By Eudora DeWynter
Before you start planting a garden make sure you have well prepared the soil. By this I mean have you loosened the soil by hand or with a tiller to allow for the aeration? Have you softened your soil with fertilizers and new topsoil? Most gardens should be lightly tilled in the spring before planting to kill weeds and smooth the soil. Correctly tilling the soil will enhance the absorption of water. Remember also that nitrogen is an important critical nutrient to plant growth so give it time to settle into the soil. Too much nitrogen will make for more vines that fruit on plants such as tomatoes or potatoes. Once you have readied the soil, its time to begin planting.
Since you have had all winter to lay out your design and spring has nearly arrived, digging and planting are close at hand. Let's say that we are novice gardeners and are planting for the first time, have a relatively large space and don't know a petunia from a begonia, or an annual from a perennial. First thing an annual (you must plant every year, but they bloom almost all summer) and a perennial (comes back year after year, but has a shorter booming span). Then pick your plants, and try and pick plants that are well suited to your climate and soil region. Know how much sunlight you will be getting in the spot that you have picked out. Annuals such as marigolds, zinnias and impatiens are fairly easy to grow.
If you live in a region where late frost is common, don't plant anything until this danger has passed. A simple solution is to start your seedling plants indoors from seed using containers or flats that are designed for indoor planting and the use of a sunny windowsill or an artificial growing light will work wonders. Always make sure your seedlings are kept moist but not wet, never allowing them to dry out. Water every other day or so while they are small then cut back as they grow bigger. If you start with seeds indoors simply follow the packet instructions and when the weather is right transplant outside to fresh air and sunshine.
After plants have been transplanted outside continue to water every other day and add mulch around them (when they are large enough) this will cut down on weeds and hold in the moisture from watering. Keep the weeds pulled before they get to big (by hand is best) and if you fertilize with a liquid, fertilize every other month and if with a dry fertilizer use again about half way through the growing season. Always if possible water in the morning when there is less evaporation from the heat of the day. Below is a list of some of my spring, summer and fall favorites.
Snapdragons - Beautiful array of colors from early summer until late fall
Daylilies - wide varieties, blooms only last a few days but hybrids bloom all summer
Marigolds- easy to grow and come in a variety of shades, bloom summer through fall
Impatiens- tiny cute flowering plant, but doesn't like very hot weather
Pansies- beautiful in all sorts of colors, grows better in cooler weather, velvet feel with black centers
Rose Moss- does well in hot climates, an array of colors and an excellent ground cover
Begonias- beautiful, but sensitive, not heat tolerant
Forsythia- beautiful flowering yellow bush that lets you know that spring has arrived
Petunia - an array of colors, heat tolerant and easy to grow, just right for a novice
Nicotiana - Multiplies and comes back years after year, has a smell that will attract Hummingbirds for miles white, yellow or purple
Gladiola - a garden favorite in mid and late summer
Crape Myrtle - beautiful pink flowering bush which is a late spring early summer favorite
The pride of my own garden;
Bougainvilleas, - climbing woody ornamental plant with red, purple or pink leaves and tiny white flowers
Camellias - glossy evergreen leaves with rose shaped flowers
Rose - every color, every smell, the very sight is sheer joy
Growing Large Tomatoes Isn't That Hard
Labels:
growing plants
By Lee Dobbins
My mom and grandparents always had good luck when growing large tomatoes. Late summer and early fall at our house brought us fresh, delectable tomatoes to eat. My mom would can these at home to use throughout the year, even though I didn't exactly relish eating them. Fresh tomatoes are one of my favorite foods, but I really don't cared for stewed tomatoes. There is nothing better tasting-than homegrown tomatoes, and growing tomatoes is quite easy, in fact almost anyone with a large planter can grow their own.
If you prefer, you can start growing good tomato plants early, inside the house, rather than using the starter plants that most people like. If you want to do it this way, you can, although this method is much harder and the starter plants that are available make the process much easier. Correctly grown tomatoes are not planted outdoors until they meet certain size requirements. It's easy to transplant them, but make sure that they have plenty of space between plants. When you plant your tomatoes, make sure to give each seedling extra room for growth, and to put it in a sunny area.
It's nice but not necessary to have a big garden for growing large tomatoes; a window box works just fine for that purpose. You won't be able to plant as many plants, but even 1 plant can produce a lot of tomatoes. Growing good tomatoes is not something that can be done on autopilot, however. As tomato plants grow bigger, stakes will be necessary to keep them upright. Your tomato plants will need something to grab onto and grow around, so put a stake, fence, or specialty tomato wire frame beside the plant for this purpose. This will keep fruit from touching the ground. This way, tomatoes stay up off the ground where they belong.
Only use a trustworthy fertilizer in your garden, since it will be largely responsible for the health of your plants and will aid in growing large tomatoes. Follow two gardening rules of thumb with your tomato plants and keep them well-watered and in a weed-free area. You don't have to wait to pick your tomatoes until they are bright red in color, although some certainly like to do it that way. You may pick tomatoes before they are fully red and bring them indoors to ripen. Instead of the refrigerator, choose a place that is cool and dry to store your tomatoes for the best taste. You can keep green tomatoes stored in paper bags, and that will extend your fresh tomato season. They will keep well for a few months like this, allowing you to remove them and place them on the windowsill to ripen long into the autumn season.
My mom and grandparents always had good luck when growing large tomatoes. Late summer and early fall at our house brought us fresh, delectable tomatoes to eat. My mom would can these at home to use throughout the year, even though I didn't exactly relish eating them. Fresh tomatoes are one of my favorite foods, but I really don't cared for stewed tomatoes. There is nothing better tasting-than homegrown tomatoes, and growing tomatoes is quite easy, in fact almost anyone with a large planter can grow their own.
If you prefer, you can start growing good tomato plants early, inside the house, rather than using the starter plants that most people like. If you want to do it this way, you can, although this method is much harder and the starter plants that are available make the process much easier. Correctly grown tomatoes are not planted outdoors until they meet certain size requirements. It's easy to transplant them, but make sure that they have plenty of space between plants. When you plant your tomatoes, make sure to give each seedling extra room for growth, and to put it in a sunny area.
It's nice but not necessary to have a big garden for growing large tomatoes; a window box works just fine for that purpose. You won't be able to plant as many plants, but even 1 plant can produce a lot of tomatoes. Growing good tomatoes is not something that can be done on autopilot, however. As tomato plants grow bigger, stakes will be necessary to keep them upright. Your tomato plants will need something to grab onto and grow around, so put a stake, fence, or specialty tomato wire frame beside the plant for this purpose. This will keep fruit from touching the ground. This way, tomatoes stay up off the ground where they belong.
Only use a trustworthy fertilizer in your garden, since it will be largely responsible for the health of your plants and will aid in growing large tomatoes. Follow two gardening rules of thumb with your tomato plants and keep them well-watered and in a weed-free area. You don't have to wait to pick your tomatoes until they are bright red in color, although some certainly like to do it that way. You may pick tomatoes before they are fully red and bring them indoors to ripen. Instead of the refrigerator, choose a place that is cool and dry to store your tomatoes for the best taste. You can keep green tomatoes stored in paper bags, and that will extend your fresh tomato season. They will keep well for a few months like this, allowing you to remove them and place them on the windowsill to ripen long into the autumn season.
Garden Plants That Attract Hummingbirds and Butterflies
Labels:
hummingbirds
By Lee Dobbins
There is nothing more wonderful than relaxing in your guarded and watching the jeweled flight of humming birds and butterflies as they go about their business in your garden. But if you don't often see hummingbirds and butterflies in your garden, it's not because they don't like you, it's probably because they don't like your plants!
Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to certain types of plants because they drink the nectar from them. Therefore its chance to reason if you want to attract them to your garden and one of the types of plants that they like. Now this doesn't mean that you have to limit yourself to just a few types of plants because there are many different shrubs and flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies love.
when choosing flowers for your garden, you need to keep in mind the zone that you live in and whether you are planting it in a shady or sunny spot and by plant that will thrive under those conditions. The Red Columbine, for example, will attract hummingbirds and can be grown in zones 2 through 8. The vibrant red color of the plant will look beautiful in your garden as it blooms early in the season and will attract the birds just returning home.
If you want a tall a plant that you could stick at the back of the garden you might consider the Delphinium which grows in zones 2 to 9 and can reach up to 5 feet in height. This is a great flowering plant for any garden scheme as you can get it in a variety of colors.
If you want flocks of butterflies in the fall then you will want to plant a butterfly bush but beware these can grow very, very tall. These also attract hummingbirds and if you add a verbena bush alongside hanging fuchsia you'll have an area that is very attractive to these beautiful winged creatures.
Marigolds are a common plan but they do produce nectar that butterflies love in a rather inexpensive so you can feel free to fill up your garden with these colorful flowers. Sunflowers are fun to have in the fall and also attract butterflies plus the seeds from the sunflowers make great food for your garden birds.
One thing to consider when attracting butterflies to your garden is the type of butterfly that you want. Certain flowers attract certain types of butterfly's. The Rabbit Brush and Canada Thistle will attract monarch butterflies while the Geraniums and Lilacs will attract Swallowtails. Queen butterflies like daisies and the Gray Hairstreak plant is a good one to attract all different kinds of butterflies. Of course, you can't attract butterflies if they're not native to the area so you might want to research what types of butterflies are native to your area as well as which plants and native plants according.
In addition to planting flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies like, you might want to add a source of water which will be useful for all kinds of birds as well as butterflies. Getting a nice birdbath, or just put out water set out in dishes will provide for your little winged friends. Of course, you want to be sure that you provide a healthy environment for them too, so be sure that you clean out the birdbath or water dish frequently and also be careful when adding bug sprays or insecticides as some of these can be harmful to birds and butterflies.
There is nothing more wonderful than relaxing in your guarded and watching the jeweled flight of humming birds and butterflies as they go about their business in your garden. But if you don't often see hummingbirds and butterflies in your garden, it's not because they don't like you, it's probably because they don't like your plants!
Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to certain types of plants because they drink the nectar from them. Therefore its chance to reason if you want to attract them to your garden and one of the types of plants that they like. Now this doesn't mean that you have to limit yourself to just a few types of plants because there are many different shrubs and flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies love.
when choosing flowers for your garden, you need to keep in mind the zone that you live in and whether you are planting it in a shady or sunny spot and by plant that will thrive under those conditions. The Red Columbine, for example, will attract hummingbirds and can be grown in zones 2 through 8. The vibrant red color of the plant will look beautiful in your garden as it blooms early in the season and will attract the birds just returning home.
If you want a tall a plant that you could stick at the back of the garden you might consider the Delphinium which grows in zones 2 to 9 and can reach up to 5 feet in height. This is a great flowering plant for any garden scheme as you can get it in a variety of colors.
If you want flocks of butterflies in the fall then you will want to plant a butterfly bush but beware these can grow very, very tall. These also attract hummingbirds and if you add a verbena bush alongside hanging fuchsia you'll have an area that is very attractive to these beautiful winged creatures.
Marigolds are a common plan but they do produce nectar that butterflies love in a rather inexpensive so you can feel free to fill up your garden with these colorful flowers. Sunflowers are fun to have in the fall and also attract butterflies plus the seeds from the sunflowers make great food for your garden birds.
One thing to consider when attracting butterflies to your garden is the type of butterfly that you want. Certain flowers attract certain types of butterfly's. The Rabbit Brush and Canada Thistle will attract monarch butterflies while the Geraniums and Lilacs will attract Swallowtails. Queen butterflies like daisies and the Gray Hairstreak plant is a good one to attract all different kinds of butterflies. Of course, you can't attract butterflies if they're not native to the area so you might want to research what types of butterflies are native to your area as well as which plants and native plants according.
In addition to planting flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies like, you might want to add a source of water which will be useful for all kinds of birds as well as butterflies. Getting a nice birdbath, or just put out water set out in dishes will provide for your little winged friends. Of course, you want to be sure that you provide a healthy environment for them too, so be sure that you clean out the birdbath or water dish frequently and also be careful when adding bug sprays or insecticides as some of these can be harmful to birds and butterflies.
Basic Home Gardening Tips
By Lee Dobbins
Home gardening can be very rewarding and it really isn't that hard! Here's some tips for growing any kind of plant including flowers, herbs and vegetables that are sure to help you develop your green thumb.
There are 3 basic things that you need to know to succeed in home gardening and that is that plants need light, water and soil to survive. If any one of these 3 elements is not adequate, it will result in weak plants. Luckily, it is pretty easy to get enough of all for your plants and the plants themselves usually come with directions on what they need.
Light
In general, most plants need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight. Some more and some less so be sure to read the tags that come with your plants for best results! Study your yard or garden area throughout the day to figure out how much sun it really gets and be sure to place your plants where they will have the best chance of thriving. You can buy plants that like full sun,. partial sun and shade so there are plants that will be happy in every type of yard or garden.
Water
One of the most important home gardening tips has to do with water. Plants need water to survive but too much of it is a bad thing! You want to be sure they get enough water so that the soil is not hard and dry, but you never want to have standing water around your plant. Plants in containers will need to be watered more than those in the ground and more watering is necessary in summer months. When watering try not to splash water on the leaves and petals of your plants as this can promote disease - a garden soaker hose is ideal for this.
Soil
Plants need nutrient which they typically get from the soil. Be sure to use a rich soil that is fortified with fertilizer appropriate for what you are planting. You want your soil to be a bit loose so the roots can easily spread and grow. Nutrients can also be delivered to plants through water which is what hydroponic gardening is based on. With hydropinics you grow plants in a water solution - no soil needed!
So, you see, home gardening is not that difficult - just start off slowly and you'll be growing lush, vibrant plants in not time!
Home gardening can be very rewarding and it really isn't that hard! Here's some tips for growing any kind of plant including flowers, herbs and vegetables that are sure to help you develop your green thumb.
There are 3 basic things that you need to know to succeed in home gardening and that is that plants need light, water and soil to survive. If any one of these 3 elements is not adequate, it will result in weak plants. Luckily, it is pretty easy to get enough of all for your plants and the plants themselves usually come with directions on what they need.
Light
In general, most plants need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight. Some more and some less so be sure to read the tags that come with your plants for best results! Study your yard or garden area throughout the day to figure out how much sun it really gets and be sure to place your plants where they will have the best chance of thriving. You can buy plants that like full sun,. partial sun and shade so there are plants that will be happy in every type of yard or garden.
Water
One of the most important home gardening tips has to do with water. Plants need water to survive but too much of it is a bad thing! You want to be sure they get enough water so that the soil is not hard and dry, but you never want to have standing water around your plant. Plants in containers will need to be watered more than those in the ground and more watering is necessary in summer months. When watering try not to splash water on the leaves and petals of your plants as this can promote disease - a garden soaker hose is ideal for this.
Soil
Plants need nutrient which they typically get from the soil. Be sure to use a rich soil that is fortified with fertilizer appropriate for what you are planting. You want your soil to be a bit loose so the roots can easily spread and grow. Nutrients can also be delivered to plants through water which is what hydroponic gardening is based on. With hydropinics you grow plants in a water solution - no soil needed!
So, you see, home gardening is not that difficult - just start off slowly and you'll be growing lush, vibrant plants in not time!
Raw Bananas
Labels:
raw banana
Had you raw bananas and want to fast cooked? Take previous yeast put in the stem of bananas that already had a hole. The package bananas in plastic. Certainly in 1-2 days more this will be ripe.
Preventing from gulma
This is the cheap and effective method so that a land field in your garden was not overgrown grass or weeds. Place sheets of the second-hand newspaper until covered all the surface of the area that was meant, the pile till achieved the thickness 1/4 cm. Pour water on the heap of this paper to soft, then accumulated with straw.
This is more effective than covering the land with the sheet of black plastic.
This is more effective than covering the land with the sheet of black plastic.
The cleaner Garden Equipment
Labels:
tools
You certainly wanted all gardening equipment always to be treated, clean and durable. The method that was good for that was to provide the box of wood contained sand that was soaked second-hand oil (second-hand oil the car for example), near the yours toools shelf .Each time when you finished used equipment like the shovel, the hoe, the sickle, scissors, or knive, you should cleansing the implement of the previous waste stuck this equipment while friction in this basin of oil sand.
The equipment will be clean and shone again. After that the tools kept and was ready to be used again.
The equipment will be clean and shone again. After that the tools kept and was ready to be used again.
Keep your flower fresh
Labels:
flowers
Many methods of making our piece flower in the vase could keep fresh more lama. One of them was by adding distillation water of ginger in this flower vase. Voila, the freshness of this flower will be more durable.
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