Pruning of a Cabbage plant

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Growing cabbage is a very easy job. But as they starts growing there may...

Growing cabbage is a very easy job. But as they starts growing there may be different problems which start to creep in. Apart form the pest issues, sometimes the excessive growth can create a lot of problems. As leaves start touching the ground; leaf rotting starts to occur. Best way to get rid of this issue is to start pruning.

Though pruning (removal of some part or parts of the plant) and thinning (removal of the whole plant to ease the crowd) both serve the same purpose of survival, most of the time they are addressed separately. Here in this article I will club them together and use the terms interchangeably.

Now first thing first:

Why should I prune a Cabbage?

Pruning is very important for plants survival and to create healthier plants. Pruning helps the cabbage plant by providing the much required space to thrive and build larger heads. It allows the plant to focus all its energy and food to deserved ones.

When to Prune a Cabbage?

Timing is a very important issue in pruning cabbage. Begin the process once they start to bloom. The reason being that you can decide and choose the plants with best blooming rates and remove the once which are not matching you expectation.

How can I Prune a Cabbage?

Remove limp or unhealthy leaves from the plant. Generally you can do this just by tearing the leaves. In case you find the leaves tough to do so use sharp knife or scissors.

Use the trimmed off leaves for composting. If the leaves are fresh and tender you can use them in salads also.

Sometimes you may need to remove the whole plant which is not performing well (also called thinning).

Have you pruned the cabbage? Share your experiences with us.

How To Water A Bonsai Plant

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Watering can be a very critical aspect of bonsai. Too little water can leave...

Watering can be a very critical aspect of bonsai. Too little water can leave you bonsai shredding leaves, branches or even die. Too much water can make the root rot.

Watering frequency:

Watering frequency depends largely on the environment and plant's growth rate.

Like during summers to water twice a day is a normal phenomena. while during winter once a week is the standard. Apart from these two extremes once in a day is quite normal for most of the seasons like spring or autumn.

Having said that sometimes you might have to water it 3 times a day or once in a month it depends on your judgement on plants water needs.

The bottom line is you should make sure that it should not dry out completely or get soggy. Adding a water saucer is a clever choice for bonsai. It works as a self watering container.

Green moss watering:

Planting moss in the bonsai pot actually works very well for bonsai plants. It helps to keep the water inside and prevents faster drying out of the soil. Due to the presence of moss it generally takes more time to absorb water; so you have to add plenty of water to get it enough into the soil. Green moss can cause the water to run off over the edge of the pot. It can also act as a coating.

Watch soil colour before watering:

Watering a bonsai plant is a tricky business and it will take time for you to be good at it. It is said that you need to spend at least 3 years to become a master at watering bonsai. The soil colour, condition represents a lot of facts in bonsai.

Where to water?

Water the soil, with a sprayer apply water in the leaves. To prevent any root damage during watering, use a hose attachment. It would dispense the water softly without disturbing the roots. Use a sprayer to water the leaves.

Express your views regarding the article. Use the comment box below.

Here are some of the Bonsai Watering Cans that are available in Amazon
click here to buy

Basics of A Rain Garden

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Rain garden (it should not be confused with Gardening in the Rain) is an...

Rain garden (it should not be confused with Gardening in the Rain) is an interesting concept. It not only increases your gardening beauty but also helps in water preservation. Here in this article I want to give you an brief idea about this concept.

What is a rain garden?

Rain garden refers to a garden which takes the advantage of the water from the rainfall in growing plants. The garden is designed to withstand a great level of moisture and concentration of nutrients. It gave the run off water the opportunity to slow down as it go downhill and thus reduces its erosive power.

Rain garden looks as like any other garden from outside but the speciality lies in the fact that it gets its water from the runoff and what happen after the water enters the garden.

The rain garden is a shallow depression in your backyard with absorbent yet free draining soil and it is planted with vegetation. It acts as a personal water quality system as it filters the waste water of the roof and other hard surfaces and recharges it.

Why should I plant a rain garden?

The main purpose of having this is to receive the run off water from hard surfaces like roof, sidewalk etc. By having a rain garden you will do you little bit to preserve this invaluable natural resource called water.

It increase the scenic beauty of the garden and protect streams and lakes nearby from pollutants and also help reducing flood.

It holds water for quite some time and thus provides a natural habitat for Birds, Butterflies and many other beneficial insects.

It also helps in reducing your water needs by recycling the waste water. So you would have lesser municipality water requirements.

How to build a rain garden?

Building a rain garden is very easy and is not at all expensive.

The first thing to do is to choose a spot to prepare the garden. It can be near the house if you only want to collect roof runoff or can be a little further in case lawn water is also in your plan.

Just keep this in mind that it should not be near a big tree or very near of the foundation of the house or it can damage them.

Next you need to find the are that will drain the water to your rain garden. The larger the area more the water will come to the garden. Ideal size of the garden can be from 100 sq ft to 250 sq ft depending on the total area. It should not be deeper than 6 to 8 inches.

While digging the garden you need to make a berm (a low wall) to prevent the water going downhill. Dig couple of inches more than the actual size of the garden. Add 2 inch thick compost for the nourishment of the plants.

Now come the most interesting part THE PLANTING. First make a rough plan of the actual garden in terms of the plants you want to grow and their positions in the garden.

Choose the plants carefully considering their height flowering time and composite texture of the garden. Choosing different blooming time will ensure a longer flowering season for the garden.

Use one or two year old plants with well established root system. Until the rain starts you need to give them much needed water for their survival. Use native plants to reduce cost and increase the chances of survival.

Have any suggestion? Please bring it our notice. Use the comment box below.

Coco Coir and Strawberry Plants | Why you should grow strawberries in Coir?

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Judul : Coco Coir and Strawberry Plants | Why you should grow strawberries in Coir?
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Which growing media works best for growing strawberries? Well, there are a few options...

Which growing media works best for growing strawberries? Well, there are a few options including soil. People have grown strawberries successfully in media like Rock-wool, Perlite or Bark. Here in this article I want to talk about coconut coir as a media for growing strawberries and why it is the best of them all.

Benefit Of Coir Over Soil:

The following are the benefits of switching your strawberry cultivation from soil to coconut coir:

Traditional way of using soil as a growing media for strawberries has one major dis advantage and that is the pathogen problem. Unlike normal soil coconut coir does not infested with any harmful fungi.

On the contrary coir are enriched with trichoderma. Research has shown in the past that these fungi help reducing anthracnose disease in strawberry plants and thus work as a great substitute for traditional chemical uses in strawberry field. As a result you do not need to fumigate or use any other such methods which pollutes the environment to disinfect the media.

Coconut coir are high in lignin. This organic compound helps in the development of beneficial bacteria which in turn reduce the propagation of harmful ones in the media. These beneficial bacteria remain in symbiotic relationship with the plant and thus increase the overall productivity.

The water retention capacity of the coir go very well with the plant. Planting strawberries in coir requires less frequent watering and also eliminate the problem of water logging (due to its excellent drainage capacity).

Strawberries require considerable amount of oxygen in their root zones. So it is inevitable that the media for growing strawberries should have a good aeration property. That is one of the reasons that coconut coir is considered an ideal medium for growing strawberries. The high level of aeration and fantastic drainage property encourage the plant roots to develop its full potential.

Vertical towers are becoming more and more popular these days among gardeners especially in urban areas. Using coir in place of soil will also make the towers light weight and easier to transport.

Besides the high buffer capacity, coir also ensure slow release of nutrients for extended period of time and thus optimize plants growth.

Due to these attached benefits coir have been broadly in use in green houses. They have increased the productivity quite a fold.

Strawberries require calcium for their growth. So before buying any coir please check its labels. Normally coir don't have a lot of calcium in it. But as an amendment some companies have decided to add calcium in their buffered coir media. If your coir don't have added calcium you might need to add gypsum or perlite to make it suitable for growing strawberries.

A potting mix consisting of coconut coir, perlite and compost is ideal for growing strawberries. One of the best combinations is 50% coconut coir with 30% perlite and 20% compost.

For other information about growing strawberries check out our earlier article.

What do you think about the article? Express your views by using the comment box below. 

Don't forget to read:
Growing Strawberry: Some Points to Remember
Coconut Coir and its use as a Soil-less Growth Media

FAQs about Growing Carrots

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This is our next article on FAQ series. Today's edition is CARROTS. Here are...

This is our next article on FAQ series. Today's edition is CARROTS. Here are some of the questions generally asked about carrot growing.

Which variety should I plant?

If your soil does not have very good drainage capacity growing shorter varieties is best. For a deeper and loose soil you can always select the longer varieties. Read more about soil classification.

How much space is needed?

Though most of the time carrot seeds are planted very closely you need to thin them after germination. For normal loose soil two plants for every one inch of soil is ideal. If the soil is heavy and tight you need to give more space.

What are seed stalks?

Carrots are biennial. They grow from seed to flower-producing plants over two years. Carrots or many other biennial crops, such as cabbage, will produce seed stalks the first year if young plants are kept in cold weather. Carrots which produce seed stalks often lack flavour, are woody and have poor texture.

What is the best soil type?

A light sandy or loamy soil is ideal for growing carrots. For more details Read carrot growing tips.

What are baby carrots?

By definition these are small immature carrots that are pulled before reaching maturity. Now a days there are referred to several varieties of carrots which are smaller in size upon maturing.

What are the health benefit of eating carrots?

Carrots are good for skin. It helps in fighting infections, preventing wrinkles and delay the aging process. Due to the presence of beta carotine it helps in keeping good eye sight. Also it has been reported to fight against cancer.

Why my carrots taste bitter?

In a carrot there are both trepenoids and sugar. Presence of trepinoid makes the carrot bitter. During its growth trepenoid develops earlier than sugar. So if you harvest your carrots too early it will have bitter taste.

In some species the quantity of trepinoid is far greater than others.

Why do my carrots are bolting?

Carrots are binnual plant. That means they flower in the second year of planting. But if you see them flowering in the first year itself that is due to the fact that there might be a change of temperature or a change in day length. Also growing carrots through out summer can make them prone to bolting. There are several bolt resistant variety which you try growing if you want to grow them in summers.

Can I transplant carrots?

You can. But probably you should not. Carrots actually doesn't do too well in transplanting. They are much more erratic.

Why do carrots split or crack?

Inapproprite watering is the major cause of spliting carrots. If you don't like splitted carrots make sure the soil is moistured evenly. Adding coconut coir or peat moss with the soil can solve this problem.

Why there are galls and swelling in the roots of the plant?

It is called a disease caused by root knot nematodes. Click here to read more on this.

Have any more questions? Please post it in the comment box. We will be happy to answer those.

Take Advantage of Your Garden Condition

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Take advantage of your garden assets. Every garden has some strong points or the...

Take advantage of your garden assets. Every garden has some strong points or the other. But most of the time people complain about what they are missing. There is no harm in improving your garden conditions, but it is also important and sometimes more fulfilling to utilize the prevailing conditions and use them to their full effect.

In this article we want to emphasize these points. Here are some of these garden conditions which bother people, and just how you can use them to your benefit.

1. Too much sunlight:
   If your garden receives bright sunlight most of the time, you should consider yourself lucky. There are very few plants in this world which don't like bright sunlight. Most of the vegetables and fruit growing plants require at least six hours of direct sunlight ( check out Sun or No Sun for more information). Many bright-coloured flowers grow fantastically well under bright sunlight. You can choose variety of colours and combinations.
2.  Lack of sunlight:
   If your garden conditions are just the opposite of the previous one i.e, you rarely receive bright sunlight; you don't need to worry. Consider this as an opportunity to create cool and soothing environment around. One of the major benefits of having a darker garden is that you don't need to worry about wilting of plants. It will provide a fresher look to your garden. Not every plant requires 6 hours of direct sunlight; grow leafy vegetables. Many flowers actually prefer dark environment and not the direct sunlight. More details about shade gardening is here in this article.
3. Dry conditions:
   If your garden soil and surroundings are too dry, and you think it is not possible to grow anything; think again. These days, there are so many options available with growers that you don't even need to think about watering most of the time. Start from cacti and the option is endless. You might think this as a blessing in disguise. You can start with the nursery shops and ask for their help in selecting the plants; or you can use the Internet to research about this.
4. Wet or soggy condition:
   Don't neglect these parts of the garden just because they are soggy and damp. Grow plants that love damp environments. This might look a little unconventional but it will help to redecorate your landscape. Skunk cabbage can be a good option for this type of environments. You can check this article for a detailed list of various plants for this kind of environment.
5. Acidic soil:
   A soil pH lower than 6.5 is called acidic soil. Acidic soil is actually good for many plants. Potatoes, Strawberries, Radishes etc love acidic soil. You can also turn your empty acidic patch of land into a rose garden in case the soil is slightly acidic. Different types of fern also grows well in acidic soil.
6. Alkaline soil:
   In contrast to the above, here the soil pH is 7.5 or more. Other than lowering the pH (which is always an option), you can also use the conditions to grow plants that are more suitable to grow in alkaline soil. Plants such as Sunflowers, Daisies, Leeks, Oranges are ideal for alkaline soil. You can also opt for plants like Maple is you have the required space.

These are just some of the examples. You can always use your creativity and gardening knowledge to create more such solutions.

What do you think about the article? Give your feedback using the comment box below. We would like to hear from you.