Plant Gardens 101

Building a shed is fairly simple, only basic carpentry skills are required. This can be a project many homeowner can do themselves in a couple of weekends.

If you have never built anything before, learning how to build a shed for the first time should be no problem. A shed consist of a fairly simple structure. You can easily learn the kind of construction that is involved by surfing the net for free shed plans. By doing so you will get a good idea of what is involved in the building process. Once you study some plans you should get a good idea if you will be able to take on this project.

If you feel building a shed is beyond your carpentry skills, consider a pre-fabricated shed kit. All the parts will come pre-cut, and ready for assembly. A shed kit will include all the frame, siding, doors, and windows. The most common materials used for these shed kits will be wood, vinyl or metal.

Another option to consider is finding a design you like, and buying the plans. You can show the plans to some of the local handymen in your area, and get some estimates for the labor. (more…)

When it comes to gardening, there are some additional benefits to just having your own fruits and vegetables. Not only can you be a “green” thumb, but you can be a contributor to the “green” living movement by recycling common household “garbage” items into useful, and helpful, garden utensils.

Take the common soup can. By removing the top AND bottom lids, this cylinder becomes a useful starting pot. Removing the top and bottom lids will help aid in the removal of your plant start with greater ease. Now, don’t throw away those lids! The lids can be placed at the base of light loving plants, such as tomatoes! The lids will reflect sunlight, thus providing extra light. In addition, the reflected light has been shown to repel plant eating insects and aphids. To deter birds from your fruits trees, punch holes in the lids and hang them from tree branches. Apparently the reflected light and movement scares these rascals away. (more…)

Hydroponics in space using LED light

If you have scoured around the Internet at all lately or kept up with the technology blogs, you will have an absolutely seen articles written about NASA using hydroponics to grow plants hydroponically in space. The idea of being able to grow your own food in space is incredible for what it can offer astronauts on long journeys taking many months or years. For future development missions of Mars, as well as possible development for life on the moon, as well as onboard the international space station. In the near future astronaut farmers will be able to use hydroponics aboard the space station or their space vessels to grow their own food, and not have to be reliant upon earth for refueling of food and nutritional items. The astronauts will be growing their own food with hydroponics in space. This would free up additional spacecraft hulls so that they can bring in other items and not waste valuable cargo space with food when astronauts could be growing their own fresh fruits in space with hydroponics.

The LED light is researched by NASA currently because that type of lighting system uses very little electrical power and can be run off of small batteries. This means that this type of LED lighting when used in combination with hydroponics will consume very little battery power and allow many hydroponic systems powered by LED lights to grow a wide variety of fresh produce and vegetables in space or aboard space station with hydroponics. A typical LED light bulb lasts from 8 to 10 years under heavy use and will not have any heat byproduct to deal with, such as normal traditional high pressure sodium or metal halide light bulbs that are commonly used in hydroponics application. The high energy draw and heat put off by these types of high-powered lights would not be a viable option in a aboard a space station or spacecraft. However the LED light can be very effective for plants grown in hydroponics because it LED lights is as bright to the plant as an HPS light is to our eyes. (more…)

An auxin or similar natural or synthetic compound that stimulates cuttings to produce roots and thus greatly enhances the vegetative propagation of new plants. Synthetic rooting hormones are available in both powder and liquid form. Besides hastening the initiation of roots, they increase the number and quality of those formed.

Sometimes, the urge to garden might be stomped out by other circumstances, such as living arrangements or space constrictions. If you live in an apartment, you can’t really operate a full garden, just because you don’t really have a yard! I think that one of the best solutions for this problem is to grow plants in containers. You can hang these, or just arrange them on your patio, window sill or balcony. Just a few baskets or pots, and your whole living area will look much classier and nicer. A benefit of growing in small containers is the fact that you can move them around to suit your needs. If you rearrange your furniture and you think that it would look nicer if it was in the other area, it’s no trouble at all to scoot it over. As long as the lighting is about the same, your plant shouldn’t mind the transition at all. Another benefit of the containers’ versatility is the fact that you can adapt it to simulate any environment depending on the type of soil you fill it with and where you place it.

If you are trying to make an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of containers and plants, you can adjust the containers to be at different heights by hanging them from the ceiling or placing them on supports. Hanging them will allow you to make the most of the space you have. This is called “vertical gardening”. If you pull it off right, you can make a very pleasing arrangement of plants while conserving your valuable space. If you live in an apartment, you know how important it is to conserve space! One method of vertical gardening is the use of a wooden step ladder. If painted correctly, you can arrange all the plants on it in a beautiful, stylish cascade of color. (more…)