Orchids are one of the easiest house plants to grow, but they remain a mystery for many people. In this post I will provide complete orchid care instructions that are foolproof. I have grown several thousand orchids, and this method works every time. My focus here will be on the phalaenopsis orchid, but the same orchid care methods will work on most of the orchids found in homes.
Teaming with Microbes, A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web was reviewed in an earlier post Teaming with Microbes – In-depth Book Review and in Teaming with Microbes – A Close Look, part 1. In this post I’ll look at more content of the book and discuss their validity and the validity of the soil food web. A gardener can learn a lot by looking at these topics in some detail.
Teaming with Microbes, A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web was reviewed in an earlier post Teaming with Microbes – In-depth Book Review. In this post I would like to delve into some of the contents of the book in more detail and provide a different perspective on the soil food web. A gardener can learn a lot by looking at these topics in some detail.
The fall blue monkshood is fairly common in gardens, but very few people have ever seen a climbing monkshood. Aconitum alboviolaceum is such a plant – and a stunning plant at that. This is a rare species that I obtained from Botanically Inclinded and planted last year, as a good sized plant. Normally in this column, I only write about plants that I have grown for a couple of years so that I know they are perfectly hardy in zone 5, but I am making an exception for this very special plant which has grown in Waterloo, Ontario for a couple of years.
Teaming with Microbes, a Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, is a fairly popular book in the gardening community and I thought it was time to do a review. This book is written by Jeff Lowenfels, a garden writer and attorney, and Wyne Lewis a lifelong gardener. Both gardeners clearly follow the teachings of Dr. Ingham and her soil food web. They have adopted her methodologies and present the ideas in this book.
Dish Soap like Sunlight or Dawn is a regular addition to home pest control remedies for the garden. You use dish soap every day and eat from the dishes you clean with it – how can it be harmful to plants? It’s time to look through the bubbles and see the truth.
Insecticidal soap can be used to get rid of certain insect pests on plants, and it is one of the most non-toxic pesticides available. However, it is still a pesticide and needs to be treated as one. Many people use insecticidal soaps incorrectly, or for the wrong type of insect. In this post I will review how it works, which insects it controls and how to use it correctly. I’ll then review the problems with home made insecticidal soap.
A lawn roller is traditionally used in spring as part of regular lawn maintenance. Golf courses do it and they have great greens – so it must be good for your lawn too – right? Wrong. Don’t do it. If you own a lawn roller it is time to find another use for it.
A rooting hormone is used in plant propagation to grow new roots on cuttings. In a previous post, called Rooting Hormones – What Are They, I provided some background information. In this post I will help you understand how they should be used.
Bacteria are a vital part of soil and the health of plants, so it is no wonder that there is a lot of talk about keeping soil bacteria healthy, increasing their numbers, having the right kind of bacteria, and so on. It only makes sense that if bacteria are important for plants, gardeners should (a) know more about them and (b) learn to manage them properly.
Unfortunately, along with good practical information, you will also find quite a few soil bacteria myths. The one I’d like to discuss today deals with the idea that you can figure out which type of bacteria you have. Armed with this information, you can then manage the populations to increase the ones that are most beneficial for your plants.
Sanguisorba tenuifolia v. alba is a delicate looking plant with unusual nodding, bottlebrush-like spikes of white fluffy flowers. The shape and quantity of the flowers make it stand out in the border at a time when few other plants are flowering. It looks delicate, but does not need staking.
Rooting hormones are recommended for rotting plant cuttings. To help you decide if you need them, and which ones to select, it is useful to know more about them. In this post I will provide back ground information about rooting hormones. In future posts I’ll show you how to use them.
