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Water Logging Your Plants

10:51 am by webmann in backyard gardening

Image via WikipediaIf you give your plants excess water or have poor drainage you will run the risk of water logging them. I have been there and done that.

I remember my niece giving me a big begonia she didn’t want any longer and I was happy to take it. I didn’t realize it didn’t have any drainage and before I knew it something was wrong as leaves were dropping off.

I thought it would do better in another location so I grabbed it to pick it up and to my surprise it weighed a ton. It was full of water. Lesson learned.

Over watering like that will cause the leaves to go a yellow or brown color and they will usually drop off. When plants start getting waterlogged the leaves at the bottom of the plant will be affected first.

By the time the upper leaves of the plant start turning yellow and brown you have a real problem.

The problem arises because of the fact that plants need air as well as water around their roots to survive and with excessive watering the air pockets in the soil are filled with water.

Without this air the roots of the plant will begin to die and as the roots are needed to supply the plant with the necessary nutrients to survive, the plant begins to die from the bottom up. That is why you see the lower leaves getting affected first.

To remedy the situation you will need to allow the soil to dry out to reduce the water content. If the plant is in a container you will need to check to see whether there are sufficient drainage holes to allow excess water to escape.

If the soil has become compacted from all the water it is best to remove the plant and give it some new soil.

Often when plants begin to wilt they can appear to be lacking water when the opposite is the case so it is best to check the moisture content of the soil before assuming the plant needs more water.

When watering the plants allow the soil to dry out completely, or partially between watering to reduce the chance of them getting waterlogged.

Try to improve the drainage of the soil for plants in the garden and even consider raising the garden for better water control.

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Natural Insecticide and the Third World

9:11 am by webmann in backyard gardening, garden pests

People in the US have been using natural insecticide for years. Some are becoming more concerned about the environment and the safety of the food supply. Many of these have switched back to natural insecticide. So, how much is natural insecticide being used around the world?

Growers in the Philippines have been troubled by the health hazards caused by using synthetic chemical insecticides. Their producers are becoming ill with chronic health problems. Their consumers end up with produce that contains chemical residues. They are interested in natural insecticide. Thailand is another country whose government and citizens are concerned with the chemical residues on agricultural produce. Many in Asian countries feel the same way. Their middle-class is growing. This gives them more options, one of which is choosing natural insecticide.

In many African and other economically disadvantaged regions, this is not the story. Natural insecticide is not an option. Chemical insecticides that have been banned, such as methyl bromide, have shown up in ports of these countries.

Methyl bromide was banned because it was harmful to the people eating the produce. It was also bad for the ozone layer. This chemical is just bad news all around. Now it is being dumped into developing countries because it can’t be sold elsewhere. The people in these countries will take these chemical insecticides because they can’t afford natural insecticide. For that matter, they can’t afford any other insecticides.

DDT is another chemical insecticide that has been banned for years in the more developed countries of the world. It is used abundantly in Third World countries in South America and Africa. These countries might be more apt to use natural insecticide if it was as cheap and plentiful as the more hazardous chemical varieties. Unfortunately, it is not.

Many countries are producers of natural insecticide; yet do not use them in their own countries. India, for example is one of the chief growers of the neem tree. Products from the neem tree have long been used as natural insecticide. However, India has fallen prey to the cheap and easy availability of chemical insecticides. Its natural insecticide is saved for countries who can afford it. It may help their financial bottom line, but it is doing damage to their citizens’ health in the meantime.

Many countries around the world are suppliers of natural insecticides. Pyrethrum is a natural insecticide that can be used on fruits and vegetables. It is made from a specific species of chrysanthemum. These are imported mainly from Kenya and Ecuador. Rotenone is another botanical natural insecticide. It can be used for aphids, beetles and caterpillars on plants. It is made from derris plant roots which originate in Asia. It can also be extracted from cube plants which are indigenous to South America.

It seems that the nations in the Third World give more than they take when it comes to natural insecticide. It may be financially advantageous for them to use chemical insecticides in the short run. However, in terms of the cost of ill health among their people, they will be paying much more.

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What Do You Know About the English Rose?

9:40 am by webmann in backyard gardening, roses

Image via WikipediaOne type of rose that seems saturated with sophistication beginning with its name is the English rose. There have been stories and books written with the name. But the English roses are especially deserving of a name that suggests class and royalty.

English roses are a group of roses, introduced by a hybridizer in the 1960’s. They were created to enhance some of the Old Roses, although a rose is a special flower in its own right and would seem to need no such enhancing. A rose by any name or type is a long-admired favorite among almost anyone.

The English roses tickle the senses with their delicate charm and fragrance. If you enjoy the idea of a larger rose, this type is a good choice. Being a fuller flower with many lovely petals, it is a delight for the eyes. Having been bred also for the excellent scent, English roses are a delight for the nose as well. The old-style combines with the modern style for a nice balance.

Although roses are mostly associated with the thought of the female gender, many types of English roses also carry male names. If you’d like a garden to suggest a theme, you could devote an area to roses with names of each gender. A few of the English roses with names are:

• Charles Austin
• David Austin
• Brother Cadfael
• Charles Darwin
• and Benjamin Britten.

Some English roses with female names include:

• Barbara Austin
• Claire Rose
• Cordelia
• Evelyn
• and Gertrude Jekyll.

Maybe you’d like to include some English roses with names that play on your tongue to exercise your palate.

Try Corvedale, Glanis Castle, Jaquenetta, and Mortimer Sackler. If you yearn for English roses with names from other lands, try Queen Nefertiti, Sharifa Asma, or Shropshire Lad.

As with most anything these days, there are many websites devoted to the famous David Austin English roses. They are beautiful hybrids that can only add pleasure to your landscaping. They are meant to be admired and enjoyed by all. One man’s dream and creativity reaches people worldwide with something as simple and yet complex as the English roses.

Roses have the most elaborate vocabulary of any flower. Rose buds generally signify youth and beauty, red roses signify passion, white roses purity and innocence, and yellow roses jealousy and/or infidelity. You’ll find a wide array of colors available in the English roses. They can mean much or nothing, depending on what you want from your garden.

An interesting tidbit of information is that rose water is not a perfume. It is still used in cosmetics and perfume. The Romans created a beauty treatment using dried roses and lion’s fat.

English roses are enjoyed by people in all walks of life: rich, poor, famous, and the regular “joe”. You don’t have to speak a certain language or be anyone special to plant and enjoy the endearing English roses. You don’t have to have an entire garden of roses either. An English rose plant is beautiful all by itself.

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All About The Automatic Lawn Sprinkler

12:37 pm by webmann in backyard gardening

Image via WikipediaAfter putting all of that hard work into landscaping the yard, the last thing anyone wants is to see that his or her grass is dying from not getting enough water. For those with a lot of time on their hands and that have a pretty small yard, watering the grass manually with a hose may be an option. In fact, many people enjoy this and find it to be a relaxing experience. For other people, there just may not be enough time, energy, or interest for watering the grass by hose. For these people, there is the option of installing an automatic lawn sprinkler.

By adding an automatic lawn sprinkler into your yard, you are sure to make sure that the lawn is being properly watered without running the risk of over watering or under-watering. Also, this is a great way to make sure that your lawn is being properly cared for while you are away working or on vacation. It is hard enough to try and find someone to watch over your pets, let alone water your lawn so an automatic lawn sprinkler is the perfect solution.

Getting Yours

For those who are handy with projects around the house, the installation process of the automatic lawn sprinkler may be something that is no problem at all. But for those who are a little less handy around the house, it may be a good idea to have a professional come in to do the job. After all, you are dealing with water and any home improvement project dealing with water, if not done right, can result in a huge mess. Water messes can be very costly so you would be better off paying someone to come in to install your automatic lawn sprinkler for you.

The cost of having an automatic lawn sprinkler installed professionally is going to vary depending on how large your yard is and the type of system you are putting in. The best thing to do is to start calling around to get free consultations on price for the system itself and for the labor. And then you will be able to compare the prices of several businesses and professionals to make sure that you are getting the best price for your automatic lawn sprinkler. Just start calling around to businesses and you may be surprised at what prices you find and see that is it truly affordable after all.

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Understanding Soil

9:51 am by webmann in backyard gardening

Understanding the role that soil plays in the garden is one of the best assets that you can have as a gardener. It is this knowledge that will allow you to create a healthier environment for your plants and get the maximum benefits from them.

In doing so, you will also make your own life easier, as a garden that is well managed from the soil up, is a garden that is a lot easier to manage, from one day to the next.

A garden that has good soil that has been fed with good nutrition over time will make growing almost anything easy for even the least experienced gardener.

So how to you get good soil?

First you need to consider how plants grow and how they get their nutrition and that is through their roots. Therefore, in order for the plants to grow well, they need to be in soil that allows their roots to get to the nutrition. Obviously compact ground with little water, little air and poor nutrition will not produce the best plants.

Plants need water and air and this requires soil that has spaces to hold this air and water.

Therefore soil that is aerated will generally produce a better garden.
Once again it is all about balance, as soil that is too crumbly might not hold the nutrients as well, where the water might wash them away. The soil also needs to be firm enough to support the growth of the plant otherwise it will topple over at the first sign of a wind.

The soil needs to have suitable nutrients and if any of these nutrients are out of balance, the pH scale that measures whether the soil is acidic or alkaline, will show why they are having difficulty absorbing the nutrients.

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