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A Letter from the editor

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

By Greg Boswell

 

Welcome to my wonderful and beautiful site. It is an attempt to align with the tao, get back to nature through the use of digital silicone.

 

Just a blurb about me, I have over 20 years experience in planting herbs and spices, flowers and plants. Through the years I have been quite satisfied with my gardens around my home, and I hope I can share that with you. Feel free to look around, enjoy my site, or join my forum so we can discuss various ways to setup that gorgeous garden at home!

 

Greg Boswell - Botanical enthusiast extraordinaire.

Three Tips to Container Gardening

Here are several tips for creating a beautiful hanging basket or container this summer.

The first is to use an artificial soil composed mainly of peat moss. Good soils such as Fafard or Pro-Mix use perlite, peat, and other ingredients to produce a soil that is not compact during the summer.

Real covenants garden soil and is transformed into concrete under the pressure of regular watering. And when this happens, the roots of the plants stop growing because they require a good open space to move into and absorb nutrients. Hard, compacted soils do not grow plants useful to avoid using real soil in your containers. I reuse my artificial potting soil from year to year. I dump the pot. Chew it up with a shovel to cut the roots around last year and add about 10% by volume of compost.

Compost increases air spaces and gives a boost of plants in the diet.

Feeding your plants weekly. Nitrogen, the engine of growth of plants, is soluble in water and you water your container from the top of the nitrogen is dissolved out of the base. I use a fish emulsion liquid diet based on algae to provide all the trace nutrients my plants need and recommend it highly. You can use any liquid plant food (such as Miracle Grow or Schultz) to promote growth. Compost tea is the Cadillac of liquid plant food and if you make your own compost tea, your plants will react to the proliferation bigger and better, and increased vigor.

And finally, no matter the size of the container, it is important to soak all the way to the bottom at each watering. Continue watering until the water comes from the bottom of the pot. This ensures the roots can reach all parts of the container and grow properly.

Five Habits of Highly Successful Lawns

If you're lucky enough to have a lawn with a core of good arable land, much hard work to maintain a beautiful lawn is already done for you. But many of us do not have that luxury, and besides, even with a base of good arable land, you still have to work hard to keep a beautiful lawn and garden.

1. The best time to mow a lawn is when it is cool and dry. Wait until the morning dew to dry, and before the afternoon heat takes hold. Otherwise, afternoon or early evening after a morning watering is also a good time.

2. Coverage is a factor of better than the limits of a fence. It will provide better privacy and keep pets and children in - or out. It will attract birds to its shelter, and provide an excellent framework for plants and flowers.

3. Bring the beauty of your garden for you to plant hyacinths near walkways and doors. Their magnificent perfume will swamp the spring air and make your garden really come alive.

4. Add your garden to the non-garden items, such lampposts and mailboxes. Surround these items with flowers planted to enjoy the first to bloom later. You could have white snowdrops, purple and gold crocus, hyacinth blue, and various colored tulips. You can also surround the posts with rocks to provide added interest.

5. Simple, but effective against weeds can be done on your lawn by mowing often in the spring. This will prevent the spread of dandelions by the elimination of yellow flowers and prevent seed formation. Mow high during late spring and early summer. This will allow grass blades to shade the soil and help prevent crabgrass germination.