Ways to Keep Your Garden In Color All Season

Trying to manipulate a sequence of bloom in the garden is part art, part science and a good part luck. Weather, grazing animals, and flowers that don't follow the calender can create lulls where no plants seem to be in peak performance. There are a few tricks to keeping pockets of color going throughout the summer. They take a little effort, but that's the fun of gardening, right? Implementing any one of these tips will increase the blooms in your garden and spur you on to do more.

1. Deadheading

Deadheading, or removing spent blossoms, is the easiest way to keep plants blooming. Annuals especially will benefit from a periodic deadheading. Flowers are just there to produce seed. Once the plant sets seed, it has no more reason to produce flowers.
Many perennial flowers will also rebloom if deadheaded. Exceptions are perennials that bloom on a single tall flower stalk, like astilbe or iris and perennial flowers that need a chilling period to set their flower buds.

2. Shering

Plants that produce multiple flower buds on their flower stalks can be a nightmare to deadhead. Rather than trying to deadhead every flower, wait until the bulk of the buds have faded and shear the plants by about 1/3. This serves to rejuvenate the plant. It will send out new fresh foliage and lots of new flower buds.
Newer gardeners have a hard time with this drastic approach, but give it a try. The plants recover quickly. Early bloomers start to look bedraggled by mid-season anyway. In fact, if you have plants like geraniums and Brunnera, whose foliage fades after flowering, shear the whole plant back to the new grow at the base and watch how quickly and how well they recover.

3. Step Pruning

A clever way to prolong the perennial blooms is to prune the plants in steps. Visually divide a clump of 1 type of plant into 3 sections: front, center and back. Once the plants get about 6-8" tall, prune the front and center sections of plants by 1/3 to 1/2. Let the whole clump grow another 6-8 inches and then prune just the front section by 1/3 to 1/2.
This type of pruning will result in your clump of plants turning into 3 levels or steps that will bloom in succession. Instead of one flash of bloom, the rear section bloom firsts. As it fades, the center section starts to bloom and hides the fading plants in the rear. Last to bloom is the front section, which will grow taller and hide all the fading plants behind it.

4. Re-Seeding

Annuals are touted as a great way to keep your garden blooming all summer. Given the right care, annuals will work their hearts out for you. But some annuals, like the cleome and tall verbena shown here, don't respond to deadheading. They bloom and run out of time before they can set more buds. To prolong their bloom, re-seed quick growing annuals about 4 weeks after the initial seeding. If you started your garden with seedlings, you can direct seed at the same time you plant the seedlings. The plants started from seed will grow and peak after the plants started from seedlings begin to fade.

5. Feeding

Plants expend a lot of energy flowering. The more they flower, the more food they need. Even if you added a controlled release fertilizer at the beginning of the season, your flowering plants will need a boost every 3-5 weeks.
A balanced all-purpose fertilizer will suffice, but if you really want to kick things into gear, try a dose of super or triple phosphate. Phosphate is especially good for root development early in the season and for boosting bud set. Follow the label directions. More isn't better. And Phosphate isn't a substitute for a balanced fertilizer, it's a supplement.

6. Cheat a Bit and Mix in Colorful Foliage

Flowers come and go, but foliage just keeps getting bigger. It just keeps getting easier and easier to have a riot of color in the garden without a flower in sight. Shrubs like 'Black Beauty' Sambucus, chartreuse and bronze sweet potato vines, screaming orange cannas and the pale pinks and cream of Weigela 'My Monet' can either complement, augment or even replace the flowers in your garden. And we haven't even mentioned the rainbow available in coleus. Sprinkle your garden beds with a few hardy shrubs and sprinting annuals and you'll never be without a spot of color.

Greenhouse for Cacti

If you're a cacti & succulent lover and collect many collections of those plants, you may need to have a greenhouse because the plants always want to be kept in the warm temperature. Sometimes, it's really impossible in your country. Meanwhile, the greenhouse can keep your plants from rain, humidity and even snow.

Location

A greenhouse positioned so that the ridge runs in an east-west direction will receive more winter light, which could be useful if it is to house mainly succulent plants that grow during the winter. In either case, it is best to avoid locating a greenhouse where it will be in shadow for a substantial part of the day, to near to trees or in areas subject to strong winds. Positioning the door away from the prevailing wind will help to reduce drafts. Areas of land subject to local flooding should also be avoided. If the greenhouse is sited too far away from the house it may be difficult or expensive to provide supplies of electricity or gas.

Construction

Greenhouses either have an integral base, or need to be erected on a purpose-built base. A solid floor provides a clean surface under foot and helps to keep out pests. It is an advantage if a solid base slopes slightly to encourage water to drain away. Drainage channels may be moulded in to the concrete to direct water out of the building. However, if you want to plant larger columnar cacti into the ground, then foundations should be constructed around the planting area. Construction of the greenhouse frame needs some thought. For example, should it be made of wood or metal? Both types have their proponents. Wood has a "natural" look and blends in to a garden landscape, but may be subject to attack by insects, tends to rot in humid climates and therefore has a limited life and needs substantial maintenance. However, hard-woods such as cedar mitigate these problems.

Aluminium frames tend to conduct away heat and are therefore harder to keep warm than wooden greenhouses. However, they are relatively low maintenance and should last well. Some modern aluminium frames incorporate thermal barriers.The greenhouse is traditionally glazed with horticultural glass, which contains less trace colourants (such as iron) and transmits more light than ordinary window glass.

Newer materials such as UV-stabilised acrylic plastic are also suitable and conduct away less warmth than glass. However, some plastics may exude phytotoxic vapours, so always use grades designated as suitable for horticulture. Various double-skinned products are available, but these may reduce the amount of light available to plants, which is always at a premium in countries such as the United Kingdom. This is also a problem with wire-reinforced glass, often used as a roofing material.

Staging

As with the greenhouse frame, staging can be made of wood or metal, with similar advantages and disadvantages of the materials. After watering, plants become very heavy in their pots. Clay pots are heavier than plastic ones and a peat-based compost is usually lighter than one based on loam. Solid staging, while sturdier makes it easier for mealy bugs and other pests to gain access to plants. Slatted staging lets the air circulate, but pests can still move over it fairly easily. Slatted staging is unsuitable for use with capilliary matting or gravel.

Heating
There are several methods for heating greenhouses and cold frames during the winter. Electric fan heaters work well, but are expensive. They produce dry heat, so plants require spraying during the winter on sunny days. Tubular electric heaters are available but the plants need air circulation to keep them at their best. If electrical heating is to be used it is worth investigating Economy 7 or similar tariffs. Gas heaters are very successful, but need pipes laid from the house (or heavy cylinders) and installation can be costly. Paraffin heaters work well and are cheap to run, but can produce a paraffin smell, and need to be used carefully to avoid a fire hazard or sooty plants. Under-tray electric heating can be an efficient way of applying a little warmth to your plants, and a variety of commercial heating pads can be obtained from horticultural suppliers for this purpose.

Under-tray electric heating is not a complete answer to cold conditions as the roots receive the most heat and may be damaged. As the plants are warmer, they may need a little water to prevent excessive dessication. However, if water is supplied directly to the pots or via capillary matting, the warmed stage promotes evaporation with condensation in colder parts of the green house. Experienced electricians may be able to make use of ex-equipment fans which are readily available from surplus stores. Check the intended operating voltage, and make sure that you know how to run them safely from your local mains voltage. A small fan strategically placed in the green house promotes air circulation and encourages healthy growth.

How to Plant Tomato

Tomato is the most commonly grown plant in backyard vegetable gardens today. You need at least two tomato plants per family member. Start your tomato patch by purchasing healthy transplants at your local garden center or over the Internet.

Tomato is one of the best plants for container gardening and it thrives with raised bed gardening techniques. For container gardening, patio hybrid, cherry tomato, dwarf or bush varieties are best since they are compact, with hybrid patio variety being the most common. Those grow two-three feet tall. However, container gardening works for any tomato variety - just choose your container size to fit the mature plant's needs.
First, choose your location to plant and prepare your vegetable garden plot. I recommend composted manure worked into the soil to 6 - 8 inches. You may need to add limestone or sulfur to your soil as well - do a soil test to find out. Tomato plants need at least 6-8 hours of sun daily - full sun is best.

"Hardening off" means to expose plants to the elements in small increments to get them acclimated to new growing conditions. This transition period can be 1 week - 10 days, depending upon climate and weather conditions. Put the transplants in dappled shade, and bring them in at night. Gradually allow full exposure to outside elements. Plant seeds six to eight weeks prior to the last frost date. In hotter climates, plant when temperatures cool in autumn.
Dig a 10-16 inch deep hole.

Gardening Tips:
--Insert the transplant into your hole, and bury the tomato stem (not just the root) up to the second true set of leaves (snip off the others with scissors.) Fill your hole with compost-amended soil and firm down.
--Another method to establish vigorous roots is plant the tomato in a trench on its side. It grows straight up, and dozens of small roots shoot out from the stem's "hairs" into the soil.

Wire Cages
My favorite vine tomato support is the easiest: wire cages which you buy from any garden supply center. Simply position them over the plant, insert them into the ground and you're good to go. The tomato vines grow straight up, need no weaving and shade the ground to keep it moist.
Other supports include wood stakes and twine, trellises, teepees, or plant alongside an existing fence ...

Wood stakes and twine
Put stakes that are 6 feet, 1 or 2 inches wide, every 3-4 feet between your plants, at both ends of the rows, and down the center. After they grow 1 foot, tie twine to the end post 1 foot above the ground. Wrap the twine around each pole down the row. When you reach the end, come back up the other side. As plants grow, weave through the twine.

Gardening Tips :
• Water plants after transplanting. Water in the mornings daily unless it rains. Blossom-end rot results from under-watering. Keep soil moist but not soggy.
• Feed with 10-10-10 fertilizer (or choose your own brand.)
• Mulch to retain moisture.
• Hoe/cultivate shallowly to avoid disturbing roots.

10 Tips to Enhance the Area Around Your Home (2)

6. Use rocks to support your home and family.

Having large rocks in the garden can be very attractive. In feng shui, they express the element earth. Because they will be somewhat permanent, it's a good idea to place them carefully, with the guidance of a feng shui expert. Rocks can be used to create the impression of a mountain. The general rule is to place such a feature behind your house, at the opposite direction from the front door, to provide added support for your home and family. If you want to place large rocks in garden areas on the sides of your house, the general rule favors the left side as you face out the front door.

7. Avoid "sharp arrows."

In feng shui, a sharp arrow is anything straight or angular that juts out or points strongly in a particular direction. Examples would be tree branches, sharp rocks, corners where two walls come together, or plants with pointed foliage. If you have any such sharp arrows pointed at your home -- especially your entrance -- remove them or place bushes or flowers in front of them to soften the sharpness. Sharpness creates a flow of negative energy, as if your home were being poked with a sword. Plants such as cactus, palms and yuccas should never be placed close to your entrance, and these are definitely not plants to have inside your home.

8. Flat gardens are not the best feng shui.

Having a garden or yard that is flat with only grass is as bad as sharp arrows -- the energy moves too fast over the flat field and is not harmonized. What you want to create is a surface that is meandering. If your landscape is naturally flat, make sure you include raised planting beds, tall trees and shrubbery to alter the feeling of flatness. If you can't do this, place a statue, a fountain or large pots of flowers around the yard.

9. Let clear borders define your property.

It is good to show the outside world what is your property by bordering it with an attractive fence or by simply reflecting a difference in the landscape between your yard or garden and your neighbors'. Let the world see that you like harmonious energy! If one person in a neighborhood develops a beautiful, harmonious garden, then other people follow. Beauty attracts beauty. Chaos attracts chaos. Set an example and the energy of the whole neighborhood can be lifted up.

10. Allow light to brighten your garden.

When you have dark spots in your garden, they disrupt the harmony and can attract clutter. Brighten these areas up with colored shade-loving flowers, a white statue or bench, little white rocks. Sometimes just thinning the bushes or trees will let enough light in to change the feeling of any shady spots and increase the flow of positive chi -- or energy -- throughout the entire garden.

ID Preference and Photo of Cactus

Here is the link for photo album and preference of cactus identification such as Mammillaria, Echinocereus, Ariocarpus, Copiapoa, Ferocactus, Gymnocalycium, Astrophytum. Link

How To Plant Spring Flowering Bulbs

Spring time has begun and also I think it's time to enjoy gardening in sunshine with flower bulb. Spring flowering bulbs offer a reliable colorful display just when you need it most and they require very little effort. Choose bulbs suited to your area and many will improve year after year. The trick to growing large, healthy flowering bulbs is to prepare the soil well at planting. A rich, well draining soil with a balanced pH will feed the underground bulb and fuel the spring growth and flowers.

Here's How:
1. Choose healthy bulbs. Avoid bulbs that are dry and withered, spongy or moldy. In general, the larger the bulb for its type, the more flowers.
2. Choose an appropriate location. Most flowering bulbs prefer full sun, but that can be almost anywhere in the spring. So don’t overlook a spot that seems perfect, just because it’s a bit shady in the fall. Woodland bulbs (Anemone nemorosa (Woodland Anemone), Arisaema (Jack-in-the-Pulpit), Erythronium (Dog's Tooth Violets), Galanthus (Snowdrops) and Trillium) prefer a bit of cool shade.
A well-drained soil will prevent the bulbs from rotting in cool weather.

4. Plant with the pointed side up. The pointed end is the stem. You may even be able to see some shriveled roots on the flatter side. If you really can't tell, don't worry about it. The stem will find it's own way, sooner or later.
5. Plant bulbs to a depth of about 3 times their diameter. For Daffodils, that’s about 6 - 8 inches. Smaller bulbs can be planted to a depth of 3-4 inches and so on.
6. Mix some bone meal or superphosphate into the soil at the bottom of the hole at planting time, to encourage strong root growth. You could mix in some water soluble fertilizer as well, but it’s not necessary if you’ve already amended your soil.
7. If rodents tend to eat your bulbs, you can try sprinkling some red pepper in the planting hole. A more secure method is to plant your bulbs in a cage made of hardware cloth. The roots and stems grow through, but the rodents can’t get to the bulbs. Make it easy on yourself and make a cage large enough to plant at least a dozen bulbs.

8. Replace the soil on top of the bulbs. Water the bulbs after planting, to help them settle in and close any air pockets. Through the fall and winter, you only need to worry about watering your bulbs if you’re having a particularly dry season. Come spring, you should be well rewarded for all your efforts.

Tips

• For A Natural Effect: Bulbs look best in clumps or drifts. To get a natural looking effect, either dig a large area and plant several bulbs at once or simply toss the bulbs into the air and dig holes and plant where ever they fall. You’ll be surprised how well this works.
• Mark Your Plantings: To make sure you don't disturb your bulbs by trying to plant something in the same spot, mark where and what you have planted.
  
• When your bulbs have finished flowering, cut back the flower stalks to ground level. It can get ugly, but let the foliage of your flowering bulbs dieback naturally. Resist the temptation to cut it back while still green, but floppy. The bulb needs this time to photosynthesize and make food reserves to produce next year’s flowers.
• To Divide Bulbs: Many bulbs spread and increase, making the original planting over crowded. If your bulbs are flowering as well as they used to, this is probably the case. If you wish to move or divide your flowering bulbs, the safest time is when they enter their dormant period. This is usually just after the foliage completely dies back. Dormancy is brief, even though nothing is happening above ground, so don’t put this task off.

By Marie Iannotti

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Light and Lighting

Today we will learn about the light and lighting which is one of the most important factors for plants. They use light in the photosynthesis process which is the synthesis of glucose from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, with oxygen as a waste product. Nearly all life depends on it. It may not look easy to understand but not too difficult to do it. (Actually, I'm not good about science but I've tried to remind the knowledge in science subject that I learnt in high school 555) When you understand the basic of light and lighting, it will help you to recognize how and where to put your plants to be in the right place for them and arrange the articiail light in the necessary case.

Light is composed of mass-less particles ( photons ) moving at a high speed (300 000 000 metres per second ). In one millionth of a second (1 microsecond) light travels 300 metres. The energy carried by the particles determines their colour (wavelength).

violet = high energy blue green yellow red = low energy

We see wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers, although the sensitivity of the eye is poor at these limits and more sensitive to the mid-range wavelengths. Most light sources produce a mixture of wavelengths, that we interpret as a particular colour. Different mixtures of wavelengths can produce a perception of identical colours. Light intensity is often mis-understood because of the adaptability of the human eye to a range of lighting conditions. A typical well-lit office environment has about 2000 lux at desk-top level. By contrast, direct sunlight provides at least 8000 lux, more in the tropics where many cacti and succulents originate.

Plants need both red and blue light for photosynthesis. Green light is not used or absorbed, which is why most foliage looks green in sunlight. Plants are frequently seen with leaves of a variety of other colours from shades of red, purple through to black. These colours are caused by other pigments. These pigments are incidental to photosynthesis, but may well only be produced in plants grown in the strongest light especially with a high blue and ultraviolet content.

Red light is very important to plant reproduction. Photochrome pigments absorb the red and far red portions of the light spectrum and regulate seed germination, root development, tuber and bulb formation, dormancy, flowering and fruit production. Therefore, red light is essential for stimulation of flowering and fruiting.

Blue light stimulates chlorophyll production more than any other colour, encouraging thick leaves, strong stems and compact vegetative growth. Carotenoids, the yellow-orange pigment in plants, absorb blue light and control leaf fall and fruit ripening.

Light Sources

• Sunlight colour temperature of about 6000oK is probably the best type of light that you can give your plants for healthy growth, good leaf colour and flowering. Plants have evolved and adapted to the natural light found in their habitat. Natural sunlight has the great advantage of being free, and generates no greenhouse gases. However, the quantity, and to some extent quality, of sunlight on offer depends on the vagaries of climate, lattitude and time of year. Another negative aspect of sunlight is that a sudden burst of sunshine after the dark winter months can lead to scorch and scarring of plant bodies. This can largely be obviated by good ventilation and timely use of shading.
• Tungsten filament lamps, the commonest domestic type of lamp, produce yellowish-white light with a colour temperature of 2750 - 2850°K and a lot of infra-red. The bulbs are cheap but a relatively inefficient method of lighting and unsuitable for high intensity lighting of large areas. Plant growth is "soft" and elongated.
• Quartz halogen lamps produce a clean white light, at a colour temperature of about 3500°K. There is also considerable production of infra-red in the form of radiant heat which, at close range, may scorch foliage and other delicate materials. It is inadvisable to stare at unfiltered quartz halogen lamps as their high filament brightness, heat and ultraviolet emission may cause eye-damage. Quartz halogen lamps are relatively cheap and require no special starter circuits. However, although their higher filament temperature makes them more efficient than ordinary tungsten filament lamps, they are relatively expensive to run compared with the modern discharge lamps mentioned below.
• Metal Halide (HID) lamps produce an intense bluish-white light, at a colour temperature of 5000-6500°K similar to sunlight, and are one of the most efficient ways of lighting large areas. The compact nature of the arc makes it easy to focus the light on a specific area. Plants grow well with compact growth under HID, but it lacks the red required for flowering. Special starter circuits are required. Check that lamps will operate in a horizonal position if this is required.
• Sodium vapour lamps as often used for street lighting produce almost monochromatic yellow light at 589nm from a low pressure discharge in Sodium vapour. These lamps are efficient but lack of red and blue wavelengths make them less suitable for plant growth. Special starter circuits are required.
• High pressure sodium lamps produce an intense pinkish-white light with a colour temperature of 2050°K from an arc discharge in high pressure sodium vapour and are an efficient way of lighting large areas. Plants grow well under this light, but the colour cast may reduce acceptability for decorative illumination. Versions producing more blue light are available to promote compact vegetative growth, but this is not needed if the lamps are used to augment natural daylight which provides sufficient blue light.
• Fluorescent tubes rely on a low-pressure discharge in a mixture of argon and mercury vapour to produce a line spectrum. Ultraviolet light from the discharge excites the phosphor coating on the inside of the glass envelope. Tubes coated with phosphors designed to emit warm white 2700 - 3000°K, cool white 4100 - 4300°K or "daylight" 5000K to 6350°K light are available as well as specialised phosphors designed for optimal use with plants or fish tanks. Fluorescent tubes are moderately efficient to run and suitable for use in a small growing space. Special starter circuits are required but these are freely available in hardware stores.
• Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) are efficient light emitters, available in a wide range of colours. White LED's are really blue LEDs coated in green and red-emitting phosphors which can be adjusted to produce a cool or warm white output. As the prices of these fall they will become more cost effective for illuminating growing spaces or for spotlighting individual plants. LED's produce very little heat so will not scorch foliage.Ultraviolet LEDs are becoming available and could conceivably be added to banks of white LEDs to simulate intense sunlight and develop the strikingly coloured foliage seen in plants from the tropics and high mountains.

(Get more information at: http://www.succulent-plant.com/)

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