An unheated greenhouse does have some real limitations, but by the same token, can be something that is a quality addition to your home gardening methods. Unheated greenhouses give you a good intro to the world of growing vegetables or flowers under glass and will teach you a great deal about the process.

Of course, the selection of fruits, flowers, or vegetables that you can grow is going to be restricted. This is particularly true in the cooler months or during the winter. At those times, you’ll need to limit what you grow to the kind of plants that don’t require a great deal of heat or need only a small amount of care during frost.

Your climate will also dictate what you can grow in an unheated greenhouse. Common sense tells you that things which are growing in a warmer climate in an unheated green house are going to do better than those which are growing in a cooler climate in the same unheated greenhouse. Typically the things that you can grow in an unheated green house will be largely the same as those which you might be able to grow outdoors when all danger of frost is past.

Why would you use an unheated greenhouse? Ideally you can use an unheated greenhouse for storing your  bulbs over the winter inside cover, as well as storing strawberry plants.Once your strawberry plants have gone for the year, you dig up the roots. A wooden box filled with dirt can be used to store all of your strawberry plants in one place over the winter. There is no real reason to have to keep them separate.

Additionally, as summer begins to roll around, even in the least well heated climate, vegetables that can grow well in an unheated greenhouse include such hardy veggies as:

Tomatoes
green beans
squash
corn
broccoli
cauliflower
Beets
carrots
An unheated greenhouse may also be used to grow items well into the fall, protecting them from frost and elongating your growing season by four to six weeks time.

There is more to pruning then simply chopping at the thorny branches of the roses. A good pruning of rosebushes leads to a healthier plant which will bloom more profusely the next season. This is true of the miniature roses that you may be growing inside as well as the ones that you plant and grow outdoors. Correct techniques and timing in pruning can allow for a plant to recover from years of neglect and be shaped into a wonderful addition to the garden or flowerbed.

The supplies needed for pruning your roses are two pair of branch clippers, one long handled and the other a shorter handled one and thick gloves and some eye protection is nice to have so that a branch doesn’t endanger your eyes when it falls towards you. The best way to begin pruning is to take a look at your rose bush. Are there a lot of branches that cross each other and old canes that are not producing leaves or flowers? Ideally, there should be no canes that are not healthy and producing and branches need to be far enough apart so there is adequate air circulation.

The rose canes or branches need to be clipped close to the ground for the old ones and the newer growth canes can be clipped higher up. Remember that rose canes, especially the climbing ones can grow very quickly in a single season so it is important to have a trellis to support them. Cut the canes at a forty five degree angle and start at the base of the plant, cut above the bud that face towards the outside of the plant. Use sharp tools that will enable your cuts to be clean and not ragged.

When cutting, it helps if you stack the branches far enough away so that they do not impede your work and place them all the same way because this makes it easier to handle them later. It is important to keep an eye out for any infestation of disease or larvae of bugs that eat new leaves and buds. Use a systemic protection that is designed for roses, it will protect them from the root tips to the topmost buds and flowers. As the new growth appears, watch for aphids and spray with a homemade spray made from a few drops of dishwashing liquid, water and garlic juice.

Selecting the right pots for your container garden

Your container garden doesn’t require a vast array of space for your plants to do well. You can quite often, just by virtue of what you are using and the portability of it, start your vegetable plants from seed rather than using plants. This saves time and money, as well as allowing you to see that you’ve got the best soil that you can for your containers. Starting with seed is a good idea for nearly any plant in a container garden. Begin them inside and then move the pots outdoors. They are very portable, as previously mentioned and as such, you can rearrange them as you like, provided that you are careful in what kind of plants you’re using and how much soil you put into the containers. If you’re going to be planting things which will require a much heavier pot and more soil, try to plant them outdoors after all danger of the frost is past so that you need not move the pots any more than necessary.

You can quite easily plant anything from vegetables to flowers in your container garden. Vegetables such as carrots and beets will do well in any container garden provided that you use a pot which is deep enough to house them well and give them ample room to grow to their full depth. In most cases, a good rule of thumb will be to get a pot that is at least as deep as your vegetable plant is tall. This includes the roots as well as the plant tops. In the case of very tall plants which grow above the ground, you’ll want to keep your pot about half the height of the plant to prevent the plants from being top heavy. Let common sense guide you as to the size of the container that you’re going to use for your plants. If you’re growing carrots, you’ll want a pot that is at least a foot deep to give your carrots plenty of room to grow and enough room for them to spread out and grow well.

For flowering plants, you’ll want to select a plant that is at least 9- 12 inches deep and slightly deeper if you’re going to be using vining plants, particularly if they are going to be vining plants that house berries. You’ll want them to be deep enough to be well seated in the pot so that the weight of the plant does not pull them out.

Plant pots for your container garden are common sense more than anything else. You will be able to grow a great deal of produce in a very small space when you select the right pots for your planting. Growing vegetables in small spaces is far simpler with container gardening. You’ll get a lot more vegetables for your space when you grow a container garden and they are well suited for patios, driveways, porches and even decks.

You need not spend a lot on containers for your garden. Browse yard sale and garage sales and you’ll find a wide array of low cost pots. Nearly any thing can be a container garden, depending on the size of the plant that you house in it. Terra cotta pots are also low in cost and deeper to allow you to grow vegetables in container gardens and are well suited for veggies like carrots. Spending more than you have to on anything isn’t a wise idea and if you recycle other containers–provided they have never housed any toxins of any kind, you’ll be reducing waste as well. Tubs such as you purchase for storage can make ample sized container vegetable gardens and many other kinds of pots can be used that are not really designed to house plants. Think outside the box to get the containers that you want and to get the look that you want for your container garden.

Some people solve this problem by loading up their plants with every type
of chemical and fertilizer known to man. This usually works, but to me it
seems kind of unnatural to rely on man made materials to keep your plants
alive. Also, if I’m growing fruits or vegetables, I don’t feel very
comfortable eating something that is entirely composed of chemicals.

A gardening theory that I have relied on in the past to grow many types of
plants is that of creating a “microclimate” for each type of plant. This
is when you regulate the sunlight, shade, moisture, and wind factors for
each separate plant. It sounds like a challenge, and it is. But you can
regulate these factors in such a way that the plant feels just like it is
in the ideal growing conditions. This can be achieved by the use of wind
barriers, shading umbrellas, extra water, or different types or amounts of
compost.

If you’re ready to make an attempt at creating microclimates, you’ll need
to make a detailed plan in advanced. You should start by finding a large
shade providing bush or tree that will grow fast and naturally in your
area. Just look at some undeveloped plots of land and see what is there.
Most likely it grew on its own without any planting or care. This is what
you want to happen. Usually the growing of one plant can bring about the
growing of another more desirable plant.

If you have a fence in your backyard (you would be surprised at how many
people don’t) then you already have a good amount of shade to work with.
You can start the microclimate process using just the shade of the fence,
combined with (perhaps) a screen or large bush to shade your new plant for
the other half of the day that the fence doesn’t take care of. The fence
is also useful for shading against wind for very fragile plants.

Once you have established the shade, be it natural or unnatural, you have
created a slightly less harsh miniature environment. You must remember
this is a gradual process, and find a new plant to put in the shade of the
other one. Now your choices are a little more open. You don’t have to go
with a rugged plant like the one you did before; you can now choose a
plant that survives in cooler weather.

If the plant you are trying to grow next requires more moisture in the air
than your area provides, installing a fountain or small pond can fix this
problem due to the evaporation. You may think you don’t want to waste
water on a pond or fountain, but it’s all going toward the betterment of
your garden. It’s just like the watering process, only indirect. As an
added benefit, usually fountains are quite aesthetically attractive and a
great addition to your garden.

I can’t explain every stage of the process, because everyone’s goals and
setups are slightly different. But to reach your goal, you should do
research on every plant that you would like to have in your garden. Find
out everything you can about the zone that it flourishes in, and ask
yourself how you can emulate that zone within your own backyard. Almost
always you can take control of the environment and recreate whatever you
wish. Usually all it takes is some planning and strategy.

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbors. Bear in mind of course that you should always ask permission to remove wildflowers from the property of the person who owns it and prior to taking your wildflowers home or buying the seed to plant the variety, you should have the place already well prepared that you are going to use to house them.

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then you will want to put them in the same way when you get them ready to  place them  in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point. If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant’s own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

One of my favorite wildflowers which I have ever brought home were lady slippers in Pennsylvania. They grow admirably well as do several other favorites, including trilliums and mayapple, along with woods violets but have the place well prepped long before you bring them home and are ready to plant them. Transport them carefully, with a full root ball in place and also with a dampened cloth wrapped around the roots to keep them damp as you take them home. Always ask permission of  the property owner before you remove any flowers, or be sure that it is legal to remove wild flowers in your area. Some flowers are protected, so ensure that you know which are protected in your state.

Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon’s seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne’s lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you’ll keep on adding to this wild-flower list.

There is no one who doesn’t love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance.

These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. Foxglove typically grow the same way. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You’ll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.

The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun.

The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems.

The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really hygienic plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants.

It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions.

I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their colour fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good colour and permanent colour as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it.

There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden.

If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study in horticulture and in wild life. Enjoy your new garden and all of the many birds and butterflies that a wild garden will bring in. Remember that a bird and butterfly garden requires that they have plants which they are accustomed to and like to use for food and cover. If you are trying to bring wild birds into your garden, wildflowers will do the job admirably.

Note of caution: Remember that many plants can be poisonous. After you handle any wild plant, wash your hands thoroughly and wear glove s to handle them, keeping your hands and the plants away from your face at all times during transport and planting.  Know which plants are poisonous.

If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and install it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.

It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil, or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.

If you’re browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It’s best to find ones that just consist of buds. However if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of them. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I’ve found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.

Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant. But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness. The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.

If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it. Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off as horrendous. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.

So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don’t know. Usually they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location, and therefore has health problems in the future). Usually the process goes smoothly, but you can never be too sure.

Container gardening enables you to easily vary your color scheme, and as each plant finishes flowering, it can be replaced with another. Whether you choose to harmonize or contrast your colors, make sure there is variety in the height of each plant. Think also of the shape and texture of the leaves. Tall strap-like leaves will give a good vertical background to low-growing, wide-leaved plants. Choose plants with a long flowering season, or have others of a different type ready to replace them as they finish blooming.

Experiment with creative containers. You might have an old porcelain bowl or copper urn you can use, or perhaps you’d rather make something really modern with timber or tiles. If you decide to buy your containers ready-made, terracotta pots look wonderful, but tend to absorb water. You don’t want your plants to dry out, so paint the interior of these pots with a special sealer available from hardware stores.
Cheaper plastic pots can also be painted on the outside with water-based paints for good effect. When purchasing pots, don’t forget to buy matching saucers to catch the drips. This will save cement floors getting stained, or timber floors rotting.
Always use a good quality potting mix in your containers. This will ensure the best performance possible from your plants.

If you have steps leading up to your front door, an attractive pot plant on each one will delight your visitors. Indoors, pots of plants or flowers help to create a cozy and welcoming atmosphere.
Decide ahead of time where you want your pots to be positioned, then buy plants that suit the situation. There is no point buying sun lovers for a shady position, for they will not do well. Some plants also have really large roots, so they are best kept for the open garden.

If you have plenty of space at your front door, a group of potted plants off to one side will be more visually appealing than two similar plants placed each side. Unless they are spectacular, they will look rather boring.
Group the pots in odd numbers rather than even, and vary the height and type. To tie the group together, add large rocks that are similar in appearance and just slightly different in size. Three or five pots of the same type and color, but in different sizes also looks affective.

With a creative mind and some determination, you will soon have a container garden or a small herb garden that will be the envy of friends and strangers alike.

There is a great way of drying what you picked up along the way when you’re gathering wildflowers. It doesn’t require a lot of money and it doesn’t take a vast amount of time or energy.  There is an old favorite detergent that  is particularly good for drying yellow or white flowers such as dogwood or yellow roses. More useful than you may know is the old tried and true favorite detergent which used to be called 20 Mule Team Borax.

Borax works like a charm for drying your flowers, usually in just a few days, depending on what you are drying, and it leaves the color fresh and the flowers in exactly the same shape they were in when you plucked them from the plant.

When drying dogwood, I take the entire branch, leaving the flower blooms intact and lay a layer of the Borax about half an inch deep, in a low box or tray, then lay the branches in whole, and sprinkle borax over the top, making sure it is entirely covered.

It will take from 3-5 days to dry them, sometimes a bit longer, depending on what you’re drying, but when they are completed they are completely lovely and not a bit different than they were when they were fresh.

This works well for lighter colored flowers for some reason, but not so well for the darker ones. It may be a chemical reaction. Who knows but whatever the reason, the darker ones seem to look a bit on the wilted side. They are still better than store purchased dried flowers for use in floral arrangements. The Borax does work well for for things like dogwood, roses, violets, daffodils and so on.

Make sure that the flower is completely covered with the borax and that no parts of it are standing above the Borax. Layer them on waxed paper if you’re trying to save a little space and then cover them completely and wait. The result will be dried dogwood or white roses or clover that look precisely the same as when they were growing on those gorgeous trees..For drying flowers, you can’t beat this old time country method.

by: Robbi Drake

The way to prepare an amaryllis for blooming during a specific time of the year such as Christmas is to first of all start to cut back on the amount of water about two and one half months before you want it to bloom.  Stop watering and cut back the leaves, leaving one to two inches remaining above the bulb. If these are indoor plants, place inside a darkened and dry place, such as a closet for at least four to five weeks.  This time without water and light allows the plant to hibernate and ready itself to bloom when it is taken into the light and watered.

If you are planning on December blooming, bring the plant out of the closet in late November or early December and start to water. Place it in a bright place, but not directly in the sun for the first day or so. Amaryllis plants may seem to be dry and dead, but within a short period of time, a stalk will erupt from the bulb and grow very fast, often several inches in a day. Most of the stems will reach a height of twelve to eighteen inches then produce at least four to six blooms. The leaves will grow slower, because the amaryllis feeds from the food stored in the bulb while the bloom stem is still growing.

Amaryllis plants originated from the South Africa area and are a member of the belladonna plant family. It is also called naked lady due to the stems springing from bare ground before being covered with gorgeous blooms of varying colors. Amaryllis plants need to be kept watered but make certain not to drown them. The bulb needs to be planted so that the top third is above the dirt. Freezing temperatures will kill the bulb, so be certain to keep them inside as the weather gets colder.  The amaryllis often divides the bulb like iris and tulip bulbs do to produce another plant. This will give you more plants to give away or plant in another pot and see how the bloom turns out.  They make wonderful presents for the holiday gift giving season.
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Defective gardening tools might have cause injury on your plants or cut your plants or totally plug your plants from the soil. In order to prevent the occurrence of such untoward incident, it is a must to look for the best gardening tools, which will provide your plants loving tender care. Once you called a tool as ‘Best gardening tools”, it refers to a tool, which will permit labor saving methods and that allows energy efficiency.

Here you can see some of the best gardening tools available in the market to provide a better care than ever for your plants in the garden.

Lawnmowers

Luxus Push Reel Mower rated as best by the gardening aficionados provides large top cover that protects overhanging flowers and shrubs. Another special gardening tool called American Lawn Mower Deluxe has also been accredited as best which will be helpful to operate on elbow grease alone and also causing no pollution. But this is not conducive for too tall grasses.

Garden Shredders

In general all the garden shredders have a high power motor and come with a silent crushing system. This kind of gardening tool used to accelerate your shredding activity.
Garden shredders with electric shredder is an easy to assemble gardening tool, which aids in tree pruning with maximum of 40 mm and making healthy hedges. This gardening tool is considered to be a best among all the garden shredders since it is available with a plunger for increased portability and built-in wheels.

Cultivators

These modern gardening tools are available with patented tines to help in cutting the hard compacted soil smoothly. Cultivators are available with a free border edger. It is perfect to use in cleaning the moss, aerating and in thatching. This garden tool helps extensively in preparing vegetable plots, flowerbeds, etc.,

Leaf sweeper

These gardening tools are extensively used for smaller lawns. It is having an infinite height adjustment with 200-liter collector.

Edge Trimmer

This gardening tool has also been accredited as important equipment by the gardening equipment reviewers. This aids in trimming the hedges and also aids in plant pruning.

Spading fork

This is a wonderful gardening tool used for aerating and transplanting. By using this gardening tool it is possible to perform splitting grasses and perennials. In addition to this these gardening tools helps a lot as the job of a manure fork, mulch, sorting hay, for tiny gardens.

Mattock

Mattock is an important gardening tool for breaking up the clay soils and also working around established trees with the roots. There is no need to have a pick and a hoe and handles in your garden, if you are having mattock with you.

Before you leave the garden center, it is highly advisable to have a look at these check list of gardening tools and confirm if you’ve got all the gardening tools you’ll need to make your garden just like that of spring to life.

Gardening Tools – An Overview – Use The Best Gardening Tools

In Japanese gardening there are three basic methods for scenery. The first of these is reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature, mountains, rivers, trees, and all, and reproducing it on a smaller scale. Symbolization involves generalization and abstraction. An example of this would be using white sand to suggest the ocean. Borrowed views refers to artists that would use something like an ocean a forest as a background, but it would end up becoming an important part of the scene.

There are essentially two types of Japanese gardening: tsukiyami, which is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The other is hiraniwa, which is basically the exact opposite of tsukiyami: a flat garden without any hills or ponds.

The basic elements used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are most often used as centerpieces and bring a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition rocks embody the spirits of nature. Gravel is used as a sort of defining surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones are used to create a boundary and are sculpted into the form of lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be in the actual form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what form water is in, it is crucial to a Japanese gardens balance.

There are several forms and types of plants that are signature of Japanese gardening, the main one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine, Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

Japanese gardening is a tradition that has crossed the Muso Soseki, poet, said “Gardens are a root of transformation”. A Japanese garden is sure to bring about many different feelings and is definitely a transforming experience.
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What you choose to grow during you fall gardening will depend on your available space and what you like to eat, just like spring plants. Even the crops that enjoy the heat, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be pretty late in the year in southern areas. However, there are some plants that will quit towards the end of summer like snap-beans, summer squash, and cucumbers. If these vegetables are planted around the middle of the summer they can be harvested until the first frosts as well. Hardy, tough vegetables will grow until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong will only be able to grow through light frosts. Remember that if you have root and tuber plants and the tops are killed by a freeze the edible part can be saved if a large amount of mulch is used.

When fall gardening, make sure and pick the vegetables with the shortest growing season so they can be full grown and harvested before the frost arrives. Most seed packages will be labeled “early season”, or you can find the seeds boasting the fewest days to maturity. You may want to go after your seeds for fall gardening in spring or early summer; they are usually not kept in stock towards the end of summer. If they are stored in a cool and dry location they will keep until you are ready to plant.

In order to know exactly when the best time to start fall gardening, you must know about when the first hard frost will hit your area. One of the best ways to tell this is by a Farmer’s Almanac. They will give you exact dates and are rarely wrong. You will also need to know exactly how long it is going to take your plants to mature.

To get your soil ready for fall gardening you must first remove any leftover spring/summer crops and weeds. Crops leftover from the last season can end up spreading bacteria and disease if left in the garden. Spread a couple of inches of compost or mulch over the garden area to increase the nutrients, however, if spring plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, if any. Till the top layer of soil, wet it down, and let it set for about 12-24 hours. Once this has been done, you are ready to start planting.

Many gardeners will run from fall gardening so they don’t have to deal with frosts, but if tough, sturdy vegetables are planted they can withstand a few frosts and give you some wonderful tasting produce. Fall gardening gives you the chance to enjoy your vegetable garden for at least a little bit more time.

One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs for use during the winter months, especially if you plan on cooking with them. First the tops of leafy herbs have to be cut, washed, and hung up for the water to evaporate. Then, tie stems together and hang up in a paper bag to dry. After two to three weeks they must be removed; crumble the leaves, dry them out in the oven, and store in a glass jar.

One of the most common herbs gown in herb gardening is basil. “Dark Opal” and regular green basil are beautiful additions to any garden and often used as decoration. Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves. Basil isn’t just used for its looks; it is used for extra flavor in tomato juices and pastes.

Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought and a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn’t want plants that require a lot of hassle. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.

Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell. Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden are thyme and sage. Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Lavender is probably the best smelling herb in all of herb gardening and is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.

Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell. Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.

Hydroponics gardening is the growing of plants without soil, in other words, “dirtless gardening”. There are many methods of Hydroponics gardening, most of which work better than regular soil gardening because it is easier to give the plant exactly what it needs when it needs it. Plants will only receive what you give them; therefore you will be able to regulate the pH, nutrients, nutrient strength, water amount, and light amount. This makes it imperative that you research the kind of plants you will be growing so you know what they need to survive.

Hydroponics gardening is only as difficult as you make it. It can be complicated if computers with sensors are used to control water cycles, nutrients, and light for the plants. However, it can also be as simple as a hand watered bucket with a single plant. The normal home Hydroponics system is usually made up of a few basic things: a growing tray, light (natural or artificial), a reservoir, a water controlled pump for watering (or some type of watering equipment), and some form of air pump to give oxygen to the nutrients.

The growing medium used in Hydroponics gardening can be any number of things, such as Rockwool, perlite, coconut fiber, gravel, sand, vermiculite, or even air. You can get instructions from a gardening store or online or buy separate parts and build your own. There are also kits already assembled for sale in gardening supply stores.

There are certain micro-nutrients that are necessary for healthy plant growth including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, cobalt, boron, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc. These nutrients are absolutely essential to plants and if missing could cause the food to not be as healthy and in some cases even cause health problems for those who eat it. It is very important that you use a quality fertilizer when Hydroponics gardening.

Another important aspect of Hydroponics gardening that must be closely regulated is the pH balance. When the pH balance varies the plants will lose the ability to absorb nutrients that it needs. The ease with which the pH in Hydroponics gardening is tested and controlled give it a huge advantage over regular dirt gardening.

Even though there are hundreds of different variations, Wick, Water Culture, Ebb and Flow, Drip, N.F.T., and Aeroponic are the six most basic types of Hydroponics gardening systems. Hydroponics gardening is easy, affordable, and you can have fresh produce, flowers, herbs & spices all year long!

You don’t have to be constrained by not having a big outside area, a small area outside the kitchen door can house an herb collection ready for snipping what you need for the pot, utilizing the path up to the front door by arranging a line of pots of small marigolds or margarites or troughs of blue lobelia can create a very inviting entryway.

Starting a container garden is easy, quick and can be inexpensive – this last item will, of course, depend on the plants and containers you choose. The best way to start is to:

1. Decide where your container garden will be located.  Then decide how much room you will give over to it, whether you will limit the placement of plants and pots to outside or continue the theme in indoor containers as well,  You can add interest and height to your arrangement by hanging some of the plants from the ceiling of a porch, from a pergola or from poles or by putting them on upturned pots, stools or even a cheerfully painted ladder.

2. Make a list of the plants you want to grow, then research how big they get and the conditions they need.  Do you have the right conditions in the area you have chosen?  If not, perhaps you can use another area for the plants that needs either more or less sun or shade.  Don’t forget you can also grow vegetables in outdoor containers and that they can be quite beautiful depending on the varieties you get.

3. Next decide the style and sizes of pots you will be using.  Baskets, interesting containers such as cooking pots or ceramics that hold the plant pots can set the theme or add considerable interest.  A piece of sculpture in the midst of the plant containers can also add a new dimension to your arrangement.  Look in magazines for more ideas and information, let your creativity flow!

When choosing your pots, keep in mind the plants will get bigger, so chose pots that give them room to expand or be prepared to re-pot them from time to time. This may mean you’ll need to buy several sizes and keep them ready for when you need them.  Plastic containers will require less watering since they don’t allow it to evaporate as quickly or soak water into the pot as clay does.

4. The plants you choose will then need to be put into the correct soil – hydrangeas, for instance, require a high pH or alkaline soil for the flower color to remain true.  Conifers, on the other hand, require a more acid soil.  The alkalinity of your water will also have an impact on how effective pesticides and fertilizers are as well as how long the soil will maintain the required acidity for the plant.  PH testing kits are cheap and easily available and once you know about the soil and water, you’ll be better able to adjust for your plants’ requirements.  You can also decide whether to use organic methods or a combination of organic pest control and chemical fertilizing.

One of the primary benefits of growing in containers is that you can move the plants around – to suit your needs, the size of the plant or even the weather. As long as the light the plants will get is about the same, they shouldn’t mind being moved about. You can continue to make an aesthetically pleasing arrangement regardless of how rapidly the plants grow.

Gardening In Containers – Vegetable Gardening In Containers

The very hard thing about pest control is the fact that there are so many types of pests that can invade your garden; it will really be quite a challenge to recall them in one sitting, so full immersion to your gardening activities is the only surefire way to inculcate ample knowledge on pests to watch out for.

One of the tried and tested tactics for pest control is by familiarizing yourself with the famous insects and animals. These enemies of the garden will really hamper the growth of your crop only if you let them.

Beetles

You have two options for beetles: manually remove them by hand or spray them with insecticide that is poisonous to them. If left untreated, beetles have the capacity to bore so much holes on your leaves and eat away at your vegetation over time, especially when their population has already burgeoned. Beetles comes in a variety of types, but the remedy for it is usually the two techniques mentioned above.

Aphids

You will often find sticky groups of insects that are invading your garden in hues of red if you have aphids in your garden. Fortunately, you can easily remedy this by spraying it with soap insecticide or any similar material. Aphids are common to almost every garden vegetable you can possibly imagine, so if you are growing vegetables, you are most likely to encounter these sticky organisms.

Cabbage Worms

Neem oil is the cabbage worms’ worst enemy, so if you spray them with it, they will be out of your garden in a jiffy. The thing is, you can determine whether cabbage worm are in the garden if you find green caterpillar and holes on the leaves of your plants. You can also pick them by hand if you are more courageous or maybe spray them with insecticide if you don’t have neem oil handy at the time of infestation.

Cut Worms

If you see crawling, dull caterpillars that are brown in color, then you have found cutworms invading your territory! Placing paper collars around plants after digging around the area may help prevent cutworms from taking up your precious soil and nutrients. Some chemicals may also work like insecticides, but this is a general cure. You also need to dig a lot because the cut worms have this tendency to snuggle up on your plants for shade and life.

Maggots

Maggots are extremely disgusting, and they tend to make your landscape ugly if you do not try to get rid of them. Bleaching is one of the best ways to get rid of maggots. If your organic garden is also situated beside a garbage bag, you may choose to transfer your garbage bag elsewhere because leftover meals like meat tend to attract these maggots and they might decide to branch out of the garbage bin and into your garden.

There are many other kinds of pests that you can control in your garden given the right handy tools and knowledge on how to best eliminate them from your organic garden.

The word potpourri usually conjures up a fragrant collection of flower petals and other plants bits, it could even include cinnamon and other spices plus oranges for Christmas or lavender and rose petals at other times of the year.  No one quite knows when it was invented but 1200 AD comes up if you search on the Internet people used mixtures of dried flowers and oils to mask the household or animal smells often found in their homes.

But the pungent aroma coming from a bowl of petals and herbs mixed with your favourite essential oils (especially if homemade) is another matter altogether.  Potpourri is also lovely to give as gifts, either in small sachets or enough to fill a beautiful bowl.  Potpourri can also be put into special potpourri dishes which have pierced lids through which the scent can fill your rooms.

The Steps For Making  Potpourri

Harvest the flowers heads, stems and leaves, seed heads or pods, pine cones, herbs, etc.  Choose the best ones, make sure they are free of pests or discoloration.  Be sure to collect your floral ingredients after the dew has evaporated.

Because the mixture shrinks as it dries, try to collect at least 4 times what you think you will need.  If you haven’t got enough in your garden or from what you’ve found in the woods or fields, ask a florist for any discarded flowers, leaves or other bits they might have.

Handle the herbs and flowers etc. as carefully as possible because they lose much of their value once they have been bruised.

The drying will normally take up to 2 weeks.  Lay the flower and leaf mixture out in single layer, on a tray with a large piece of brown paper or paper towels on it or even on a fine mesh screen (like an unused window screen), making sure the mixture isn’t tightly packed together or on top of each other.

You can also hang the flowers in bunches, using string to tie the stems and hang them upside down in a dark, place that has good circulation – the ceiling of a garage is usually an excellent place.

The actual making of the potpourri

There are actually two methods of making potpourri – moist or dry.  The moist one uses partly damp material and this is where the term potpourri comes from – it actually means “rotten pot”!

Using the moist method, place layers of the partly dried flower petals and salt in a sealed container, leave for about two weeks.  Next add the herbs, spices and a fixative and stir, leave for another 6 weeks.  Finally, add a very small amount of essential oils and leave for another two weeks.  After 10 weeks, the potpourri is ready to put out in the potpourri pot mentioned above.

The dry method is much simpler, less time consuming and much more popular these days.  All you need to do is mix the dried flower petals, the dried herbs, pines cones, etc. with spices, fixative and essential oils and store in a sealed container (avoid using plastic bags because if they have moisture in them, the whole lot will go moldy).  Large cardboard or wooden boxes, large paper bags that you can seal or even a large, clean, metal trash can will do.

Now you need to decide what the purpose of your potpourri is going to be, for instance will you use it to scent your rooms, repel insects or for aroma therapy after a hard day? There are numerous recipes or you can use a single ingredients such as lavender or rosemary on its own.

A soothing potpourri could include any or all of these: lavender, lemon balm, meadowsweet, lemon verbena, calendula, rose petals, chamomile.

To hang in a closet or put into a drawer:  a mixture of rose and lavender or a citrus blend of lemon verbena, thyme, some lemon or orange peel, spearmint leaves and a drop or two of the essential oil of pine.

To repel insects any on their own or make a combination of all of these: rosemary, lavender, pennyroyal, santolina, mugwort, southernwood, tansy, spearmint, cedar wood chips.

To retain the fragrance (or ‘fix the fragrance’), you will need to add orris root, preferably powdered, to your mixture.  Once the scent has declined, put the potpourri into a bag, add the essential oil you originally used, shake it well and leave for a day or two so the oil is well absorbed.

Other Recipes For Potpourri

Each mixture should be put into a sealed container (not plastic) and left for six weeks to mature.

For a fresh ‘green’ scent (dry): mix together 1 cup each of dried lemon-scented geranium leaves, lemon verbena leaves, yarrow flowers, myrtle leaves, add ¼ cup orris root powder, the dried grated peel of 2 lemons and 4 drops each of citronella and rose geranium oil.  You can add dried ferns, helichrysum or gypsophila flowers to give the potpourri some interesting texture.

For a lavender mixture (dry): mix together 3 cups of lavender flowers, 2 cups of pink rose petals, dried grated peel of 2 lemons, 1 cup each of lemon balm leaves, tea tree (or leptospermum) and sweet woodruff leaves, add ¼ cup of orris root powder and 4 drops of lavender essential oil.

For a rose mixture (dry): mix together 8 cups of dried red rose petals,1 tablespoon ground cloves, 2 teaspoons each of ground allspice, cinnamon and orris root powder, add 4 drops of essential rose oil.

Double your pleasure, maybe even triple or quadruple your pleasure – once, for the flowers growing in your garden; once, doing the harvesting, drying and making the potpourri, once; for the wonderful scent in your home and finally once, giving your potpourri as gifts for special people.  We know you will enjoy the whole process!

When creating a butterfly garden, the possibilities of what to include in your butterfly garden design are endless. Below are some suggestions to help get you started. They are designed to spark the creative process of your mind and get you started on your way to creating a lovely butterfly garden.

Before you even begin your butterfly garden, find out which species of butterflies are in your area. Consider taking an exploratory hike around your location with a butterfly identification book. This may take a little extra time and effort, but the results will be worth it. After you have compiled your list of local butterfly species, be sure to write down in your butterfly garden plan what these particular species of butterflies use for nectar and food plants.

Be sure that your garden is in a location that provides at least six hours of sunlight per day. Butterflies are cold-blooded creatures and therefore do better where they are warm and sheltered.

Wind can be a butterfly’s worst enemy so be sure to have plenty of wind protection in your design. You can plant tall shrubs and other plants in order to create a wind break, but a location that avoids heavy winds is even better.

The best of all would be a butterfly garden placed on the sunny side of your home with windbreaks on both the west and east sides, or wherever the prevailing wonds come from in your area. Try and locate your garden close to a window so you can view the butterflies from indoors. Provide seating outside too.

If possible, you could excavate an area and build a stone wall around it. This would create the ideal windbreak for your butterflies. Mmake gravel pathways around your garden to save walking in mud.

There are many creative ways for constructing a butterfly garden. Take your time to design a garden that you will enjoy and be proud of.

You might be tempted to go out to the store and just buy the nearest things you see, but you”ll be much happier if you put lots of thought into the styles and types of tools you”re buying. There are styles designed just for gardening, and you”ll be better off buying those.

You can find most of the tools you will need at your local gardening or home improvement shop. Usually the employees will be simply thrilled to assist you in finding the ideal tools. If you go to a shop that specializes in gardening, you can usually get some advice in addition to service. Gardening store employees are usually an untapped wealth of wisdom, and they are how I learned almost all that I know about gardening today.

If you are having a hard time finding the right tool or if you want to save some money, you might try looking online for the supplies you need. You”ll have to pay the shipping costs and wait an extra week or two, but often if you buy more than one tool, the total savings will be worth it. You should always buy from a reputable seller, though, and search around beforehand for anything negative that people had to say about their buying experience.

As far as basic digging tools go, you might already have all you”ll need. There are several types that you should get though, for different specific tasks. A round point shovel is good for digging holes for plants. A spade is necessary for all the more intricate work. A garden fork you might not use as much, but I have one in my tool shed and I’ve been thankful for it on multiple occasions. Having these different varieties of digging tools can help you to minimize the work you have to do. For example, if you try digging a big hole with a little spade then you”ll end up rather tired. The same goes if you are attempting to do more detailed work with a big clumsy shovel.

A rake is an absolute necessity. You most likely already have one, but I’m guessing it’s a lawn rake and not a garden rake. There is definitely a difference, and if you try to use a lawn rake in a garden then you will not be happy with the results. Same if you buy a grading or a contractor’s rake. You”ll want to look for a bowhead rake. I’ve found these are the best for gardening purposes. They will provide you the maximum control and accuracy, so you don’t accidentally tear up your precious plants.

As far as hoes go, I don’t believe any gardener should have less than 3. There are so many useful varieties on the market that I have a hard time recommending just one, and that’s why I”ll tell you all the ones I usually use. The one I use the most is the onion hoe, which is very lightweight and ideal for small cultivations and weeding. The Warren hoe is a larger model, with a pointed end. If you need to make a hole or dig out a pesky weed, this is the one for you. There are several other varieties, but I recommend starting with the ones I mentioned. As you progress in your gardening savvy, you will find the need for more types.

Most people believe that gardening just consists of a simple spade. But there are many, many tools with many more variations that you will use in your gardening career. Usually you can start with just a few different tools, but you”ll always find that you can use more varieties for special situations. It’s just a matter of recognizing when one tool could be more efficient than another.

Organic vegetable gardening containers have advantages. You can use it decor every time you decide to let it get some sunlight when you place it by the balcony or patio. If the weather gets too cold outside, you can bring it indoors. But best of all, you don’t have to deal with certain threats that can only happen outdoors like weeds, insects or soil borne diseases.

Organic vegetable gardening containers do not use soil. You need to use potting mix that is much lighter and provides excellent drainage. You need to use organic fertilizer though to help it grow. An example of this is mulch that can be made from chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure which helps prevent it from drying out.

Another thing the plants inside these containers need is a lot of water. Ideally, you should put these in small amounts at least 30 minutes after an initial watering because putting in too much could drown your plant.

The containers can be hung aside from just putting these on the ground. If the container that you purchased does not have any holes, make a few.

By now you may be asking, “What are the ideal vegetables to be planted in these containers?” To give you can idea, these are bush beans, capsicum, carrots, eggplant, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes, spinach and tomatoes.

You know that organically grown vegetables need sunlight. If you have a lot of these containers and it is getting pretty windy outside, you can protect them from falling by grouping these together with the taller ones with these as your walls.

The best organic vegetable gardening containers are those made from clay, plastic or wood. The length of the roots and its width is the deciding factor when choosing what size you will buy from the store. For instance, if your vegetable happens to have 6 inches of roots and grows to about 10 inches wide, it is best to get a container that measures 8 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches wide. You must always give room for allowance as this may grow bigger.

We mentioned earlier that one of the advantages of the organic container is that you don’t have to deal with insects. But sometimes, bugs like the hookworm manage to get to your plant. If this happens, just bring the container to the sink and wash the leaves. Should there be slugs, get rid of them by sprinkling diatomaceous earth on the soil.

If there are aphids on your vegetables, fight fire with fire by getting other insects to do the dirty work. A pack of ladybugs will do the trick without causing any collateral damage.

The use of organic vegetables containers makes it people without a backyard the chance to plant their own crops at home. This is ideal for residents living in condos and apartments so they can save money to pay for rent or buy other things when the sustenance they need is just sitting by the balcony or window.

If you want to try it, go ahead and ask someone at the gardening store for some help to get you started.