Plant Gardens 101

Bare root plants are easy to handle. They are usually dormant perennials, shrubs, or trees that have been harvested from the field, have had the soil washed from their roots and then have been stored in refrigeration for later shipment. “Bare rooting” a plant is a safe, proven, and much used means of storing and shipping many garden plants. At Cottage Farms we always recommend that you plant bare root plants as soon as possible, but you can hold them in a refrigerator, unheated garage, or cellar for a short period if necessary. The best time of year for planting bare root plants in the garden is during the winter (if the soil is not frozen) or spring. The arrival of warmer temperatures and longer days cause the plants to wake up naturally from their winter dormancy and help insure gardening success.

Daylilies:
Cottage Farms suggests choosing a garden area that will receive at least four hours of direct sun each day. Spade or roto-till the intended flower bed to a depth of at least 8-10 inches. If you do not have good garden soil, you may want to blend in a generous portion of dehydrated manure, compost, peat moss, or shredded leaves, but daylilies are one of the easiest to grow and most forgiving plants in any garden. (more…)

One who specializes in the cultivation and propagation of roses.

Review of the Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box

For quite some time I have been looking for an easy and convenient way of growing my plants hydroponically indoors in a stealth-like fashion. I am a 42-year-old man and I have a wife and kids that I live with. I live in California where it is legal to grow my own medicinal herbs, I have chosen to look purchase a commercial grow box that would suit my needs. After several weeks of Internet research I finally came across the Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box.

I really like the design and functionality of Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box, and I also thought the $595 selling price was more than fair. This is a micro grow hydroponics system that I purchased will grows up to three plants, even though I decided to actually grow only two. The PC Grow Box comes with a 125 compact fluorescent light which seems to be the perfect amount of light for a grow box of this size. The plants have a little bit less than 2 feet to grow so this would definitely be considered a micro grow. (more…)

Soil primarily had its beginning from rock together with animal and vegetable decay, if you can imagine long stretches or periods of time when great rock masses were crumbling and breaking up. Heat, water action, and friction were largely responsible for this. By friction here is meant the rubbing and grinding of rock mass against rock mass. Think of the huge rocks, a perfect chaos of them, bumping, scraping, settling against one another. What would be the result? Well, I am sure you all could work that out. This is what happened: bits of rock were worn off, a great deal of heat was produced, pieces of rock were pressed together to form new rock masses, some portions becoming dissolved in water. Why, I myself, almost feel the stress and strain of it all. Can you?

Then, too, there were great changes in temperature. First everything was heated to a high temperature, then gradually became cool. Just think of the cracking, the crumbling, the upheavals, that such changes must have caused! You know some of the effects in winter of sudden freezes and thaws. But the little examples of bursting water pipes and broken pitchers are as nothing to what was happening in the world during those days. The water and the gases in the atmosphere helped along this crumbling work. (more…)