photo credit: Henryleonghw

Why Roof Gardening? As pressure on land keeps on increasing especially in metropolitan areas, roof gardening turns out to be an option. Different reasons comprise enhancing architectural and decorative designs, climate control, own fruit and vegetable supply, home for tiny insects, bees, butterflies, birds, and lizards, among others.

Roof gardening offers amazing recreational opportunities, not only as a leisure pursuit and pastime but promotes personal movement and exercise while taking care of the garden.

It not only encourages greener cities but promotes efficient waste and water recycling, therefore effecting ecological conservation. Green plants help to arrest excess carbon dioxide brought about by transportation vehicles and businesses which causes global warming.

Consideration of the weight of the soil should be based on the strength of the building’s floor block. If you plan to build your own house, let the architect and the engineer be informed that you would intend to do roof gardening.

Lighter soil types must be utilized, like peat moss and soil rite. If these are unavailable, try a combination of garden soil (50%) saw dust (30%) and sand pebbles (20%), such a soil combination is not only lightweight but additionally increases water retention and root growth You would never appreaciate damp surroundings on your roof. To let excess water to drain off, put a coating of waterproof bitumen on the floor.

Throughout construction stage, water-resistant cement should be used on the floor. But, you may place burnt bricks (2″x4″ inches) next, place a net lawn on top to maintain soil on place. If the area is huge, place pipes along several places that lead to the major drainage holes and make sure they are coated by the soil. You may also improvise with covers to hold off heavy rains from damaging your crops, as indeed scorching sun.

Jason Myers is a professional writer and he writes mostly about gardening related tips. He’s also interested in landscaping and outdoor decorating news.

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Soil is always the key to a healthy plant. For containers and hanging baskets use an artificial soil composed mostly of peat moss.  Good soils such as Fafard or Pro-Mix use perlite, peat, and other ingredients to produce a soil that will not compact over the summer.  I also use homemade compost in my container plants. (It makes great compost tea.)

Real garden soil compacts and turns into concrete under the pressure of regular watering.  And when that happens the plant roots stop growing because they require good open spaces to move into and absorb nutrients. Hard, compacted soils do not grow good plants so do not use real soil in your containers. It’s also lighter than real soil.

Tip: I re-use my artificial potting soil from year to year.  I dump it out of the pot when the season is over or the plant needs re-potted. Break up the soil mix with a shovel to cut up all last year’s roots. Next add approximately 10 % of compost. The compost will create air spaces and gives plants a boost of nutrients.

Feed your plants regularly.  Nitrogen is needed by all plants and is used up quickly.  I use a fish-emulsion liquid feed with seaweed to provide all the trace nutrients my plants require.  I also use compost tea, which I have a supply on hand at all times. You can use any liquid plant food (like Miracle Grow) to promote growth.

Watering your plants. And finally, no matter the size of the container, it is important to soak it all the way to the bottom at each watering.  Continue watering until water emerges from the pot bottom.  This ensures the roots can reach all parts of the container and grow properly. I also set all my container plants on pebbles that sit on trays. This adds humidity around the plant and also makes sure the plant has drained well. Plants do not like wet feet (roots).

photo credit: daryl_mitchell

These tips will keep your container plants and indoor plants healthy.

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Have you ever wanted to learn how mushrooms grow? The task of growing your own mushrooms may seem like a lot of pressure initially, but it is a good experience and is now a lot less harder than ever to start due to the availability of DVD’s and mushroom starter kits.

photo credit: polandeze

In order to grow mushrooms, you will need to know the basic process, conditions for growing, environmental conditions and several other factors. The general process of growing mushrooms is as follows:

The first thing to do is to procure spores or spawns of the mushroom you want to grow. spores or spawns are also known as agar cultures or test tube cultures. You can either make it yourself or purchase it from a supplier.

Step two… Prepare some sawdust or sterilized grain and inject the spores into the sterilized grain so that mushroom spawns can form. Spawns can also be purchased from suppliers.

Step Three… Depending on what type of mushrooms you are wanting to grow will most likely determine what materials you will need. Various strains of mushrooms grow better in soil while others prefer woody materials like straw, wood chips and even tree stumps and logs.

Step Four… use the spawns to activate the growth of mycelium, the fibrous network of mushrooms. For mushrooms that grow in soil, it is best to use compost to feed the mushrooms because they need to gather nutrients from a source because they can’t make their own food since they have no chlorophyll.

Step Five… you will need to layer the compost with material that does not have a lot of nutrients, like peat moss. The purpose of this is to encourage the growth of the mushrooms or fruiting bodies. The top layer will retain moisture while preventing the growth of other bacteria and/or unwanted microorganisms, therefore the reason why you want to use something that has little to no nutrients to avoid the growth of other organisms.
photo credit: chatirygirl

Finally, all you do is wait until the first flush appears then you can harvest and enjoy your edible mushrooms. Usually that happens within a few weeks and every additional flush occurs within 10 or so days. In the meantime you should be aware of keeping the compost bed moist and within the optimal growing temperature. You can get about 3-5 flushes before you will need to buy a new kit. This applies mainly to soil based mushrooms. A mushroom log can last much longer.

The strain of mushrooms you choose to grow will most likely determine which steps you must go through and which you can skip. For beginners and novices it would be best to experiment with a mushroom grow kit to avoid some of the earlier steps which require more work and attention.

You now have a basic knowledge of the process of how to grow mushrooms. It can be a rewarding experience if you take the time to learn how to grow your own mushrooms. Here’s to a successful first harvest!

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When planting Peonies plant as soon as they are obtained, being careful to set the division so that the top of the buds will be from 1-1/2 to two inches below the final soil grade after the plants are watered and have finished settling.
photo credit: my_southborough

If planted too deep you will probably get pretty foliage with a few or no blooms, and if too shallow, the buds will be exposed and are likely to get broken off by Old Shep when he serves notice on a stray cat or rabbit.

You should expect blooms from three to five eye divisions the first season. Only seven of the 60 varieties I planted in my garden a few years ago failed to bloom the first year. The plants made a splendid display of flowers the third season after planting.

Digging and dividing large, old peony clumps is no easy task, as most gardeners have learned. If the freshly-dug clump is left exposed to the air for a while, the roots will become less brittle and are more easily handled without breaking. The soil which is tightly held by the roots is best removed with a stream of water from the hose.

Do not simply cut the clump in half and plant the two peonies without removing any of the old large roots. Such divisions depend upon the old roots for nourishment and seldom bloom. The clump should be cut into smaller divisions, usually with from three to five eyes, some of the older roots removed and the others shortened to about six inches.

This method stimulates the production of new roots which increases the plant’s vigor and productiveness. A stout butcher knife and a hammer are good division tools. Established plants may be fertilized in early spring with a handful of balanced plant food applied in a ring around each plant and stirred into the soil.
photo credit: kkmarais

To Preserve Color

Most peony flowers fade in sunlight and if left to open and stand in the sun they lose much of their delicate beauty. If you wish to use peonies for display in a flower show or as a bouquet in the home, cut the flowers and let them open in the dark or at least in partial shade. Do not cut stems so long that all of the leaves are taken with the stalk. This would tend to weaken the plant.

Peonies which are properly planted and maintained are seldom bothered by diseases. The foliage is hardly ever attacked by insect pests. Plants should be carefully watched and if any disease occurs the affected parts should be removed and destroyed.

Root knot, leaf spot and botrytis blight are the three most common ailments. Root knot can be avoided by planting clean, healthy divisions in disease-free soil. New plants should not be set in an old bed where root knot has occurred. If the plants are properly spaced, very little damage is done by leaf spot.

Botrytis blight is likely to be the most serious peony disease and sometimes in orchid plants. It affects stems, buds and leaves just like in caring for orchid plants. Young stalks in early spring suddenly wilt and fall over, and young buds turn black and dry up. Later on, larger buds which become infected turn brown and fail to open up.

For control, remove and destroy all infected parts as soon as they appear. Cut off all tops near the crowns in the fall and burn. If severe infestation has occurred before, remove the upper two inches of soil around the plants and replace with fresh disease-free soil.

Also as a preventive measure in the spring, spray the young shoots as soon as they appear, with Bordeaux mixture 2-2-50 or a copper fungicide mixture. Two or three successive sprays should follow at weekly intervals.

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The best chance a gourmet has of getting delicious fruits and vegetables is to raise them himself and this is the best chance he has of keeping in good health too.
photo credit: Sistak

Good home-grown vegetables are both aesthetically better and more practical in terms of use. These are the reasons people who want to raise vegetables they cannot buy and then cook them in ways that will bring out priceless flavor.

It goes without saying that, just as the most brilliant cook can do only so much with stale and tasteless vegetables, so the most delicious vegetables any man ever grew can be quickly spoiled by bad, or even by merely unimaginative, cooking.

The usual fate of the stale vegetables we now buy is to be overcooked. In short, they never had much life, they lost in shipping most of the life they had, and the cook then cooks all the life out of them.

Now Lets start with your garden

Remember that the spot where you plant must have plenty of sun. You can build your own soil if you have to. But you can, not supply sunlight, except maybe by cutting a branch off a tree to let sunlight through or by taking down a board fence. If you live in a small town or in the open country and have a choice of sites, a good piece of ground is one that slopes just enough to drain easily.

If it slopes south or, better still, southeast so much the better. Dig a hole a foot deep and see what kind of soil you have. Normally the top few inches will be much darker and much more crumbly than what lies below. This is your topsoil: it is dark because it contains “humus” decayed vegetable matter. The subsoil below it may contain minerals but it lacks humus.

Put an ounce or two of each in a small container and find out from your County Agricultural Agent or from the Department of Agriculture in your state capital where to send them for analysis.

The analysis you get will tell you whether you need the three elements plants need most, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Results of the analysis can also show whether fertilizer and rain are significant factors in your garden.

Also it may be able to determine whether your soil is too acid and needs calcium. If it does, you should spread agricultural lime on it, not quicklime. Commercial lawn fertilizers and garden fertilizers are available which combine nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

If you can’t get your flower bed soil professionally tested, there are now on the market inexpensive “soil kits,” which are advertised in garden magazines and at Amazon.

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There are no hard and fast rules towards developing a perfect garden. However, a little bit of planning and programming can always increase the range of its beauty.
photo credit: Thou Talor

The reason you need to plan is because you cannot just plant any vegetable. You need to analyze the area you are planting in to determine if your crops can thrive there. Thankfully, there are tons of plants out there, so no matter what kind of environment you have, you will have a lot of options.

To start it off, the category we’ll go with is sunroom crops. These plants are especially popular among new gardeners. They are fairly easy to grow and you only need to follow a few simple tips to be successful.

For those who are focused on growing inside, then ferns are the best choice. They can live for a very long time, even with minimal care. That is why this category is also favored by new gardeners.
photo credit: Thou Talor

Next are the regular vegetables and fruits. This includes celery, lettuce, peas, and squash, as well as pumpkins and a variety of peppers.

It takes a fair amount of work to get such a well varied garden. You need all the essential tools, as well as knowledge about growing techniques. With a lot of work and investment, both with time and money, you can grow a high quality garden that all can enjoy.

In order to effectively tend a garden, you have to be careful with all your plants. In addition to regular tasks, you must also do activities such as trimming in order to keep the appearance of your plants at its peak.

If you need further help in deciding what to grow or need help on growing related tasks, you can consult many resources. First and foremost, you must start off by reviewing the plants you want to grow most, because there is a very good chance you will be able to.

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photo credit: traveling.lunas

I don’t know if you’re having a challenging summer like me but over all I have no summer. I live in a zone 5 climate and should be having 80-degree days and humid 60-degree night temperatures.

Instead, I am lucky to have two days of sun in a row; the nights are cold dropping down in the low 50’s and there’s too much rain. Most gardens around here are either not growing or they are more than a month behind in time.

When I realized that this was not going to be the best summer I moved my gardens under glass and switched most of my other plants to containers. I now have one of the largest container gardens I have ever had. The plants that need a more controlled climate and warm nights are in a greenhouse or on enclosed patio. (Normally open at this time of year.)

It’s been a learning experience, growing most of my garden under glass, but at least I have a garden.

But I must admit the herbs and perennials are doing ok out in our cold damp summer. They aren’t quite as showy as some years but they are growing and disease doesn’t seem to be affecting them.

So how are your gardens doing and have you had to make changes to adjust to any climate problems?

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Locating the right stone

During the process of building your home, the probability of finding suitable rocks and stones in the area is also great. It is also very much possible that you may come across rocks of considerable importance.

photo credit: BurningQuestion

In case of the premises being located in a rocky terrain, the prospects of unearthing rocks which could adorn the space is on the higher scale.

Places to trade for Landscaping Stones

Towards the procurement of the stones, most of requirements towards buying the appropriate landscaping stones should be reasonably met from any of the local horticulture stockist. Another sphere to be explored is that some of the organizations undertaking landscaping projects could also cater to the requirement along with its home delivery.

Assortment of Shapes and Colors

The stones are also available in uneven formations and sizes. The strong, craggy and jagged appearance of the stones adds to the persona of the individual in the home or office. They could also be custom made to suit your needs in terms of oval, squarish shapes etc. Whatever be your visualization of the finished appearance, stones could definitely find their own place.

Stonewalls as secure mechanism

Another method of putting the rocks and stones to effective use is by indulging in projects by building retaining walls. They have the distinct advantage of providing security and splendor to any landscape. It could be just another option of using stones other than the pathway to your home.

photo credit: In All Your Glory

Gardens and Borders

Stone bordering is another fine way to decorate a garden or flowerbed. There are quite a few techniques to allow your thoughts to take wings to add color, variety to the pond or garden by arranging an assortment of stones and rocks.

Identification of the best stones

For some of the best stepping stones and retaining walls for a wonderful landscape are the flagstone and river rock varieties being two prominent kinds. River rock although smaller, is available in a variety of colors and in great quality. To suit to any kind to interior, flagstone can be found in different colors.

The best pick for filling the empty spaces in any landscape is the river rock. By filling the gaps river rock also effectively keeps away the weeds.

Towards the beatification of any office or home landscaping stones would add to the value and splendor in a revolutionary manner.

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Growing vegetables in containers – whether inside the house, in a greenhouse or just on the porch – has many advantages.

• Soil maintenance is easier.
• Pest control is simpler.
• There are more options for adjusting light and temperature levels.

One might think that planting in a container is limited to just a select few vegetables, but they would be mistaken. Of course, vegetables that need a large amount of space to flourish would not be the best choice.

However, other vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, and peppers thrive under more controlled circumstances.

When deciding what size container to use it is important to consider how large the plant will grow to be. Using soil that is weed free and fertilized will help ensure your success, although some prefer to use synthetic, soil-like media.

For some plants, mixtures containing peat moss, perlite, and wood chips are the best choices.

Preparing the soil beforehand, or using a synthetic medium, gives another benefit: easier water control.

Adequate drainage balanced against good moisture retention is important for healthy container-grown plants. Breaking up clay particles is easy by mixing in commercial soil prep. Put some marbles at the bottom of a container to ensure good drainage at the bottom and to keep holes from getting plugged by soil.

The key to growing a healthy plant is by carefully watching its water intake. If a plant is placed near a window, the soil can dry out quickly. Over hydrating can cause root rot, and forgetting if they have even watered the plants that day so it is best to keep a soil tester on hand to ensure proper moisture levels.

In most cases, soil straight from the outdoors isn’t a good choice for containers. Very clay-like soil outdoors can be compensated for somewhat by natural features that drain the water away. In a container, the strong ability of clay to retain water is exaggerated. Very sandy soil will need to be built up. If that much effort is required to adjust outdoor soil, it’s easier just to buy professionally prepared media.

A good long day of sunlight is what most vegetables usually thrive under.

• Tomatoes, for example, do best in windows that face south, and they handle the heat well.
• More delicate vegetables, such as lettuce, need to be places where there is less direct sunlight and more shade.
• If you need a little more or less sun, all you have to do is pick up the pot and go!

The need for pest control is vital in container gardening.

Many think that as long as their plants are not outside, that they are safe; However, this is not the truth. Insects can get in through small cracks, screen doors, or even in the soil itself. For that reason it is important to use insecticide soap, or other commercial mixtures. This keeps the plants, the crops, and you safe.
photo credit: OakleyOriginals

Vegetable gardening in containers requires some effort. But the rewards are great. Having fresh vegetables on hand provides a tasty and healthy component to a good diet.

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Children love to learn, especially if it is through doing. Science is a very important aspect of our life so teaching children science is important.
photo credit: mrkathika

Taking a walk with your child is a very good way to teach them about science and nature. Stop and look at the animals building their homes or the frogs changing from tadpoles to frogs.

Children love to learn and the more interesting you make it the more they will soak up. Nature as a wonderful way to teach your child about science and the live butterfly garden will do just that.

Children are attracted to the live butterfly garden because they get to experience nature first hand. With it they are able to see the life of a caterpillar and more importantly let the butterfly go after a few days.

One of my friends buys her nieces a live butterfly garden every year. The girls love to watch them change from caterpillars to butterflies and then about three days after the butterflies emerge from their cocoon they all get together and make a big production about setting them free.

Her niece’s are not only learning about the nature of butterflies but they are learning a wonderful lesson about letting go of the things they love. Plus they will have the happy memories for a lifetime.
photo credit: scyllarides

They have live butterfly gardens at my son’s preschool and every day that was the first thing he would show me. He talked about it for weeks.

So what does a live butterfly garden entail?

A live butterfly garden is a kit you can buy that includes five to six caterpillar larvae surrounded by the food that they will need to grow and it comes with a mesh net.

Then what?

The larvae turn into Caterpillars and the children can watch as they build their cocoon and emerge into butterflies. The whole process takes two to three weeks so make sure you don’t buy it in the winter because after about three days you’ll need to set the butterflies free so that they can get food.

The butterfly garden offers children a close up of the entire process but it is not the only way to teach your child. Teaching your child about nature should be fun and exciting but it does not have to cost a thing.

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