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Archive for March 6th, 2010

Annuals Dictionary: Cerinthe

March 06, 2010 By: Annuals Dictionary Category: Annuals Dictionary

Borage family
Boraginaceae
Sir-rin’the. A small group of Eurasian herbs, one an annual flower garden plant cultivated for its showy bloom.

Description
Leaves alternate, often red or white-spotted. Flowers in 1-sided clusters, yellow, borne among numerous purple bracts. Corolla nearly regular, tubular.

How to Grow    (more…)

How To Properly Care For Your Roses

March 06, 2010 By: Jacoba Fenny Category: Gardens - Flower, How To Grow...

When you have roses, you have to water them about one inch of water per soil. It can depend on the soil how often you need to water. Sandy soil need frequent watering, but as a rule of thumb once a week is good for most soils.

Using mulch on the soil around the plants to retain the moisture in the soil is a good practice. Mulch will also keep down the growth of weeds and keep the soil cool. Use mulches of dry grass clipping, wood chips or straw. Mulch needs to be applied about 2-3 inches deep. Remember to replace it when it needs to be replaced. Even though using mulch is good. Organic mulch can bind up the nitrogen as they decompose, so you will need to fertilizer to prevent deficiencies in the soil.

For roses to stay healthy and strong you will need to make yourself a fertilizer schedule. This will need to be performed yearly and the schedule will vary depending on the type of roses you are growing. Check with a plant expert in your town to find out, what type of fertilizer schedule you will need for your roses. As a rule of thumb general-purpose fertilizers like the 10-10-10 or the 12-12-12 are usually adequate. The ration is ½ to 1 full cup per plant. You will spread the fertilizer in a band starting 6” from the base of the plant and spread the band until it is 18” from the base of the plant. Your fertilizer will be a band around the plant will be 12” wide. Work it lightly into the soil and then water. Some roses will benefit from a second application after the spring bloom period ends. Then you can fertilize one more time in mid July for nonstop blooms or repeat-blooming roses. Never apply fertilizer after August; you do not want to encourage growth, which could be easily damaged during winter. Roses can be fertilized in the fall after the plant lay dormant. This fertilizer will not encourage growth, but will be there when they do start growing again in the spring. To increase hardiness during the winter fertilize with fertilizers high in potassium. (more…)

Word of the Day: chemical fertilizer

March 06, 2010 By: Garden Dictionary Category: Garden Dictionary

A chemical product, of either mineral or synthetic origin, that provides nutrients to stimulate plant growth.

The Beauty and Grace of Flower Fairies

March 06, 2010 By: Morgan Hamilton Category: Advice General

Among the legendary creatures that have helped shaped our imagination as children are fairies. My daughter began her fascination with after receiving a gift from her grandmother. She gave her a story book filled with illustrations of Flower Fairies and even now she is still enchanted by them.

Flower Fairs are a rather small type of fairies who grow only up to 6 inches. They were created by author and artist Cicely Mary Baker. Epilepsy prevented Cicely from going to school and was instead tutored at home. It gave her a lot of time to develop her talent for drawing and used the children who attended the kindergarten that her sister ran as models.

Cicely’s artistic talent and her love or nature enabled her to create a wonderful magical world for the Flower Fairies. Her drawing was intricate with vivid colors that stirred the reader’s imagination. The flowers and plants were drawn carefully with the accuracy of a seasoned botanist. Her first book, titled Flower fairies of Spring came out in 1923. (more…)

Self Watering System For Tomato Plant Care, Yes Or No? :)

March 06, 2010 By: Brian Stephens Category: Gardens - Vegetable, Watering Needs

The Item you are looking for has moved to the following location:

http://tomatoes101.com/?p=305

A site Dedicated to the “Almighty Tomato”

Growing Grapes at Home for Beauty and Taste

March 06, 2010 By: J Bassfarm Category: Gardens - Vegetable, How To Grow...

Grapes have been grown and harvested by humans for thousands and thousands of years for their satisfying, thirst-quenching properties, and distinctive taste among fruits. Though grapes are grown commercially on large farms or vineyards for use in wines and jellies, they can be just as successfully grown in a budding green-thumb’s backyard garden. Besides their obvious taste factor, growing grapes can be attractive for gardeners due to their beautiful climbing fronds, allowing them to be adaptive to growing on walls and slopes, providing decorative properties as well. Whether for jellies, wines, or simply snacking, growing grapes for personal use is a well worthwhile endeavor.

It is essential to make an annual visit to your local lawn and feed store before embarking on your grape planting in order to find starts of the best varieties which grow hospitably in your area. Pick the brains of the friendly staff, tell them what your objective is, and they will surely be able to point you in the right direction of the starts you need. Pick up a couple of large bags of compost/manure to help your soil quality improve, grab your starts, and head home. (more…)