Growing Advice

From home-grown fruit plants come harvests which can best be appreciated by someone who has actually eaten them. One’s first taste of a truly fine strawberry will soon point up the tremendous gap which exists between such a fruit and the run-of-the-field stuff sold at the supermarket.

The most important of all garden fruits is the strawberry. It more nearly resembles a vegetable in its culture than does any other fruit. It is not surprising that in many truck-gardening areas growers switch from vegetables to strawberries and back again almost at will. Although the strawberry plant is a perennial and beds can be made to last for more than one year, best commercial practice calls for a new planting each year. The plants are grown in rows and for the first season need the same cultivation as vegetable crops. The next season they produce their best fruit. They can be left for four more years, but true connoisseurs usually plow them under. Read the rest of this entry »

What type of work do you feel you would be attracted to? You would like it most if it gives you the satisfaction of creating something. Imagine how happy you would be to look at the painting you have just finished to your satisfaction on the canvas that was once empty. Compare that with the feeling when you look at the plant, you had been nurturing from its seed stage on your once empty soil, blooming with flowers today. Flowers fill in the area around you with beauty and fragrance. Birds visit your garden. And thus flower growing takes you back to the lap of nature, educates you and fills your mind with peace, tranquility and happiness. Your hard labor would be really rewarding. Read the rest of this entry »

Kitchens, gardens, cosmetics have found immense use of herbs and for many years they have found their use in flavoring, dying, perfume and cosmetics, so much so that some of the herbs holds the power to repel insects, evil and vampires, while others attracted the perfect lover, good luck or bees to pollinate our crops even for curing headaches and burns. And, of course, what would fine dining be without the culinary herbs? So here in this article we give you some tips for herb gardening indoors that will replicate the conditions in an outside garden. For Herb gardening indoors the growing climates need to be pretty much the same as the conditions outside. Read the rest of this entry »

Business and Manufacturing complexes that have well maintained grass areas extend a favorable impression to the general public, as well as to employees and customers and the lawn increases the value of the property by up to 6%.

Climate is controlled at ground level by turf grasses as they cool temperatures appreciably, thus working as exterior “air conditioners”.

Eight healthy front lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning - enough for 16 average homes. Read the rest of this entry »

There are two main reasons we should winterize our rose plants.

1) We are protecting the plant from dying 2) We are protecting the canes from damage.

Here are some tips for winterizing your favorite rose plants:

First, you must steer clear of fertilizing during the winter because if you try to encourage new growth in the winter it will only make your roses more accessible to dying from freezer burn. Read the rest of this entry »

So you have a yard, but do you have landscaping? The best thing to do is to get back to the basics and start learning about landscaping from the soil up.

It Starts with the Soil

In order for your soil to work as well as possible, you need to have it tested. Your soil might be perfect or it might just need some nitrogen. Soil engineers can test and analyze soil from different points in your yard to help your yard perform at its best. Read the rest of this entry »

Gardening in and of itself is an art form. And the art of fine gardening is just that, an art. Fine gardening may mean many things to many people, but to me fine gardening means more than just a garden. It encompasses all that’s good and graceful in gardening and combines them to make one garden that is the epitome of all your dreams.

My enjoyment of fine gardening comes not only from the finished garden but from the endless hours that I spend designing and planning the actual garden, from the moment I first have the germ of an idea, to the moment I place the last sapling, and plant the last flower. All I want, all that I can be, should show through when first a person steps into this land of fine gardening, a place of peace and calm where a person can meditate on the finer things in life. Read the rest of this entry »

Near at hand, we all can see beautiful trees. Every time I walk the city parks, or visit the country side, I gaze the trees that I cross bringing back memories of happy tree climbing, tent camping in the woods, long walks with my folks, hiking with friends or just relaxing underneath a tree’s branches enjoying the breeze. Although my yard was never big enough, I managed to as a kid to convince my parents to plant trees inside its perimeter and whenever I touch their trunk I get excited knowing that they would not have been there if I did not insist to plant them. Read the rest of this entry »

Western gardeners have the utmost respect and admiration for oriental gardens, not just because of the feeling of peace and tranquility with which they are imbued, but also because of their seeming simplicity and, to us, the restraint with which they are created.

Creating an authentic Japanese garden can be difficult, however keeping a few simple pointers in mind you are a few steps closer to creating a Japanese garden.

Essential elements in the oriental garden: Read the rest of this entry »

Getting Your seed to sprout, is only the first step in the game; they must be provided with the means of immediately beginning to grow.

This means that they should not be left to germinate in loosely packed soil, full of air spaces, ready to dry out at the first opportunity, and to let the tiny seed roots be shriveled up.

The soil should touch the seed - be pressed close about it on all sides, so that the first tiny tap root will issue immediately into ideal surroundings where it can instantly take hold. Read the rest of this entry »