Plant Gardens 101

The process of nurturing degraded ecosystems back to health. See also Leopold, Aldo

A Successful Garden in not a matter of luck or years of experience and hard work. Simply start by applying these seven keys to success.

Then build on them by experimenting reading and talking to other gardeners. Those are the best sources for gardening tips and help.
Inside or outdoors, gardening is both a popular and satisfying leisure time activity. There are many different ways to grow plants and places in which to grow them. Although plants have different needs, all plant care has seven factors in common. (more…)

The botanical name for maidenhair fern.

When someone thinks of solar powered outdoor lighting, the first thought that comes to mind are usually the solar panels that charge up in the sunlight, providing electricity to a building. While this is common, solar powered outdoor lighting does take shape in many forms. For instance, have you ever considered adding solar powered lights for your garden or along the pathway up to your house or driveway? As unusual as it may sound for some of you, these little innovative ideas may actually help you cut out some cost to your electricity bill while adding a lovely aesthetic to your home or garden.

Highlighting a walkway, driveway or even your backyard with path lighting is always a good idea, especially if you have a lot of obstacles such as sprinklers, toys or planters that would be difficult to spot during the night. Solar powered path lighting works like any ordinary path light, except it relies on solar energy to charge up during the day. And what makes it even more convenient is that even if the sun isn’t fully shining, there will still be enough UV rays out for the panel to charge up. In the end, you’d be cutting costs on your electricity bill just by using this eco-friendly method of outdoor lighting. (more…)

A state of reduced activity that enables plants to survive conditions of cold, drought, or other stress. Most plants drop their leaves before going dormant.

Partially decomposed mosses and sedges, mined from boggy areas and used to improve garden soil or to prepare potting soil. Most peat moss is sphagnum moss, a coarse-textured moss that grows in shallow freshwater bogs throughout the northern United States, Canada, and Europe. Peat from sphagnum moss is also known as sphagnum peat. Peat from natural deposits of decomposed reeds, sedges, cattails, and similar marsh plants is known as reed-sedge peat. Much less expensive than sphagnum peat, reed-sedge peat is coarse textured when young. However, it quickly breaks down into a fine-textured humus. Although a good conditioner when mixed with soil, peat moss should never be used as a mulch, because when it is dry, it forms a water-repellent crust that keeps rain or irrigation water from soaking into the soil.

Have you ever gone to the grocery store in winter and marveled at the price of tomatoes? What is even more surprising is the fact that there even were tomatoes for sale at all! You might have noticed a little notation that read “hothouse tomatoes.” You might see a similar notation on the beautiful bouquets of flowers that grace the cooling shelves in grocery stores even in winter! The term hothouse is just another word for the greenhouses, and greenhouses have become essential to gardeners the world over.

Greenhouses have been in existence for a long time. In modern gardening, they are used to grow flowers, vegetables, and fruits, even in inclement weather. Other times, the greenhouses are used to get a head start on seedlings even in the midst of winter. This way you will have choice plants for the spring gardening season whereas otherwise you would need to start from scratch with seeds yourself. In addition to the foregoing, without the early seedlings, farmers would also have a hard time getting a head start on some of their crops that may be a major financial setback if not thriving properly. (more…)

The ovule-bearing part of a pistil that develops into a fruit.

A dozen ways to have a “Garden,” even if you do not have a big yard…..

1. Put pots of flowers along one side of steps. This works well if you keep each container pretty much the same size and the flowers/plants the same or similar.

2. Hanging baskets on porch. One or more containers of colorful cascading flowers – such as ivy geraniums, petunias, begonias – in one color or combinations of colors, make a delightful “welcome home”.

3. Set planters on both sides of front door. Tall, narrow plantings work best. Also,Topiary, sculpted green shrubs, or even a vine on an obelisk.

4. Place a grouping of containers on a bench. If you have a bench, table or shelf just sitting there, group a few containers of varying sizes. Plants can be assorted colors and types. (more…)

As a species name, or more commonly a variety or cultivar name, means “dwarf.” Frequently used for dwarf forms of conifers, such as the dwarf balsam fir, Abies balsamea ‘Nana’.

Dark, heavy, fertile soil composed mostly of organic matter, either decayed plants or rotted manure. In England, “muck” refers to barnyard manure.

This method of vegetable gardening is what I prefer. As you might have guessed, it doesn’t involve digging. This method is particularly suited to older people or people with physical disabilities. But I just prefer it because I think it’s better for the soil.

When soil is turned over it destroys the soil structure. When you create a no-dig plot you are not disturbing the topsoil at all, this means that the soil microbes, worms and creatures can continue doing what they do best in your garden. For the best results in your garden, you want to aim for no compaction of the soil. Water, air and nutrients travel through the soil by pathways made by worms and plant roots. When soil is compacted these pathways are destroyed.

By designing you plots to be no more than say 1.25metres (4 feet) across (and however long you want) you can avoid having to stand in it. If you start with a small bed, (1.25m x 2.5m / 4’ x 8’) you can plan it so that you can expand when you are ready. No matter what your location, no dig vegetable gardens are a great option for you. It means that it doesn’t matter what sort of soil you are starting out with as the layering of materials over the surface will continue to feed and condition your soil. Eventually you will end up with dark, nutrient rich soil. (more…)

The botanical name for laurel.

The botanical name for false cypress.

The botanical name for blackberry lily.

Hydroponic gardening is a great way to grow plants in areas that could not otherwise sustain plant growth. One of the most important and costly pieces of equipment you will buy is a lighting system for your hydroponics garden. After you have made the investment, you will want to do everything possible to ensure that you care for your system properly so it offers the longest useful life.

In a greenhouse or home setting, a hydroponic lighting system will be running for many hours each and every day. Most plants require artificial lighting, which comes from grow lights, to be turned on for sixteen to eighteen hours daily. This means that the grow lamps will be running hot because of the duration of time that they are operating. You can increase the life of your equipment by taking care of the electronic circuitry by reducing the heat. Running auxiliary fans can help bring the temperatures down, and this can help your grow light last for as much as twice as long as it would if running in hot operating conditions. (more…)

Seed produced when a bisexual plant pollinates itself.

The botanical name for mallow.

I have to confess, the entire reason that I am now an organic freak is because I stumbled across a most interesting article in an organic living magazine one day. Well, that and the fact that I came across an equally interesting article in a magazine on what’s in the foods that we eat.

If you truly believe that you are what you eat, then you will most definitely want to consider switching to organic foods. It was the second article really which was the impetus in my organic food move.

This article stated in no uncertain terms what exactly you would be able to find in various foods that we consume on a regular basis, and it was I have to say truly a disgusting experience to read it. (more…)

The initial sprouting of a seed.