Plant Gardens 101

I was at the local Starbucks Coffee shop and noticed an interesting thing…Near the door, one of the staff was placing used coffee bags (the silver ones that hold the beens) in the basket. Curiosity got the better of me so I asked about it.

In each bag there is roughly 5 lb of used coffee grounds. and are free for the taking. So I took 2 bags home and added them to my compost. coffee grounds are great for composts.

More info on this: http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost.asp

I also found out another use, since it is relitively starile (Brewed coffee), you can use it as a organic substrate for Oyster Mushroom. Simply find a plastic container, place a 4 to inch layer on the bottom of coffee grinds fresh from Starbuck. Moisture is key here. Buy a few Oyster mushroom from the local store (about 15-30 cents worth will do), Chop the Oyster mushroom in to tiny pieces, the smaller the better. Sprincle the chopped Oyster mushroom onto the coffee grinds, and cover with some coffee grounds so that you nolonger se white specks. Stor Plastic container in a cool dark spot.

Every couple of says, sprits some water from a spray bottle to keep the surface moist. In about 2 weeks you will see white fuss show up, thats ok, the mushroom are growing. In 4 more weeks you should have your first harvest of Oyster Mushroom.

The price of Oyster Mushroom is roughly $7.99 per lb. I personall love mushrooms and I spend lots of money on them, If this works, I will try some other moshroom types in the same manner.

I will keep you posted

PlantGardens101

A natural insecticide, such as pyrethrin, rotenone, and sabadilla. Although these are naturally occurring substances, they are also poisons that can harm mammals, birds, and fish.

Preparing for the Winter Months: Gardening in October

When you feel that first solid bite in the breeze and you see the songbirds winging their way south, and the trees are bursting with fire-laden hues, you know you can’t be spending the weekend curled up by the fireplace with a good book. Not for long.

While the weather is still gardener-friendly, you must shorten your “to-do” lists for the coming of late fall and early winter. Now is the time to attack your lawn and garden by planting your spring bulbs, buying and maintaining your trees and shrubs, doing your late autumn lawn care, using common-sense watering strategies, building a compost bin and making your own compost, controlling the many common garden pests, and winning at the weed-whacking war before the sudden onset of the fickle, cold and all-enveloping winter season. (more…)

Butterflies, especially the colourfully marked types are very pretty to watch as the undulate through the summer breezes but there are certain varieties that can cause losses in your vegetable garden.

The cabbage white butterfly

The main culprit is the cabbage white butterfly which is mostly attracted to a chemical emitted from the leaves of brassicas. The brassica group covers such vegetables as cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. The butterfly lands on these plants and in itself is harmless but the eggs it deposits are the problem, or what eventually emerges from these eggs. Emerging quite soon after are the dreaded caterpillars which are hairy and about 3 to 4 cm long. (more…)

Gently pressing down the soil around the roots of a plant in order to firm it in place.

There are three common types of orchid pots. They include plastic, terracotta, and basket. The best type of pot for you depends on the potting mix, type of orchid, and location that you’re growing the plant. You may also want to consider how often you will need to repot the orchid. Let’s take a look at the three main types of orchid pots.

Plastic
One of the most common types of orchid pots is the plastic variety. Plastic pots have the advantage of being lightweight. Clear plastic is popular as it allows you to keep an eye on the roots to make sure pests and diseases aren’t damaging them. Plastic orchid pots also retain water longer than clay pots.

It’s usually best to use these pots indoors since the wind can easily blow them over if they’re used outside. Also if you use plastic orchid pots outside, they will eventually be damaged by UV light. If you do want a plastic design for use outside, you should at least make sure it has a light color. Therefore, it won’t heat up as much in the sun. (more…)

A gastropod closely related to the slug, but with a shell. It feeds on plants at night.

Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
Ly-nay’ri-a. About 100 species from the north temperate zone, a few grown for ornament.

Description
Slender herbs with opposite or whorled leaves, the upper ones sometimes alternate. Flowers usually showy, in terminal spikes or racemes, corolla irregular, 2-lipped, with a long tube, and long-spurred. Stamens 4.

How to Grow   (more…)

Growing Your Own Cucumbers They prefer a sunny position out of strong winds for good results. The soil should be rich, and drain well. Dig a hole approximately 30 cm wide filling it with a mixture of peat compost mixed in with well dug manure. Make the compost and manure mix into a small heap. Each heap should then be spaced around 40-50 cm. Given the high numbers yielded, you will not need to make up too many heaps.

Sowing them. Sow 2-3 seeds at a depth of no more than 3 cm in the center of each heap, then cover lightly with compost and water well. They should then be spaced around 10-15 cm apart in the heaps for the best results. Once germinated thin them out leaving only the strongest seedling. (more…)

See recurved.

Going back thousands of existence ago, the bonsai stand has a rich saga. The Chinese may have been the first dash to trim and influence the bonsai plants but records show that bonsais were seen in Egyptian tombs 2000 days ago.

Records also show that Indian herbalists preserved these cherished plants in small containers because of the dwarfish sizes 1500 years ago.

Nevertheless of course, when talking about the advanced cultivation of Bonsai, we often roll to the Chinese training. They ongoing budding the bonsai stand at a stop when the ultimate was cultural learning. Later, the Japanese adopted the hobby and even associated it to their belief in Buddha. Bonsai became a polish and an art for both the Chinese and the Japanese. (more…)

Goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae
Ko’ki-a. Eighty species, chiefly Eurasian, one widely cultivated and valued for its bushy, brilliantly colored foliage.

Description
Leaves alternate and narrow. Flowers small, solitary or clustered, growing in leaf axils.

How to Grow    (more…)

The flowering plants, the largest group in the plant kingdom, with about 250,000 species. The name derives from the fact that the seeds are enclosed in an ovary. Angiosperms provide us with our flowers, the vegetables in our diet, and our hardwood trees.

Most gardeners understand that recycling garden waste and kitchen scraps is a great idea. But lots of people worry about how long the whole process will take. The length of time it takes to make garden compost really depends on what kind of garden composter one uses.

Compost can easily be made in a just in a heap out in the open. This is the traditional compost heap used by farmers since time immemorial. A huge pile of organic waste and animal manures layered together and heaped up high then left for months or even years to break down. If you have the space an open compost heap like this built in about a five foot cube will take six months to a year to decompose fully into usable, hummus rich garden compost. (more…)

When summer rolls around, many individuals enjoy spending time in their backyard. When it comes to summer, many individuals associate backyards with picnics, barbeques, swimming, and outdoor sports. While all of these activities are nice, there are not the only things that you can do in your backyard. In fact, there are a number of other popular backyard activities that you may never have given much thought to. One of those activities involves growing a garden.

When it comes to gardening, there are many individuals who wonder why they should even bother. Growing a garden may take a lot of time and hard work; however, there are a number of benefits to gardening. To determine if growing a garden would be the perfect backyard activity for you, you are advised to fully examine these benefits. After that examination, you should be able to decide whether or not gardening is an activity that you would enjoy.

One of the many benefits of gardening is that you can design your garden however you want. There are a large number of individuals that choose to grow flowers, plants, or vegetables; however, you do not have to choose just one. If you desire, you could have your garden be a collection of plants, flowers, and vegetables. (more…)

A craze that occurred in the 1630s in Holland when bulb growers discovered that certain tulip bulbs developed flowers of exceptional beauty—striped, feathered, and wildly colored. Speculation in tulip bulbs among the wealthy Dutch became a national obsession. As the passion for rare tulips raged, the market became so flooded with overpriced bulbs that it collapsed. With so many citizens facing ruin, the government outlawed tulip speculation. Today we know that the unusual flowers were produced by a virus, which can be introduced and controlled.

Morning glory family
Convolvulaceae
Ip-po-mee’a. Mostly twining vines, many of the 500 species of tropical origin and a few of garden importance, including the Common Morning Glory.

Description
Leaves alternate, generally stalked, simple, or compound, with several leaflets. Flowers large and showy, usually solitary or a few in leaf axils. Calyx lobed or parted. Corolla chiefly funnel-shaped (rarely, bell-shaped), more or less 5-pointed or 5-angled at the top. Stigma club-shaped or 2-lobed.

How to Grow   (more…)

Many people ask What Is Organic Gardening? Organic gardening is simply the non -use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. The basic of organic gardening is replenishing the soils natural resources as it uses them. Replacing some of the depleted soil with composted plants and using cow and other animal manures as fertilizers is one sure way of replenishing the soil naturally, in other words co-operating and being in sync with Mother Nature herself.

The organic matters used in organic gardens is nothing more than decaying plants and/or animal wastes, compost made from dried leaves, grass clippings, with added household food scrapings make for good soil enrichments to be used as a top soil dressing for established garden or added and then worked into the soil for a new garden. With the addition of organic matters into the soil it naturally improves its texture while enriching it for the plants to get the air, water and nutrients that they need. (more…)

In 1997, renamed the J. C. Raulston Arboretum.) A small (8-acre) but very exciting garden in Raleigh, displaying several thousand species of trees, shrubs, and perennials that are well adapted to the heat and humidity of the South. Many of these plants are new to American gardens and have been made available to nurseries for propagation through the arboretum’s outreach program. See also Raulston, J. C..

The sizable maturity of people, as far as I know, find exquisite flora to have a certain aesthetic profit. I find it very enjoyable to just sit and mind the plants grow in a stunning patch. The only unexciting thing about scrutiny a patch, which is perhaps what may be the very order which I find so relaxing, is the ennui of the undivided thing. There is very no action; but then again, when you are annoying to relax, who desires action? The belief plot would be a lovely backyard with just enough action on which to focus, but lacking enough action to eliminate the relaxing aspect of this non-activity. This is where the butterfly patch comes into play.

I would guess that everybody who enjoys looking at a plot also enjoys study butterflies go about their tasks in a backyard just as much, if not more. Butterflies are gorgeous, innocuous, and add a certain fortunate and lively look to just about any backyard. The only thing stopping anybody from spiraling his or her backyard into a butterfly patch is doubtless the actuality that he or she does not know how to do it. Well, my friends, it is easier than you probably would have thought. (more…)