In general, pots are more successful than boxes for herb growing. Glazed pottery makes good containers since the roots do not dry out as quickly as they will in clay pots. Plastic is satisfactory for the same reason. However, there is one danger with nonporous containers. The plants, if overwatered, may become waterlogged and rot. So if you prefer, you may set unglazed pots in the more decorative containers of glazed pottery or metal.

At a gift shop I saw a large bulb dish holding five tiny pots of herbs. The trouble with the miniature pots is that they will not keep the herbs alive for more than a couple of weeks. With 5-inch pots, you can use your herbs all winter, and set them out again in the spring if you also have an outdoor garden. So, if you use this idea, choose a larger container or fill it with fewer individual pots.

If you do not have enough pots for all your herbs, paint tin cans in bright shades, and letter the names of the herbs in gold or some other paint that contrasts. You may punch a few holes in the sides near the bottom for drainage. Instead of painting, you might prefer to cover the cans with the attractive paper which sticks to any surface and can be kept clean by wiping with a damp cloth.

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Planning your own herb garden

Storing herbs

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When you start looking for pots or containers in which to plant your herbs, you will find interesting ideas all around you. Poke into storage shelves, the attic and basement, the kitchen cupboards. A big iron skillet will make an attractive planter when filled with small pots of herbs. First, line it with heavy aluminum foil so that it will not rust, and fill the spaces between the pots with damp peat moss or vermic-ulite. This suggestion is just to get you started. You will enjoy creating planters or containers out of whatever is handy.

If you planted a terra cotta jar or strawberry jar for your terrace, it can come indoors for the winter. Some of the plants should be cut back to ensure vigorous growth before frost, while other plants may need to be replaced. Your family room or basement recreation room would be a pleasant place to put the jar. If sun is lacking, consider fluorescent lighting.

Rose geraniums and lemon balm make interesting bathroom decorations. Keep them trim by pinching off fragrant leaves for your bath water.
A small pot of herbs, or a group of several arranged on the dining table, will make a charming scented decoration ?and you will enjoy clipping a few leaves to add to salads or drinks.

Potting Soil
Most herbs do best in an alkaline soil. Here is a potting mixture for those which are to be kept indoors:

2 parts good garden loam.
1 part leaf mold or peat moss
1 part sharp sand (not the smooth, fine variety).

To each half-bushel of this mixture add:

1 pint raw crushed limestone or finely crushed plaster
? pint bone meal
1 quart well rotted or commercial manure.

Potting
Drainage is extremely important. If you decide to use nonporous containers start with a few bits of broken clay pot or bits of brick, then add a layer of coarse gravel.

Partially fill the container with potting soil. Set the plant in gently, making a hole in which to lower the root if necessary. Then gently pack more soil about the roots, making sure not to cramp them or to cover the crown, the junction of stem and root. The soil should come to within about one-half inch of the top of the pot. Sprinkle well with water and keep in the shade until the plant sends up leaves.

If you set the pots in saucers, elevate them a bit so that the water can drain out easily.

Artificial Light
If your house or apartment lacks sunlight, consider fluorescent lighting. Artificial light for growing plants is becoming more widely used all the time. You can set up a miniature garden in any corner of your house with the use of fluorescent lighting. A strawberry jar, a china cabinet, a bookcase, a table top or set of special shelves can be made into an indoor garden merely by mounting two 40-watt fluorescent tubes in a fixture over the area. This will be sufficient for a growing area of about 3×4 feet, and the tubes should come within a foot of the plants. Keep the lights on for approximately 14 hours a day; the cost will be very little.

If you prefer to use incandescent light bulbs, use 60- or 75-watt bulbs and keep the plants about 2 feet away. This is important since the bulbs give off heat. You will not want to wilt your tender herbs.

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Container gardens can create a natural sanctuary in a busy city street, along rooftops or on balconies. You can easily accentuate the welcoming look of a deck or patio with colourful pots of annuals, or fill your window boxes with beautiful shrub roses or any number of small perennials. Whether you arrange your pots in a group for a massed effect or highlight a smaller space with a single specimen, you’ll be delighted with this simple way to create a garden.

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. And 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 cosy 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 that will be the envy of friends and strangers alike.

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Source: Gardening

Many people may not be aware that gardening can actually harm the environment. A large amount of carbon dioxide can be released through tilling the soil. This contributes to global warming. When you cultivating and compacting the soil, destroys good fungi. Fertilizers like nitrogen and manure often leach out of the soil and pollute the water you drink.

Global Warming

Did you know that the earth’s soil gives out carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 10 times more than all human activity? This comes from the pill bugs, microbes, fungi and worms when they breathe, digest food and then die. Although in the past plants have been capable of absorbing carbon dioxide caused by small-scale tillages, this isn’t the case nowadays.
The increase of the globe’s average temperature is because of the carbon dioxide the soil emits when tilled. The good news is that tilling can be minimized by mulching or sheet composting.

Good Fungi

In untilled soil, there is beneficial fungi known as the vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae or VAM for short. VAM actually forms a symbiotic relationship with plants. Their filaments increase root hairs and provide nutrients to the plant. They give out zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus. Plants provide carbohydrates for the fungi in return. It is possible to grow a garden without tilling the sooiil at all by mulching heavily until the soil is soft and friable.

Surplus Nitrogen

Many gardeners waste nitrogen and manures; farmers do otherwise. Farmers only need a quarter to a third of nitrogen to mix with an inch of compost, horse, or cow manure. Kate Burroughs of Sebastopol California, uses the same rule for her home-grown lettuce and sweet corns. When it comes to broccoli and pear trees, farmers only need a small amount. Notice that gardeners apply larger amounts of compost and manure than farmers. Obviously, they are not only wasting their fertilizer but also their money.

The best gardening advice that can be given to those concerned is to do all things with moderation. Keep in mind that too little and too much of something is not healthy. This is the most valuable advice one can have in gardening.

fertilizers, Fungi, garden, Gardening, Global Warming, Nitrogen, Soil

Source: Nitrogen

Different kinds of gardens require different kinds of garden tools. Hardware stores mostly cater for a wide range of tools, but there are shops that specialize in the more expensive kind of garden tool that shouts quality. Wherever you decide to shop, here are a few pointers to advise you.

Do you have small garden or a large one? A small garden will not require the same large equipment that would be of use in an extensive one. A ride-on mower is unnecessary if you only have a small strip of lawn. Another point to consider is who does most of the gardening? Some tools are too heavy for use by women.

When you buy secateurs make sure the blade always stays sharp to avoid damaging the plant. Look for models that have blades that can be sharpened or replaced, models with tension control and with sizes that best fit your hands. Secateurs usually cost around $50 - $130.

Hedge trimmers or shears are handy - but only if you have a hedge, or plan on growing one. Some hedge trimmers have curved blades to stop branches from sliding out when cut.

Forks are used for turning and aerating compost and breaking up lumps of soil. The cheaper ones are often not strong enough for heavy soil, so go for sturdiness instead of price. Forks usually cost around $30 - $100.

A shovel has a scoop blade and is best used to move around dirt and garden soil. A spade has a flat blade great for cutting edges, digging and dividing plants. The edge of a spade should be kept sharpened for clean and efficient cutting will cause the least amount of damage to plants. These are a basic garden necessity and usually cost from $30 - $50.

A pruning saw is used for pruning trees and larger shrubs, while secateurs are for plants like roses. Pruning saws have a narrow curved blade that fits between stems or branches and easily and cuts them as you pull the saw backwards. They are approximately $27- $55.

A chipping hoe is a handy tool for getting rid of small weeds. The Dutch or push-hoe is slightly more user-friendly as the action required to use it does not jar the neck and shoulder quite so much.

A rake is also a basic requirement for the garden. The strong rake with the flat head and sharp metal prongs is used for smoothing a garden bed and getting out the last of the bumps and weeds. The plastic rake is used to gather leaves and grass clippings only.

Gardening tools don’t have to be expensive. Flea markets and garage sales can be excellent places to pick up great tool bargain.

garden, Gardening, gardening tools

Source: garden

Gardening Can Improve Your Health

While we are attending to the health of our plants, we too are improving our health both physically and mentally.

Even the relatively light work of weeding the garden is good exercise and particularly with elderly people it is an opportunity to get outside, breath the fresh air and improve their well-being.

As we bend down to pull out weeds or pick up plants and pots we are exercising and stretching our muscles and keeping our joints active.

This helps to circulate the blood through the body and help maintain a healthy heart.
It is also good for the mind as gardening can relax the mind and reduce stress.

Working outside in the garden also exposes us to sunlight and that is essential for Vitamin D, which helps the body to absorb calcium, and this is particularly important for women.

Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the country and also ranks as one of the most popular forms of exercise for many people.

Along with any form of exercise precautions need to be taken. Lifting heavy pots and plants can also do damage to the lower back and knees so we need to be sensible when gardening to ensure we can continue to enjoy this wonderful pastime.

Like the lower back, our knees are susceptible to damage from gardening if we tend to kneel down while working but fortunately there are various gardeners’ aids that can be worn or used to help protect our knees.

There are also belts that can be worn to support our back when lifting heavy items in the garden.

If you take a sensible approach to your gardening and don’t over extend yourself you can reap the rewards of improved health and happiness while enjoying the fun of creating your own piece of paradise.

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Source: plants

If you are interested in herbs you may be astonished to realize how many herbs you are already growing.

Parsley, chives, garlic, spearmint, dill and sage appear in almost every garden. And they are among the most valued herbs. Do you raise violets, roses, nasturtiums and marigolds? These, too, are herbs, even though we call them flowers.

Along with these herbs, add thyme, summer savory, sweet marjoram, basil, lemon balm (Melissa), borage and chervil, and you will have a good start on a herb garden which will provide for most of your needs.

Herbs are fun to grow, and they are easy to raise unless you choose to make a major project of it. Unfortunately, I have never developed a ?green thumb?; most plants don’t ?just grow?5 for me. But herbs do. With very poor conditions, I manage to have all the herbs I want for myself or to give to friends.

Although herbs are supposed to need plenty of sunlight and an alkaline soil, mine get shade and clay. They do best with lots of space in which to grow; I have practically none. Our climate is dry, the winds hot, the growing season short. And still, should you stop by some afternoon, I can give you a cup of tea flavored with lemon balm, herb-flavored canap?s, and buttered scones spread with rose geranium jelly.

Fortunately for lazy gardeners like myself, those herbs most frequently used are also the easiest grown. One packet of seeds for each will be more than enough. If you have only a small space, divide the seeds with a friend, or save some for a second planting later in the summer, for plants to take indoors during the winter.

When deciding which herbs to put in your garden, remember that it must be suited to your particular way of life. If you enjoy entertaining and love to cook, you will want a garden planted mostly with culinary herbs. If you wish for fragrance primarily, you would choose some other herbs. Or if a collection of as many herbs as possible is your goal, still another plan would be needed.

Basic Herbs

Practically everyone who grows herbs has her own basic list, and you will not be long in finding yours. However, to start with, try these:

Sow seeds of: Sweet basi,l Parsley Borage,Dill, Burnet, Sweet marjoram, Chervil, Summer: savory, Get roots of: Spearmint, Lemon balm, Peppermint, Chives (bulblets)
Get plants of: Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Lavender, The Culinary Seeds

Although when we speak of using herbs, we generally refer to the leaves, there are some which are better known for their seeds. Of these the most popular are:

Anise Coriander Mustard
Caraway Cumin Poppy
Cardamon Dill Sesame
Celery Fennel

Since the leaves as well as the seeds of fennel, mustard, dill, anise and caraway are used in cooking you may want to include one or all of them in your herb garden. However, herbs grown for their seed alone are scarcely worth the space and bother. The crop is too small to be of value, and you can buy fresh seed inexpensively packaged at any grocery store.

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If you enjoy the thought of having a lush yard in front of your house to look at, to walk on every now and then, and for the whole community to admire, then you also probably know that all lawns need one tool - a lawn mower to keep all that grass trimmed down neatly. But lawn mowers don’t come in only one generic size, shape, or type . There are specific lawn mowers for the different types of mowing needs a lawn owner will have.

You can buy lawn mowers called rotary mowers, which rely on a circulating blade to snip and hack at the tall grass; the blade is covered by a protective cover. Alternatively, you can buy reel mowers, which have spinning blades that will flash above a fixed blade as they do the cutting. You can select these two styles of mowers as either gas-powered models or manual, human-powered models.

The rotary lawn mowers use the protective cover to keep the grass from shooting out at you as the circulating blade does its job. It also keeps the circulating blade itself from suddenly swinging out at you should it break loose from its fastenings at some point during the mowing job. That is why the protective housing is usually made of sturdy metal, with a painted finish to prevent rusting.

The reel mowers (which are manual and not automated) allow you to enjoy the physical advantages of exercise. This type of lawn mower is well-suited for yards that contain around 100 square meters and are made of soft-bladed grass. As long as you did not put the Saint Augustine or Bermuda types of grass in your yard, this lawn mower will work well.

The power lawn mowers also come as either rotary or reel mowers. The rotary type is more affordable priced than the reel type, and is also easy to handle and easier to sharpen. The reel mowers are perfect for easily shortening your grass to putting green level, and they leave a tidy look to the grass later.

If you aren’t opposed to the smoke, the odor, and the noise, a gas-powered lawn mower might be what you are needing. But for the lawn owners who do mind the noise, odor, and smoke, the electricity-powered lawn mower style is a superior selection. Electric-powered mowers can be found in corded or cordless styles. The corded lawn mower will need a cord reaching about 100 feetlong, which will connect to a power outlet. But if you’re one of the people who fears running over the cord itself and slicing it with the lawn mower blades, or if you just find electric cords a pain, then you will be happier with a cordless electric lawn mower. It has its own power supply. You only have to charge it once a day for around 4 to 6 hours at a time. (Depending on the power capacity of your electric engine, the mower may require charging for a few hours more or less.)

A human-powered or push mower will be suited for running on rolling, sloped areas. In order to cut back on the labor required to push the mower, buy the front-propelled kind of lawn mowers. If your yard is really big, then you would do well to get a tractor-type of lawn mower. This is the type you can actually ride in like a vehicle as you trim the grass in the lawn.

Insects might be responsible for some of the problems you are experiencing with your roses. These insects can be your roses’ worst friends, and will cause major damage if you do nothing to keep them away. These are some of the top ten most wanted enemies of your roses, and some ways to identify them and get rid of them.

1. Aphids

Aphids are the most frequent insect problem you will find in your roses. These insects like to make themselves comfortable in the roses’ growing tissues like buds and shoots. Aphids usually are just a problem during the spring and early summer.

Although few - or even moderate - numbers of aphids won’t cause much damage to your roses, you need to watch them and make sure their numbers don’t spread. A large group of aphids can produce honeydew, a waste product that has the consistency of a sugary liquid. This honeydew can encourage mold; the mold eventually will blacken the roses’ leaves. Flowers may decrease and new buds may be killed if there are large numbers of aphids in your roses.

You may not need to use insecticides to control your aphids. They have some natural enemies, including syrphid flies and lady beetles. If these insects aren’t around to deter your aphids, you can try washing them off of the roses with water or special types of soaps.

2. Spider Mites

Spider mites may be to blame if you notice that your roses’ leaves are drying up and falling off, or if they look like they have numerous small dots (stippling). These pests are so small that you might need a magnifying glass to find them.

Spider mites usually infest your roses because of dry and dusty conditions. It’s possible to try to control them by reducing the amount of dust and by making sure that your roses and other plants have enough water.

3. Fuller Rose Beetles

Fuller rose beetles spell big trouble as adults, when they like to chew on your rose bushes. You can usually tell they are there by the ragged edges on the roses’ leaves and flowers.

The beetles usually feed at night, when they will chew away at the roses’ flowers and leaves. During the day, fuller rose beetles hide on the leaves’ undersides.

Pesticides typically are not effective in dealing with these persistent beetles. Your best method to get rid of them is picking them off by hand.

4. Thrips

Thrips have a particular fondness to white or light-colored roses. They damage the blooms by leaving brown streaks on the flowers and cause an immense amount of damage. Thrips are a very big problem when the rose bushes are planted close to each other; thrips move easily from one plant to another.

It can be hard to control thrips with pesticides because the pesticides are mainly effective when the insects are in their development phase and are very difficult to see. The best way to get rid of thrips is to clip and throw away the infected flowers.

5. Caterpillars

Some caterpillars love to make lunch and dinners out of rose leaves. Although the damage usually doesn’t threaten the plant, the leaves can look unsightly. Remove the damaged leaves and prune any buds that are damaged.

6. Rose Slug

These insects are actually the larva of sawflies, but look like caterpillars because the rose slugs have legs. You can wash rose slugs off the bushes using a spray of water. One of their natural enemies also may keep them at bay.

7. Leafcutter Bees

These bees make holes in the rose bush leaves and take the leafy material back to their nests.

Although the leaves may not look nice, you really must put up with the bees. There’s no effective way to keep leafcutter bees away from your roses. Bees also are good for the plants because they help with pollination.

8. Rose Curculios

These pests, which are about a quarter of an inch long, start dining as young as larvae on your rose buds as they develop. The rose curculios are particularly fond of yellow and white roses.

Rose curculios eat the buds by punching holes in the buds and blooming flowers. They kill the buds before the buds can even open. You can get ride of a rose curculio infestation by getting an insecticide from a local garden or home center.

9. Flat-headed borers

Flat-headed borers can make the canes of the rose die back, and can kill the canes and the entire plant.

To get rid of the insects, you’ll need to remove any material that has an infestation. You can keep your rose bushes healthy by making sure they have enough water and not overpruning them during the summer.

10. Scale Insects

These pests get their names from the armored scales that they have. Scale insects also like to cause havoc with the cans on your rose bushes.

They may look like small gray ovals, and don’t really move around but you can find them in the front yard or back yard landscape. Because scale insects have no legs, they are there to stay. The best way to try to control them is to prune infected canes and put pesticide oil on any canes that you don’t prune.

Your home is your castle, and the land surrounding your home is your landscape dream. You have spent hours and hours working on the details of your landscape, the plants, the colors, the shapes and the pathways that are walked. But in the dark or even near dusk your landscape looks bleak, you feel as if you are going to tramp in the mud or on your favorite plants because you just can’t see outside of the porch lights. Adding solar lights to the landscape is going to do so much for your walkways, your landscape and for your own protection in the dark.

Bringing out the best of your deck, the pillars on the porch, or the walkway in the garden is what solar lights are going to do for you. Solar lights can be a little expensive to purchase up front because they don’t need batteries or electricity, but in the long run you are going to be very pleased with the end results. Think solar, think one purchase, and then imagine what you can do with small or large lights placed strategically around the exterior of your home.

The posts that solar lights are connected to are generally going to be some type of plastic or metal. The windier it is in your area, you may want to purchase the metal posts that are connected to the solar lights. Plastic is great in areas where moisture and rain are going to rust away the metals, but the plastic is not going to withstand the winds over time if you purchase solar lights that are more than just a few inches out of the ground.

What are some of the things you can do outside in your landscape with solar lights? You can light up a pathway from the driveway to the house, or you can light up the exterior of the foundation where you want to give a glow to the color of your house in the dark. You can use lights to show off the best bushes and trees that are shaped in your landscape or you can use solar lights to show off a sign or a mailbox in your yard. Solar lights and the uses for solar lights are just endless. You will have fun imagining all the things you can do with the lights.

LED outdoor solar lighting are meant to add protection for your family while adding to the decorating of your landscape at the same time. Some homeowners are going to remove the solar lights during the winter months if they feel they are going to be buried in the snow, but you shouldn’t really have to do this. If you have nice weather most all year around, solar lights are going to add to the glow of your home from dusk to dawn through all the seasons. Simple additions to your yard, even just two or four lights that are pointing the direction through the dark are going to make your home more attractive than before.

More landscaping ideas

A touch of colour can have a powerful effect, especially in areas that usually do not support plant life. It can make commercial complexes more welcoming and apartment buildings and condominiums feel more relaxed and friendly. It can even make the noise, pollution and hubbub of the city melt away. Transform your drab concrete patios, and courtyards, entrances and walkways, pools and spas into urban oases with a few strategically placed planters and baskets brimming with annual and perennial colour. Your only limits are budget and the imagination of your designer.

Clearly, patio pots and hanging baskets offer plenty of perks, but these high-style creations must be designed and maintained carefully to maximize your investment. Grafting haphazard colour creations and underestimating your maintenance commitments are possible hazards that you can evade if you plan carefully and pay close attention to detail. Vibrant colour is catchy. When sprinkled elegantly in planters, it is practically irresistible to the eye. You can get a lot of bang for your dollar with the right combination of colours when patioscaping or transforming a plain looking entrance with beautiful potted flowers.

The instant gratification of containers and baskets makes these add-ons even more appealing. Emphasize colour for beautiful results that don’t take a lot of planning or design work. You can make a big impact quickly in a limited space and on a limited budget, without the mess and fuss of an earthbound garden. There are lots options are available in low, middle and pricier, high-end selections.

While pots and hanging baskets may be relatively simple to plant, it is important to pay attention to their ongoing maintenance. Be especially careful with watering, as plant needs can change rapidly based on heat waves, dry weather, downpours and frosts. When plants go down, it happens fast. In 90-degree weather, a plant may be lost in as little as one day. Containers lose moisture more quickly than earthbound beds, and should be fertilized more frequently.

You may need to visit your potted patio plants quite regularly - ideally three times a week - for pruning, deadheading and watering. Deadheading or periodic trimming ensures a continuous bloom and keeps your plants looking tidy.

Depending on your plant’s environment and individual needs some professionals recommend fertilizing every three weeks with a good all-purpose liquid fertilizer. If regular maintenance is not on your agenda make sure to use a slow-release fertilizer.

Terrace gardens may need watering every day and some need water twice a day. For extra insurance, use subirrigation or drip irrigation. It’s as simple as filling your subirrigation systems and monitoring the sprinklers to make sure they come on. Your efforts will be paid off with an urban home environment filled with colour and life.