Robert Pavlis

Soaking Peas Before Planting – Does It Improve Germination?

To soak or not to soak, that is the question Hamlet would have asked if he liked growing peas. Lots of people recommend soaking peas before planting, but does it do any good? Will soaking peas speed up germination? Will it produce fruits sooner?

Dry pea seed is extremely wrinkled and soaking in water plumps them right up. It is also known that seeds need to absorb water before the germination process can start. Soaking peas before planting makes perfect sense but what happens in the garden. Is there really a benefit to soaking?

Soaking Peas Before Planting - Does It Improve Germination? — Soaking Peas Before Planting – Does It Improve Germination?

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Sun Mapping Your Garden the Easy Way

Sun mapping your garden will help you buy the right plant and place it in the right location. Plants grow best if you give them the right amount of sun, and the only way to do this is to know how much sun each of your garden spaces gets. In this post, I will show you a very easy way to get this information and develop your personalized sun map.

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Best Rooting Hormones – Do Homemade Rooting Hormones Work?

What is the best rooting hormone for plant cuttings? Numerous homemade remedies are claimed to work for rooting cuttings, including cinnamon, honey, willow extracts, aspirin, peroxide, coconut water, vitamin C, and aloe vera. Which of these works best?

How do they compare to commercial products? In this post, I will review various options promoted on social media and recommend the best ones.

Best Rooting Hormones - Do Homemade Rooting Hormones Work? — Best Rooting Hormones—Do Homemade Rooting Hormones Work?

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Willow Water Rooting Hormone – Does It Work?

Willow water rooting hormone is a simple DIY way to get some cheap rooting hormone. Lots of people use it for all kinds of cuttings, and many claim that it works. In this post, I will have a close look at the realities of willow water for rooting.

If you are not familiar with rooting hormones, have a look at this: Rooting Hormones – What Are They

Willow Water Rooting Hormone - Does It Work? — Willow Water Rooting Hormone – Does It Work?

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Barnardia japonica

Barnardia japonica: photo by Robert Pavlis

Barnardia japonica is a lovely bulb that flowers in late summer, early fall, when most other rock garden plants are slowing down. The pink-mauve flower spikes are quite tall for such a small bulb, reaching about a foot. The flowers are very dainty, but are produced in numbers large enough to give a good display. As the flowers open, the flower scape elongates.

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Aspirin Rooting Hormone – Does it Work?

Aspirin rooting hormone is recommended as one of the best rooting hormones for plant cuttings. Dissolve an aspirin tablet in water and soak cuttings in it for an hour. It increases the chance of rooting – or so it is claimed on many DIY sites – but does it work?

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Health Benefits of Houseplants – Learn the Truth

Houseplants are becoming more popular and there are many health benefits ascribed to them. Unfortunately most of these claims are not true.

In this post I will review our current understanding of the health benefits of houseplants.

Health Benefits of Houseplants - Learn the Truth — Health Benefits of Houseplants – Learn the Truth

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Can Sunflowers Harm Plants – Are They Allelopathic

Sunflower seeds are good for feeding birds. They are relatively cheap, easy to handle, and birds love them. There is only one problem – the hulls. By spring, the ground under bird feeders is covered with sunflower seed hulls.

Very little seems to grow under a feeder, and many have heard that the sunflower hulls are allelopathic and that the allelochemicals prevent other plants from growing. There are even lists of plants on the internet that are affected by these chemicals.

There is also a concern about disposing of sunflower seed hulls. Is it safe to compost them? Should they be put into the garbage? Can they be used as mulch? In this post, I’ll answer these questions by looking at the science.

Can Sunflower Seed Hulls Harm Plants - Are They Allelopathic, Photo credit: torange.biz — Can Sunflower Seed Hulls Harm Plants – Are They Allelopathic? Photo credit: torange.biz

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When Common Sense Clashes with Science

What happens when common sense clashes with science?

A lot of gardening information is based on information provided by others. This mostly comes from past experience and common sense. But past experience is largely based on previous common sense. Great, great granddad thought double digging made sense, he tried it, it worked – whatever that means – and it has been passed down through the ages.

What happens when new science provides facts that disagrees with common sense? What do we do?

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How To Get Rid of Slugs and Snails in the Garden

How to get rid of slugs and snails in the garden, is one of the most asked questions, especially by people gardening in wetter climates. They can cause huge amounts of damage as they eat up your plants.

Check the internet and you will find plenty of home remedies and DIY projects for getting rid of slugs and snails. The problem is that most of them either don’t work or have a limited effect on slugs. What does work?

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Rainbow Tomatoes and Other Fake Fruit & Vegetable Seeds

It’s almost time to start buying seeds and it’s easy to find all sorts of unusual seeds. The rainbow tomatoes shown below are very popular, but what kind of tomatoes do they produce?

What about blue strawberries and purple pumpkins – they sound delicious. The one I am really interested in is the new vegan burger tree seed.

Rainbow Tomatoes and Other Fake Vegetable Seeds, photo source: Family Resale Store

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Sheet Mulching (Lasagna Gardening) – Does It Harm Soil?

Sheet mulching, also called lasagna method or lasagna gardening, is a popular technique for creating a new garden. Some people even use it as an annual mulching system to keep weeds down.

Lots of people claim success with the technique because it does kill grass and weed plants. Others claim that sheet mulching reduces the oxygen levels in the soil, thereby harming the biology in the soil. Which side of the argument is correct? Should you be using sheet mulching in the garden?

Sheet Mulching (lasagna gardening) - does it harm the soil biota — Sheet Mulching (lasagna gardening) , Photo credit The Real Dirt Blog

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