenhouse kits are going to be the best choice for several reasons.

You will get more for your money when you use greenhouse kits. Greenhouse kits are manufactured with everything needed. When you decide to have a greenhouse built from a set of plans you will need to buy each thing needed for the greenhouse separately. If you will not be building the greenhouse yourself you will pay more for a contractor to build the greenhouse from plans than from a kit.

If you buy a greenhouse kit you will be more likely to be able to build it yourself. This will certainly save you even more money. (more…)

The botanical name for coralbells or alumroot.

A plant hormone that can be artificially applied to affect the formation of flowers and the size of fruit.

Transplanting seedlings is one of my favourite tasks in the garden. There are a few simple things to consider to give your young plants the best chance to flourish – you want them to thrive, rather than just survive.

Timing
Think about the time of year. Just because certain seedlings are available at your nursery, don’t assume it’s the right time to plant them out. If you’re not sure, read the label – most tell you the best time of year to plant. You could look in gardening books, research online or ask family or friends who are gardeners (they might even give you some seedlings if they’ve bought too many).

You can plant tender plants before the risk of late frosts has passed, provided you listen closely to weather forecasts and are prepared to cover your ‘babies’ with protection or enclose them in a cloche. (more…)

The pulpy, usually edible part of a fruit or vegetable.

The word “hydroponics” is derived from two Greek words: cidra, meaning water, and punikos, meaning labor; thus, literally “waterworks.” Contrary to popular belief, the grow system we have come to know as hydroponic gardening is an ancient form of agriculture, going back 3,000 years. There are references to the cultivation of plants directly in water in Egyptian records dating back to the time of the New Kingdom and the “Woman-King,” Pharoah Hatshepsut around 1460 BCE.

The best-known hydroponic gardens of the ancient world were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Also known as the Gardens of Semiramis, the Hanging Gardens are reputed to have been located near Al-Hillah in present-day Iraq. These hydroponic gardens were regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. (more…)

An abrasive powder made from the shells of diatoms, sometimes used as an insecticide. The sharp particles damage soft-bodied larvae, snails, and slugs, causing them to lose moisture and die.

A pointed tool used to make holes in the soil, especially for planting bulbs and seedlings.

Recently, a well-known gardener who has an outstanding gardening blog wrote a post saying that she had received an assignment to write an article for the magazine entitled Washington Home and Garden. In her post this gardener invited suggestions, comments, and ideas from her readers on topics that “they” would write about for a magazine with an “upscale suburban readership.” The following represents my comments to this post.

Congratulations. Since variety is the spice of life, I am going to write from an entirely different perspective than the views articulated by your other commenters (who, by the way, made some excellent suggestions and comments)

The Gardening Imagination

I am very concerned that certain rock solid, healthy, meaningful, productive, rewarding, and therapeutic activities such as gardening are dying a slow death. Let me explain. Right now in our country there are millions upon millions of people who have gardens. Thousands of these individuals will go out-of-state to visit other well-known gardens and countless others will go online everyday to read about gardening. These people have what I call “the gardening imagination.” These are the people who have been bitten by the “gardening bug.” (more…)

As part of a species name, refers to the fruits. For example, black chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, bears dark blue-black berries.

A new shoot that emerges from the base of a severely pruned shrub.

Many vegetable crops benefit from a side-dressing of nitrogen fertilizer after making considerable growth or starting to fruit, unless a slow-release fertilizer was applied at planting time.

In a side-dress application, the nitrogen fertilizer is applied along the sides of the plants, about six inches away from the stems, either along the row or around individual plants, such as tomatoes.

A Purdue publication on vegetable gardening, HO-32-W, suggests using ammonium nitrate, which has an analysis of 33-0-0, as the fertilizer material. However, it’s not readily available, and other forms of fertilizer can be used on an equivalent basis.

One is urea, which has an analysis of 46-0-0. It can become volatile, escape into the air and burn the leaves and should be incorporated immediately by lightly tilling it into the soil or watering it in with irrigation. (more…)