Plant Gardens 101

Who does not want to have a home that is relaxing and comforting? Whether you are the busy type of person who spends more time outside the home or the homebody type of person, the fact that homes ought to be comforting and relaxing does not change. If you think that your home is simply a place to stay, then you ought to consider making small or big changes with how your house looks. Of course, this does not only mean that you need to change room paint or to totally change your address. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding a piece of accent to your home that makes all the difference.

If you are not satisfied with how your home exteriors look and feel, then consider improving the landscaping or even adding a few accent pieces to change the general atmosphere. One popular and effective way to do it is to have handcrafted wood bridges built and placed strategically in specific areas in your garden or yard. These handcrafted wood bridges not only provide you added functionality but more importantly, it can totally change the way your home exteriors look and feel. (more…)

As hydroponic gardening is becoming more popular, the sell of hydroponic kits has become a booming business. You can purchase a kit to make a small garden or one to build an entire hydroponic room. The items that are included in these hydroponic kits will depend on the type of system that you wish to use.

The Aggregate Hydroponic Kit Hydroponic kits for an aggregate system will usually begin with a container that is not transparent in which to place your plants. The company will also include a separate nutrient tank with the nutrient solution included in the kit. There will be some type of hookup system that will allow you to run the solution from the nutrient tank to the plant reservoir in order to perform the flooding process that is necessary to keep the plants fed. A built in drainage system is also a necessity with these hydroponic kits.

Aggregate hydroponic kits will naturally include a type of aggregate (the substance that you will place your plants in to give them the support that they will need). A pH tester might also be included to ensure that your nutrient solution is at the proper pH level. (more…)

For the best house plants you should have the best possible soil for them. This may sound like a big order, but actually it isn’t. Today most home owners buy bagged soil and assume it is good. A potting mixture suitable for most house plants is a combination of loam, sand, peatmoss and/or leafmold. Loam is the name given to a soil which contains clay, sand, silt and humus. It varies from a sand loam to a clay loam, depending on the relative amounts of these two ingredients present. A medium loam is preferred, which may be obtained from arable land such as a cornfield or vegetable garden.

To do a really bang-up job in preparing soil for house plants the loam should consist of turfs cut from a rich pasture. But because the turfs should be cut in the spring and stacked for about six months prior to using the mixture and because many readers will have difficulty in obtaining it, we will forget the ideal loam for the time being. Leaf-mold, too, might present some difficulties because it takes about a year for tree leaves to decay.

The remaining ingredients are not ordinarily difficult to obtain. Horticultural peatmoss can be bought from almost any garden center or garden center. The sand should be coarse with particles ranging from 1/8 to 1/16 inch. Get it from a firm dealing in builders’ materials. If the loam is deficient in humus (ask your county agricultural agent or state experiment station), buy packaged humus to mix with it. (more…)

Daisy family
Compositae
Ger’ber-ra. A genus of perhaps 70 species of South African or Asiatic, mostly stemless, herbs.

Description
From a basal rosette of leaves arise stout stalks bearing a single daisylike flower.

How to Grow    (more…)

www bonsai-bci com BCI stands for Bonsai Clubs International, a 2006 winner of the Cetre’ International. This is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating bonsai lovers and fans around the world. A good club to join if you want to meet and talk to bonsai growers from other countries and be exposed to international organizations that promote the growth and care of bonsai.

Membership includes four issues of Bonsai Magazine every year, access to the exclusive audio/video library and special registration rates to annual BCI Conventions.

There are different types of memberships to choose from and the club also features a special group for teens. Individual memberships and federation memberships cost $36 per year, silver and gold memberships cost $100 and $500 per year, respectively while platinum membership costs $1200. If you like the club, join for a one-time, lifetime membership fee of $1200. Be sure to check the website, though since rates are expected to change in 2007. (more…)