Gardening Plants

By Ahmed Hajouj.


When it comes to gardening plants, there are too many to name.  Gardening plants can refer to flowers, shrubs, herbs, vegetables, fruits, and many more.  There are also gardening plants that are in season at different times of the year, some in fall and winter, others in spring and summer. Whatever type of gardening you decide is your forte; there are plenty of gardening plants available to suit your preferences.

If you want gardening plants that you can actually use instead of just look at, vegetables, herbs, and fruits are all very satisfying.  Edible plants add an excitement to gardening because of the produce available at harvest time.  The main vegetables grown in smaller, home gardens as well as larger ones include corn, peas, cucumbers, potatoes, squash, peppers, onions, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and beets.  Popular fruits are pears, plums, tomatoes, blueberries, apricots, cherries, and strawberries.  Herbs are used for their wonderful fragrances, to spice up a salad, and in cooking.  Herbs that are often home grown include thyme, sage, dill, mint, lavender, and chives.

It is fairly easy to have a colorful garden in the spring and summer months, but it is a whole different ball-game during the cold, winter months.  Even though it is difficult, with planning and a little more care you can have a colorful garden year round.  One gardening plant that thrives in the fall and winter months is the Rudbeckia, a beautiful yellow perennial.  Others include the Christmas rose, the Japanese Anemone, and Cosmos.

When you think of flowers you automatically think of a spring garden full of many different, beautiful colors.  Spring and summer gardening plants are some of the prettiest things on earth and give inspiration to all who grow them.  Some of the most grown spring plants are tulips, daffodils, and violets.  Favorites of the warmer months of summer are lilies, dahlias, and roses.

When gardening, many people will opt for decorative grasses or shrubs.  Monkey grass is an all time favorite, especially for a sidewalk.  These will gardening plants can be for looks, can act as a border or fence, and can be used for privacy.  Shrubs are easy to take care of and add a defining look to any yard or garden.

There are so many different kinds of gardening plants available.  Many gardening plants actually have a purpose and can be used, whereas many of them are just for looks.  The kind of gardening plant you choose to have in your garden is completely up to you, but remember, no matter what kind it is, it will require some maintenance and without proper care you will end up with a garden full of just dirt.

Gardening Gloves

By Ahmed Hajouj.


One of the best things about gardening is felling warm, moist dirt in your bare hands, but you will often end up with blistered, chapped, and scraped skin.  The solution to this problem is gardening gloves.  The more time you spend getting down and dirty in the garden, the more you need gardening gloves.  Gardening gloves will be able to ease some of the pain you would otherwise be subject to, letting you spend even more time playing in the dirt.

There are hundreds of different types of gloves on the market, and the kind of gardening glove you buy depends on the way you garden.  Some gloves offer protection against specific substances or things, for example, leather gloves are not the best for working with chemicals or water.  Many gardening gloves are specialized for pruning thorns, refilling gasoline tanks, or using a chain saw, while others are for general tasks such as raking, digging, and weeding.

After choosing the type of gardening glove you need, you must make sure and pick out the perfect fit.  Gloves that are too big have a tendency to slip off while gloves that are too small could cause aches and cramps.  Any glove that doesn’t fit could defeat the whole purpose of wearing gloves and cause blistering.  To find a glove with the best fit possible, try the gloves on both hands, make a fist, and imitate the movements you make when gardening.  If there is no pinching or slipping and the glove is comfortable then you have found your match.

Gardening gloves can be bought in many places and are produced by many companies, causing them all to have a different quality and price.  Most gloves can be washed in cool water and then air dried.  There are many different types of gloves you can purchase to satisfy your varying needs, such as cotton and cotton-polyester for general-purpose chores.  These are among the most popular gloves and are perfect for light chores in cool and dry weather.  Leather gloves can also be used for general chores but are heavier than cotton and polyester.  Chemical resistant gloves will help protect your hands against oils, acids, herbicides, pesticides, and many other chemicals.  Grip enhancing gloves are designed with rubber dots for extra gripping power.  Cut and puncture resistant gloves are designed to offer extra protection against sharp edges

If you are the type person that only wears gloves as an optional luxury for various tasks, you should think seriously for using specialized gardening gloves for many of the activities you will be doing outside.  There is really no reason not to wear gardening gloves; they protect your hands from the elements and don’t ever cost all that much.

Other Factors in Garden Creation

By Ahmed Hajouj.


So now you've picked out what type of garden you will have, what the location will be, and what kind of fertilizer you need, now is the time to really get started in choosing your garden environment. First you'll want to choose what your garden barriers will be. What will separate your garden from the rest of the world? Next you'll want to choose the decorations and support for your plants. Often some kind of metal mesh is necessary to keep your plant standing up. You will also want to choose how much soil and fertilizer to buy, and how to arrange all the plants in your garden.

Choosing a border is actually a fairly important step in getting your garden started. It might not actually affect the well-being of the plants, but having a garden is a fairly aesthetic ordeal for many people anyways. So usually you will want to choose between metal and wood. You can stack up boards around the perimeter of your garden, and give it a rather nice cabin look. If you're looking for a more modern look, you can obtain some metal lining at your local home improvement store for rather cheap, and installation is medium difficulty.

Finding something nice-looking to support your plants can be a little bit more challenging. Sometimes a short metal pole can work well, but often for plants such as tomatoes you will need a wire mesh for it to pull itself up on. You can find these at any gardening store, usually
pre-shaped in a sort of cone shape ideal for plants. The plant just grows up through it, and usually it will last until the plant is grown enough to support itself. After that you can take a pair of wire-cutters and just snip it free.

Deciding how much soil to buy can be slightly easier. Look up information on your plants and find out the ideal soil depth. Then dig out that much from your garden, take the measurements, and find out the exact amount of cubic feet of soil that you will need. Go to the store and buy it,
preferably adding on a few bags just so you can replenish the supply if it compresses or runs out. If you live in an area where the ground is rough, dry, and barren of nutrients, then you might even want to add a few inches of depth to the original recommendation.

Arranging the plants is rather important to the success of your garden. I'm not talking about some kind of feng-shui thing, but depending on your watering, some plants might hog all the water and leave the other plants high and dry. Some plants have longer roots than others, and are more aggressive in the collection of water. If you place one of these plants next to a plant with weaker, shorter roots, it will quickly hijack the water supply for itself, and choke out the other plant.

I hope I've led you to realize that placement isn't the only important thing about a garden. There are many other factors that might not seem very significant, but spending a proper amount of time considering them could change the outcome of your garden. So if you're working on building a garden, use and reference you can (the library, the internet, and magazines) to look in to some of the factors I've mentioned.

Greenhouses On The Move

By Ahmed Hajouj.


Greenhouses are becoming more and more popular to those people with “green thumb.” Even home gardeners are considering having one for their garden for the benefits that it gives. Since full-sized, regular greenhouses can really be expensive and costly to maintain, it may be impractical for these small home gardeners to build one. 

But do not fret! It is because there are new portable and mini greenhouses now available for one to purchase and conveniently place in their gardens. These portable greenhouses are ideal for those who want to start their growing season early in the spring and extend it during the fall. These are also best for overwintering crops and are inexpensive too. 

Because these greenhouses are portable, they are light in weight and compact for easy setup, taking down and transporting. Most of these portable greenhouse kits can be set up in 30 minutes or even less. And because they are compact, they can easily be stored in any convenient place in the garage or closet when it is not yet time to use them.

What portable greenhouses do?
Portable greenhouses, just like the traditional ones, trap heat coming from the sun during the day through its covering and keep the heat radiated by the soil during the night to keep the surroundings warm enough for the plants. When a portable greenhouse is closed, it also traps in moisture which helps reduce the frequency of watering the plants inside.

A portable greenhouse is ideal for early planting of seeds, protecting the tender plants from the cold climate, starting perennial seeds in summer, fast rooting because of the need to transplant, and growing different kinds of plants that are not commonly grown in the area. This can also be used to overwinter plants especially when heated.

Portable greenhouses becoming popular
Gardeners are being continuously interested in these portable greenhouses and increase in sales of these products is evident. For one, these portables take no time to set up to get them going right away. Taking them down when it is not time to use them is also hassle-free. A greenhouse is not really needed to be up all year round especially for small-time plant growers. Thus, mini and portable greenhouses are ideal for their needs. 

For first timers, portable greenhouse is also recommended since this will give them the feel of having a real greenhouse before they consider building a real, full-sized one. And these portables are also inexpensive and less costly to maintain. This allows for them to jump-start their gardening career without having to spend a lot of money to buy all those greenhouse supplies that are required for the big ones. Also, installation is significantly quicker and easier than permanent ones so no additional or advanced tools are required.

These portable greenhouses come in different shapes and sizes. It can be as little as a small tent that fits only 2 plant shelves. There are some that look like portable closets that are around 6 feet tall. And there are also bigger ones as tall as 7 to 8 feet and are designed like a dome. These big ones can fit up to 3 to 4 bigger shelves inside.

Gardening Tips
Weather can really be unpredictable. So when a sudden cold snap occurs, burlap sacks filled with leaves can be thrown over the sash on the frame or covering during the night to prevent too much cold to get inside. Bales of straw or hay may also be stacked against the frame.

For extreme summer sunlight protection, some sort of shading can be used to prevent plant damage. Examples of covering that can be used as a shade are knitted shade covers, old bamboo blinds, and lath.

Plants inside the greenhouse should also be watered as early in the day as possible. This is to allow for quick drying of the soil before it gets dark. Improperly managed drainage and keeping the soil wet can pose problems later on and may not be a good gardening experience for beginners.

Whether you are a novice or is already an experienced gardener, having a portable greenhouse may be beneficial to your gardening needs. Being able to transport your greenhouse in a convenient and more strategic location is always possible with this portable version. Maintaining and taking proper care for this portable greenhouse is also not as costly and demanding than the permanent, full-sized ones.

The Purposes of Hydroponics Greenhouses

By Ahmed Hajouj.


Hydroponic greenhouses provide an inorganic method of raising plants. Most plants that are hydroponically raised must be treated with proper care in controlled conditions. The use of gravel is common on this kind of greenhouses where the gravel supports the roots of the plants because no soil is used in raising the plants. It also balances the assorted nutrients that feed the plants in the form of liquid. 

Those large commercially oriented greenhouse have automated ways to refine and propagate seeds. All the things needed to grow the seeds are all set with automated care and maintenance. There are sensitive sensors on the gravel that automatically turns on the pumps that contains water or other chemical solutions that are applied on the seeds.

Using hydroponic greenhouses gives a gardener the advantage of increasing the crop amount yielded in a single harvest. In normal agriculture, he may only produce the regular crop harvest. He may double or triple the crop production by applying the methods in hydroponic gardening. It should create big success in his greenhouse by using chemical fertilizers rather than the usual potting soil or organic fertilizers. 

Steve Fox of New Mexico proposes that greenhouse gardeners should increase the production of yielded crop by extensively practicing the use of inorganic chemical fertilizers. He may also avoid poisoning the soil from organic chemical fertilizers that kills the living microorganisms that are essential in the natural growth of the plants. He says that these chemicals should be used only on controlled conditions by special hydroponic greenhouses where the destruction of the gravel beds will be avoided which are important in the for the root support of the hydroponically raised plants. 

A person may wonder how the food he eats comes from hydroponic greenhouses knowing that this method used chemical inorganic fertilizer. This could bother a person’s mindset on the food that he eats. Many nutritionists have proven that these vegetables or fruits that came from hydroponic greenhouses are safe and nutritious because plants only absorb the fertilizer in an organic state. 

Daniel Arnon, a physiologist professor from the University of California have stated that the plant nutrients acquired from organic composts are applied to plants when they are converted into inorganic state because of the role of the microorganisms to fertilize the soil.  Many food scientists have studied and proved that all fertilizer elements should be converted first into soluble form before the roots of the plant use it. 

The widely used chemical fertilizers have oriented many greenhouses to feed the crops and not the soil. This may result to the death of the soil because of the break down of the organic composition. When it comes to fertilizing the soil, it is important to remember the proper organic steps to feed the soil so that it will produce sufficient inorganic fertilizer needed to produce more nutrients in it. This points out that organic gardening may not necessarily produce the needed nutrients, where in organic fertilizer must be formed first to supply the nutrients in the organic form.  

When a person applies raw chemical fertilizers on the soil, he may affect the soil condition. Microorganisms that may have been living in the soil would surely die because of these artificial fertilizers. The soil can no longer grow any plants unless the continuous use of chemical fertilizers is applied. 

Hydroponic gardening may not need the services of the soil. The plants are fed through exact nutrient dosages to increase their production and for faster growth. Business minded persons are interested on this kind of method. On the other hand, the world today cannot anymore accommodate the growing demand for food because of the unstoppable growth of the world’s population that is why chemicals are now widely used on many crops to satisfy with the increasing demand for food supply. 

Many experts realize that the use of chemical solutions in crops is bad for the environment. Most of these chemical solutions are made from petroleum products that should give a person the conclusion that these products are pollutants. However, the present times dictate the need to accept this reality because of the need to supply the farmers with the needed chemical solutions to produce and harvest more crops to sustain the production of food.

Harvesting From the Water

By Ahmed Hajouj.


Conventional farming makes people plant crops over a field of land, give it water to help it grow then harvest it when the time comes. This was practiced for many years until the demand for food increased which made scientists rely on other techniques to increase production.

Such practices made the use of pesticides and herbicides, fertilizers, contaminated sewage sludge and irradiation. Since these methods are harmful to the health, people have gone back to organic farming that does not use any of these methods.

Technology has found another way to increase crop production without jeopardizing the health of people and the environment. This can be done by hydroponics farming.

Plants need water to survive but this is only one ingredient. The other and most important are the nutrients. Scientists have discovered that it is only when this is diffused into the water system that the roots of the crops consume it making it grow. 

By doing this in a controlled environment such as a greenhouse, the nutrients can already be mixed into the water system allowing the crops produce more yields which is what hydroponics gardening is all about.

To prove how effective it is, scientists made a comparative study on the growth of tomatoes. One batch used soil and was able to produce ten tons.  The other batch used hydroponics and was able to produce 60 tons. This shows that this method can produce 6 times more than traditional farming.  

Almost any type of plant that is grown using this manner will product high yields. Though some crops will be able to produce more than others, the length of time to harvest it is still faster than the old method which gives a faster turn around for farmers.

The farmer does not have to check and pull out weeds, till the land or look for diseases that normally happen during soil cultivation since there are none. Some people might think that this will consume a lot of water but it doesn’t since it is reused which also consumers less than traditional farming.

The problem with a controlled environment is that the plants may not be able to get the proper sunlight and carbon dioxide that to help it grow. This problem can be addressed by installing lights and infusing artificial CO2 into the air. 

There are other ways to cultivate crops while inside a green house. One method is called deep water culture. The roots of the plants are raised in the air and a pump releases air out to make it grow. This is ideal for grapes and other crops that grow in this manner.

Another method very similar to deep water culture is aeroponics. The plants are also raised in the air and nutrients here are mixed in the form fog or mist which also reaches the crops so it could grow. 

In flood and drain, a tray is used to hold the nutrients. The roots of the plants are held by foam chips or clay pebbles then at certain times of the day, this is flooded so that the plants are able to receive the proper requirements for it to grow. Afterwards, this drains itself out.  

Plants can also be grown using films. This technique is called nutrient film technique where light proof plastic is used. This flow along the passage way giving the crops the essentials it needs to grow. 

There are many techniques to employ hydroponics in the farm or in the household. The person just has to check what is needed and to think about what plants to grow. 

One of the nicest things about hydroponics gardening is that it does not take a lot of space. This allows the person to set up a greenhouse in the backyard. The only things needed are water in containers, tubes to reuse the water consumed by the plants, strong lamps to be used as artificial light and some organic nutrients that are available at the gardening store.

Hydroponics has been around for almost 30 years. By getting some information and the proper materials, the person can soon plant vegetables and fruits instead of buying it at the local grocery or supermarket.

Planning a Greenhouse for Free

By Ahmed Hajouj.


Many people are growing more and more enthusiastic about getting themselves a greenhouse. Greenhouses are very practical to have nowadays especially when the prices of crops in the market are becoming more and more expensive. 

In building greenhouses, one has several options to choose from. One can actually hire a professional greenhouse expert to guide him throughout the whole process of building his greenhouse. From the creation of plans to the actual creation of the greenhouse, one can use the services of a professional. However, this approach will entail a lot of costs. The professional fees will definitely take its toll in the pockets of the greenhouse enthusiast. Another way to do it is to buy resources about building greenhouses. There are many resources out there that contain greenhouse plans and other tips which can be used in building a greenhouse. However, there are sources which give free plans and tips which can be very useful, especially for greenhouse enthusiasts who are just beginning.

There are several parts of a greenhouse which need careful consideration and planning. These are:

1) Base
The base is made from sawn timber. This kind of timber can easily be availed from local timber merchants. This timber is more commonly found in fences. The base for our plan is measured at 2400 mm by 3000 mm.

2) Side walls
The side walls should be built from 75 by 50 tanalised sawn timber. They usually come in 4800 mm.

When the base is established on a flat ground, the two side walls should be built. The two side walls should be put upright and temporarily in place on top of the base. They are to be attached to the base using galvanized nails.

3) Roof frame

The roof frame should also be built using the 75 by 50 tanalised sawn timber. The roof frames should be placed above the side walls. A roof frame should be placed at each end of the side walls. They are also to be attached using galvanized nails.

4) Windows

The windows should be made of 50 by 50  sawn tanalised timber. Some people would want a couple of windows for their greenhouses. The windows should be hinged so as to allow regulation of temperature.

5) Covering

The greenhouse covering should be made up of polythene which is resistant to ultra-violet rays. The covering is to be placed using thin battens which will hold the polythene to the greenhouse. The battens are to be nailed to the greenhouse studs and roof rafters.
One must be cautious about the kind of polythene which he will avail from the hardware store since most of the suppliers only have polythene which is not ultra-violet-resistant. 

There are other things to consider when building greenhouses. Here are some of them:

- One should check the local building regulations before engaging into greenhouse construction. If in any case that there are restrictions regarding deeds, one should look at the requirements regarding set backs and regulations about easement. Hoop houses are greenhouses which are made from frames which can be easily disassembled. These kinds of greenhouses are not considered as permanent structures and therefore exempt from the regulations concerning such structures.

-One should make a layout of the whole yard and the house before he constructs a greenhouse. A greenhouse would often times become the centerpiece of a garden or a yard and it is much recommended that people plan before putting a single nail into it.

-Time management and budgeting are two important things to constantly consider in building a greenhouse. One should allot around eight to twenty thousand US dollars if he is serious about constructing a quality greenhouse. However, there are greenhouse kits that are available out there that are not as expensive. One should know what to spend and how to spend it. The time table in constructing a greenhouse should be set according to the plans of the owner. Greenhouses can be built in a couple of days to a couple of years. It all depends on the owner.

One may find many free greenhouse construction plans in the Internet. All one needs to know is the know-how’s of search engines. These free plans come with good tips and wonderful illustrations to guide one in constructing a greenhouse for his plants.