Plant Gardens 101

Naturalized water gardens that may include a waterfall, stream and/or pond, add such an incredible creative touch to your landscaping. Working in harmony with nature they offer a sanctuary for your senses. Astonishingly, they require little maintenance. Periodic cleaning out the skimmer of leaves and adding beneficial bacteria is essentially the extent of regular care. It is important to maintain clear, clean water and to do this without the use of unsightly and costly filtration systems and chemicals. Water gardens should be naturally self-regulating ecosystems requiring significantly less maintenance than if the area were planted in grass. However, like most everything you need to prepare your special sanctuary for the winter.

The cool weather of autumn brings on noticeable changes in a water garden. As long as fish feed, they will continue to produce waste. Dying aquatic vegetation that is not removed from the pond adds to the organic load. The fact that aquatic plants are entering dormancy allows for increased nitrate availability. This means an increased growth of filamentous, string algae, that slimy stuff. No need to be alarmed. The ecosystem is still healthy. This is considered normal transition. Where the sunlight penetration is high on your water garden in shallow streams and pools, the algae will increase the most. This is to be expected. Cold doesn’t bother the algae. (more…)

Geranium family
Geraniaceae
Pee-lar-go’ni-um. Garden Geranium ; Stok’s-Bill Geranium . A large genus of 250 species of South African herbs and shrubs, their habits being very diverse.

Description
Stems strong-growing or trailing, herbaceous or woody. Leaves alternate, stalked, simple, entire and roundish, or much cut and often fernlike, some deeply marked on the upper side, a few fragrant. Flowers showy, irregular, ranging from pure white to pink, crimson, and bright scarlet, in umbel-like clusters growing on leafless stalks from leaf axils. Calyx of 5 sepals joined at the base. Petals 5. Stamens 10.

How to Grow   (more…)

The number of days from the last spring frost to the first fall frost. This measure of the length of a growing season for plants that cannot survive the cold is most significant to gardeners who wish to grow tender annual flowers and vegetables.

Compost, made from decomposed grass clippings, leaves, twigs, and branches, becomes a dark, crumbly mixture of organic matter.

Learn how composting works. Even a newbie to composting can make good quality compost. It can be compared to cooking as art or part science. The following 7 factors will help you master the art of composting.

1. Materials
After a time anything that was once alive will naturally decompose. But, not all organic items should be composted for the home. To prepare compost, organic material, microorganisms, air, water, and a small amount of nitrogen are needed. (more…)

You need to have tools to be able to be an efficient home-gardener. Most of these tools are available in your local gardening stores. Buying them from the stores is not usually the best way to get your home gardening tools as they may be of poor quality. Without research, you may end up buying inferior goods in your search for tools and end up spending more than you intended to in the long run. When buying, make sure that you research well. Some stores offer high quality goods on discount. Make sure you make use of these discounts to get value for your money. It may be more expensive to buy from the internet because of the shipping fees. (more…)

Hydroponic gardens consist of raising plants in a growing medium other than soil. Most times, this means suspending a plant’s roots in a tray of water that is concentrated with nutrient solution. The roots then absorb the essential nutrients that they need in order to provide maximum growth. Because of this, hydroponics gardening plants generally utilize the nutrients more efficiently and then produce bigger blossoms and larger yields. By doing some research online, you can find several successful systems for producing a successful hydroponic gardening system.

Many indoor gardeners employ the Ebb and Flow method (also known as the Flood and Drain method). With this hydroponic gardening system, a submersed pump floods the grow tray with a nutrient rich solution at regular intervals. A mechanism monitors the surrounding environment to help determine the amount of nutrients to provide to the plants for optimum growth. With this hydroponics grow system, gardeners can use a variety of different growing mediums. Gravel and Grow rocks are also helpful when placed in the bottom of the grow tray to help the plants get the nutrients provided by the solution. Or, for smaller plants, gardeners may choose to use individual pots that they can easily move around if needed. Beware of power outages, though. Since some equipment runs on electricity, a power outage can cause the roots to dry out quickly. (more…)