Vegetable Gardening Quiz

Getting Ready for Gardening

No matter what your main gardening interest — be it growing vegetables, making your yard colorful with flowers, picking out just the right tree, or aspiring to have the most gorgeous roses on the block — chances are that you care most about the plants. Sure, gardening can also involve landscaping and lawn care or being able to grow your own food , or just having a great excuse to play in the dirt , but for most people, the plants make everything worthwhile. Of course, keeping your plants alive and making them look their best involves a lot of preparation. This article contains information on caring for your garden plants throughout.

 Okay, yeah, I know, you already know you need to plan and prepare your soil to get your garden going, but you really just want to read about plants right now, right? In that case, the most basic explanations of the kinds of plants you may encounter in the world of gardening. In this article Series go into much more detail about the various types of plants, trees,  bushes, and vines, but here I help you get a sense of how plants are similar and different — the first step in turning a brown thumb green. First, though, I explain a bit about names.

Playing the Name Game

What’s in a name? For gardeners, plenty. Gardening is a blend of horticulture and botany, common names and high science, and the names can get a bit confusing. Whether you’re looking at plant anatomy or simply want to know what to call a plant, understanding a bit about naming can help you wade through the aisles, ask better questions, and treat your plants right.

“Hello, my name is . . . ”:

Getting  used to plant nomenclature Whenever you’re talking about plants, knowing how they’re named can help you avoid getting tangled up in the Latin. Generally, when looking for plants and flowers, you encounter two types of names — botanical and common. Read on for some info on how the naming system works, and then carpe  diem — pluck the day!

Botanical names

The botanical name is the proper or scientific name of a plant. It consists of two parts: the genus name and the species name. The species name is kind  of like your own first name (except it comes last in a plant’s botanical name).The genus name is similar to your family name (except in botanical names,  it comes first). For example, in the plant name Hosta undulata, Hostais the genus name, and undulata is the species name. Hostadescribes an entiregenus of famous, mostly shade-loving plants named hostas, and undulate describes the type of hosta it is — a hosta with an undulating leaf shape. Sometimes the botanical name has a third name, right after the species name, known as the variety. A varietyis a member of the same plant species but looks different enough to warrant its own name, such as Rosa gallica var. officinalis.

 Still another botanical name that sometimes comes up is the cultivar, or  cultivated variety. Cultivars are usually named by the people who developed or discovered them, and they’re often maintained through cuttings, line-bred seed propagation, or tissue culture. In other words, they’re cultivated (humans grow, improve, and develop them). An example is Lychnis coronaria ‘Angel’s Blush.

Botanical names are more common with some types of plants than others. For instance, you frequently run into them with herbaceous plants, trees, and shrubs but much less so with roses, annuals, and vegetables. You can find botanical names on the labels and in many garden references.

Common names

Common names are what you’re most likely to encounter when shopping for plants to put in your garden. You can find these names prominently displayed on seed packets or  on seedling trays of plants that are for sale. They’re kind of like botanical nicknames that gardeners use to describe a certain type of plant without going into a great amount of detail. For example, the Hosta undulatafits into the genus Hosta,so most gardeners merely refer to these plants under the common name of hostas. And you may know that Hemerocallis is actually the genus name for the common daylily, but chances are that most gardeners you encounter just call them daylilies.

Tea Used in Gardening

There is some question about the allelopathic effects of caffeine (and maybe other chemicals) in brewed tea and coffee. Better, perhaps, to drink the tea and use the spent tea leaves on your plants.

Give roses a boost

Sprinkle new or used tea leaves (loose or in tea bags) around your rosebushes and cover with mulch to give them a midsummer boost. When you water the plants, the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil, spurring growth. Roses love the tannic acid that occurs naturally in tea.

Feed your ferns

Schedule an occasional teatime for your ferns and other acid-loving houseplants. Substitute brewed tea when watering the plants. Or work wet tea leaves into the soil around the plants to give them a lush, luxuriant look.

Prepare planter for potting

For healthier potted plants, place a few used tea bags on top of the drainage layer at the bottom of the planter before potting. The tea bags will retain water and leach nutrients to the soil.

Enhance your compost pile

To speed up the decomposition process and enrich your compost, pour a few cups of strongly brewed tea into the heap. The liquid tea will hasten decomposition and draw acid-producing bacteria, creating desirable acid-rich compost.
Source: http://www.rd.com/

Eight Simple and Easy Rules of Gardening

1.       TOP-DRESS YOUR SOIL: Every soil type — no matter how poor or rich — benefits from organic matter. I add a couple of inches of compost to the top of the soil each spring. It immediately cuts down on the number of early spring weeds that pop up. Even better, over the long haul — as it decomposes — compost increases the nutrient values of the soil and adds to the soil’s structure.

2.       WEED LITTLE, WEED OFTEN: Waiting to pull weeds every couple of weeks or longer makes it a daunting chore. I make it easy by strolling through parts of my garden each day pulling weeds as I see them. Every day I pull a couple of weeds, so I catch them when they’re smaller and easier to yank out of the ground. This prevents them from going to seed and creating a whole new crop of weeds for me to tackle in the future.

3.       PINCH NOW, ENJOY LATER: Many late-blooming perennials appreciate a springtime pinch. I nip the tops of mums, tall sedums, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and other late bloomers to keep them compact and tidy. A springtime pinch also delays flowering, so you can extend the blooming season in your garden. Generally, it’s best to nip off just the top couple of inches of the new growth in midspring.

4.       DEADHEAD FOR TIDINESS: Deadhead annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs. This gives some plants, such as blanket flower and veronica, a longer bloom season, and keeps your garden looking tidy. It also prevents plants from going to seed — so they have more energy to bloom well next year.

5.       MULCH MATTERS: Spread a few inches of mulch over your garden. Like compost, mulch offers many benefits. It cuts down on weeds, helps the soil conserve moisture by reducing evaporation, keeps the soil from getting too warm in summer, and — as mulch made from organic matter decomposes — adds to soil structure. I spread mulch in the spring, once all my plants come up, and reap the benefits for the rest of the season!

6.       FILL BARE SPOTS: It seems like every spring I discover something didn’t make it over the winter or didn’t spread the way I expected, and there’s a bare spot in the garden. Prevent this problem by tucking in a new plant in areas that are bare for a while but later fill in with other plants. I often insert cool-season annuals, such as pansies and snapdragons. By the time the original plants fill in the space, the pansies are winding down.

7.       WATER WISELY: The most efficient way to water your garden is with an inexpensive soaker hose. I bury mine underneath the mulch. It further prevents water evaporation losses, keeps me from having to drag a hose all over the yard, and puts an end to looking at a black rubber hose running through my garden all season long. Consider adding a timer to save trips outside turning the water on and off.

8.       STAKE TALL PLANTS: Give tall plants good support by staking them. I stake my soon-to-be-tall plants fairly early in the season — that way I know they are safe and secure. I won’t have to worry about losing beautiful delphiniums, foxgloves, culver’s root, or lilies to harsh weather later in the season.

Six Air Purifying House Plants

1. Bamboo Palm: According to NASA, it removes formaldahyde and is also said to act as a natural humidifier.

2. Snake Plant: Found by NASA to absorb nitrogen oxides and formaldahyde.

3. Areca Palm: One of the best air purifying plants for general air cleanliness.

4. Spider Plant: Great indoor plant for removing carbon monoxide and other toxins or impurities. Spider plants are one of three plants NASA deems best at removing formaldahyde from the air.

5. Peace Lily: Peace lilies could be called the “clean-all.” They’re often placed in bathrooms or laundry rooms because they’re known for removing mold spores. Also know to remove formaldahyde and trichloroethylene.

6. Gerbera Daisy: Not only do these gorgeous flowers remove benzene from the air, they’re known to improve sleep by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving off more oxygen over night.

If you can't even put a plant in your living room because you say it is too much trouble, then you need to die and wait for the other life to bring sense in your spirits!!!

Just do it. Random people like our whole team here are trying to put you back on your feet.. we arent doing that because we've got nothing else to do. We have families, too. We have ALL OF YOUR EXCUSES but yet, we're here, with you.