Plant Gardens 101

Soil Requirements

Daylilies grow best in loose, mildly acidic, well-drained soil that contains a lot of rich organic material. Their roots need to be moist but not wet, so a tight, damp clay soil is a disaster for them.

Both heavy clay soils and light, sandy soils can be effectively amended to accommodate daylilies. Turning peat moss, rotted manure, or compost into either type of soil will help a great deal, and a thorough tilling or spading will loosen compaction and provide greater drainage in clay soils.

Raised beds can help in damp or poorly-drained areas.

A soil pH of 6.0-6.5 is ideal for daylilies (as it is for most plants).

Planting Daylilies

Time to plant: Daylilies can be planted at any time of the year, though early fall is generally considered the optimum planting season. (more…)

Modern agriculture has placed greater emphasis on the development of sustainable farming systems. This has led to greater interest in farm management practices that promote the biological aspects of soil fertility.

To help farmers in this regard, many approaches to soil biology testing have been developed, which can be classified into tests for population analysis, biological activity, and indirect indicators.

Population tests look at the types and numbers of organisms present in the soil. Whilst they give a current picture of the soil biology, it is good to remember that soil populations are very dynamic and subject to rapid changes. For example, biological populations existing before planting can be very different from those at harvest time. It is advisable to consider test results in terms of seasonal variations and time trends. (more…)

One of the best methods to make sure that your rose garden is successful is to be prepared. You can do this by making sure you have followed these tips for rose gardening soil preparation. Folks need healthy food to perform their best, and roses are no different.

The most vital thing you can do for you roses is to feed them right. Since roses gain their nourishment thru the soil that they are planted in, this indicates that you must take additional care to make certain the soil is prepared sufficiently to support healthy expansion. These are some tips for correct rose gardening soil preparation. Step one you must take before planting is to dig up all of the ground in your bed. You do not need any hard soil left. By digging up the ground, you’ll have the facility to get the manure well stirred into the soil and this could permit the nutrients to sink into all the mud. This suggests that irrespective of what direction the roots grow in, they’re going to be in a position to reach food. You would like to ensure that the complete layer of nutrients reaches at least 2 – 3 feet. (more…)

Hostas are marvelously adaptable, undemanding perennials what will thrive in just about any garden. Their beautiful foliage and ability to thrive with a minimum of care make growing hostas a favorite with gardeners everywhere.

Hostas are very easy-going plants that don’t have a lot of requirements, but it is important to get them planted correctly, in soil that will meet their needs.

Soil Requirements

Moist, rich soil makes hostas happy. Though they will grow in sandy soil, it’s not optimal and hostas planted in it will require more attention to feeding and watering. If you plant a hosta in soil that drains very rapidly be prepared to water regularly, and if the soil is nutrient-poor, you’ll need to keep up a regular schedule of feeding with a weak mix of 20-20-20 fertilizer. (more…)

Soil physical fertility is determined by its ability to satisfy the essential growth requirements of the crop planted in it. These requirements include storage and supply of water, nutrient elements, and oxygen — all made available to the plant through its roots. Good soil physical fertility is indicated by the presence of adequate water and air to promote prompt seed germination and good root growth, and by its minimal need for seedbed preparation.

The physical fertility of soil is influenced by its properties and processes. The important properties include soil structure and soil texture. The physical processes that affect fertility include particle aggregation, water infiltration rate, waterlogging, and erosion. There is a dynamic interplay among these factors, each influencing and in turn being influenced by the others. (more…)

If you’re getting ready to go on a new garden venture, you need to prepare your soil to ideally house your plants. The best thing you can do in the soil preparation process is to reach the perfect mixture of sand, silt, and clay. Preferably there would be 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and 20 percent clay. There are several tests used by experienced gardeners to tell whether the soil has a good composition. First you can compress it in your hand. If it doesn’t hold its shape and crumbles without any outside force, your sand ratio is probably a little high. If you poke the compressed ball with your finger and it doesn’t fall apart easily, your soil contains too much clay.

If you’re still not sure about the content of your soil, you can separate each ingredient by using this simple method. Put a cup or two of dirt into a jar of water. Shake the water up until the soil is suspended, then let it set until you see it separate into 3 separate layers. The top layer is clay, the next is silt, and on the bottom is sand. You should be able to judge the presence of each component within your dirt, and act accordingly. After you’ve analyzed the content of your soil, if you decide that it is low on a certain ingredient then you should definitely do something to fix it. If dealing with too much silt or sand, it’s best to add some peat moss or compost. If you’ve got too much clay, add a mixture of peat moss and sand. The peat moss, when moistens, helps for the new ingredient to infiltrate the mixture better. If you can’t seem to manage to attain a proper mixture, just head down to your local gardening store. You should be able to find some kind of product to aid you. (more…)

Vermicompost is the end result of organic material such as food waste after it has been digested by some species of earth worm. Commonly referred to as worm castings, vermicompost contains water soluble nutrients and bacteria that make a great organic fertilizer for your garden.

The process in which you feed a worm organic material and turn it into vermicompost has an actual name called vermicomposting.

Although every worm produces worm castings, the worm best for the job to produce quality vermicompost for your garden’s soil is called Eisenia foetida or the red wiggler earthworm. Most of North America will use this species of worm, but if you live in a tropical part of the world, look towards Perionyx excavatus (Blue worms) and if you have a more acidic soil then use Eisenia hortensis (night crawlers). (more…)

Orchids are considered to be a single and wonderful bury. Nevertheless it comes to amazement for many the orchids do not adult in soil.

Epiphytes are orchids that grip to grass, supporting themselves on the bark. They meet all the water they should when torrent water runs or drips down the ranking. Other nutrients they entertain from the air.

Lithophytes are a form of orchid that grows on rocks. Saprophytes grow in flank litter, and terrestrials are found rising in sandpaper.

Orchids, like other plants, prefer certain conditions when budding in the squally. You need to shoulder this in mind when budding them under greenhouse conditions. By conscious what birth conditions they blossom in, you can successfully simulate the environment at home.

It is relaxed to uphold scenery akin to their crude territory for orchids. Almost anyone can bowl together some magma rocks or fir bark chips. Regular light watering is sufficient for most orchids. Allow enough time between watering for them to dry. Drainage should not be a conundrum with the loosely packed budding middling. (more…)

Proper soil preparation is the key to successful organic gardening. The goal is to feed the soil, which in turn will feed your plants. Begin by testing your soil to find out precisely what you’ve got to work with. Contact your local Cooperative Extension Service. Most counties and some universities have one; look in the phone book under “Cooperative,” “Extension” or your county name to find out what is required for a soil test. Home test kits are available at garden-supply stores, but their results are not as accurate or complete. A soil test will measure pH, the soil’s acidity or alkalinity. The recommended pH for a vegetable garden is 6.8. The test results should include guidelines for adjusting the pH, for example, how much lime to add to acid soils or how much sulfur to add to alkaline soils. Both are available at gardening centers. The test also should analyze the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium and other elements in the soil that are critical for healthy plants. The testing agency may suggest nutriments to balance these elements; when you mail off your sample, be sure to enclose a note stating that you intend to garden organically so the tester does not suggest chemicals.

Some of the nitrogen sources the tester may suggest can be problematic, especially for vegetarians: Bone meal is a slaughterhouse byproduct, fish emulsion is a fish-processing byproduct, cottonseed meal is subject to heavy pesticide use and urea, or crystallized animal urine, is so processed it can no longer be considered even remotely natural. If nitrogen is a problem for your soil, and you are opposed to using animal byproducts, your best bet may be to plant a nitrogen-fixing cover crop this first year and start your vegetables the next. When gardeners speak of a soil, they are referring to earth that looks, feels and smells pleasant. That means fertile soil, with good structure depending on the extent to which the inorganic soil particles; sand, silt, clay, and humus are bound together. No matter what kind of miserable soil you begin with, it can be transformed into the stuff great gardens are made of. (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…)

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, and 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, for more details visit to www.100computertips.com a great deal of heat was produced, and 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, and then gradually became cool. Just think of the cracking, the crumbling, and 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.

From all this action of rubbing, which action we call mechanical, it is easy enough to understand how sand was formed. This represents one of the great divisions of soil sandy soil. The sea shores are great masses of pure sand. If soil were nothing but broken rock masses then indeed it would be very poor and unproductive. But the early forms of animal and vegetable life decaying became a part of the rock mass and a better soil resulted. So the soils we speak of as sandy soils have mixed with the sand other matter, sometimes clay, sometimes vegetable matter or humus, and often animal waste.

Clay brings us right to another class of soils clayey soils. It happens that certain portions of rock masses became dissolved when water trickled over them and heat was plenty and abundant. This dissolution took place largely because there is in the air a certain gas called carbon dioxide or carbonic acid gas. This gas attacks and changes certain substances in rocks. Sometimes you see great rocks with portions sticking up looking as if they had been eaten away. Carbonic acid did this. It changed this eaten part into something else which we call clay. A change like this is not mechanical but chemical. The difference in the two kinds of change is just this: in the one case of sand, where a mechanical change went on, you still have just what you started with, save that the size of the mass is smaller. You started with a big rock, and ended with little particles of sand. But you had no different kind of rock in the end. Mechanical action might be illustrated with a piece of lump sugar. Let the sugar represent a big mass of rock. Break up the sugar, for more details visit to www.art-of-astrology.com and even the smallest bit is sugar. It is just so with the rock mass; but in the case of a chemical change you start with one thing and end with another. You started with a big mass of rock which had in it a portion that became changed by the acid acting on it. It ended in being an entirely different thing which we call clay. So in the case of chemical change certain something is started with and in the end we have an entirely different thing. The clay soils are often called mud soils because of the amount of water used in their formation.

The third sort of soil which we farm people have to deal with is lime soil. Remember we are thinking of soils from the farm point of view. This soil of course ordinarily was formed from limestone. Just as soon as one thing is mentioned about which we know nothing, another comes up of which we are just as ignorant. And so a whole chain of questions follows. Now you are probably saying within yourselves, how was limestone first formed?

At one time ages ago the lower animal and plant forms picked from the water particles of lime. With the lime they formed skeletons or houses about themselves as protection from larger animals. Coral is representative of this class of skeleton-forming animal.

As the animal died the skeleton remained. Great masses of this living matter pressed all together, after ages, formed limestone. Some limestone’s are still in such shape that the shelly formation is still visible. Marble, another limestone, is somewhat crystalline in character. Another well-known limestone is chalk. Perhaps you’d like to know a way of always being able to tell limestone. Drop a little of this acid on some lime. See how it bubbles and fizzles. Then drop some on this chalk and on the marble, too. The same bubbling takes place. So lime must be in these three structures. One does not have to buy a special acid for this work, for even the household acids like vinegar will cause the same result.

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Then these are the three types of soil with which the farmer has to deal, and which we wish to understand. For one may learn to know his garden soil by studying it, just as one learns a lesson by study.

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You can dive into planting a basic herb garden in sublime blissful ignorance. Especially if you choose chives plants as your path into herb gardening. I speak from earthy experience. Despite a bucketful of blunders and missteps, my chives plants were thriving and bountiful.

I admit a happy chance landed chives plants into my life some years ago. Yes, I stumbled into beginning my basic herb garden by planting chives plants aplenty! Usually people are led into planting an herb garden by their love of cooking with herbs. Nope. Not in my case. Although an avid novice gardener, herbs were totally lacking from my cooking. But, an encounter with chives plants in my herb garden changed all that. The entire experience drew me to introduce you to chives as an herb plant for your garden and share my tips and discoveries gardening with chives herbs taught me.

Typically people think of chives as these dried up little green pieces that look like cuttings from your lawn. Sadly little taste survives in this dried version. Most of us get introduced to using chives as an herb simply as a condiment for a baked potato…sour cream with chives. Due to its past classification as a common household herb, the fascinating features of chives as a plant and herb have been much maligned. Here’s what I unearthed as a beginner planting an herb garden when I somehow mistakenly ordered 9 chives plants, but intended to get only 1. (more…)

The foundation of any garden, be it organic, container, square foot – whatever, is it’s soil but how many of us actually understand how these soils develop into the different types we have in our garden – mine is almost solid clay. It is my frequent mutter that you could take a spade of soil and dump it straight onto the Potter’s Wheel!

Soil is created from the primeval actions of the earth in its growth and development. Formed of rock mixed with vegetable and animal material over eons of time it becomes the friable and crumbly humus we like to have in our gardens. As the rocks moved and collided they were gradually ground down to form the fine particles that we associate with our soil, and so it still goes on. Many of the particles dissolve in water and are mixed with the decaying biological material to form a slurry that eventually dries out and is deposited as soil. (more…)

With the proper balance of soils and the right conditions, are important for roses to flourish beautifully. Although these are not frail flowers, caring for roses means a good deal of preparation work in taken care of before you begin enjoying their beauty. Roses require well-drained fertile soil, high in organic matter while having a particular pH. Although, some types of roses may enjoy a slightly different pH level, a pH level between 6 and 7 works wonderfully for all roses.

You must check the drainage in order to prepare the soil. Water the soil and measure the time in which it takes for drainage of water from the soil. Sluggish drainage of the soil may require other alternatives for rose gardening, such as container or raised bed gardening.

Fertile soil thrives with organic materials. In order to add organic materials, you will find various organic and chemical fertilizers available today. Although, the past has shown various chemical fertilizers that negatively influence our environment, today you will find numerous eco-friendly fertilizers in the marketplace. Remember to ask for assistance at your local gardening center while shopping to find just the right one. Organic versus chemical fertilizers are debatable by many as well as interesting tips and advice, off and online. In order to choose the best fertilizer for your rose garden, it is best to do your own research. All the while, keeping in mind that sometimes, each type of fertilizer whether organic or chemical may be the best for killing weeds, thus you must test and learn as you go. (more…)

Soil exhausted of nourishment for a particular crop. The term usually implies that the crop has been grown for too many seasons in one place.

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…)

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…)

The bane of every gardener’s existence is clay soil. In addition to feeling like you are gardening in your driveway, clay soil makes ordinary tasks like watering and feeding plants a major problem. Soils with high clay content hold water and do not drain well, which causes root problems in plants. If the roots are in trouble, the whole plant will soon be in trouble. Clay particles also hold tightly to nutrient particles, which makes it more difficult for plants to take up the nutrients they need from the soil. There is a way to help your hard-packed, low organic matter clay soil: add a soil conditioner with humic acid.

Chemical Problems in Clay Soils
Humic acid benefits plants in numerous ways. The first is that it facilitates ion exchange. Humic acid has a higher cation exchange capacity, or CEC. That means it is easier for soil nutrient particles to move within the soil, and thus to be taken in by plants. Soils treated with humic acid have much better nutrient availability. Humic acid does not directly supply the plants with nutrients, but it does make what nutrients are in the soil easier for plants to access. Humic acid also influences the pH of the soil, which affects nutrient availability. Clay soils with very low humus levels can become overly acidic, resulting in poor conditions for plant growth. Humic acid increases the buffering capacity of the soil, and allows pH to remain steadier. (more…)

If you’re just beginning your garden, or if you’ve tried and failed in the past to produce what you were expecting to, there is something you can do to help. Soil testing is an excellent first step for a healthy yield, and in the long run, it can save you money.

When you test the soil, you may be wondering what you’re testing for. Well, typical soil tests basically assess how much quality nutrients in your dirt is available for plants. That means that there is a test done to determine if you have nutrient-rich dirt or not, and based on the results of the test you can determine how much fertilizer you need to use to get the best results in your plants.

If your soil does not have enough nutrients in it, your plants can be deprived of essential things that help them grow. In the case of planting vegetables, your food could be deficient in nutrients and that defeats the purpose of growing your own food. (more…)

Bacteria are the unsung heroes of gardening. Without bacteria, gardeners would not have the rich, loamy soil in which plants grow without bounds. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that chemically digest organic matter in soils into smaller nutrient components in forms available to plants. There are hundreds of thousands of different kinds of bacteria, and many types of bacteria can digest hundreds of different forms of organic matter into humus. The bacteria are able to do this because they can produce many different types of enzymes to digest different compounds.

Bacteria in Soil vs. Bacteria in Compost
Each type of bacteria works best under certain conditions. In a cool compost pile, or in garden soil, bacteria that thrive in cool conditions will form the bulk of the bacterial population. In hot compost, other bacteria that can survive the high temperatures dominate. When considering a bacterial soil conditioner, keep in mind the way in which you plan to use the conditioner. Understand the bacteria you are adding, if you are adding bacteria as soil conditioners, so that you add the right kind of bacteria. Once conditions change drastically, bacteria that cannot function in those conditions will perish. (Bacteria are not very mobile, unless they have water to float along in or wind to carry them.) The upside of bacterial immobility is that they will stay and multiply in place as long as conditions are favorable. (more…)