Container Gardening Ideas for your Home

Many gardeners have given up on the idea of a garden because they lack space, time or lots of experience. But if growing plants is an interest of yours container gardening could be your answer. Container gardens will allow you to enjoy "playing in the dirt" without investing a lot of time or money. You can get very creative in container gardening using vegetables, decorative grasses or flowers and herbs. You can plant a container garden with any plant that would grow outside. The trick is to come up with some creative ideas for your container garden.

You should do some research at your local nursery or on the internet to choose the plants you wish to grow to help you come up with some ideas. Try to use plants that complement each other and have the same basic needs for water, air and light.

A container garden idea that has taken off recently is the landscape container. Some people plant a simple evergreen tree in a container with good drainage to place at their front door. Or you could plant an assortment of flowers for a bright and beautiful vista. If you do plant flowers, add plants that spill over the sides of the container to add more visuals and interest. What ever container gardening idea you can come up with can be placed on a deck, patio, and balcony or by the front doors. Put them somewhere that your family and friends can enjoy.

You can grow vegetables in containers but choose wisely. Vegetables like squash and pole beans need lots of space, while tomatoes need a deep pot. When you grow your own vegetables you will have tasty produce not the bland stuff that is in the grocery store. Nothing tastes better than a tomato right off the vine. There are many chefs and good home cooks that grow their own for just this reason. Don't forget to pot some herbs, they are pretty plants and add zest to your meals.

But don't just stick to vegetables and herbs; why not add fruit trees too? Instead of using an evergreen tree, pot a fruit tree instead. There are many dwarf varieties available that work best in pots since with pots there is less soil therefore less nutrients to draw from. If you live in a year round warm climate citrus trees are perfect. In other regions, stick to pear, apple and cherry trees. Another good container gardening idea is to grow strawberries. With strawberries climate does not matter since you can bring the container inside. Fresh strawberries are amazingly sweet and delicious. Imagine how good a bowl of fresh strawberries will be, strawberries that you have just picked.

Remember that container gardens dry out more quickly than traditional gardens. Be diligent about watering your plants if you don't want your container gardening ideas to wither and die. Container gardens must be fertilized too. Keep a small notebook handy so you can write down the needs of your plant so you will always know when to water or feed. Keep an eye out for pests. If you find a container that has an infestation, isolate it immediately and treat it with a natural pesticide. You don't want harsh chemicals on fruits, vegetables or herbs. A good natural pesticide recipe is:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

So, do some research, come up with your own unique container gardening ideas, gather your materials and get to work. The fruits of your labor will be amazing.

Happy Container Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.


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Fertilizer & Understanding It’s Use

Commonly used to promote growth in plants, fertlizer is applied to the soil after being obtained naturally or through a chemical process. Due to the fact that natural products are generally more healthy than those that are manufactured, natural fertilizer is often the best type to use. Fertilizer, alone, is designed to provide three major plant nutrients in various proportions. Humans need nutrition in order to grow and thrive as do plants and it is important to make sure that crops receive the proper care and nutrition during their growth process.

Chemical fertilizer may lead to surface runoff if over applied, which is easier to do than with natural products. This can often lead to problems with growing and may even be dangerous to wildlife. While it is also possible to over apply natural fertilizer, their release rates are generally much less than with chemical products.

Depending on the fertilizer, various storage requirements must be met. If purchased commercially, it is best to carefully study the ingredients and storage instructions on the fertilizer packaging. Knowledge of the nutrient content and requirements will help to maintain a healthy crop, usable fertilizer and less pollution to the garden.

Fertilizer is commonly used in gardening, but it also used for growing flowers and plants. Commercial fertilizer is available at most home improvement stores or in the gardening department at most retailers. Because plants and gardens are not abundant during the winter months, most fertilizer products are sold just before spring as planting becomes seasonal. If planting is done too early, a late frost may eliminate the crops and will ultimately be a waste of planting and fertilizer. When the weather is ideal for planting, typically in the early spring, fertilizer will be widely available in stores.

Various climates and geographical locations will provide for different crop planting seasons. Some areas may have success with gardening during most of the year while other parts of the world are restricted to mainly spring and summer months. Extreme cold and inclement weather will reek havoc on crops, which is why it is important to know the optimal growing season for each individual location.

When purchasing fertilizer, it is recommended that individuals thoroughly read the care and usage instructions. In addition, any caution and/or warning labels should be read carefully before proceeding with use. These products should be kept out of children’s reach and may also prove harmful for animals.

Source : Isnare
Author :Mike O'Brian


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Planting and Caring for Flower Bulbs

There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful spring flowers that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the arrival of spring. Bulb type flowers are really unique plants, because they spend most of their days resting quietly beneath the surface of the soil. Then right on schedule, up they come, full of bloom and vigor, and then almost as fast as they came, they go. Except for the green leafy part of the plant that tends to linger longer than we would like them to.

Despite their short bloom time and unattractive foliage after the blooms are gone, they are still a wonderful addition to any landscape. But how should you care for them? First let’s talk about how to use them in your landscape. Flowers of all kinds are best when planted in groupings. Many people buy 25 or 50 bulbs and just go around the yard planting helter skelter. That’s fine if that’s what you want, but when planted that way they tend to blend in with the landscape and really don’t show up well at all. When you plant them in large groups they are a breathtaking showpiece.

In the early spring start thinking about where you would like to create a bed for flower bulbs. Prepare the bed by raising it with good rich topsoil, and if at all possible add some well composted cow manure. Do this in the spring while you are in the gardening mood, you may not be in the fall. Over the summer fill the bed with annual flowers to keep the weeds down, and to pretty up your yard for the summer. Come fall all you have to do is pull out the annuals and plant your bulbs to the depth recommended on the package.

If you think you could have a problem with squirrels digging up the bulbs and eating them, you can also wrap the bulbs in steel wool, leaving just the tip of the bulb exposed so it can grow out of the little wire cage you’ve created. Or you can just plant the bulbs and then cover the bed with chicken wire or plastic fencing until the bulbs start to grow in the spring.

When the bulbs come up in the spring and start blooming, you should clip off the blooms as they start to wither. This keeps the bulb from producing seeds, which requires a lot of energy, and you want the bulb to use all of its available energy to store food in preparation of the bulb’s resting period. Once the bulbs are completely done blooming you don’t want to cut off the tops until they are withered and die back. The million dollar question is how to treat the tops until that happens.

Many people bend them over and slip a rubber band over them, or in the case of bulbs like Daffodils tie them with one of the long leaves. This seems to work because it is a very common practice among many experienced gardeners. However, Mike is about to rain on the parade.

I strongly disagree with this theory because back about 6th grade we learned about photosynthesis in science class. To recap what we learned, and without going into the boring details, photosynthesis is the process of the plant using the sun’s rays to make food for itself. The rays from the sun are absorbed by the foliage and the food making process begins. In the case of a flower bulb this food is transported to the bulb beneath the ground and stored for later use.

So basically the leaves of the plant are like little solar panels. Their job is to absorb the rays from the sun to begin the process known as photosynthesis. If we fold them over and handcuff them with their hands behind their back, they are not going to be able to do their job. It’s like throwing a tarpaulin over 80% of a solar panel.

In order for the leaves to absorb the rays from the sun, the surface of the foliage has to be exposed to the sun. On top of that, when you bend the foliage over, you are restricting the flow of nutrients to the bulb. The veins in the leaves and the stem are a lot like our blood vessels. If you restrict them the flow stops.

You decide. I’ve presented my case. Bending them over seems to work, but I’ve spent a lot of money on my bulbs. I want them running at full speed. What I do is clip the blooms off once they are spent, and just leave the tops alone until they are yellow and wilted. If they are still not wilted when it’s time to plant my annual flowers, I just plant the annuals in between the bulbs. As the bulbs die back the annuals tend to grow and conceal them. If one shows through I clip it off. It seems to work well for me.

Source : Gardening Articles

The Tremendous Benefits of Organic Gardening

The art of organic gardening is simply growing food in an environmentally and health friendly manner. Because an organic garden is produce without the use of pesticides and commercial fertilizers you are not only providing yourself and your family with healthy foods, you are also helping the air, water, and soil within our environment.

Organic gardening carries many benefits that you may not be aware of. This article will help you identify the benefits of an organic garden and determine whether organic is the way for you to go.

When you produce organic foods, you are producing all natural, safe, and much healthier foods. These foods will have a greater amount of nutrients and minerals within them than those grown with the help of commercial products. You are reducing your family's risk of ingesting harmful additives and pesticides, and increasing their nutrition at the same time.

Let us have a look at some of the other health benefits of organic gardening. One important benefit that research has discovered in organic foods is the fact that by eating foods grown organically, you are building your body's immune system, thus giving it the ability to fight of many different types of diseases, one of which is cancer.

Organic vegetables have been proven to contain a higher concentration of nutrients. A team from Rutgers University did a study comparing produce from a grocery store and the same items grown organically.

While the Rutgers team expected the organic food to show a slight increase in minerals compared to the non-organic, they were astounded by the results of the tests. The organic produce contained much greater amounts of essential minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Non-organic spinach had only three percent of the iron contained in organic spinach. Non-organic tomatoes had only a tiny fraction of one percent of the iron found in organic tomatoes. What was more surprising was that many essential elements were completely missing from the non-organic produce.

Not only are organic foods higher in vitamins and minerals but they also lack the harmful chemicals found in non-organic foods. Thanks to the lack of chemicals within organic foods, you are reducing the amounts of toxins such as fertilizers, hormones, and pesticides in your body. Furthermore, while reducing the harmful instances, you are increasing the amounts of healthy minerals within your body such as vitamins, phosphorous, magnesium, and iron.

Another great benefit of organic gardening is that the foods you produce will have a longer shelf life and taste a whole lot better. Research has shown that without additives and other such elements, organic foods can be stored better and longer than foods with chemicals and processes.

Furthermore, without the chemical additives, the foods from your organic garden will simply have a better taste, which is delicious. The taste of a fresh, organic tomato is far superior to a tomato bought at the local grocery store which was probably pulled from the vine weeks earlier when it was still a bit green.

These are some of the great benefits to growing your own organic produce. There is also the benefit you get from working in your garden, out in the sunshine and fresh air, reducing any stress from a day at the office. Organic is simply better for your overall health.

Author :Carol Stack
Source :Articles

Helpful Hints For Beginner Gardening

If you've ever felt that you aren't quite experienced enough to have your own lush garden, remember, as the saying goes, practice really does make perfect, and gardening is certainly no different. If growing your own vegetables and plants is something that interests you but you've always been afraid to try, you'll want to start out right with the following simple tips for beginner gardening.

A novice gardener is like a kid with a box of eight crayons. You can still draw a lot of things with eight crayons but marigolds end up the same color as sunflowers and forget about coloring a winter sunset. Although it may be tempting to plant many different types of plants and vegetables, an important hint to remember about beginner gardening is to start out with a smaller, more manageable garden at first. Many people make this common mistake, enthused about their very first garden they end up planting more than they can handle, and then aren't able to tend to it properly. As skills and confidence grow, gradually increase the garden's size to fit your time and energy commitments. However, one variation that has caught on with even the most novice gardener is referred to as "minigardening". It involves growing plants in containers, utilizing either a prepared mixture of a soil substitute and fertilizer, or aggregate culture.

While tending to your own garden is a lot of work, the rewards are plentiful. Whether it's a new adventure in beginner gardening, or the experienced gardener who has grown their own vegetables before, gardening is supposed to be a fun, relaxing task, rather than a dreaded chore that is avoided. What is interesting to me (as a novice gardener) is that what is produced in Spring (especially flowers and flowering shrubs and trees) are the results of planning and preparation that was completed in the Fall and Winter. You can't plant tulips or a dogwood tree in March and expect them to flower this Spring.

Another helpful hint for beginner gardening is to sow early on in the planting season. If you are growing vegetables rather than flowers, remember to only plant as much as you and your family will need to avoid wasting any of your efforts. Once your gardening skills improve, you may even want to consider growing vegetables for a profit, if of course you have the interest and the time required to begin such a venture.

Yet another common mistake made by beginner gardening enthusiasts is not learning the basics about the plants and vegetables they put into their garden. It's a smart idea to do plenty of research on the various growing requirements of the individual vegetables you'll be planting. Not all plants and veggies are equal, as some will need more care and maintenance than others. When starting out, stick with the easiest plants to grow, adding more complex varieties as your gardening experience grows along with your crops.

Vegetables that flourish and grow during the warm, summer months, such as squash, and different varieties of peppers and tomatoes, may be purchased as young plants from nurseries rather than starting from seeds. This way the plants are already started to ensure the best growth until you're more confident in your gardening skills. These types of vegetables should always be planted after the danger of the last frost is over, usually late in the month of May, or early in June. Late August is yet another prime time for planting before autumn arrives.

Source : Articlebase
Author : Peyton Hines

Hydroponics Gardening Is A Revolutionary Idea That Doesn't Use Soil

Hydroponics gardening also known by the attributes of soilless or water gardening or chemiculture, is one of the newest and most revolutionary ideas of our century regarding the ways to grow crops. Many of us consider that for a plant to grow, soil is a must. This idea is no longer correct, rich soil is the condition for normal traditional agriculture. Hydroponics gardening is the alternative that will help you in growing your garden flowers faster and more beautiful then ever before. It is both fun and useful.

What must be known about hydroponics gardening?

If we look how the soil characteristics change according to weather fluctuations you will see immediately the benefits of hydroponics gardening. Furthermore if you are a professional horticulturist then hydroponics gardening can be a real opportunity for you, imagine not having to worry about the weather anymore, plus you can now exploit the possibility of modifying the day cycle according to your own will. Theoretically plants can grow by their own, in an independent system, you won't have to worry about them every day; practically any person will be able to grow crops without burdening themselves.

The principle of hydroponics gardening is to feed the plants directly without the intervention of soil; nutrients and minerals will be mixed with water and the roots will be directly fed with this solution. When using this kind of gardening you won't have to worry about classical problems like when to use the fertilizer or what type of fertilizer to try. Of course other worries will appear like the power supply and other energy sources needed for heating, but these can be dealt with and resolved at the very beginning of a project.

Here is another issue you may face: if you are a professional gardener and decide to invest in hydroponics gardening then you must be aware that your product prices can't compete against traditional agriculture if good and fertile soil can be found. On the other hand if the region depends on imports, then you have a great business opportunity. Ecological stores are usually the first interested to buy your stocks because there are many peoples that prefer good, quality products.

What else should I know about hydroponics gardening?

There is a long tradition related to hydroponics gardening going thousands of years back in time to the age of Babylonians. However, in our modern times, this alternative agricultural method became viable just over the last 50 years. Before that moment the need of energy and other facilities made the cost too high for large scale crops and practically only research projects existed in the field. Now, hydroponics models look confident for the evolution of agriculture all over the world.

Source:Isnare Author : Ann Marier