Vertical Gardening

Do you long for masses of plants, but have only a small balcony or patio to work with? Fear not, garden lover, the answer is at hand with vertical gardening.

The idea of transforming a blank wall into a blaze of living colour has long been popular in Europe, where cramped conditions put outdoor space at a premium. So, if you want to get the most out of your outdoor living space, why not consider a vertical garden?

The types of vertical gardens you can create will be governed by the space available, the types of plants you wish to grow, and your imagination.

If you have a skinny garden bed along the base of a blank wall, careful planting can cover the wall from bottom to top with foliage. A trellis against a wall works especially well with containers placed at the base filled with climbers such as vines or roses.

Without a garden at the base of your wall, you are limited to stackable modules, containers or hanging baskets. You can use stackable modules that can be placed against a wall, attach a trellis to a wall, or use hanging baskets made from a breathable fabric

Plants which don’t require much soil, such as succulents, work best in small stackable trays. Trays also tend to have better irrigation than hanging pocket baskets.

The simplest and easiest vertical garden could be just a wire trellis hung on hooks attached to a wall, with plant containers placed on the ground below it. Fill the containers with climbing plants and in no time you’ll have your vertical garden.

If you are handier with tools, you can make your own stackable modules from a durable timber. Make sure you make allowance for drainage and apply a good preservative to the timber before filling with potting soil.

Vertical gardens work just as well for herb and vegetable growing and flower displays. Place your trailing herbs, such as oregano or thyme, towards the top of the wall and use the lower spaces for upright varieties, such as lettuce or tomato.

You don’t need to be an expert handyman or woman to create your own vertical garden. Even if you are more at home with a spade than a hammer or saw, there are modules that you can buy as opposed to making your own. And if everything else fails, you can always have an expert come in and create your vertical garden for you.

Now take another look at that blank wall outside and see how easy it is to change it into a glorious living vertical garden. Let your imagination run wild!

Easy Steps To Gardening With Confidence

Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry”. Chief Jake Swamp

Good food from the earth is organic foods. To keep your garden simple and healthy, you must insure that it has a healthy support system. Good soil and plant fertility go hand in hand.

Here are 5 tips to help accomplish your organic gardening goals.

1) Seeds, plants or shrubs must be planted at a particular time. Fruits and vegetables have a specific number of days from planting to maturity. Make a calendar, begin collection planting times, and include instructions for growing by each month of the year. In America there are many different growing zones. There are also frost zones. If you are familiar with these zones, growing and harvesting will be a snap.

2) A garden journal is of immense help. Take pictures of where each plant that produced well is located in the garden. Make note of planting times, where you received the plants or seeds from or any changes that may need to be made. There are many helpful computer programs available that will keep this type of information organized.

3) Using an organic method to grow and harvest foods definitely make a taste difference. Used directly from the garden, these foods can be served raw or with very little cooking, but always must be throughly washed and cleaned before serving. An added plus is no taste of being harvested and shipped green.

4) Growing a pollinator garden includes furnishing flowers, vegetables or both, that humming birds, bees and other insects will frequent. Up to 90% of plants, even the self-pollinated, benefit from cross-pollination and many different insects. The wind also plays a vital role in plant pollination. Honey bees, wild bees and bumble bees are beneficial. Be sure to leave a wild area in a corner for bees needs. Some are ground living, some will nest almost anywhere. Bees are drawn to many different blossoms and herbs. When bees and birds are present, the garden will produce more seed and fruit because the pollen is more live.

5) If there is no time or space, to make an organic garden then seek out an organic farmer. Maybe he comes to the local farmer’s market bringing fresh food daily or twice a week. Many times farmers feature pick your own areas when harvest is plentiful.

Ask friends and neighbors, or your neighborhood health food store for suggestions to find organic produce.

Miniature Gardening All About Its Types

Miniature gardens and fairy gardens represent a scenic picture comprised of accessories, furniture, structures, gnomes, etc., making it a beautiful space in your home. If you are a beginner and want to know more about miniature gardening and its types then read the article.

Types of miniature gardens

Indoor miniature gardens: This type of garden has plants that can survive extreme conditions such as low light and indoor conditions.

Terrarium: Terrarium is a miniature plant or garden enclosed in glass container. It can tolerate low light and high humidity.

Pots and containers: For indoor miniature gardens, pots and containers with drainage holes help to drain out excess water from the bottom.

Place saucers or plates underneath the pot to protect surfaces from excess water draining from the container and to keep the surroundings clean.

Outdoor miniature gardens: For outdoor miniature gardens, it is important to consider the weather zones while planting in any climate.

Accessories made of terra cotta, wood, glass, etc., can be used in outdoor miniature gardens. Based on the materials the accessories are made of, remove the accessories from the landscape during adverse weather conditions to protect them and make sure to store them properly so that their life can be prolonged and can be used in the future.

Landscapes: Miniature landscapes are a congregation of soil, plants and imaginative theme that are put together for creating a scene.

For example, in case of miniature pond landscape ensure to keep it in a sunny location outdoors.

Pots and containers: Pots or containers used for outdoor miniature gardens should have proper drainage system. Using containers made of clay which are usually porous helps in leaking out excess water.

Requirements to develop indoor and outdoor miniature gardens

Plants: The one thing that differentiates indoor miniature garden from outdoor miniature garden is the type of plants that survive in varied conditions.

Indoor miniature plants grow well in indoor conditions like low sunlight, etc., whereas outdoor miniature plants require heat and more sunlight.

Plants that can survive in dry conditions can be used in indoor miniature gardens.

Location: Location of the garden determines the life and growth of the plants. Based on the plants you choose for indoor or outdoor miniature gardens choose a location with adequate temperature and light.

Pots and containers: Various containers made of materials like metal, glass, wood and plastic that come up different colors, sizes, shapes and styles can be used for indoor and outdoor gardens.

Accessories: Select the right accessories by keeping the theme of the garden in mind. Ensure that the accessories used in outdoor gardens should be resistant to extreme weather conditions, corrosion and rust.

Maintenance for the survival of miniature gardens: Maintaining the miniature garden is important for its survival. Following are a few maintenance tips for indoor and outdoor miniature gardens:

Check the plants frequently for pest invasions.

Potting soil with a blend of perlite, compost and other essential nutrients is preferred for containers to feed plants.

Under watering, over watering or using too much of a fertilizer is not good for miniature plants.

Use potting soil and drill holes into the bottom of the container for proper draining system and to keep your plants healthy.

Regardless of the type of miniature garden (indoor or outdoor) give them the care they deserve to grow.

Why Organic Farming Is Gaining Popularity Today

Earlier, farming was done with biological manures, and they supplied nutrients, which are necessary for agricultural growth. Earlier, farmers prepare these manures with bones, animal waste and deal plants and animals. With the advancement, in technology, organic manure have been introduced for better growth of plants and this process of farming is known as organic farming. This farming is gaining immense popularity and is spreading in the world at a fast pace.

Now, when our environment and plantation started getting polluted, we are realizing the importance that how much this farming is useful for us. One of the perfect benefit of this farming is that it does not put any adverse effect on the environment, which is truly essential. Specially in today’s age, when we are suffering from numerous environmental and global issues. In this farming, starting from manures till pesticides, everything is natural and is not at all affecting the environment or plantation.

Organic farming is actually the form of agriculture that is based on the techniques of crop rotation, compost and biological pesticides. In this farming, bio fertilizers and pesticides are utilized and strictly prohibits the utilization of synthetic fertilizers, which involves insecticides and pesticides. This farming sustains the health of top soil and eco-systems and is the perfect combination of tradition and science.

In this farming, animal manure, some processed fertilizers, rock phosphate, a natural form of potash is utilized and all these products together work and control soil erosion. The compounds like aluminium sulphate, iron and magnesium sulphate are allowed and utilized in this farming. Numerous companies have perform biological research on soil organisms and it has been proven that this organic or biological farming is actually beneficial.

Generally, this farming increases the productivity of crops. Same as this organic or biological farming, a term organic gardening is related to this. This gardening is quite a simple process, where farmers plant seeds and then put biological fertilizers and natural pesticides are utilized to kill the insects, which affects the crops and storm the garden. It is an efficient form of gardening for the flourishment of plants and millions of scientists over the globe have scrutinized that this form of gardening ensures efficiency and safety of garden’s growth.

After gaining proper knowledge only, one can take advantage of this gardening and can make his own organic garden. First of all, we should know that how to build the soil for making it suitable for plants, and in building soil, numerous substances are involved. The substances included are manure, compost, rock mineral supplement and many more other things.
This is not the end, there are numerous other factors, which has to be considered.

Greying Tigers

Greying tigers, the generation of over 65s who are becoming a more powerful generation in the market place. This is the generation that has seen all the changes take place and are reminiscent of the good old days.

They remember when the wallflowers were sold wrapped in newspaper and they remember the price. This is a generation looking for nostalgia and is very price aware.

This is still a generation that are loyal to many garden centres and dare one say it, but because of their loyalty they may be putting young people off visiting the same establishments.

This is a generation that we cannot ignore, but have to fit them into a marketing scenario that meets all generation needs.

Many garden centers have realized there is an opportunity, especially where they can get involved in celebrating the Red Hat Society as an event in the garden center. If you are not aware of this society, I recommend you check them out on the web. This is a growing group and a great way of introducing fun into our garden center with this generation.

Greying Tigers are the most adventurous retired generation that has ever been and as a result will experiment in there gardens. They are the nostalgia market and this is a huge opportunity for any garden centre who wishes to develop nostalgic promotional opportunities. Why not have a corner in the garden center for nostalgic products and plants.

Garden centers who are looking to attract this market need to be less abled friendly and have plenty of seating located around the center. The coffee shop needs to be price aware; many price decisions are made by judging the price of a cup of tea.

Many centers are allocating special days for this generation; I have one client who has built their traffic on a quiet day by promoting to this group. My local shopping center actually takes a mini bus around the local retirement homes on a Thursday. They invite people to the shopping center, provide them with a complimentary cup of tea and let them shop. This has proved to be very successful, not only to the target market, but has also grown community support for the center. The same concept could be applied to a garden center.

They may be lower spenders, but on quieter days that can make a difference. The Greying Tigers are also often collectors and this is also an opportunity to provide them with collection pieces, the gift market especially has developed this market, but the same could be applied to cacti and other plant products.

Dos

Ensure your garden center is less abled friendly. Have parking for the less abled in a prime location in your car park

Have a wheel chair available, but more important encourage your team to get in it and go around the garden center, this will give them an opportunity to experience it and make appropriate changes to the customer flow

Have plenty of seating located at locations around the garden centre

Promote nostalgia plants at key locations around the garden center and use words like remember and Nostalgia on the signage

Make sure signs are bold and simple; eyes fail as we get older

Ensure your cash point team are greying tiger friendly and are prepared to help .have a help service to the car for the less abled

Donts

Place delicate products in locations where frail hands may drop them

Talk down, this generation has a lot of background knowledge, especially on gardening self and will not consider the container as such an important element as, for example generation X

Put all your container plants in expensive containers, this generation will purchase plants for the plants it