Plant Gardens 101

No one can now argue with the fact that compost tumblers make compost extremely quickly. Here I simply want to write a few words about compost tumbler reviews and what to look out for when reading them.

It is important to get an unbiased opinion when reading about composting tumblers. This means looking at sites that are apart from the manufacturers. You will be able to read about certain brands of a compost tumbler on the site of the owners of the brand name but they are not going to be as thorough as from stores that stock large selections.
Read composter reviews from sites that sell multiple brands. You may then discover what people really think of the various tumbler on offer and get a much more rounded view of what may be the best composter for you to buy.
You want tumbler reviews from people who have used the products. In this way you can find out the benefits and the flaws of the different tumbling composters on offer and make a much more informed decision about what will be the most suitable product for you to purchase.

Keep in mind your needs when looking for reviews of the tumbling composter. If you want a small tumbler then look for reviews that will match your needs. For dual chamber composting tumblers then do likewise. You want recommendations for products that suit what you are looking for.

In this way you can build up an accurate picture of what is the most suitable for your needs and what will work best in your situation.This should help you find really good compost tumbler reviews.

For cheap compost tumblers and unbiased opinions please read the compost tumbler reviews article on urban compost tumblers.

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See hay.

Daisy family
Compositae
Sir’si-um. Of 200 known species of thistles, most are weeds.

Description
Prickly herbs with alternate or basal leaves that are nearly always cut or lobed and spiny-margined. Flowers tiny, tubular, often handsome, crowded in a dense, usually spiny-bracted head.

How to Grow   (more…)

A compound that inhibits the growth of fungal organisms. Fungicides rarely kill fungi and are more useful as a preventive than as a cure.

Butterflies can be attracted to your garden by a variety of methods including planting brightly coloured flowers and bushes, providing food in the form of rotten fruit or by providing other places where they will congregate.

Flowers and Bushes

To attract butterflies to your garden you need to provide attractive food in the form of brightly coloured flowers and feeders and puddles for drinking water. Leave a part of your garden wild by allowing the grass to grow longer and sprinkling wild flower seeds throughout the area. Choose an area that has sunshine for most of the day but is sheltered from the wind. A few flat stone scattered about will provide resting places. At the edges of the wild area plant flowers and shrubs with brightly coloured blooms.

Butterflies prefer single flowers rather than double blooms as they are easier for gathering nectar. Mix up the colours as butterflies have different preferences. Some will be attracted to flowers in shades of red, orange or yellow, some prefer whites or blues or purples. Also plant in clumps to provide an attractive mass of colour. Annuals and perennials to plant include phlox, lavender, zinnias, asters, candytuft, catnip, daisies, goldenrod, verbena and Marigold. Shrubs and bushes include the butterfly bush (buddleia), honeysuckle, mock orange, potentilla, hawthorn, lilac, and hyacinth. (more…)

Depression affects millions of people around the world. It is considered by experts to be on of the greatest hidden conditions affecting not only the lifestyles of sufferers but also their families, friends and employers. In fact, the condition can last from moments of simply “feeling down” or “a bit blue”, to weeks of worry and complete debilitation.
Depression, What is it?

At its worst, depression is labeled “Clinical depression”. This is best understood as a complete overwhelming emotion of sadness and helplessness. It can also be experienced as a period of utter despair without hope of escape. Sufferers lose the ability to express their feelings at this stage and the spiral continues to draw them into a seemingly endless spiral of fear. In this state, people can lose their appetite, and lose touch with friends and family. Their employment also suffers, and they may be at risk of suicide. In its more minor form depression can be a less intense suffering of the same symptoms or maybe only suffering from on or two symptoms. Nevertheless depression, in any form, is a hidden menace for many people who are not able to deal effectively with their problem because they have difficulty talking about it. They suffer from the feeling of shame and “stupidity” which they attach to their behavior that unfairly keeps this debilitating condition hidden.

Treating Depression With Herbs
Doctors will prescribe a variety of drugs for the depressed patients. Often the side effects of these prescriptions leave the patients with a set of side issues to deal with, such as feelings of sleepiness, lack of clarity or mental focus and loss of libido and appetite. Herbal remedies on the other hand, offer a wonderful alternative that have few if any side effects. Two herbs that have shown great promise are Licorice and St John’s Wort.

Having its origins in Europe, St. John’s Wort contains the vitally active ingredient called hyperforin. Experts recommend a dosage of 900 – 1800 mg a day with a concentration of 3 per cent. This dosage can be altered in accordance with the severity of the condition and will be adjusted by your naturopath.

Ironically, St John’s Wort is classified as a toxic weed because it adversely affects the central nervous system of some animals. Although demonstrating this negative affect in animals, it does not affect humans this way in the slightest, and the herb has been effective in the treatment of depression. Studies have shown that it inhibits the release of Serotonin which is the result that traditionally prescribed medications seek to achieve. Some patients have found this naturally occurring product more acceptable than a drug prescription, and have achieved good results in the treatment of their depression.

Licorice
Licorice has been known for a long time as an effective herbal treatment fro colds, but recently recorded results have shown impressive results in the treatment of depression. Licorice is a natural anti-depressant which contains eight monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

This herb is taken either as a capsule or can be drunk as a tea. There is one cautionary rider to the use of Licorice. If taken in too large a dose or over a lengthy period, there may be side effects like increased blood pressure, headaches and lethargy. It is recommended that licorice be supplemented with potassium capsules and increased water intake to offset the side effects, but in any case you should only use licorice on the advice of a licensed practitioner. Michael is the owner of Herb Magic, the BEST site for all herb lovers. You will also find great herb gardening tips and healthy herb recipes and information at www.HerbWorldBlog.com

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Everyone needs a place in their home that they can call their own. A place to retreat, contemplate, relax, or just be alone. It’s a place that exudes a sense of calm in an otherwise hectic life. In my house that place of refuge is in my Zen garden.

Otherwise known as “karesansui” or “dry garden”, this is a landscaping feature commonly found in homes, temples, and many public places in Japan. It wasn’t until the 1930′s that the western cultures began to understand the principles of the Zen garden and its application was used in various architecture, landscaping and art forms.

No matter what the form, the results should be the same. To create a harmonious, meditative respite using feng shui and other principles that reflect an alignment with nature.

Steps to creating your own Zen garden:
Set aside an area away from the road or other distractions and decide on a size and shape. It can be a large area incorporating walking paths and waterfalls or a simple rectangle. Create a barrier to contain your rock that may include using railroad ties or 2 x 4′s, stone or brick, and stretch out a base of landscape fabric to prevent weeds. You don’t want to be distracted by thoughts of weed pulling or fertilizing.

Fill with sand, gravel, crushed rock, or river rock to a depth of at least 2″ and level off.

Start adding features to your garden; taking time to consider different textures, shapes, colors or items that have particular meaning for you. Add sparingly, however, a Zen garden should never appear cluttered. This is a part of your life that should reflect simplicity and calm. Choose shades of green that symbolizes the heart of summer in various shapes and designs of evergreens. Also consider adding plants that have a presence in all the seasons. The Japanese Maple is a striking summer plant, but also boasts ornamental fall foliage. Interesting rocks or evergreen moss shine in the winter.

Select a focal point that may include a pine tree, an essential part of a Japanese garden. Bamboo also works well as a barrier.

Choose stones to represent mountains and submerge them slightly in sand or gravel. Traditional Zen gardens have 5 groups of 3 stones, but you should do whatever works for you. These mountains or islands symbolize good health and longevity and are an important component of any dry garden.

A water element conveys a sense of calm and cool and represents the passing of time. It can be as simple as a small pond, bird bath, or in a dry garden takes on a solid form. Rake your sand and gravel in wavy rows to symbolize gentle rippling water. Have fun experimenting with new shapes and patterns that feel right.

Subtle lighting or a small bridge connecting various areas may also be added. Complete your garden by adding a comfortable seating or meditation area.

Learn more about mobile homes and Mesa Retirement community living at PalmGardensOnline.com. The site has extensive information for buyers thinking of relocating to an AZ Gated Community, and details on a variety of great mobile home and RV living options.

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Houston is a unique year round southern garden

Houston is a unique style of the southern garden because of our location to the Gulf coast. Our climate is a mixture of the hot humid south and the tropics of Mexico. This gives us rich year round possibilities for gardening. Even in the Carolinas were gardening might be 9 months out of the year, Houston is 12 months out of year gardening with freeze possibilities only lasting from January 15-February 15th. Once you address the problems of compacted soils and poor drainage, Houston can truly inspire the year round southern garden. Were else can you have your favorite beverage on the porch during Thanksgiving or Christmas in shorts? (more…)

The flowering cycle of a Venus Fly Trap follows the 4 seasons with variant types of flowering in each. In spring, as the Venus Fly Trap arise from dormancy, the Venus fly trap will produce a rosette of short leaves that hug the surface of the ground with a trap at each tip. The Venus fly trap is usually not too large at this point, perhaps 2”-4” across. It is also at this time that a tall spike bearing several white flowers will appear.

As summer fades away a variant type of leaf is made. Now, instead of hugging the soil, taller, straighter leaves begin to grow holding the traps several inches above the ground. The Venus fly traps also change visually, becoming larger overall and having a semi-circular notch in the back. Newborn leaves with traps are constantly being made to replace the older, dying ones.

Once the days begin to slow down and the temperature starts to drop in fall, a smaller, flat rosette is made once again, it is very alike to that of the spring flowering. The Fly Traps now gets ready for dormancy.

In the winter, the Fly Traps are half evergreen and will have few to several leaves depending on how cold it gets. The leaves are quite tolerant of frost, but extended frost will eventually cause them to shiver and die. In the underground, the Fly Traps still remains quite active. A bulb (with a few scales), alike to a tiny lily, is resting and building up strength to begin growing even larger the following spring. Finally, this cycle repeats again.

Jon Pham is the owner of little money. An online marketing blog.

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If you’re not the type of person that wants to spend their time managing an elaborate fruit or vegetable garden, you might consider planting and maintaining an herb garden. While the product might not seem as significant, you’ll still enjoy the constant availability of fresh, delicious herbs to flavor your meals with.

First you’ll want to choose the herbs that you’ll plant. You might have a hard time doing this because of the huge scope of herbs available. But the best way to choose is to do what I did; just look at what you have in your kitchen. By planting your own collection of these herbs, you can save money on buying them from the grocery store while having the added benefit of freshness. Some of the herbs you might start with include rosemary, sage, basil, dill, mint, chives, and parsley among others. (more…)

Here are some tips for growing perennials and herbs in containers.

For: Rose Mallow or Hibiscus. Spectacular for tall, bold effects. Large flowers, like single hollyhocks, appear during late summer and fall in red, rose, pink, and white. Hybrids measure nine and more inches across. Good for screening hedges. Plants like rich soil, abundant moisture, and full sun though partial shade is endured.

Select some perennials with good all-season foliage. When daylilies, peonies, phlox, coral-bells, gas plant, astilbe, and hardy candytuft finish flowering, their leaves remain attractive. With Oriental poppies, bleeding hearts and primroses, the leaves turn yellow once blooming is over, though this does not mean they are undesirable. Bare spots left by them can be concealed by other plants like quick-growing annuals.

Perennials like daylilies and iris thrive where it is hot; lupines, delphiniums, and astilbes prefer cooler temperatures.

You can have some biennials, too foxgloves, cantetbury bells, sweet Williams and verbascums and discard them after flowering.

Today, nurserymen and garden centers offer mature perennial and biennial plants in tins, baskets, tar paper, papiermache, and other temporary containers. They provide for quick, colorful effects.

PERENNIALS

Acanthus or Bear’s Breech. Tall and striking from southern Europe, whose leaf the ancient Greeks adapted for the capitals of Corinthian columns. Arching, deep-cut, thistlelike leaves, two feet long, shining dark green, are surmounted with tall, white, rose-tinged spikes. Give plants large pots with good drainage and full sun. Not hardy in the North where they need winter protection.

Asters. Handsome with starry blossoms for rich purple, lavender, rose, pink, and white autumn displays. Many varieties vary from nine inches to four or more feet. Plants need full sun and respond to feeding and watering, but are otherwise easy. They are best divided each spring.

Bearded Iris. Number one favorite, beloved for its exquisite blooms in rainbow colors. Hardy and easy to grow, spearlike leaves provide accent among other plants. Clumps need dividing every third year.

Chrysanthemums. Free-flowering and invaluable for the pot garden. With these alone, you can enjoy riotous color from August even to December. Grow your own or buy plants in bud from commercial growers. They move easily when in bloom, if you take care to keep them moist. After flowering, plant in garden or cold frame and give winter protection or discard the roots like annuals.

Daylilies or Hemerocallis. Thriving in hot and cold climates, in shade or full sun. Straplike foliage remains attractive all season. For warmer regions there are evergreen varieties. Trumpet flowers, mostly yellow and crimson, open over a long period, even though each bloom stays fresh but one day. The Greek name, hemerocallis, means “beautiful for a day.”

Delphinium. Regal plant with tall, stately spikes in shades of blue, purple, and white. Sow seed in February or March for flowering plants the same season or purchase seedlings in spring for large containers. Seed sown in June or July will bloom the following summer. Delphiniums need sun and staking up to their heads. Try some of the gorgeous Pacific Hybrids.

Hostas. These handsome perennials have broad leaves, green or variegated. Low growing types are ideal to edge large planters. Hardy, pest free and easy. Consider the August lily, with fragrant white bells in summer; Honey-bells, with tall spikes of purple flowers; and Thomas Hogg, with green leaves edged white.

Phlox. Dependable for bright color in July, August, and September. Thrives in sun or partial shade and needs plenty of water. Allowed to dry out, phlox wilts and the lower leaves turn brown. Comes in pink, salmon, rose, red, scarlet, lavender, purple, and white. If tips are pinched when plants are six to nine inches high, flower heads will be more numerous, though smaller.

Herbaceous perennials are valuable in the container garden. In planters, raised beds, and large boxes, they contribute greatly to the garden design with their distinctive foliage and attractive flowers. As a group, perennials are adapted to a variety of conditions, tolerating sun or shade, moist or dry locations. For the most part, they are hardy, but some require winter covering.

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As a species name, means “ash-colored” or “gray.” For example, dusty miller, Senecio cineraria, has silver-gray leaves.

Garden rooms are extensions of the house that are just astoundingly beautiful. They allow the whole family to enjoy the warm rays of the sun without having to worry about other environmental conditions that may threaten their enjoyment.

Garden rooms, however, need a certain level of carpentry skills to build. Also, knowledge of appropriate materials is necessary to create a patio room that will be sturdy enough to withstand the changing climes. Such requirements make garden rooms an impossible dream for many homeowners who do not possess the much needed knowledge and skills.

Fortunately, Do It Yourself (DIY) garden rooms have been made available in the market. These DIY garden rooms are bundled as kits containing the parts that are needed to assemble your own conservatory. These parts have been engineered for easy assembly. (more…)

Amaranth family
Amaranthaceae
Gom-free’na. A genus of about 100 tropical herbs related to Alternanthera and Iresine .

Description
Leaves opposite, oblong or elliptical, with minutely hairy margins. Flowers in dense, chaffy heads.

How to Grow   (more…)

Please feel free to use this article, as long as it is not reproduced out of context or the content altered. I also ask that you keep a link to http://www.plantsearch.com.au somewhere.

Any soil type-clay, sand or loam-will benefit from the addition of organic matter. In a clay soil, the addition of organic matter opens up the tightly packed particles, allowing for water and air to penetrate easier. In a sandy soil, organic mater adds nutrients and body to the soil, improving its capacity to hold water. Loam is what is considered the ideal soil. The addition of organic matter will keep it in the best shape, attracting worms into your soil and keeping it rich and healthy. So what sort of organic matter is best? Any and lots of it. Manure, straw, hay and compost. When it comes to manure, unlike vegetables, fresh is not best. Fresh manure might not do much harm to your soil but it can burn or kill your plants. Be especially careful of fresh chicken manure, let it age for at least 12 months to let out some of the ammonia and uric acid. Also be careful of applying large amounts of chicken manure to sandy soil, as it can possibly cause potassium toxicity. (more…)

An indoor herb garden grown by an aeroponic system is a rewarding experience for those looking to not only begin a wonderful new hobby but also craving fresh herbs to serve friends and family. You may not realize it but growing plants and herbs through aeroponic hydroponics offer a great deal of benefits. Aeroponic kits produce great tasting herbs that bring out mouth watering flavors of your cooking and also produce herbs with medicinal value, as well.

Aeroponic gardening is still relatively new and not many people are aware of it and its many benefits. One thing people do agree on is that once they learn more about it, they all agree it is an interesting process for growing plants without soil. An aeroponic system uses the environment to grow its plants. (more…)

The Azalea Indica, or Chinese Azalea, is of Asiatic origin. The varieties are innumerable; but the most common and longest known variety is that from which others are but hybrids, Azalea Indica. It is a strong growing plant, with long, coarse, evergreen leaves, producing in clusters of three or more, at the end of the branches red flowers marked with dark spots. This plant may be grown in great perfection, and, as well as all the varieties, is admirably adapted for a window plant.

The habit is shrubby, and the flowers are produced in great profusion. A. Indica alba has white flowers, and is a fine old variety. A. Indica purpurea is a variety with blossoms of a light purple color; a profuse bloomer, and of rapid growth. There is also a double variety. A. Indica coccinea is bright scarlet. From these all the fine varieties of the greenhouses have been produced.

To grow the plants in perfection good drainage is essential. Fill the pot one quarter full of broken potsherds, then fill the soil to within half an inch of the top; soil, a dark peat three parts, one part of loam, one half part of silver sand. If the gardener plans on growing these plants among any garden waterfalls (http://www.garden-fountains.com/Detail.bok?no=79), the proper drainage is even more criticial. (more…)

A secondary woody stem or limb growing from the trunk or main stem of a plant.

Weeding tools are part of the solution. It’s not a secret that removing difficult weeds consistently ranks as most individual’s least favorite gardening chore. But there is good news in the battle over weeds: Homeowners tired of spending backbreaking hours in the garden pulling dandelions can breath a sigh of relief thanks to proven techniques, clever tips and innovative weeding tools. Here are some pieces of advice from lawn and garden experts specially designed to make killing weeds and prevention less of a pain, such as:

Build up the lawn. Cultivating a healthy lawn is one of the simplest ways to force out weeds. Dandelions and other well known broadleaf weeds can’t compete with healthy, growing grass plants. The healthier and more lush your grass is, there will be less room for weeds.

Condition the dirt. Spend a few minutes doing what the garden experts call “top dressing,” covering a thin layer of peat moss over the lawn with a rake. The top dressing helps to slowly condition the lawn during the year, building up the grass so it can resist disease, weeds and thatch, and reducing the quantity of water and fertilizer it requires. Peat moss makes pulling weeds easier in the garden, too. Add two inches of peat moss to the top six inches of dirt to help loosen the dirt. (more…)

There is no set design on how to make a rock garden, you can let your creativity abound. As long as you incorporate the basics, you can design as large or as small of a rock garden as you desire. All good gardening techniques require good drainage for watering, so bear this in mind. Make sure that wherever you decide to place your garden, you have a level surface as a base. Use well-draining sand or gravel as the foundation. A quick trip to any of the large nurseries or home building suppliers will provide you with a variety of options for materials.

Decorative stone makes a lovely wall for rock garden terraces. It comes in a variety of colors and shapes, with straight or round edges. Brick and formed blocks will also work. Your garden can be a single tier, or several staggered terraces. If you are looking to build a rooftop garden, ensure that the trusses or roofing substructure will adequately support the weight. If this is not the case, perhaps several very small, scattered gardening spots would be a better choice. (more…)