Tag Archives: Gardening

Gardening Review ???…Questions and Answers

Posted on by
Reply

Questions and Answers on Gardening

Question #1
How to Test Soil For Magnesium Level

This question is in response to last month’s emailed gardening tip. You mentioned to make sure to do a soil test to see what your magnesium level is before adding any Epsom salt to outdoor plants. You said, “Without knowing your current magnesium levels, you shouldn’t apply Epsom salt at all to outdoor plants. Many areas have almost toxic proportions of magnesium present in the soil, and continually adding more will end up poisoning the plants and the soil.” That’s great, but how do I test for Magnesium levels?

Jim Trueman, UK

ANSWER:
Hi Jim! Great question. Since most home “do-it-yourself” soil testing kits only test for pH, Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorous, in order to find out your calcium and magnesium levels you’ll have to take a sample to a local soil testing lab. Every county has one, and the cost is usually around $10 (£5). It’s fast and very accurate.

The weekendgardener…

Question #2:
Out Of Control Weeds

We have recently moved into our house, and the gardens are full of weeds. We have tried pulling them out, we have tried both chemical and organic weed killers, and tried solarization. Is there any other way. We just can’t seem to contain them.

Brad Martin, Lismore, NSW Australia

ANSWER:
Hi Brad! I can hear and understand your frustration. Nothing is worse than a battle of the weeds. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you is diligence, and try mixing up your techniques a bit more.

The problem with a lot of chemical weed killers is they do a great job of killing what’s there, but if you simply leave that area bare, and don’t do anything else, new weed and grass seeds can blow in and take root in the now clean and open area.

You also have to realize there are perennial and annual weeds, which means that at any time of the year, some kind of weed will be growing. The trick is to keep after it year-round and in a season or two, you will see a huge decrease in the problem as you kill each weed’s growing cycle and start to get the upper hand.

So what I would suggest is to pick a general weed killing method, I like solarization because it’s chemical free, but many people opt for RoundUp or another systemic weed killer.

Once you have killed everything back, come back in and put down some corn gluten, I mentioned this up on question # 6, see above if you didn’t read it.

Corn gluten is great because it will keep any new seeds from germinating. Keep in mind, it will keep all seeds from germinating, so if you are planning on starting a vegetable garden from seed, this will be a problem.

If that is the case, and you can’t put down a pre-emergent, put down a good layer of mulch, 2 to 3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) to keep any new weeds smothered.

Hang in there, you have the right idea, and in time, your garden is going to look great.

The weekendgardener…

Question #3:
What Is Heavy Soil

I want to start a water garden. I went and bought a Papyrus plant. I was told to repot plant and to use “heavy soil” and water plant fertilizer. Can you tell me what “heavy soil” is? And what type of fertilizer to use that can be used with fish in pond?

Ramona Diorec, Honolulu, HI, USA

ANSWER:
Hi Ramona! Good question. Soils come in various “textures” meaning there sandy, loam, and clay soils, which some people can refer to as light, medium, and heavy soils.

Heavy soils (the same as a clay soil) are called that because they contain more clay, are sticky, and have little pore space, drain slowly and retain water and nutrients longer, which tend to make them more fertile than other soils, and are ideal for pond plants.

A medium soil (the same as a loam soil) which is considered the ideal garden soil (not for pond plants, but general gardening), because it has a nice balance of 3 particle types, clay, silt, and sand, giving it a combination of large and small pore spaces allowing it to have air for healthy root growth, and to drain well and lose nutrients at only a moderate rate.

Lastly, a light soil (the same as a sandy soil) contains particles that are fairly large and irregular, and have large pore spaces between the particles giving the soil lots of air, which drains very quickly losing nutrients and water. That’s why plants in sand need watering and feeding more often.

In your situation, you will want to use a heavy clay soil, and there are such soils packaged specifically for aquatic plants, so ask for that. In a pond situation, using the wrong type of soil can cause numerous problems, so start your plants out correctly with the right soil.

Now, just a few extra tips for you. One of the problems with ponds is that they can get a brown tinge to the water. This is because the soil has come out of the pot, which can happen in a high wind when the pot blows or falls over spilling soil into the water, or the soil washes out of the bottom of the pot. To avoid this problem here are a couple of things you can do:

1. Use a shorter wider pot (sometimes called a “pan”) because it is less likely to blow over than a taller pot, especially if it is a taller growing plant (like some Papyrus); and make sure that you add some medium sized stones on top of the soil to keep the soil in the pot. The stones will also add extra weight which will keep the pot from tipping over in the pond in the wind.

2. Line the pot with burlap, weed barrier mat or a few layers of damp newspaper. After the bottom of the pot is lined then add your soil and plant. This helps keep the soil from washing out the drainage holes into the pond. Once the plant is potted up, soak the entire pot in a bucket that is large enough to cover the top of the pot for about 24 hours. This will allow any loose soil to be washed off into the bucket of water and not in your pond.

3. When you are putting the plant in the pond make sure that you slowly lower the pot into the water rather than just plunge the pot into the water. By lowering the pot slowly this will keep the force of the water from washing the soil out of the pot and into the water.

The final part of your question was about fertilizer. There are many made especially for ponds, just ask for fertilizer for Pond Plants. It will be safe for all aquatic life, and it won’t turn water green from algae growth.

The weekendgardener…

Question #4:
Leafminers on Tomatoes

I have 5 pots of “patio” tomotoes growing in large pots on my balcony. All 5 plants have tan “schrigely” marks on them, as you can see in the picture. Not all leaves have these marks. Also, the newest growth leaves on top of plants do not have these marks (yet??). Any suggestions as to the problem? Thanks.

Bob Coyne, FL, USA

ANSWER:
Hi Bob! First of all, thank you for sending a picture with your question. It always is so helpful to be able to see exactly what you are talking about.

What you have are called Leafminers. They like to feed on bean, beet, cabbage, chard, lettuce, pepper, tomato, and other vegetables; also many ornamentals, especially chrysanthemum and nasturtium.

The larvae tunnel through the leaf tissue making hollowed-out, winding mines. They can kill seedlings, but the good news is that on older plants, such as your tomatoes, the larvae are more of a nuisance, and a cosmetic issue, than a serious problem.

There are a few things you can do:

1. Handpick and destroy mined leaves.

2. Remove any egg clusters you may see on the undersides of the leafs as soon as they are visible in the spring.

3. You can also spray neem oil. Read more about neem oil.

The weekendgardener

Organic Gardening: 10 Practical Steps

Posted on by
Reply

“Organic gardening is not just the avoidance of chemicals, in the larger view, it is organic living using nature’s laws.” I read this quote by an unknown person sometime ago and realized that my parents and others like them were organic gardeners long before the current resurrection of these principles.  They didn’t use chemicals on the food they would feed to their children and gardening was a part of daily living to ensure there was sufficient food to preserve for the long winters.  Everything was re-cycled and kitchen scraps were routinely thrown onto the garden to replenish the earth.  Organic fertilizers such as manure were used and the only fertilizer on the roses was bone meal.  My mother and father produced the best tasting vegetables and lots of them – enough to feed a family of seven throughout the winter.  Birds, worms, and other signs of a living earth were welcomed into the garden.

In recent times synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides have become the practice most common among commercial agricultural practices.  These practices have had some undesirable results such as the loss or depletion of topsoil, land becomes less fertile, and the excessive use of pesticides has resulted in pests resistant to the current chemicals resulting in the development of even stronger chemicals.  Our environment is being damaged by toxic chemical spills, chemicals leaching into rivers and water supplies are contaminating our drinking water, and the effect of global warming is becoming a major part of the political agenda.

Our personal diet and health is a major topic of importance as more attention is being paid to the relationship between food and health.  Research has demonstrated that organically grown vegetables are higher in vitamins and minerals than those grown with inorganic fertilizers.  Gardening organically and growing as much of our own food as possible is one of the steps we can take to start healing the earth on which we live and in the process healing ourselves. Several key components are fundamental to the practice of organic gardening.

Practical Steps to Organic Gardening

1.    Soil.  The soil is kept healthy by working with Nature rather than against it.  Practices include using organic fertilizers such as manure to replenish the earth and all refuse produced by the garden should be recycled back into the garden.  Organic gardening uses all of the waste produced in the garden such as grass clippings, leaves, and leftovers from the kitchen to make compost that feeds the soil and keeps it full of the nutrients necessary to grow crops.

2.    Avoid the use of all synthetic chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.  Eliminating the use of chemicals in the garden allows gardeners to not worry about children, pets, and wildlife coming in contact with synthetic weed killers and fertilizers on the lawn and shrubs.  The food grown is pesticide-free, additive-free, and nutritious food for the table.

3.    Sustainability.  In his book, Gardening Organically, John Fedor defines sustainability as “the ability of a society or an ecosystem to function indefinitely without squandering the resources on which it relies.”  Organic gardening does this by ensuring there is no loss of nutrients or topsoil in the garden.

4.    Environmental Stewardship.  Gardening organically means that the environment benefits from the reduction in contamination of the water supply and air pollution.  It means that we provide a habitat for wildlife including beneficial insects and animals.

5.    Wildlife-friendly Habitats.  Informal areas can be created to assist wildlife in their search for habitat where they can survive the destruction of many areas; destructions that have now endangered many species.

6.    Intensive planting.  Plants are spaced closely together to conserve water and shield the soil from sunlight thus helping to prevent weed seeds from germinating and growing.

7.    Biodiversity.  Biodiversity ensures that when a change in growing conditions occurs, a single crop from a monoculture does not lead to a crop failure.  The food supply does not become jeopardized when a diversity of species are planted.

8.    Rotating Crops.  Crop rotation assists in the control against soil-borne pests and diseases. This rotation makes a difference in the productivity of the garden as those diseases that affect the plants are kept in check by the rotation of the crops to other areas of the garden.

9.    Watering and Weeding.  Rainwater can be saved to water the garden.  Soaker hoses, drip irrigation, and watering by hand conserve water.  Mulches are invaluable in both water conservation and slowing down weed germination.

10.    Saving Seeds.  Save some seeds from your best plants when harvesting crops.  Many old varieties are being lost at an alarming rate and preserving this biodiversity is important.  Some of these saved seeds have been used to develop new strains after disaster has affected commonly cultivated varieties.

Gardening tips, techniques and plant information

Posted on by
Reply

Some of the most spectacular gardening is on the rooftops and patios of the world’s largest cities. Today’s homeowners and apartment dwellers do not have to discard gardening. In fact, they can create their own garden hideaway.

Gardening in small space means you plant in containers, choose plants carefully, grow up on trellises instead of outdoor, hang plants from something overhead. Herbs, vegetables, shrubs, and citrus fruits can all be grown in containers. More and more vegetable varieties are available specifically for container growing.

For small-space growing people can grow in everything from custom-made pottery to clay pots and wooden planters. Your gardening containers must have drainage holes at the bottom. Cover the holes with a section of window screen so the soil doesn’t leak out.

Get a bag of dry, soulless mix for container gardening. You need to soak the soil with water before planting. This process can be messy, so plan ahead and do it outside if possible. Moisten only as much as you’ll need for the current task.

Keep an eye on your gardening container. It can dry out quickly in hot weather. If you really get into it, you might want to consider a drip irrigation system. This is a network of plastic tubing that can be regulated to provide a constant moisture supply to your plants.

Most plants need an average of 1 inch of water every week. You should try to water your garden plants earlier in the day, so the sun can help dry off any water left on the plant. If you see a plant drooping, be sure to water it, because some plants wilt and do not recover if they dry out.

Benefits Of Gardening For Kids

Posted on by
Reply

Apparently, we can see how nature is treated these days. It is a sad thing to know that people do not pay attention so much anymore to the environmental problems. What can we do about this? It’s as simple as starting with the children. It is good to see the children’s involvement with environment-friendly activities. One such nature-loving activity that children could easily get their hands on is gardening. Why should you consider gardening for your children?

Here are the benefits that gardening could easily provide the children with:

1. Science

In planting, children are indirectly taught the wonders of science like the plant’s life cycle and how human’s intervention can break or make the environment. They can have a first hand experience on the miracle of life through a seed. This would definitely be a new and enjoyable experience for the kids.

2. Life

Watching a seed grow into a tree is just as wondrous as the conception to birth and growth of a child. In time, kids will learn to love their plants and appreciate the life in them. Gardening could actually help simulate how life should be treated — it should be with care. The necessities to live will be emphasized to kids with the help of gardening – water, sunlight, air, soil. Those necessities could easily be corresponded to human necessities, i.e., water, shelter, air, food. By simply weeding out, one could educate how bad influences should be avoided to be able to live life smoothly.

3. Relaxation

Studies show that gardening can reduce stress because of its calming effect. This is applicable to any age group. More so, it stimulates all the five senses. Believe it or not, gardening may be used as therapy to children who have been abused or those who are members of broken homes. It helps build one’s self-esteem.

4. Quality Time with the Family

You can forget about your stressful work life for a while be soothed by the lovely ambience in the garden. You can play and spend quality time with your children. You can talk while watering the plants or you can work quietly beside each other. The bottom line is, always do what you have to do, together with your kids. You might discover a lot of new things about your child while mingling with them in your garden.

Let kids become aware of their environment’s needs. And one way to jumpstart that environmental education may be through gardening. It’s hitting two birds with one stone — teach them to respect life while you bond with them.

Vegetable Gardening on hard clay

Posted on by
3

Vegetable gardening can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. Eating your own fresh vegetables picked straight off the plant or fresh from the ground with the real taste still intact beats store brought produce every time.

I know growing up as a child in North Carolina, we grew everything that you could think in our gardens – and I do miss some of the vegetables from that zone that we can grow upnorth – my favorite that I missed is Okra.  But where I am now it’s sandy soil but just across the river here in Wisconsin Rapids – they have clay soil and I hear all the horror stories that my gardening friends go thru so thought I’d give you a few pointer when you are trying to garden on hard clay.

Clay is one of the most difficult mediums to grow plants in. The particular mix is so fine that oxygen and water have a hard time getting to the roots of any plant. Hard as concrete in the dry and waterlogged in the rainy season. Without special preparation you will be lucky to even get weeds to grow.

To prepare the garden a maddock was used to break up the clay into smaller pieces. It is actually better to do this when the clay is dry, rather than waterlogged. Its just heavier when wet and sticks to the maddock. This is time consuming back breaking work. But take a small patch at a time and come back after a rest. Take several days to complete the vegetable patch, gardening is to help build the muscles, not destroy them. Whilst doing this task many times rock was hit, however most rock on the Gold Coast shatters when hit and breaks into smaller pieces. While many of these were removed pieces smaller than half the size of your fist were left in on the advice of garden manuals. Why? It is said that small rocks help drainage and add minerals to the soil over time. So long as the don’t make up more than 5%-10% of the soil, leave them in. Eventually a base of the patch was laid out.

To further soften and break up the clay store brought clay breakers were added. Easily available at your gardening or hardware store they are added to water and sprayed on the garden though they work best over a period of time.

Next Gypsum was added. This comes in large bags and is easy to spread out by hand, mix in with the clay and it too will further help ‘relax’ the clay.

Some would say, why not just buy a bunch of topsoil and dump it down. Well for a couple of reasons, you still would have a drainage problem at the root level.   Most just provide sand with a minimum of organic material mixed in – just enough to darken the sand. The sand is actually poor draining because it is much too fine. Some argue that you can help clay soil by adding sand. But unless the sand is a fine to small gravel I believe you are wasting your time. Sand that is too fine, acts just like a clay soil, it repells short spells of rain or irrigation or becomes waterlogged during a tropical downpoor or solid irrigation. The second reason why I don’t just buy the topsoil is because if the topsoil is not mixed in and bound to the subsoil it will just wash away.

To really bring the clay soil up to grade you need to add bio matter. Quality top soil is made of plant and animal materials decomposed or in the state of decomposing. Compost made of of shredded leaves, wood, grass clippings and vegetable/food rubbish is good. But the best material I had available for this garden was straw and chicken waste. With a pen of twenty chickens plenty of nitrogen rich matter was produced. Every three months the coup was cleaned out, the straw smelling strongly of ammonia. However once put on the garden the smell quickly went and the straw and its ‘added’ contents quickly broke down into the soil. I can recommend nothing better to add to the soil. If you must add something else to quickly create a topsoil and can’t wait for compost or have no chickens then I recommend products such as worm castings or 6 in one products (includes blood and bone, fish compost, etc), they come in 20kg plus bags and range in price between $5 and $15. Several of these, or if your budget handles it 10-20 of these really help to condition the soil.

Poor soil should not hold you back, it merely presents a challenge.  Some gardening friends have tackle the poor soil a different way with raised beds and actually I enjoy raised beds – to me I feel they are less work, can grow alot in smaller area and easy to work in.  Here are some pictures of raised beds and the higher one would be great way to be able to try vegetable gardening on hard clay.  Once the raised bed is made (many materials now adays to choose from) you can fill your bed with nice rich composted soil which here in our town you can get free from our local dump sites.   With raised beds like this you can put your crawling plants on the edge and let them trail over the side.

With the price of food going up this might be a year to grow your own vegetable.  You can garden no matter what soil you have  – good luck everyone.

Container Gardening Tips For New Gardeners

Posted on by
Reply

Container gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby that is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world.  Not only is it relaxing and enjoyable, but you get the satisfaction of knowing that you’re growing your own plants and you know where they came from!  With more and more stories on the news about various outbreaks of food poisoning from things like lettuce and green onions, many people are finding it important to start growing as much of their own produce as possible.

Many people are afraid to deal with container gardening.  They think it is too difficult or too expensive.  On the contrary, it is actually very easy and can be quite inexpensive!  Here we explore the ease of setting up your first container garden, as well as the expenses involved.

We’re going to walk you through the process of setting up your first container garden.  In this example, we will be growing some basil.

Step One:  Purchase your container gardening supplies.  You will need the following items for this example.  Three plastic pots with drainage holes in the bottom, preferably with trays underneath to catch soil and water drainage, about 5-6 inches in diameter, and 5-6 inches deep, one packet of basil seeds, one small bag of organic compost, one small bag of peat moss, one small garden trowel, one small watering can or clean spray bottle, and one very sunny windowsill (or a florescent or halogen grow light if no sunny window is available.)  The total cost for these materials will be somewhere around $20 or less if you have a sunny windowsill.  If you need a grow light, that will cost an additional $15-$20.

Step Two:  Prepare the soil.  Mix together 1 part peat moss with 5 parts compost.  (For every one trowel full of peat moss, put in 5 trowels full of compost.)  Fill the three pots up to about ½ inch from the top with this mixture.

Step Three: Plant the seeds.  Simply make a hole about 1 inch deep in the center of each pot with your finger.  Put about three seeds into each hole.  Then cover the seeds with soil.  Water lightly and place in the windowsill or under a grow light.  Once the seeds sprout and reach about 2 inches in height, remove any extra sprouts so that you only have one plant in each pot.

Step Four:  In order to care for your plants, all you need to do is water them regularly and keep them maintained.  Check the soil daily for moisture.  Whenever the soil feels dry, water lightly.  To maintain the bushy growth, pinch off the tops of each stem every couple of weeks and remove any flower stalks as soon as you see them growing.

Remember that many things can be containers if you are on a limited budget and most towns have compost sites and what I use in my container for my soil – so when you are out shopping at your favorite flea markets or rummage sales – keep your eyes open for little jewels like the cup and saucer above planted with hens and chicks/

Online Friends or not?

Posted on by
11

Since I started online there has always been one question that I have heard many answers to and I just wanted to share my thoughts on this subject – do you accept friend invites from strangers?

First, I want to give you some definitions ……
Friend – a person you know well and regard with affection and trust.
Stranger – an individual that one is not acquainted with
Acquaintance – a relationship less intimate than friendship

Now there is a difference – the same principles that you use offline is the same as you do online. Keep in mind that you can have thousands of acquaintances, and many can be strangers until you break the barrier down and learn to communicate. You will find that some will continue to be acquaintances but you may be missing the opportunity to find a great online friend.

Just as with offline friends (fellow classmates, members of clubs you are in etc.) even tho you have some things in common and see each other occasionally – they are your acquaintances. You also have offline friends (close girlfriend, dancing partner, gardening buddy, etc.) the ones that you call when you need to talk, laugh, or even cry – you know the ones I’m talking about – those are friends.

Well online, you can have the same thing and with the technology of today it’s even easier than ever. People often ask me how I can accept all these request from strangers – well a stranger is only a stranger if you continue to let them be. Just a simple hi and I’m from Wisconsin, am a grandma, love gardening and line dancing – will usually break the ice when sending a stranger a friend request.

Over the years, I have been so blessed with all the acquaintances and friends that I have made online and are there any strangers out there – my answer is no – I just have not met them all yet.

So like I said, just my opinion – I do love meeting new people, chatting with them and seeing what we have in common and it might be as simple as we both like playing Farmville on Facebook, playing pool on Pogo, or we both love chatting about flowers, grandkids, our pets, online and offline businesses, etc. – You will never know the opportunity that you may be missing if you don’t break the barrier with a HI.

Many also ask me – how do you keep up with all your friends and chat – believe me you can – no different than getting a phone call from a friend you haven’t seen for awhile – catch up with each other, leave IM for each other on skype (that’s my favorite), sending emails, jokes, recipes, etc. – it can be done. The best part I have discovered is that you never know when just a smiley will make someones day – it’s not how long the message is sometimes – it’s just knowing that you were thought about.

So, don’t be shy – stop and say hi and make some online friends – you might just be surprised all the people that you have something in common with.