Gardening

European potager themed vegetable garden. Naturally, sustainably, and organically grown heirloom vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs on a 2,300 sq ft plot. No synthetic fertilizers used, 9 years of compost added annually. Includes raised bed Square Foot Garden, wildlife habitat, vertical structures, grafted tomatoes, low tunnel cloche, & companion planting for a four season harvest. Produce donated to Ozarks Food Harvest. Part of the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden in Nathanael Greene Park, Springfield, Mo. You’re invited to stroll through the garden during park hours to observe, learn, and enjoy!

If you’re inspired to try something different in after watching this video, please don’t hesitate to email to tell me what you’re trying!

Gardener Hotline: 417-862-9284
Kitchen Garden Newsletter: http://cli.gs/OurKG
Coordinator Contact: NatGreeneVeg{at}gmail.com

Duration : 0:9:38

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When growing sunflowers, take the seeds and place them in a wet napkin and put them in a plastic bag to spur germination. Grow sunflowers with tips from a sustainable gardener in this free video on gardening.

Expert: Yolanda Vanveen
Contact: www.vanveenbulbs.com
Bio: Yolanda Vanveen is a third-generation flower grower and sustainable gardener who lives in Kalama, Wash.
Filmmaker: Daron Stetner

Duration : 0:2:41

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Learn how to plant window box container gardens in this free home gardening video. Get beginner gardening tips, ideas & advice.

Expert: Scott Reil
Contact: www.safelawns.org
Bio: Scott Reil is an accredited nurseryman and longtime horticulturalist with over two decades of experience in the field. Scott is now working for www.safelawns.org.
Filmmaker: Christian Munoz-Donoso

Duration : 0:2:24

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Technorati Tags: backyard, care, DIY, garden, gardening, grow, home, howto, Ideas, planting, plants, tips

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is just one of those plants that every organic garden must have growing. It also has great merit as a medicinal plant. This plant serves us so well. Propagation is by root division. But be careful with this plant as it will grow from the tiniest piece of root.

OK, on to some of it’s best uses (and some lesser known ones)!

1. A valuable addition of bulk to the compost heap. It is an extremely good micro-nutrient accumulator – a complete fertilizer in a plant. The leaves are full of nitrogen, silica, calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium.

2. Comfrey is a great compost activator.

3. Use as a mulch around your veggies. You can harvest growth several times a year, from mid spring onwards. Make sure you put the leaves in the sun for a few hours to wilt so that it doesn’t take root.

4. It can be used as a fertilizer, placed directly in trenches before planting potatoes, beans, peas etc. (again make sure you wilt the leaves).

5. The very deep root system of this plant makes it ideal for breaking up heavy clay soils. This will also bring up nutrients that have leached deep into the soil.

6. Create a nutrient rich liquid fertilizer. Place comfrey leaves in a small amount of water for a week or more, then dilute 10:1. This liquid feed is excellent for potassium hungry crops, such as tomatoes.

7. Grow comfrey as a grass barrier. Chop up pieces of root, place in a hollow in your mulch about every 40cm / 16inches and cover with compost or good soil. Over time this will create a thick barrier that even couch doesn’t like to compete with. Comfrey dies down with the winter frost, but so does grass. Comfrey will start growing in spring before grasses do.

8. Use as a nutrient trap at the bottom of your garden (if you have a slope). It will grow lush and prevent nutrients escaping your garden by leaching out.

9. Expand your garden beds. Divide the roots to create a lot of new plants very quickly. Very useful as a ground cover.

10. Comfrey is sometimes known as “knit-bone” as it has been traditionally used as a poultice to heal broken bones. It is high in calcium which may be why it is used in this way.

Growing Conditions

Comfrey is a hardy herbaceous plant which thrives in most types of soil. It will survive frosts, but tends to loose most of its leaves through winter, then bounces back with the arrival of warmer weather. You will get the best yield of lush leaves if you provide it with a moist, fertile soil.

Comfrey is a great companion plant for most vegetable crops.

Wow, what an amazing plant. Now you see why Comfrey is a ‘must have’ in an organic gardening system. Buy your first comfrey plant only if you don’t know anyone who has it already. I’m sure they’d give you a piece of the root to get you started. I hope this gives you more ideas for Comfrey in your organic garden.

Julie Williams
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/10-tips-for-organic-gardening-uses-of-comfrey-112890.html

The entry to a home or the doorway into rooms is where your first view is encountered. Doorways and entrances to anything should feel welcoming. They should be clear and the pathway should allow ease of movement.

The Chi, (or energy flow), should never be made stagnant at this point. Pictures and ornamental decorations in this area should be pleasing and round leafed plants in pots attract prosperity into the home. Another tip to remember is that if you have doorways from front to back that are visible, the flowing of energy should be stopped from escape.

A Feng Shui cure for this problem, can be by placing a plant as suggested to the side of the entry: thus creating an environment to capture the Chi flow. The essence of creating good flow and attracting harmony, involves placement.

Feng Shui recognizes that small problems can have a major effect on your life, and that a well kept home will always have better chi than one where maintenance tasks have been allowed to pile up. The minor problems and inconveniences that plague a poorly maintained home can restrict your freedom of movement, cloud your ability to understand a situation, make it difficult to take advantage of opportunities, and waste your resources.

Think of Chi as an important guest you wish to welcome to your home, and make your formal entry – and the access to it from the street – as inviting as possible.

The principles of Feng Shui can be applied to your garden as well. By applying Feng Shui principles to your garden you can attract positive energy, wealth and good fortune. Given below are a few tips and ideas on how to Feng Shui your garden.

The most important principles of Feng Shui in the garden are curves and proportion. Your house is the Yin energy and your garden is the Yang energy. The Yang aspect in Feng Shui is about light and space. Try to incorporate all the five elements of Feng Shui in your garden as much as possible.

» Use a pond, birdbath or fountain to represent the water element.

» Use a sundial or bronze statue in the garden for metal.

» Use trees and shrubs for wood.

» Use plants or flowers that are red and orange in color to represent fire.

» Use earth to represent the earth element.

Water features such as pools, ponds and fountains are beautiful and encourage beneficial chi. They also symbolize prosperity and create yin (feminine) energy.

You can create more Yang (masculine) energy by using garden lights to add light to the garden’s dark areas. Remember balance and harmony is the key to a Feng Shui Garden.

Please take the time to visit our site – http://www.GardenandHomeDecorSite.com – to help with creating beneficial Chi in your environment.

Kathy Tyson
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/feng-shui-tips-for-gardening-692872.html

There is a kind of gardening called the hydroponics gardening. It is adopted by many people for different reasons. These are small size gardens and can be grown within a small area of land. They are good to grow vegetables especially red juicy tomatoes. It is easy to manage and is less expensive than the conventional way of gardening.

In this type of gardening we do not use soil and hence it is called as “dirt less gardening”. Most of the time, the yield in the hydroponics type of gardening is better. It is much easier to maintain and give the plant its needs at the right time. The plants will consume
What you provide them with. Thus the regulation of nutrient strength, pH, light amount, nutrients and water amount is enabled.

Hydroponics gardening will seem to be difficult if we make it so. We can control the light, nutrients and water cycles of the plants by using sensors in computers. If you grow a single plant then it can be made easier by using manual work to maintain it. There are some basic things that a home hydroponics system would need. They are, light (artificial or natural), water controlled pump (or other watering equipment), a growing tray, and an air pump to provide oxygen supply to the nutrients.

Hydroponics gardening requires a certain growing medium. They can be perlite, gravel, vermiculite, coconut fiber, air, Rockwool. You can get these from a nursery or a gardening store. You can get the parts and plant one of your own. Also,there are readymade kits available in market especially in the gardening supply stores.

For a healthy plant growth micro nutrients are required. Like calcium, sulfur, magnesium, boron, cobalt, zinc, iron, manganese and copper. These are important and essential elements to be present in the plants. If not they will lead to health problems when consumed. The fertilizer used must be a quality brand when it comes to hydroponics gardening.

The pH balance is a significant factor in hydroponics gardening and it must be properly regulated. The absorption of nutrients is lessened if the pH level is unbalanced in a plant. This is where the advantage of hydroponics gardening comes. The simplicity with which pH level of plants is controlled is much greater than that of conventional dirt gardening.

Actually, There are different kinds of hydroponics gardening. Few of the basic types are water culture, wick, drip, ebb and flow, aeroponic and N.F.T. hydroponics gardening is affordable, easy, and you have an yield of fresh produce herbs & spices, flowers all year long!

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/hydroponics-gardening-the-best-form-of-nonconventional-gardening-753712.html

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. 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.

Jon Simms
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/tips-for-newbie-on-how-to-do-container-gardening-701996.html

If you are high on budgeting and would rather spend party favor money on special décor or the catering service or even some fun and enjoyable party games for the baby shower you are planning, why not make them yourself? You can do it at the fraction of the cost of ready-made baby shower party favors and even give them a customized look to encourage the guests to keep them as mementos of a lovely event!

For a thematic baby shower party favor idea, choose to go with related kiddy items such as fabric nappies, feeding bottles and baby booties and fill these up with assorted candies; knot the packages off in style with a ribbon! Perhaps, your guests will find them more useful to you after going through the edibles and gift them back to you (the expectant parents) for your use!

For those that are a dab hand at cooking and baking, this is just the right time to show off those culinary skills: make different varieties and flavors of cookies in kiddy-shapes like bottles, rattles and ducks etc and wrap them in colorful plastic or paper wraps to present as favors!

For a gathering that is bound to have more women attendees than men, scented or floating candles are a great idea as baby shower party favors; these too, can be decorated with fancy ribbons (if you know the baby’s gender, go for typical colors such as blue and pink). Votives and scented candles are especially a great bargain since they come in sets and are cost-effective baby shower party favor ideas that can be personalized for the guests.

For those with a hobby such as gardening, the lawn is the best place to hunt for naturally beautiful party favors that guests at a baby shower are sure to love and remember you and your special occasion by: pick seasonal plants and flowers for gifting as party favors. Get small seedling pots; grafting a stem and planting it in the chosen container won’t take long and finishing off with a bow is the best way to give something that is eco-friendly and requires tender, loving care –just like babies do, so it’s reminiscent of the occasion too!

Using store-bought coffee mugs and wine glasses filled with a gay bunch of flowers is another surefire way to present a party favor at the baby shower that is a style statement yet simple to put-together.

Last, but not least – for the baby shower party favor with a utility factor, put in assorted baby products such as toiletries and wash cloths, wipes and flannels nestled in a baby basket or hamper with a ribbon-bow to give a cutesy effect. It’s bound to be a hit with parents who have babies of their own! Add in a personalized touch with monogramming initials or crafting cute animal characters or cartoons out of fabric bits on diapers and bibs or paint on kiddy stuff with crafting paint so they can used as keep-sakes of a memorable baby shower event!

So, go ahead and get out that burst of creativity just raring to set the guests ablaze with your innovative styling, ideation and presentation of baby shower party favors you made yourself.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/babies-articles/homemade-baby-shower-party-favors-some-good-ideas-740149.html

Gardening Magazine – Centerpoint Classic Gardening Landscape Is An Amazing Tool!
If you are looking for some serious tips on gardening, Centerpoint classic gardening landscape should not be missed. One of the issues suggests that the bulb gardens are the easiest to take care and are also the most attractive. Bulbs can be classified into various bulb families and further categorized into several varieties within those bulb families. For example, the tulip, that is one of the kinds of bulbs, also has different exotic varieties. The Centerpoint classic gardening landscape offers a comprehensive guide to famous bulb flowers and the appropriate conditions required to grow them. For example, the Gladiolus needs proper sunlight and constant watering while in its blooming and growth phases.

Centerpoint classic gardening landscape is also a good resource for information on checking pests. Pest control is an extremely important task as it prevents the pests from taking over your garden. As soon as you get the indications that your garden has got infected with pest, you must act with no delay. Many people use chemicals to kill pests, however, with rising awareness about environmental concerns, gardeners are slowly shifting to organic remedies. There are also few plants that are naturally pet resistant. Whereas, some plants like Marigold attract specific insects like aphids that eat away the pests.

Is your garden located in a place with hot and dry weather. Centerpoint classic gardening landscape has ample advice on different kinds of annuals that can be grown in hot and dry climatic conditions. The African Daisy, the dust miller, the gold medallion and the creeping zinnia are the kind of annuals that if once establish their roots firmly can sustain even in hot and dry weather conditions. Some other types like the Cypress vine, the hyacinth bean vine, the blue daze and the fan flower can also put up with hot weather, but need extra watering to survive.

If you are an ardent rose fan, the Centerpoint classic gardening landscape has loads of suggestions to help you get that prized photogenic look for your roses. Few of them are as follows:

- It’s very important to choose a sun lit location for your roses
- Treat the soil with few inches of organic mulch mixed with highly rich organic compost
- It is recommended that the bushes of your rose plants must be at least 18-24 inches apart
- The holes that the bushes are planted in must be deep enough to facilitate free and unrestricted growth for the roots
- Bushes must be placed in the holes in a very gentle manner and the holes should then be filled with some loose soil. Once through, you should press down the loose soil with firm hands
- Adding bone meal into the soil can be very beneficial
- Each rose plant must be watered properly for the first two weeks. Thereafter, watering even once in a week is enough.

Working with roses can be quite a scratchy affair. Thus you need all the right tools to avoid those pricky thorns. A pair of leather gloves with folded-down cuffs will be a good investment. Make use of bypass pruners to avoid crushing the rose plants’ canes and stems. In case your rose garden is very old, you’ll have to employ loppers since the old canes would be too thick to be pruned with normal shears. Other essential tools you will require are a shovel with a long padded handle, a short digging fork, a tough wheelbarrow, kneeling pads, a watering wand, a leaf rake and a garden rake.

Refer your copy of Centerpoint classic gardening landscape, there may be many other tips that you can benefit from.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/center-point-classic-gardening-landscape-read-your-way-to-the-perfect-garden-753666.html

Get tips for growing organic peppers, tomatoes and garlic in your vegetable garden in this free gardening video lesson for beginners.

Expert: Gale Gassiot
Bio: Gale Gassiot makes her own organic compost or “gardener’s black gold.”

Duration : 0:2:5

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