Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category

English gardens had degenerated into meaningless repetitions of French and Dutch fashions by the end of the seventeenth century. Conventional plans were mimicked or exaggerated until the formal manner became merely an affected mannerism. Finally, nothing remaining but the defects of the old system, a reaction resulted in its entire destruction. On the ruins was created the Landscape Garden, in the strict meaning of the word no garden at all, but a stretch of cultivated scenery.

The English — perhaps because they had most abused the conventional system — were the first to raise an outcry against formal gardening. Formality could certainly be carried to no greater excess; it was logical to seek beauty in a contrary extreme. Freedom from every restraint was the gospel of the new school. Kent, its leader according to Walpole, was the first to jump outside the fence and insist that the garden should be “set free from its prim regularity, and the gentle stream taught to serpentize.” His method, as described by Lord Kames, was, “to paint a field with beautiful objects, natural and artificial, disposed like colors upon a canvas.”
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The reign of Edward I allowed landowners to turn their attention to something other than defense and safety. As within the castle the wealthy lord sought to embellish the great hall, which often took the place of the ancient keep, with fine tapestry, richly carved furniture, magnificently carved garden statuary, large functional and ornate garden fountains, so outside as well he strove to decorate the gardens with fountains, arbors, and perhaps a maze.

The improvement in husbandry and horticulture was as satisfactory as the advance made in the fine arts. Here the influence of the king was specially felt. Though engaged in war or busy with legislative cares, Edward I found time to attend to the cultivation of his gardens and the stocking of his vineyards and orchards. Fruit and forest trees, shrubs, and flowers introduced from the continent were naturalized in the king’s gardens, fed by plentiful water from the fountains, or in those of the nobility and the larger religious houses.

New varieties of fruit were introduced at this time. Figs, oranges, lemons, citrons, almonds, and even olives are noted among the fruits growing in the gardens of some of the large land-owners. These natives of a southern climes could not have ripened their fruits unless in exceptionally warm seasons or by means of hothouses, with water supplied by the local fountains; however, the evidence that they existed is overwhelming.
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In nature, pests are usually controlled by the presence of insect predators and parasites which keep the populations of the harmful insects in control.

Most of the insects in nature are either beneficial or at least harmless. There are many ways to encourage insect predators in one’s garden.

1. Create a suitable habitat for insect predators. Flowering shrubs and trees throughout the garden will attract many beneficial insects including parasitic wasps which require pollen and nectar for their growth and maturity. Plants belonging to Umbelliferae family are particularly effective in attracting natural enemies of pests.

2. Provide alternate hosts for pests. To ensure availability of food for the beneficial organisms, grow alternate host plants along fence lines and in between cultivated crops. The natural enemy populations on these alternate host plants will control pests attacking the cultivated crop.
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Description on cordless electric lawnmowers. Have you got any question on cordless lawn mowers?, just read this article and you will learn the bases on these new innovative lawnmowers.

Most cordless electric lawnmowers have ups and downs on the mowers market. It is due to these specific lawn mowers have experienced so many breakdowns in the last years. Customers are dissatisfied upon electric lawnmowers even though the idea is really brilliant. Several companies invested in making cordless lawnmowers such as Ryobi, Black & Decker and Toro manufacturers . But they have discontinued manufacturing those models because of slow demand.

Most electric work with 24V NiCad lawnmower batteries. They are able to keep working between 1 up to 2 hours for specific models. The main advantage of cordless, is that we don’t have to deal with the hassle of dragging around an extension cord. This becomes a big problem when we work on relative big yards. Therefore, they performs properly on the field without cords.
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You may just have doubts of whether the plant will eventually grow or not. Also some plants require additional heat, water and humidity which maybe difficult to provide always. So here, we make gardening simple and easy for you. Here are the top easy to grow plants which will ensure success without fail!

Mint
This is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Mint plants will grow rapidly and even spread to neighboring patches of your garden if you are no careful enough. Hence, a good approach is to grow mint in a container. The good thing is that, this plant needs hardly any maintenance and care. You can take a fresh sprig of mint and can grow it anywhere either in direct sunlight or inside a cool and shady place. You only need to make sure to water the mint plant thoroughly everyday till you see the seedling leaves appear.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes are so easy to grow that it is almost ridiculous! All you need to do is take a handful of tomato seeds from a tomato which you have already cut. Then make sure to wash the seeds from all the tomato juice that is clinging to them. Otherwise the seeds will be coated with sugar which can cause a fungal attack. Then place the seeds around a quarter inch from the soil top. You should begin to see shoots appear after around a week or so. Once the seedling leaves appear, place them in direct sunlight for three hours every day till the leaves are grown. Then transplant the seedling into a pot.
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It is becoming more and more obvious these days that we need to recycle as much as we can, and anyone with a garden has a head start and can make a great contribution. To many novice gardeners, including myself, this subject can be somewhat difficult to grasp; but in fact it is really straightforward – there are just a few very simple rules:

You need a compost bin, and the type you decide on rather depends on the size of your garden, but there are a couple of options:

A purpose built plastic bin purchased from a garden centre, not too expensive; and you just fill up from the top and a few months later, you can take compost from a small hatch at the base.

Alternatively, if you can wield a saw and some nails, you can make a wooden slatted enclosure, one metre square – or you can buy them ready made – and cover it with a piece of old carpet to keep the worst of the weather off.

What you can compost:

- all uncooked vegetable and fruit peelings
- teabags, tea leaves and coffee grounds
- egg shells
- dead flowers from the house
- and from the garden, soft prunings
- spent bedding plants, dead leaves, lawn mowings
- spent compost from hanging baskets or containers
- some dryer materials such as shredded pape
- rabbit and guinea pig bedding.
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Planting roses is fairly simple gardening stuff. The first thing is to never let the rose roots dry out. If you do, the rose will either perform poorly the first year or simply die. It does help to soak the roots in warm water for an hour before you plant if you’ve purchased the rose as a bareroot plant. Container grown plants do not have to be soaked.

Always did a dollar sized hole for a 25-cent plant. The bigger the hole, the looser the soil will be and the easier those tiny feeder roots will grow quickly. I can’t emphasize this enough. And never, ever (with a bare root plant) cut off healthy roots. You can remove broken roots but leave every healthy one that’s on the plant. They’re your ticket to early blooms.

When you backfill the planting hole, I always add one shovel of peat and one shovel of compost for every three shovels of soil. This gives the rose some quick nourishment and makes a wonderful soil for expansion. The only exception to this is if you’re planting in a clay soil and then I only add the compost. I do not add the peat as I want the rose roots to grow out into the soil that surrounds the planting hole. They might establish faster in peat-amended soil but they’ll grow better and survive longer in compost-amended soil.
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Thinking of adding a fountain to your pond? Installing a pond fountain is simple, and it will add both visual interest and the benefit of oxygenation to your pond. A pond fountain is generally made up of a recirculating submersible electric pump with a fountain jet attached to it (also called a spray fountain). There are many different sizes and styles of pond fountains available; the style of the spray is a matter of preference, but the size depends upon how large your pond is. Your preferred fountain retailer can help you choose the pond fountain that is right for your pond. You’ll need to have the pump and fountain jet combo, a large terracotta pot, some concrete blocks, and a nearby source of electricity. There are four easy steps to install a pond fountain:

1. The pond fountain must be placed where you can easily get to it for maintenance. If you have a small pond, this is not an issue. If the fountain is going into a large pond, you may want to position it so that it is close to the edge.

2. The pump must be raised up from the floor of the pond in order to reduce the amount of debris sucked into it. This also ensures that the fountain head will be above the water. This is where your terracotta pot comes in – turn it upside down and place the pump on top. If it’s not the right height, use concrete blocks to raise it. If your pump is small and lightweight, you may need to tie it to the pot to prevent it from floating away. Make sure it is situated so that the fountain jet is facing up.
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