Plant Gardens 101

Give them their own ‘patch’. This is a great way for kids to learn to be responsible for something. It’s best if their patch is small, at least in the beginning. If they love it and want to do more, you can always make it bigger.

You want to encourage them by getting results as quickly as possible. When I was a little tacker it seemed like time almost stood still – especially when I was waiting for something. Start with seedlings of lettuce, cherry tomatoes or snow peas – foods that they love and are quick to give results. Potatoes are always a winner. Digging them up is like digging for buried treasure!

Take your little one(s) with you to select seeds that they can grow in their plot. They’ll probably choose plants with bright colours and interesting textures, which will add interest to your dinner table. You’ll find they are really keen to eat what they’ve grown, so you’ll have them trying new things. This also gives them a valuable sense of contribution to the family and pride in themselves. (more…)

If we cherish the belief that a garden design must be a place of restfulness as well as a place of visual beauty, then water must surely be the essential ingre­dient. Of all nature’s elements, water is the one that brings a feeling of peace to the landscape. It plays on all the senses— sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste— and offers a cornucopia of design possi­bilities in gardens of all sizes and styles.

On a grand scale, imagine a country garden design complete with a lake edged by gently sloping banks, a meandering stream spanned by a Monet-style bridge; on a minimal scale, think of a Japanese water fountain with a stone water bowl providing a cool resting place for native birds.

Our Past Heritage of Water Garden Design

The role of water in garden design has a long and illustrious history, both in the East and in Western gardens. During the time of Plato, public fountains adorned parks and temple groves, while sacred fountains and shrines to Pan, nymphs, and the muses nestled in pri­vate garden sanctuaries. Homer’s Odyssey describes the Sanctuary of Nymphs at Ithaca, where streams tumbled over rocks and boulders to a shrine known as a Nymphaeum, dedicated to the nymphs and complete with fountains designed to represent a natural grotto.

(more…)

The advantages of growing with hydroponics versus soil growing

To understand what the advantages are growing with hydroponics, first you must understand what hydroponics is. Hydroponics is simple. Hydroponics is growing with water instead of soil. Typically a user add concentrated nutrients into the water, simulating the fertilizers found in soil.

With hydroponics you much more control over your grow then you do with soil, because simply adding the right amount of nutrients in the water guarantees that you will have the right amount of food for your plants. In soil it can be much more difficult to diagnose when you are short mineral trace elements, because you really don’t know what was missing to begin with.

However when using hydroponics nutrients are pre-mixed with exactly the right amount of trace elements. So by simply adding the proper amount of hydroponic nutrients to your water in the hydroponic system, you know that the nutrients have been mixed correctly and the plants have all the elements they need to survive. If your plants should never begin to get sick such as yellowing leaves due to some sort of nutrient deficiency all you have to do is dump your hydroponic systems water, and fill it with fresh water and fresh nutrients. (more…)

The receptive apex of the pistil of a flower, on which pollen is deposited.