Plant Gardens 101

The pH of your lawn soil is an important factor that affects how your lawn grasses will grow. The pH value is an indicator that tells you whether your soil is acidic or alkaline. A balanced soil pH will ensure that your grasses are growing optimally.

First of all, you need to do a soil test to find out the pH value. You can do this in two ways. The first is to buy a do-it-yourself soil pH test kit at any nursery near you and follow the instructions provided by the kit. The result is not highly reliable but it is enough to give you an approximate pH value.

The other way is to let a soil test lab do the test for you. Obviously this is more expensive than the first option but the result is much more complete and reliable. Moreover, the lab result often contains much more information about your soil and not just the pH value. A good lab report will also advise you the remedial action to take if the test reveal any potential problems with your lawn. (more…)

1. A plant of the genus Rosa.
2. A nozzle attached to a watering can to produce a soft spray of water.

If you’ve ever had to get rid of gophers from your lawn or garden, then you’ll know just how frustrating a process it is. If you are now faced with the problem of gophers, why don’t you find out from someone who has tried all the tricks, which is the one that actually works.

I have lived with the frustration of gophers in my garden and it wasn’t until I found someone that had done all the research for me that I found a solution that worked for me. In a nutshell, you need to educate yourself about these creatures, what their habits and behaviors are, find out what gets rid of them for good and what thousands of other people have used and had success with.

When a gopher is burrowing under your garden, there is more than just superficial damage occurring. While gophers don’t eat the roots of plants, their digging pulls up the roots and exposes to them to external damage. The digging can also cause rocks to be exposed and that can be damaging to any garden machinery you may be using. Also, the piles of dirt that accumulate at the entrance to their holes, are fresh soil for weeds to take root. (more…)

Poppy family
Papaveraceae
Hun-nee-man-i’a. A single species related to Eschscholzia , but with 2 separate sepals.

Description
Leaves bluish green and dissected into blunt, narrow segments. Flowers showy, with 4 petals and 2 sepals.

How to Grow   (more…)

The Urban Gardener’s Journal: Hydroponic grow box systems for year-round organic growing

There is a big dilemma for modern urban gardeners these days. Unlike those who live in a house urban gardeners do not have their own plot of land to grow their fresh organic fruits and vegetables. So urban gardeners living in high-rise condos are forced to use their small patio if they even want to grow any kind of federal. Often they are forced to use a confined area with inadequate lighting and no for an odor reduction whatsoever. It can be a huge issue for gardeners who appreciate creating the best possible conditions for their plants and a little control over mother nature really never hurt anyone at all.

Not to fear. The modern urban grower has an arsenal of hydroponics grow box systems at their disposal. You can choose to purchase a prebuilt hydroponics grow box or the more crafty individual can build their own. With hydroponics grow boxes you don’t need to rearrange a room to say the least or go out of your way whatsoever. There is no cutting or drilling holes in your walls and making a huge mess. No need to rip up carpets or drill holes into the attic for ventilation. There is no need for a giant mess when you decide to grow with a hydroponics grow box instead of building your own or converting a room. These are fantastic machines of varying sizes that makes it simple to grow plants all year round, no matter where you grow. Most grow boxes are usually shipped assembled and ready to use the very same day you get them. Often a hydroponics grow box systems will contain everything you need to grow using hydroponics like lighting, intake and exhaust fans, and timers and nutrients to go your plants with relative ease and with no mess such as in soil grows. To sum it up a hydroponics grow box is everything you need to grow your plants in a high-tech fashion and is very simple for even the most novice gardener to use and understand. There are numerous free DVDs on hydroponics available to make you an expert in no time. (more…)

Pests in one kind or the other are found throughout the planet. Whether they are the insects, bacteria, mites, snails, nematodes, viruses, rodents or birds, all come under the head pest if found in unwanted areas or in unnecessarily huge numbers. Pests have the potential to wipe out entire economies and make the people starve if allowed to propagate and act unchecked.

Even the ancient civilizations understood the necessity of pest control. Those days, pesticides available from natural sources were used. With the advent of the industrial age and rapid growth of population, requirement for food and raw materials from natural sources increased manifold necessitating more areas coming under commercial agriculture. Chemical pesticides or synthetic pesticides proved their worth during this period as they not only could remove pests from large areas in no time, the left overs also could act as repellents too for some period of time. That they are available to counter all kinds of pest infestations under the sun makes more and more people gravitate towards them in no time. (more…)