When preparing and planning a new garden, it is best that the ground is as level as possible, obviously this is an ideal situation and some gardens may not be vast amounts of green particularly in this day and age when builders tend to build on pieces of land big enough only for a dustbin and a rotary airer!
Sloping gardens are not ideal because the heavy rain tends to wash away the soil and leave the roots of plants exposed to the elements. South facing gardens tend to fair better than north facing ones, due to the heat of the summer sun, that isn't to say however that you will in fact have a south facing garden.
The important thing to remember is to make the best of what you have and to enjoy your garden. * Large trees are best kept a distance of 30-40 yards away from the house reasons being that the light into the house is not blocked by the trees and the roots of the trees do not affect the foundations of your property.
* Large trees can rob the garden of sun which could be at the detriment of smaller plants and shrubs that enjoy full sun it is therefore important to keep trees at a distance from these as the tree roots also tend to demand large amounts of nutrients and moisture from the soil. Grass is probably the only thing that does not suffer from the roots of trees as it forms a mat over the ground and does not require much food from great soil depths.
* Gardens with large trees and shrubs tend to have large demands for water, therefore with continual water bans in place some thought must be given to how you can save water, it may be that you have a large water butt to collect rainwater or you may decide to use your grey water. Giving some thought and planning in the early stages into how you are going to water your garden during hot, dry spells will not only save valuable water but will also save you money on your water bills!
Sunday 4 February 2007
Friday 2 February 2007
How to Apply Fertilizer to Plants
A range of fertilizers, both organic and inorganic is available for exotic plants. Organic fertilizers are bulky like garden compost prepared from mounds of decomposed dried leaves and other plant remains, whilst others may be available in trendy forms like in pellet or powder form. Usually blood, fish and bone particles are used as the perfect organic manure. T
here are also some other variants of fertilizers like ‘soluble' fertilizers, ‘slow-release' fertilizers. While inorganic manures might give speedy results, they can be extremely harmful. If applied copiously. For that reason green manures are a better option. When applying fertilizers, you should always follow the manufacturer' recommended application rates for best results. It's also important to know how to apply powdered or pelleted forms of fertilizers around plants and widely, by broadcasting or scattering. The following few steps will aid you:
Step #1 For applying fertilizer to specific plants, scatter fertilizer evenly on the topsoil around the plant avoiding any contact with stems and leaves.
Step #2 For broadcasting over a large area, mark out your border and calculate the area with a tape or a cane. According to the manufacture's instructions for 1sq units, calculate the amount of fertilizers required and fill a large container or bucket with the right amount.
Step #3 Use a small cup to scatter fertilizers evenly over each section of your plot, by shaking the cup lightly. Make sure that you don't sprinkle any on the plant leaves and stems as this might scorch them. Continue in the same manner until each section has been covered. Then lightly scrape the fertilizer, collecting it into the top layer of the soil. This helps the soil to take in nutrients better, enabling the plant's root system to grow stronger.
Cultivate Your Exotic Plants With Clay Soil The most important attributes of any general-purpose soil are to provide nutrients and to ensure good drainage. Composition and proportion of soil mix might vary to a large extent but any good soil contains large amounts of organic matter like dung, bark compost or peat moss. Gravel and coarse sand help to prepare a well-drained soil. Minerals like airlite, perlite or vermiculite are usually added to increase the nutrient content of the soil.
In their natural state clay soils are most inflexible and unfit for cultivation, but with alterations they can be highly productive. When wet, the minute clay particles stick closely together, excluding air space that the plant roots need for survival. On drying, this compressed matter becomes extremely solid like concrete. Whether wet or dry, clay is largely impervious to water, causing water logging or flooding during winters and in rainy weather. As compared to lighter soils, it warms up awfully slowly; as a result the growing season is shortened significantly. To add to the list of woes, wet clay is extremely sticky and ‘unpleasant' to work with. Growing plants on clay soil is thus generally easier said than done and can only be handled when the soil is somewhat moist but not totally wet.
The prime purpose of cultivating clay is to break up the tiny particles so that air and water can trickle down. A natural way to achieve this is by temporarily leaving the dug up surface open to action by winter frosts. This ensures breaking up of large masses into smaller parts, which can be easily worked with and allows air and water to percolate. However, the effects being transitory, exposure to usual rainfall makes it sticky, unless of course if attempts are made to prevent it. To have a lasting impact, it's appropriate to include crude materials that will help in keeping the small lumps separate. A mixture of minute rough granules, as of sand or stone is perfect. However, builder's sand or sand from a beach side isn't useful at all because the granules are too fine and smooth.
Adding any kind of humus, a brown-black organic substance consisting of decayed vegetable, garden compost or animal matter, is ideal for providing nutrients for plants and for increasing the ability of soil to retain water and fertilizers. It also forms a haven for the innumerable soil microbes that work continuously; breaking down soil minerals into forms, easily consumable by plant roots.
here are also some other variants of fertilizers like ‘soluble' fertilizers, ‘slow-release' fertilizers. While inorganic manures might give speedy results, they can be extremely harmful. If applied copiously. For that reason green manures are a better option. When applying fertilizers, you should always follow the manufacturer' recommended application rates for best results. It's also important to know how to apply powdered or pelleted forms of fertilizers around plants and widely, by broadcasting or scattering. The following few steps will aid you:
Step #1 For applying fertilizer to specific plants, scatter fertilizer evenly on the topsoil around the plant avoiding any contact with stems and leaves.
Step #2 For broadcasting over a large area, mark out your border and calculate the area with a tape or a cane. According to the manufacture's instructions for 1sq units, calculate the amount of fertilizers required and fill a large container or bucket with the right amount.
Step #3 Use a small cup to scatter fertilizers evenly over each section of your plot, by shaking the cup lightly. Make sure that you don't sprinkle any on the plant leaves and stems as this might scorch them. Continue in the same manner until each section has been covered. Then lightly scrape the fertilizer, collecting it into the top layer of the soil. This helps the soil to take in nutrients better, enabling the plant's root system to grow stronger.
Cultivate Your Exotic Plants With Clay Soil The most important attributes of any general-purpose soil are to provide nutrients and to ensure good drainage. Composition and proportion of soil mix might vary to a large extent but any good soil contains large amounts of organic matter like dung, bark compost or peat moss. Gravel and coarse sand help to prepare a well-drained soil. Minerals like airlite, perlite or vermiculite are usually added to increase the nutrient content of the soil.
In their natural state clay soils are most inflexible and unfit for cultivation, but with alterations they can be highly productive. When wet, the minute clay particles stick closely together, excluding air space that the plant roots need for survival. On drying, this compressed matter becomes extremely solid like concrete. Whether wet or dry, clay is largely impervious to water, causing water logging or flooding during winters and in rainy weather. As compared to lighter soils, it warms up awfully slowly; as a result the growing season is shortened significantly. To add to the list of woes, wet clay is extremely sticky and ‘unpleasant' to work with. Growing plants on clay soil is thus generally easier said than done and can only be handled when the soil is somewhat moist but not totally wet.
The prime purpose of cultivating clay is to break up the tiny particles so that air and water can trickle down. A natural way to achieve this is by temporarily leaving the dug up surface open to action by winter frosts. This ensures breaking up of large masses into smaller parts, which can be easily worked with and allows air and water to percolate. However, the effects being transitory, exposure to usual rainfall makes it sticky, unless of course if attempts are made to prevent it. To have a lasting impact, it's appropriate to include crude materials that will help in keeping the small lumps separate. A mixture of minute rough granules, as of sand or stone is perfect. However, builder's sand or sand from a beach side isn't useful at all because the granules are too fine and smooth.
Adding any kind of humus, a brown-black organic substance consisting of decayed vegetable, garden compost or animal matter, is ideal for providing nutrients for plants and for increasing the ability of soil to retain water and fertilizers. It also forms a haven for the innumerable soil microbes that work continuously; breaking down soil minerals into forms, easily consumable by plant roots.
Exotic Pest Plants are on the prowl!
Most “ exotic” plants are those that have a history of birth in a tropical or sub-tropical region but have been brought to Mid-Atlantic by botanists and laymen, who have been inspired by their look and flexibility. Even though most of these plants are largely beneficial, a few turn hostile ones freed from the pests and the diseases that plague them in their native land. These exotic plants become “ invasive” , growing aggressively and spreading swiftly. These all-encompassing exotic plant species are dwindling the growth prospects for the native vegetation.
These assume a menacing character, which along with habitat loss pose serious threat for native Mid-Atlantic plants species. Japanese knotweed, Purple loosestrife and shrub honeysuckle are a few invasive exotic plants that disapprovingly impinge upon the natural habitat of the region where they are planted. Endangered and uncommon plants as well as animal species are particularly susceptible to competition from these belligerent exotics.
Write A 400 Plus word article about this topic and earn a £10 seed voucher. See Submit Your Gardening Article For Further Details.
These assume a menacing character, which along with habitat loss pose serious threat for native Mid-Atlantic plants species. Japanese knotweed, Purple loosestrife and shrub honeysuckle are a few invasive exotic plants that disapprovingly impinge upon the natural habitat of the region where they are planted. Endangered and uncommon plants as well as animal species are particularly susceptible to competition from these belligerent exotics.
Write A 400 Plus word article about this topic and earn a £10 seed voucher. See Submit Your Gardening Article For Further Details.
Thursday 1 February 2007
The Peach Tree
Title: History Of Peach Trees, Prunus Persica
Author: Patrick Malcolm
Article:
Copyright (c) 2006 Patrick Malcolm
Peach trees, Prunus persica, are originally believed to have come from China to the Mideast through the trade routes known to extend to Turkey and Iran (Persia). The peach seeds could be used to plant and grow trees throughout North Africa and Europe and finally were introduced to America in the mid 1500's. The first appearance of peaches in China may date back to 2000 BC.
Historians believe that peach trees were first introduced into the colonial settlements of the United States by the French explorers in 1562 at territories along the Gulf coastal region near Mobile, Alabama, then by the Spaniards who established Saint Augustine, Florida in 1565 on the Atlantic seaboard. The peach trees were planted from peach seed imported from Europe in an effort to establish a self sustaining, agricultural. fruit tree product to feed the colonists. American Indians spread the planting of the peach trees throughout vast territories by transporting the peach seed to other tribes that lived in the interior regions. This new crop of fruit was fast growing, producing a delicious peach two or three years from planting. The trees were so productive and vigorous that sometimes, widespread impenetrable thickets became established from the peach seeds that fell to the ground from fruit unharvested. The illusion was formed by settlers after 1600 that the peach trees were native to the United States, since they were so widely spread and grew so vigorously everywhere.
William Bartram, the famous American botanist and explorer, wrote in his book, Travels, in 1773 several accounts of his observations of ancient peach and plum orchards growing in Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. Bartram visited the ruins of a French plantation in 1776 near Mobile, Alabama, and recorded "I came presently to old fields, where I observed ruins of ancient habitations, there being abundance of peach and fig trees loaded with fruit."
Peach trees are grown primarily as a fruit tree; however, great interest in the non-fruiting, flowering peach tree was shown by President Thomas Jefferson who planted a double flowered tree that spectacularly bloomed at his home in Virginia in 1805. Flowering peach trees rate high, and desirable new cultivars of ornamental peach trees are available for planting and flowering with colors of white, pink, red, and peppermint (a mixture of red and white flower petals). These flowering peach trees are sterile in fruit production and bloom early in the spring, loaded with large colorful clusters of single or double flowered peach petals.
Peaches are less popular as a fresh fruit than a few years ago, primarily because most commercial peach cultivars (varieties) are tailored by hybridizers to grow and ship as a firm fruit. The firmness of these peaches is important when a grower considers shipping the peach fruit long distances, but not enough attention has been given by plant hybridizers to saving the ancient qualities of aroma, juiciness, flavor, and seed separation from the pulp. Another problem damaging fresh peach sales is that the labor hired to pick the fruit from the tree is not properly trained nor personally concerned in the ultimate ripening of the peach fruit into a juicy, soft, delicious, tasty peach. The peaches are simply picked too soon and too firm to provide a fruit product that compared to a backyard orchard, tree-ripened delicacy that our older citizens often experienced in their grandfather's back yard garden.
Most of the peaches grown by commercial orchards today are fruits that are harvested while too firm with a seed that clings to the pulp called a "clingstone" peach. The best flavored peaches ripen soft and the seed easily separates from the edible portion, and these are called "freestone" peaches.
Peach trees grown in the United States differ greatly from the aggressive, disease resistant, tasty, aromatic fruits grown by the early Americans. Over the centuries, the immune qualities of the peach trees to insects and diseases have been bred out by hybridizers, and these qualities have been replaced by inferior genes that make it difficult to buy a good flavorful peach at the store. The alternative to this problem is to buy tree ripened soft fruit at a fruit stand, pick-your-own orchard, or to grown your own backyard garden peaches concentrating on planting and growing old cultivars of the non-commercial home garden types.
Peach trees in America have steadily declined in vigor in the past 300 years, to the point that the life expectancy is only 15-20 years or less. This factor has been explained by some fruit tree observers as due to an array of incremental factors, such as disease and insect weakening of the tree and leaves, nematodes, and improper soils and drainage; however, these problems pre-existed in the environment, when peach trees were introduced into America. The likely explanation of peach tree decline is more probably connected to the weak gene immunity that has appeared in peach tree hybridization focused toward commercial tree production that ends with an early, firm peach, clingstone, with shipping advantages to distant markets.
The peach tree grows into a handsome canopy of dark-green rich foliage to a height of 6 to 10 feet. Most peach trees available in the United States are adapted and grown successfully in over 30 states. The grafted semi-dwarf peach trees are self pollinated, even before the flowers fully open, and the tree is cold hardy to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit; however, the red to pink delicate flowers can be damaged by temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Some orchardists like light frosts that will thin the bloom set, producing larger fruit. If extremely heavy flowering occurs, the excess flowers can be removed to 6 inch intervals, or by a chemical thinning that results in a much more marketable crop of fruit.
A developing peach can grow in various sizes of individual fruits on the same tree that requires considerable grading before marketing. The peach is covered with a characteristic fuzz that some growers prefer to reduce or removed mechanically before sales. A nectarine is nothing more than a fuzzless peach, even though certain distinct cultivars of nectarines are offered. In his classic 12 volume book of botanical insight in 1921, Luther Burbank in Fruit Improvement believed that the peach had evolved from a nectarine-like ancestor with the fuzz developing as a shield of protection, unlike the fuzzless nectarine. He theorized that the fuzz shielded the fruit from sunshine, moisture, wind, insect, and disease damage. The nectarine, he felt, was repressed by evolutionary restraints, because the nectarine lacked fuzz as a protective armor. The cousin of the nectarine, the almond, was crossed by Burbank in order to create a nectarine fruit with an edible almond pit, thus two crops from one hybridization, a fruit and an edible nut. Burbank also performed many interspecific crosses of peach with nectarine. The peach is quite fragile and subject to bruising if handled roughly.
Peach trees require a certain number of chilling hours in order to break dormancy properly and set a good crop of fruit. During a season most States will experience 500 chill hours in the winter; however, in many states, like central and southern Florida, the trees will not fruit properly unless cultivars are planted to fulfill low chilling requirements. It is very important to plant and grow peach trees on well drained soils. The fruit tastes better if trees are planted in the full sun, so that the early morning light will dry the dew on the peach leaves and fruit. Peach trees should be planted 12-15 feet apart in rows and will benefit by the application of lime and phosphate fertilizers around the ground beneath the branches. Weeds will be prevented in backyard orchards by heavily mulching, but otherwise the weeds should be mowed or sprayed with herbicides. Several kinds of peach varieties are usually planted to extend the availability and ripening of the fruit on the trees. Many cultivars are recommended for planting, such as: the Belle of Georgia, Elberta, Hale Haven, Harvester, Indian Blood Cling, Red Haven, Reliance, Gala, May Gold, Southern Pearl, Suwanee, Florida King, Florida Dawn, and many other low chill Florida fruiting cultivars.
Peaches contain antioxidants that are important health considerations in maintaining healthy bodies. Many websites that recommend eating pits of peaches or apricots to prevent cancer should be urged to research the fact that the seeds contain a poison organic chemical, cyanogen, which produces fatal cyanide poisoning that has caused sudden death for many people, including Steve McQueen, a famous movie actor of the last century.
Peach fruit has been demonstrated to contain healthy portions of Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, and Niacin. Peaches also contain the minerals Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, and Potassium.
Peach trees may be planted in various semi-dwarf sizes and ages for backyard fruit gardens and occasionally larger trees will grow fruit the first year of planting, but small trees usually begin bearing in the third year.
About the author:
Learn more about various plants, or purchase ones mentioned in this article by visiting the author's website: http://www.tytyga.com
Write A 400 Plus word article about this topic and earn a £10 seed voucher. See Submit Your Gardening Article For Further Details.
Author: Patrick Malcolm
Article:
Copyright (c) 2006 Patrick Malcolm
Peach trees, Prunus persica, are originally believed to have come from China to the Mideast through the trade routes known to extend to Turkey and Iran (Persia). The peach seeds could be used to plant and grow trees throughout North Africa and Europe and finally were introduced to America in the mid 1500's. The first appearance of peaches in China may date back to 2000 BC.
Historians believe that peach trees were first introduced into the colonial settlements of the United States by the French explorers in 1562 at territories along the Gulf coastal region near Mobile, Alabama, then by the Spaniards who established Saint Augustine, Florida in 1565 on the Atlantic seaboard. The peach trees were planted from peach seed imported from Europe in an effort to establish a self sustaining, agricultural. fruit tree product to feed the colonists. American Indians spread the planting of the peach trees throughout vast territories by transporting the peach seed to other tribes that lived in the interior regions. This new crop of fruit was fast growing, producing a delicious peach two or three years from planting. The trees were so productive and vigorous that sometimes, widespread impenetrable thickets became established from the peach seeds that fell to the ground from fruit unharvested. The illusion was formed by settlers after 1600 that the peach trees were native to the United States, since they were so widely spread and grew so vigorously everywhere.
William Bartram, the famous American botanist and explorer, wrote in his book, Travels, in 1773 several accounts of his observations of ancient peach and plum orchards growing in Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. Bartram visited the ruins of a French plantation in 1776 near Mobile, Alabama, and recorded "I came presently to old fields, where I observed ruins of ancient habitations, there being abundance of peach and fig trees loaded with fruit."
Peach trees are grown primarily as a fruit tree; however, great interest in the non-fruiting, flowering peach tree was shown by President Thomas Jefferson who planted a double flowered tree that spectacularly bloomed at his home in Virginia in 1805. Flowering peach trees rate high, and desirable new cultivars of ornamental peach trees are available for planting and flowering with colors of white, pink, red, and peppermint (a mixture of red and white flower petals). These flowering peach trees are sterile in fruit production and bloom early in the spring, loaded with large colorful clusters of single or double flowered peach petals.
Peaches are less popular as a fresh fruit than a few years ago, primarily because most commercial peach cultivars (varieties) are tailored by hybridizers to grow and ship as a firm fruit. The firmness of these peaches is important when a grower considers shipping the peach fruit long distances, but not enough attention has been given by plant hybridizers to saving the ancient qualities of aroma, juiciness, flavor, and seed separation from the pulp. Another problem damaging fresh peach sales is that the labor hired to pick the fruit from the tree is not properly trained nor personally concerned in the ultimate ripening of the peach fruit into a juicy, soft, delicious, tasty peach. The peaches are simply picked too soon and too firm to provide a fruit product that compared to a backyard orchard, tree-ripened delicacy that our older citizens often experienced in their grandfather's back yard garden.
Most of the peaches grown by commercial orchards today are fruits that are harvested while too firm with a seed that clings to the pulp called a "clingstone" peach. The best flavored peaches ripen soft and the seed easily separates from the edible portion, and these are called "freestone" peaches.
Peach trees grown in the United States differ greatly from the aggressive, disease resistant, tasty, aromatic fruits grown by the early Americans. Over the centuries, the immune qualities of the peach trees to insects and diseases have been bred out by hybridizers, and these qualities have been replaced by inferior genes that make it difficult to buy a good flavorful peach at the store. The alternative to this problem is to buy tree ripened soft fruit at a fruit stand, pick-your-own orchard, or to grown your own backyard garden peaches concentrating on planting and growing old cultivars of the non-commercial home garden types.
Peach trees in America have steadily declined in vigor in the past 300 years, to the point that the life expectancy is only 15-20 years or less. This factor has been explained by some fruit tree observers as due to an array of incremental factors, such as disease and insect weakening of the tree and leaves, nematodes, and improper soils and drainage; however, these problems pre-existed in the environment, when peach trees were introduced into America. The likely explanation of peach tree decline is more probably connected to the weak gene immunity that has appeared in peach tree hybridization focused toward commercial tree production that ends with an early, firm peach, clingstone, with shipping advantages to distant markets.
The peach tree grows into a handsome canopy of dark-green rich foliage to a height of 6 to 10 feet. Most peach trees available in the United States are adapted and grown successfully in over 30 states. The grafted semi-dwarf peach trees are self pollinated, even before the flowers fully open, and the tree is cold hardy to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit; however, the red to pink delicate flowers can be damaged by temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Some orchardists like light frosts that will thin the bloom set, producing larger fruit. If extremely heavy flowering occurs, the excess flowers can be removed to 6 inch intervals, or by a chemical thinning that results in a much more marketable crop of fruit.
A developing peach can grow in various sizes of individual fruits on the same tree that requires considerable grading before marketing. The peach is covered with a characteristic fuzz that some growers prefer to reduce or removed mechanically before sales. A nectarine is nothing more than a fuzzless peach, even though certain distinct cultivars of nectarines are offered. In his classic 12 volume book of botanical insight in 1921, Luther Burbank in Fruit Improvement believed that the peach had evolved from a nectarine-like ancestor with the fuzz developing as a shield of protection, unlike the fuzzless nectarine. He theorized that the fuzz shielded the fruit from sunshine, moisture, wind, insect, and disease damage. The nectarine, he felt, was repressed by evolutionary restraints, because the nectarine lacked fuzz as a protective armor. The cousin of the nectarine, the almond, was crossed by Burbank in order to create a nectarine fruit with an edible almond pit, thus two crops from one hybridization, a fruit and an edible nut. Burbank also performed many interspecific crosses of peach with nectarine. The peach is quite fragile and subject to bruising if handled roughly.
Peach trees require a certain number of chilling hours in order to break dormancy properly and set a good crop of fruit. During a season most States will experience 500 chill hours in the winter; however, in many states, like central and southern Florida, the trees will not fruit properly unless cultivars are planted to fulfill low chilling requirements. It is very important to plant and grow peach trees on well drained soils. The fruit tastes better if trees are planted in the full sun, so that the early morning light will dry the dew on the peach leaves and fruit. Peach trees should be planted 12-15 feet apart in rows and will benefit by the application of lime and phosphate fertilizers around the ground beneath the branches. Weeds will be prevented in backyard orchards by heavily mulching, but otherwise the weeds should be mowed or sprayed with herbicides. Several kinds of peach varieties are usually planted to extend the availability and ripening of the fruit on the trees. Many cultivars are recommended for planting, such as: the Belle of Georgia, Elberta, Hale Haven, Harvester, Indian Blood Cling, Red Haven, Reliance, Gala, May Gold, Southern Pearl, Suwanee, Florida King, Florida Dawn, and many other low chill Florida fruiting cultivars.
Peaches contain antioxidants that are important health considerations in maintaining healthy bodies. Many websites that recommend eating pits of peaches or apricots to prevent cancer should be urged to research the fact that the seeds contain a poison organic chemical, cyanogen, which produces fatal cyanide poisoning that has caused sudden death for many people, including Steve McQueen, a famous movie actor of the last century.
Peach fruit has been demonstrated to contain healthy portions of Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, and Niacin. Peaches also contain the minerals Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, and Potassium.
Peach trees may be planted in various semi-dwarf sizes and ages for backyard fruit gardens and occasionally larger trees will grow fruit the first year of planting, but small trees usually begin bearing in the third year.
About the author:
Learn more about various plants, or purchase ones mentioned in this article by visiting the author's website: http://www.tytyga.com
Write A 400 Plus word article about this topic and earn a £10 seed voucher. See Submit Your Gardening Article For Further Details.
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