Flowers are a beautiful way to brighten a garden and a classic symbol of love and affection. Some flowers are highly allergenic, so you may have to experiment a little to find the flowers that don’t irritate your allergies, but once you do you will be able to enjoy the beauty and fresh smell of flowers in your home without sneezing and suffering from watery, itchy eyes and without allergy pills.
Animal pest problems occur in all seasons of the garden, but fall and spring are peak periods for plunder. Luckily these seasons, and fall in particular, are also the best times for beleaguered gardeners to mount a defense against foraging four-legged gourmands such as deer, squirrels, rabbits, voles, moles and other assorted animal pests. In fall, a good garden clean-up tops the list of animal deterrents.
Certain varieties of perennials can be used to create new plants. This is accomplished by the use of various propagation methods. The general methods used include cuttings, division of old clumps, propagation from leaves, and budding. Some varieties can be propagated by a number of methods; for others, only one way works.
Cutting is the process of removing a small portion of a growing plant and treating it so that roots are developed.
Mulch is a term used in the agriculture and gardening industry to refer to a protective layer of covering placed on top of the soil to tame the effects of the climate. Mulch can be composed of natural or synthetic materials or the combination of both to form a wide assortment of covering substance.
Farmers and gardeners cover soils with mulch for various purposes.
All plants need nutrients to survive and grow. In the garden they will obtain most of their requirements from the soil but because the area and soil volume in containers is limited and because they are watered more frequently, container-grown plants need regular feeding to thrive and produce the best crops.
Basic chemistry
The three main nutrients required by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Keep your planting schemes simple and do not try to mix too many different varieties. Opt for just two ot three that will bloom in succession to give a long season of color. One variety to a pot often looks best of all. You can juxtapose the containers for their color combinations after planting.
Fairly shallow containers with wide tops look great with low-growing spring bulbs such as crocuses and scillas. Taller containers can take taller stemmed plants such as daffodils and tulips. A long-lasting and attractive display can be made with crocuses and iris together with later-flowering tulips and daffodils in a container deep enough to take two levels of bulbs.
Growing houseplants is a great way to start gardening while enhancing the beauty of your home. House plants need fertilizer just like all other plants specially since the nutrients in potting soil eventually get depleted and these plants are not getting nutrients from outdoor soil and rain. Do not wait until your plant is already looking "sick". Fertilizing needs to be matched with the specific plant, its age and how it is growing. Make sure you save all the information you received when you bought the plant. This should provide you a good outline of all its maintenance needs.
There are different types of house plant fertilizer:
1. Instant powders that are mixed with water.
2. Premixed liquids that are added when you water your plants.
3. Slow-release pellets or spikes that are applied every few months.
If you’re thinking about starting a perfect garden, the first thing you need to consider is what type of garden you will have. There are many different choices and often it can be hard to pick just one, but hopefully you can narrow it down. But by narrowing it down, you’ll make the gardening experience easier on yourself and the plants. If all your plants are similar, then it shouldn’t be very hard to care for them all. So here are some of the main garden ideas for you to choose from.
If you’re just looking for something to look nice in your yard, you’ll want a flower garden. These are usually filled with perennial flower. Perennial flowers are flowers which stay healthy year-round. They’re basically weeds because of their hardiness, only nice looking. Different areas and climates have different flowers which are considered perennials.
Most gardens have a patch of lawn, even if they are not very big, providing a chance to plant bulbs in what is called the 'natural way'. This means, quite simply, letting the bulbs grow through the grass, and this is especially effective around the base of deciduous trees. The canopy of leaves will not yet have emerged, which means that sunlight and moisture will still be able to reach the ground beneath the crown.
The area can then be filled with just one sort of bulb such as Narcissus 'February Gold' or a massed planting of, say, scillas or chionodoxas. Once planted, you can leave them to take care of themselves for years on end, and the effect, without fail, works every time. They will multiply freely, only needing occasional dividing if they become too congested.
