Archive for ◊ January, 2009 ◊

Author: admin
• Saturday, January 31st, 2009

With growing popularity of gardening as a hobby, there are more and more people who would love to get a gardening gift set on a special occasion. An there are plenty of things to choose from for both the beginners and expert gardeners. The great advantage of buying gardening gifts is that they are available almost anywhere: online, at nursery, feed store, on a farmer s market, even in your local grocery store.

If you happen to be buying a gardening gift set for a beginner, it is always a good idea to purchase an informational book. These kind of books will give advice on how to avoid gardening nightmares like disease, insects, and weeds. What is more, they will provide gardeners with information which kind of plants thrive in different climates, and requirements as far as sun, water, and nutrients are concerned. You can buy gardening books online, at nurseries, or your local bookstore. Be your gardening friend a "computer freak", you may consider buying a gardening information CD.

No matter whom is being given a gardening gift set, an amateur or a professional, they will all enjoy a plant. There is plenty of options to choose. Whether you buy traditional gifts like a poinsettia at Christmas, or just random plant, like rose bush, it will definately be appreciated. You do not have to buy plants, sometimes it is enough to please someone with an exotic seeds packaging or a bulb for someone to transplant. Giving a perennial would be a gift that keeps on giving.

An excellent idea is a theme gardening gift set using plants. You can use your imagination an sense of humour. For instance, attach a card with a nice sentence or a recipe to herb you bought. Plants that produce nectar will attract butterflies, these can be paired with a book, surprisingly, on butterflies.

Among most common and most apreciated gardening gifts are gardening tools. You choose from simple ones like a hoe or rake to something more high-tech like a vacuum or electric blower. These are good for removing leaves, grass, or debris. Among other favorites are gloves, hedge trimmers, and sprinklers.

Even though not very popular, calendars are surely a good idea for gardening gift set. It is both decorative with beautiful pictures of plants and it can be used to keep up with moon phases which affect most of the plant world. On a practical note, a farmer s almanac is also a good gift, as it provides information on the weather, moon phases, planting and prunning times. It gives the best guidelines to gardening.

Nowadays gift certificates are becoming more and more popular. Gift certificates to a nursery or a store with gardening tools may be the best gift you can come up with, as it gives your gardening friend an opportunity to buy any plants or tools they really need and want.

Giving gifts has never been easy, however if you have some gardening friends, you can make your life easier and buy them gardening gifts. You can buy either a power tool, a plant, or a pair of fashionable gloves, depending on the size of your wallet. So the next time you go gift shopping, think of a gardening gift set for your friends with green thumbs!

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Author: admin
• Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Gardening has been experiencing technological boom and expansion over the years. New trends and fashions flooded gardening stores. One of those novelties is water gardening. It refers to gardening that takes shape of waterfalls, ponds, fountains, enhanced by rock and lighting, plants, and fish. 

As far as a home water garden is concerned, there is probably nothing more important than choosing the right place. Both the plants and fish require large amounts of sunlight, thus, open spaces, far from trees are sought for as the best sites for water gardening. Moreover, it will prevent leaves and debris from gathering in the water tank.

You should start arranging your home water garden from choosing the right size. The driving factor here is money you want to spend as water gardens tend to be quite expensive, especially if you decide to expand and add a lot of rocks, plants, fish, and light. Pay attention to the size of the property you own, and the time you are willing to devote to maintain your water garden.

Aquatic plants have also many types, they can be free floating, submerged, or marginal. If you go aquatic plants shopping, take into consideration the fact that they should cover only half of the water. However, which types you pick depends only on your taste. There are plants that smell really nice, some give more oxygen than others, thus will keep the pool healthier. Some plants, on the hand, are simply beautiful. There are as well many advantages of keeping fish in your pond. Fish are responsible for eating up all the debris and controlling the amount of insects.

Potentially, the main problem with a home water garden is getting rid of algae. Algae grow well in water full of nutrients left over from feeding fish and fertilizing plants. To avoid these difficulties, make sure beforehand that your water pool is designed and built properly and do not forget about maintenance. Then, algae problems will be kept at a minimum.

No matter what the size is, all garden pools, ponds, water tanks will need to be maintained all year long. If you pay attention at planning stage to what type of plants nad arrangements you choose, you can significantly narrow down care issues and improve health and balance of your water garden.
Algae can be avoided by decreasing the number of nutrients provided to fish, by reducing the amount of fertilizers, by installing a filter, and replacing water from time to time.

Maintaining a home water garden is not really more demanding than traditional gardening. It is quite specific, but there is a growing amount of people that are fond of their water gardens. Some gardeners are not good at regular planting, however, they excell at water gardening. So if you want to spend some quality time outside, or just make your garden look more beautiful, create a home water garden.

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Author: admin
• Monday, January 26th, 2009

Herbs are more and more eagerly grown nowadays. There are obvious reasons for the interest in growing a herb garden as it is rewarding, practical and healthy. Having your own small plantation of basil to supply your everyday cooking demands, provides you with fresh, organic spices and saves your money. But it is not only that, herbs are planted to spread nice aroma and because they look nice.

When growing a herb garden drying is a process you should not forget about. It preserves herbs for using them during the winter, especially if they are used for cooking. First, you cut the tops and leaves, wash them and hang up to dry. Next, the stems should be tied and put in a paper bag. Then, two or three weeks later, you should remove the stems, crush the leaves and dry them in the oven. The best way to store them is in a glass jar.

Definately, basil is the most commonly grown herb. It is often planted as decoration due to its beautiful additions such as “Dark Opal” and regular green basil. Dark Opal stands out with its light pink flowers and dark red leaves. Very often basil is used for flavoring tomato juices and pastes.

Almost equally popular is chives, looks like a very petite blade of grass. In reality, they are not that weak as they look and can survive a severe drought. Growing chives is fairly simple, and does not demand a lot hassle, which makes this sturdy herb perfect if you consider growing a herb garden .. Chives are are added to egg dishes, salads, and many different sauces.

Used in mint juleps, mint jell , lemonade, and other fruit drinks, mint is also easy to grow, thus good when growing a herb garden . Its unique minty smell brought it fame. Two other herbs that appear in many herb garden are sage and thyme, both used for flavoring soups, chicken, pork, turkey, and sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Famous for its exquisite smell, Lavender is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The smell of light purple flowers is very pleasant.

Among other herbs often used when growing a herb garden are borage (used in salads), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), chervil (used in egg dishes), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, decoration and aroma. Herb gardening produces much fresher herbs with more flavor than those bought in stores, at a lowest cost.

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Author: admin
• Friday, January 23rd, 2009

For those seeking data on a garden, being aware of the full cycle of bean plant growth can help you to take full advantage of the bean growing season, optimizing the volume of beans you get for the time and effort that you invest. All kinds of beans, from the green bean to chick peas, are a solid addition to a balanced diet. Rich in protein, the bean is certainly one of the founding parts in the vegetarian diet, as well as a great side dish for meat lovers.

If you are building a bean garden, the first part of bean plant growth is the seed. Higher quality seeds tend to have a significantly higher probability of the plant growing, which is likely to result in a higher yield in your garden. The high quality seeds may be a bit more expensive, but the total improvement of bean plant growth is surely worth the effort, especially if you plan on having a bigger garden.

To ensure plant health, planting should be carried out when the temperature drops no lower than 16 degrees C or 61 degrees F. If the temperature goes below this level, the plants may not grow, and may perish.
Once the seeds are planted, the time it takes for the plant to hit the seedling stage varies from three to around forty days, with the median being eleven days. A very young plant that has just started to crack the soil’s surface is called the seedling. This part of the bean plant growth cycle is crucial, as a healthy seedling is very likely to mature into a strong plant. If your crops are planted too early, they might be unhealthy and the volume of crop gained later in the cycle could end up diminished.

Once your crops are sown and have begun to crack the surface, they require an average of no less than fifty days to create pods and become ready for harvesting. This means that there is most likely only one grow cycle for these crops in a year. The sowing of beans should take place no earlier than in march to make certain that the plants have had plenty of time to mature during the season before colder fall air comes. Frost can massively harm the bean plant growth, and one should really take care to avoid this. In chillier climates, this could be difficult, as the time required for bean plant growth is linked to when frosts start and end.

The bean plant is an annual crop, meaning that it is able to regrow itself for no less than three growing seasons. In most cases, however, gardeners will start from fresh, getting rid of the old beans and giving life to new plants each season to make certain that the bean plant growth cycle avoids frost from harming their crops.

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