Plant Gardens 101

Potato family
Solanaceae
So-lay’num. Nightshade . A huge genus of herbs, shrubs, vines, and sometimes trees, comprising about 1700 species of nearly worldwide distribution, but overwhelmingly tropical. The genus includes the Potato and Eggplant, as well as ornamental plants for the greenhouse or outdoor culture in the South; some are pernicious weeds.

Description
Leaves alternate, the juice of the wilted leaves deadly in some species, suspect in most others. Flowers often borne in the leaf axils or near them, often solitary or in few-flowered clusters. Calyx united. Corolla regular, shallowly bell- or wheel-shaped, the 5 stamens usually inserted on its throat. Fruit edible in some species, deadly poisonous in others.

How to Grow   (more…)

Garden sheds can help to raise the attractiveness of any kind of back yard. Sheds can hold all types of yard tools, such as those used for gardening. Along with more common uses, sheds can act as an addition to your garage storage and even hold household goods. Sheds can also make the perfect workspace – those who enjoy sculpture and other hobbies will find that sheds are the ideal size for their craft.

There is a huge variety of choice once you have decided to add garden sheds to your back garden. The simplest is to buy a pre-assembled shed. These prefabricated garden sheds are for sale online, and in hardware stores nationwide. They are normally manufactured from plastic or robust particle board. Yet in comparison to their actual area provided, these can be a more expensive choice; be sure to check all retailers.

Another option is to purchase a shed kit that has all the materials in it for you to assemble your shed yourself. This can be a very budget-friendly option, as you are putting in all the labor yourself. There are also a wide variety of styles and sizes of kit garden sheds available, making it one of the most popular shed options out there.

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The underground portion of a plant that serves to anchor it and to absorb water and dissolved nutrients from the soil.

While I was enjoying the summer night life a few weeks ago, I was annoyed at the insects that were trying to bite my arms and legs. I commented to my friend that I was worried about getting the West Nile Virus because I had recently heard that there was an increased chance of outbreak this year, as the California Governor was taking increased precautions against the virus. My friend said that his neighbor had contracted the Virus from an infected mosquito. That knowledge really began to worry me. Vying to protect my health (I could definitely not afford to get sick because of school and work), I looked into ways to protect myself from mosquito bites besides wearing long sleeves and pants. (more…)

When it comes to great summer flowers, just about anybody can go to the store and buy some that are ready to be displayed in their house, but there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from planting and raising your own flowers for the summer season. Here are a handful of tips to keep in mind when planting your own summer flowers this season.

Prepare the Soil

Take the time well ahead of when you plan to plant the seeds to really prepare the soil you’re going to use. Make sure to dig about six inches deep and give the soil a good turning over, and then be sure to add fertilizer, mulch, or compost to really get the nutrients into the soil that your flowers are going to want.

Doing this ahead of time ensures that when you are ready to plant you don’t have to worry about the soil not being ready, or having to spend extra hours preparing it and then planting your flowers. A little preparation can save you a huge amount of time later. (more…)

Downloadable shed plans are certainly the way forward for anyone wanting to build a shed. It’s far easier and quicker to click a button and download shed plans onto your computer than to send off a check and wait for plans to arrive in the post.

After downloading the plans, the first thing you should do is to make a backup copy either to another computer, another hard drive or a USB flash drive. Just in case something goes wrong, you don’t want to lose your shed plans.
The second thing to do is to print the plans. It’s far easier to read and understand a printed copy than looking at it on your monitor.

Read through the plans and see that everything makes sense. You don’t have to thoroughly understand every line and detailed section at this point, but you can mark any areas that you want to come back to or which require further study. (more…)