Plant Gardens 101

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…)

Even though there are a wide variety of plants to choose from when creating your garden or enhancing your landscape, you should know which type of soil you have before buying plants because many can only survive in certain soil conditions.

TYPES OF SOIL

Most soil falls under three categories: clay, loam, and sand. If you have loamy soil, then you can choose practically any plant you want and it will thrive because this is the best type of soil to have. Because most people do not have loamy soil, they must understand how to work with the soil they have. This includes buying fertilizer, lime for clay based soil, and not watering the soil as often so nutrients will always be present for plants to grow. (more…)

Most home vegetable gardeners have seen somewhere or heard from someone the importance of the N, P, K levels in your soil. These letters represent specific elements and stand for Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). If you look on any bag of fertilizer available at your local home or garden center you will see these letters and usually a ratio values right on the bag, bucket or box.

Although, N, P, and K, are considered the big three, they are only a few compared to the many elements and nutrients your plants need in order to grow or thrive. Just like you need all of your vitamins and minerals from A through zinc, a plant requires many nutrients as well.

One specific nutrient it needs, just like humans, is calcium. Calcium in plants is required for proper cell division during plant formation and growth. If your soil lacks calcium the leaves of your plants will look yellow or pale and blossom end rot will occur more frequently. Other signs of calcium deficiency include bad root formation, browning of plants and small vegetable and fruit formations. (more…)

Consumers across the world have started gardens only to find growing anything vibrant and healthy seems impossible. The plants may grow for a brief period then wither away. Some consumers can’t even get plants to take root. The answer may not in better equipment or even a better gardener. The solution to your gardening problems may be found with a simple soil test.

Landscapers and professional gardeners know the importance of proper balances in the ground. Greenery requires effective chemical balance in order for plants to function properly. This is not something only for professional farmers or certified organic growers. It can be a cost effective method of ensuring your future plants will thrive.

Plants require nutrients in their soil. The proper test can make your life much easier. Your gardens will produce healthy crops. You can greatly reduce your costs for fertilizers and pesticides. If you can adequately nourish your plants they can fend of pests more effectively. Testing your grounds will give you the information you need to feed your soil before you plant. The tests can tell you if your ground is fertile or if there are harmful contaminates. (more…)

In order to know what type of amendment will best help you create rich loam, you must first identify whether the texture of your soil is primarily clay, silt, or sand.

First, let’s deal with the characteristics of each type of soil.

Because clay soil is made up of very fine particles, its disadvantages are that it compacts easily, drains poorly or not at all, and tends to crust over. When clay soil is extremely dry, you will hardly be able to make a dent in it even with a shovel. The purer the clay soil, the more easily it compacts thus leaving very little space for air; obviously plant roots may not survive because of this lack of oxygen.

The advantages of having clay soil is that it is a very rich soil, and it drains slowly; thus, nutrients don’t get leached out. (more…)

Organic gardening such as the use of composting worms is very much in demand nowadays as people are now being more and more apprehensive of chemically engaged methods for gardening. Home garden farmers are now having second thoughts about buying chemical fertilizers and are now seriously considering the use of organic fertilizer for their home garden farms. Red worm composting is beginning to have a steadily growing following as more and more home gardeners discover the myriad benefits of using red worm castings as organic fertilizers. Other organic gardening methods such as organic pest control methods are also being seriously considered by a lot of home garden farmers for their lots. The reason behind this is that they provide so much of what plants essentially need to live and be healthy. Nutrients such as phosphorous, nitrogen, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, potassium and a number of other elements are what keep our plants green and sprouting.

Red worm compost as organic fertilizer (more…)

The pH level is a scale that displays how acidic or alkaline something is. A pH level less than 7 means, whatever it is you are testing is dominantly acidic and a level over 7 means it is more alkaline. If you get a reading of 7 that means it is neutral which is normally water.

Simply just getting the pH reading is not enough. Once you have that reading you need to know how to make adjustments in your soil for optimum growth of the vegetables that you are planting.

Here is how you can raise and lower your soil’s pH level in your home vegetable garden.

Before you can do anything to your soil you have to know what the pH level is. The best way to obtain this reading is with a pH soil testing kit from your local home or garden center. They are as inexpensive as five bucks or as complicated and expensive as a hundred dollars. The choice of which one you get is up to you. (more…)

Organic gardening can be a great way to enjoy the outdoors and grow beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables. An important step in organic gardening is soil preparation. Experienced gardeners know that nothing beats rich, organic soil for growing a lush and productive garden. Although organic gardeners may choose to skip chemical fertilizers, most experienced gardening enthusiasts know that there are excellent organic solutions to make your vegetables thrive.

Among the most beneficial additives to an organic garden are items from the ocean and its tributaries. These include leftover portions of crabs, fish, lobsters, shrimp, and even seaweed. These valuable sources of nutrients and minerals can be collected in a number of ways.

Crustaceans are a favorite source of minerals for organic gardening. Lobsters, crabs and shrimp all have hard shells which contain limestone, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and other important minerals. Buying fresh seafood is a great way to obtain these wonderful shells. Using crustacean shells is very easy. After preparing a meal, the shells and other scraps are simply put in the compost pile or dried in the sun. The dried shells and other parts provide an excellent source of minerals which are dispersed over a period of months, helping to prevent runoff problems and lowering the need to re-apply nutrients during the season. (more…)

The practice of Bonsai began in China and Japan hundreds of years ago, and is simple the miniaturization of naturally occurring plants and trees. Bonsai trees are not “special small” trees, but rather trees that ave been slowly miniaturized from their full size.

The main areas of tree care are the following:

Watering your Tree

Bonsai Trees require more watering than most plants, as they are grown in less soil and the soil itself is free draining (meaning it doesn’t retain the water and lets it pass through). The type of tree, the sunlight it is exposed to all factor in to how much watering should be done. You can tell if your Bonsai Tree needs water by looking at it, feeling the soil and if you prefer; by using a moisture meter to be certain. (more…)

Fertilizing begonias is not food for the begonia; all plants make their own food through process called photosynthesis, the begonia plant utilizes filtered light from the sun this creates sugars from carbon dioxide and water, thus the begonia is feeding its self. Think about it when was the last time you invited Begonia to dinner?

Healthy, begonias require sixteen basic nutrients these are essential for begonias ability to live. The sixteen elements are the same for all living plants. When begonia plant is deprived of any of the sixteen building blocks, the begonia will die over time; this is why you provide fertilizers and bio-stimulants you are providing essential elements so the begonia can live. Three of the sixteen components are Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen these are freely obtained from water, air and those elements are usually available to begonias. (more…)

The pH of your lawn soil is an important factor that affects how your lawn grasses will grow. The pH value is an indicator that tells you whether your soil is acidic or alkaline. A balanced soil pH will ensure that your grasses are growing optimally.

First of all, you need to do a soil test to find out the pH value. You can do this in two ways. The first is to buy a do-it-yourself soil pH test kit at any nursery near you and follow the instructions provided by the kit. The result is not highly reliable but it is enough to give you an approximate pH value.

The other way is to let a soil test lab do the test for you. Obviously this is more expensive than the first option but the result is much more complete and reliable. Moreover, the lab result often contains much more information about your soil and not just the pH value. A good lab report will also advise you the remedial action to take if the test reveal any potential problems with your lawn. (more…)

For the best house plants you should have the best possible soil for them. This may sound like a big order, but actually it isn’t. Today most home owners buy bagged soil and assume it is good. A potting mixture suitable for most house plants is a combination of loam, sand, peatmoss and/or leafmold. Loam is the name given to a soil which contains clay, sand, silt and humus. It varies from a sand loam to a clay loam, depending on the relative amounts of these two ingredients present. A medium loam is preferred, which may be obtained from arable land such as a cornfield or vegetable garden.

To do a really bang-up job in preparing soil for house plants the loam should consist of turfs cut from a rich pasture. But because the turfs should be cut in the spring and stacked for about six months prior to using the mixture and because many readers will have difficulty in obtaining it, we will forget the ideal loam for the time being. Leaf-mold, too, might present some difficulties because it takes about a year for tree leaves to decay.

The remaining ingredients are not ordinarily difficult to obtain. Horticultural peatmoss can be bought from almost any garden center or garden center. The sand should be coarse with particles ranging from 1/8 to 1/16 inch. Get it from a firm dealing in builders’ materials. If the loam is deficient in humus (ask your county agricultural agent or state experiment station), buy packaged humus to mix with it. (more…)

Long before you put a seed in the ground you may have already been set up for a less than bountiful harvest, or even worse no harvest at all. That is because the condition of your soil determines whether or not your vegetable plant will grow and produce.

There are ways to test your soil and of course the means to fix your soil if it need be. Let’s first talk about how you can test your soil.

There four methods you can use. The first is getting your local municipality or state EPA to test your soil conditions. You simply call them up, ask for a soil test kit, follow their instructions and for a fee they will analyze the soil you send them. Some may even send you recommendations on what steps you need to take in order to fix any problems that you may have. These test, depending on where you are in the country can be pricey and you can wait quite awhile as commercial farmers take precedence over the home vegetable gardener. (more…)

Nebari are the surface roots of your tree.

When they are thick and spreading in an even radial fashion [Typical for an upright tree.] they really do help to give your bonsai that ‘Aged Big Tree’ look.

As John Y. Naka said: “Don’t make your tree look like a bonsai, Make your bonsai look like a tree.”

Here is a Ficus b. cutting that I recently pruned back hard.

A better shot of a soil ingredient to show the particle size, This is a handful of {mostly} pine bark, [The organic component of my soil. Yes, It is wet.] (more…)

The advantages of growing with hydroponics versus soil growing

To understand what the advantages are growing with hydroponics, first you must understand what hydroponics is. Hydroponics is simple. Hydroponics is growing with water instead of soil. Typically a user add concentrated nutrients into the water, simulating the fertilizers found in soil.

With hydroponics you much more control over your grow then you do with soil, because simply adding the right amount of nutrients in the water guarantees that you will have the right amount of food for your plants. In soil it can be much more difficult to diagnose when you are short mineral trace elements, because you really don’t know what was missing to begin with.

However when using hydroponics nutrients are pre-mixed with exactly the right amount of trace elements. So by simply adding the proper amount of hydroponic nutrients to your water in the hydroponic system, you know that the nutrients have been mixed correctly and the plants have all the elements they need to survive. If your plants should never begin to get sick such as yellowing leaves due to some sort of nutrient deficiency all you have to do is dump your hydroponic systems water, and fill it with fresh water and fresh nutrients. (more…)

Proper soil preparation is the single most important step in making sure your new sod takes root and produces beautiful grass. Sodding is like painting; the hard part is in the prep and the finished product is only as good as the preparation. By taking the time to make sure your soil is properly tilled, fertilized and prepared, you are creating a firm foundation for a lawn that will last a lifetime. You’ll have a lawn that is dense and full, recovers quickly from wear, uses less water and fertilizer and needs less maintenance. When you add up the time and money you save in the long run, proper soil preparation is well worth the time and effort before you lay your new sod.

Professional sod farms follow this adage: The beauty is in the blades, but the action is in the roots. Soil preparation lets the roots grow deep and even so the sod can accept nutrients and moisture properly for excellent growth and beauty. (more…)

Paramagnetism’s importance on earth and in your garden

Remineralize soil through incorporation of volcanic deposits

Since the beginning of time, nature has remineralized the soils of the earth through volcanic eruptions. Part of the remineralization occurs through a process called paramagnetism.

Paramagnetism is a low energy, physical force that has shown beneficial effects on all forms of life. A significant increase in plant growth and vitality is observed when paramagnetic rock is incorporated into the soil or spread across its surface. (more…)

Vermicompost, also known as worm castings, is the end result of worms feeding off of organic material such as food waste. Vermicompost has shown in studies that it contains much needed water soluble nutrients your vegetables, fruits and flowers crave.

You can either make your own vermicompost by adding worms and food scraps to a ventilated container or buy vermicompost commercially. Either way is fine and if just adding nutrients to your soil is not enough proof to use vermicompost than read these three other ways to justify its purpose. (more…)

If you are not nourishing your plants on a regular basis, it is time to take a close look at your plants. Just like humans, plants need nutrients. They need them from the moment you put them in the soil, and they need them on a regular basis. When plants receive proper nutrition, safe fertilizer (plant food) and supplemental plant vitamins, they will grow and thrive.

Your plants will let you know if they are not receiving proper nutrition:

Green leaves begin to look yellow Lawns may become spotty or lighter in color Blooming and new growth slows or comes to a halt Plants begin to look spindly and weak

It is estimated that less than 50% of gardeners provide their plants with proper nutrition. Many do not apply safe fertilizer at all. As we enter the warmer weather, plants’ roots begin to stretch further through the soil to seek more food. If you have not already started, now is the perfect time to begin a regular “fertilizing” program and keep a close eye on your plants to ensure that you have beautiful, healthy plants.   (more…)

The secret to making your flowering trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials bloom more is in the numbers. All fertilizers have analysis numbers on the package. These numbers represent the percentage of each chemical the fertilizer contains. For example, 12-12-12 is a typical garden fertilizer that would contain 12% nitrogen, 12% phosphorous, and 12% potassium. The quick explanation is; nitrogen produces vegetative, or top growth, phosphorous produces flower buds, fruit, and root development, while potassium builds strong healthy plants.

Most lawn grasses are vigorous growers and therefore require significantly more nitrogen than the other plants in your yard. A lawn fertilizer would have an analysis of 26-3-3, indicating a fertilizer high in nitrogen. You would not want to use a fertilizer containing such a high percentage of nitrogen on landscape plants because it would be very easy to burn them. You must also keep in mind that many lawn fertilizers contain broadleaf weed killers, and most ornamental plants have broad leaves. The fertilizer doesn’t know the difference, and it will damage or kill ornamental trees and shrubs.   (more…)