Posts Tagged ‘Seedlings’

How to Grow and Care for Flowers

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
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How to Grow and Care for Flowers

A well attended s in your garden is a satisfying looks to your inner senses and creates an attractive landscape for your home and a boast to your visitors, friends and guests.

In order to create a vibrant garden with a lush ornamental and flowers, you need to make a simple garden plan to arrange your flowers in a manner not to compete themselves with sunlight, shade and soil nutrients.
You’ve to be acquainted with their natural growing environment so that your flowers are grown in their specific climatic adaptability to give you the best flowers you desires.

Ways to grow and care for your flowers

Location. See to it that you locate your garden with at least 5 – 6 hours of sunlight a day. Most flower plants needs enough sunlight exposure to ensure a healthy growth and beautiful flowers. You should have a record of sunlight level in your garden as a guide to track the changes of sunlight movement as the season changed. This way, you’re aware when to plant your flowers in every seasonal changes when sunlight is enough for growing plants.

Land preparation. Clear your garden from weeds and other foreign matters that would hinder your garden operations. Loosen the soil by plowing the area to a deep of at least 18 inches. Pulverize the soil with the use of a shovel or spade and mix with some compost to add more nutrients to the soil. Make some plots to ensure easy management of your plants and to make a raised beds against water accumulation during rainy days.

Planting. Plant your seedlings in a straight row in the plots the same depth the way they were planted in their previous containers to continue their growth undisturbed. Arrange your plants in a manner that their water and sunlight requirement are the same. Don’t plant together those that differs in their water and sunlight needs.

Water needs. After planting, ensure that your new plants are watered properly reaching up to the root system. Don’t over water your plants in their early plant growth. Maintain the soil moisture at a minimum level. Avoid wetting the leaves when watering to ward-off the plants from being infected with some fungus diseases, a common infection of flower plants.

Mulching. Put some mulching materials around the plants to maintain soil moisture level and to prevent the growth of weeds. Use a plastic mulching material if you can afford to buy, it’s more durable and effective in controlling weeds growth during the entire growing period of your flower plants. Plastic mulch is also effective as insect pests repellent.

Plant nutrition. As the plants progresses, fertilize them with a general purpose fertilizer every 3 months to maintain their growth development and supply nutrients needs. When your plants are already near their flowering stage, supply them with a low nitrogen fertilizer element to encourage flower growth.

Maintenance. Maintain their neat appearance by trimming some spent flowers and unnecessary branches that may interfere the plant’s growth. Remove those matured flowers to prevent from spreading some seeds in your garden that may produce some unnecessary growth of seedlings you don’t need.

Happy gardening!

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How to Grow Blueberry for Fun

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
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How to Grow Blueberry for Fun

Blueberry is ideal for planting in your garden because of its medicinal value which is good for your health and other members of your family. It is said to be low in calories and sodium and has no cholesterol level.

It’s a good source of fiber and contains pectin an enzyme known to lower blood cholesterol. Additionally, it’s said to help prevent bladder infections and has the ability to prevent some kinds of cancers.

To grow blueberry is easy but it will take about three years before you can harvest the fruits. You’ve to extend another three years to fully get your maximum harvest, however, once it starts to bear fruits, it will continue to give you blueberries in your kitchen.

To plant blueberry, it’s recommended to plant at least two varieties to give you more and larger fruits, because two cultivars will cross-pollinate each other resulting in an improved berry size as against a single variety with small fruit size.

Before you start your blueberry plantation, prepare your soil properly, make soil amendment if it’s poor. Add some organic compost to enrich the soil and make sure it’s well drained. Blueberry doesn’t tolerate in water-logged soil condition.

After the land is prepared, plant your seedlings at 4 feet distance between hills and at least 1 – 2 inches deep into the soil. Each plant should be planted alternately with other cultivar to give you quality and bigger sized fruit berries caused by cross-pollination once they starts to bear fruits.

Water the new plants on a regular basis, but don’t keep the soil soggy all the time. Allow the soil to dry between watering, just maintain the soil moisture to support the plant’s water needs.

Once the plants are established, start pruning operations, removing some dead branches, especially those the cris-cross inside the entire plant to allow other branches to receive enough sunlight and free air circulation around the plant area.

Provide some mulching materials around the plant base to control weeds growth and to maintain the soil temperature around the growing bush.

Fertilize them in the late winter or early spring, month before growth starts to appear. In sandy soil, apply the fertilizer again 1 month later, after the first spring growth appears.

You can see the fruit of your toil at least 3 – 6 years after planting. Once your blueberry starts to bear fruits, it will continue bearing and increases production when you keep them pruned.

To keep a good result, you should prune your blueberries during the months of March especially in colder areas and earlier when you’re located in a warmer location.

Happy gardening!

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How to Grow and Manage Artichokes

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
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How to Grow and Manage Artichokes

Artichokes buds

Artichokes (Cynara scolymus), believed to be a native of western and central Mediterranean. It was said that this plant was already grown by the Romans for over 2,000 years ago. They used it as a green and a salad plant.

It is a perennial crop grown for the their buds as the main parts used for food, it’s a large and vigorous plant that grows to a height of about six feet.

Artichokes tolerates in a cool, but not freezing weather and lots of water supply.

It is rich with Vitamins A and C, Thiamine, riboflavin, Niacin, and high in Calcium and Iron. The hearts and leaves are high in alkaline acid and is also good in reducing diet.

Artichokes’ is derived from the Italian words, “ariticiocco” and “articoclos” which means a pine cone, hence its buds resembles the cone of the pine tree.

The best soil for planting artichokes is a rich with plenty of organic matter. A soil with a mix of compost applied into the plots is much better for a vigorous plant growth especially if mixed with Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium fertilizers for good result.

To plant artichokes, you’ve to grow them in mild climate as a perennial plant, and in the second growing period, they produce the first buds in the first year as an annual plant. Once the plant is already exposed to cooler temperature known as vernalization.

Before planting the seedlings in the open field, you should raise the seedlings in the nursery 12 weeks before the last frost. After this period, place the seedlings in a cold area for another 6 weeks before the last frost.

After this frost is over, start planting your seedlings in the field. When the condition becomes warm, you’ve to plant the 6 weeks old seedlings at 2 feet distance between rows in the plots.

Maintain the amount of water supply during its growing period coupled with a monthly liquid fertilizer application.

Artichokes is a hardy plant and so, the most common pests that attacks them are the aphids, caterpillars, slugs, and snails. They can easily be controlled by a homemade insecticides to wit: 2 tablespoon vegetable oil, 2 tablespoon baking soda, and 2 tablespoon powdered laundry soap. Mix properly and spray directly to insect pests until totally eradicated.

Harvesting can done after the flower buds starts to open. You can select the best quality when it’s compact, plump and heavy and are large in size. Don’t harvest those that open and spreading, they’re already over mature, and not edible anymore.

Happy gardening!

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How to Grow and Manage Brussels Sprout

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
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How to Grow and Manage Brussels Sprout

Brussels sprout (Brassica oleracea), belongs to the hardiest cabbage family, the Gemmifera group of vegetables. They fairly grows well with a freezing temperature more than the hot summer months.
This plant favors a wider space in its growing period to produce a bountiful yield of tasty sprouts.

You can grow Brussels sprout, by preparing your seed boxes or individual small pots. Sow the seeds in the seed boxes or pots until the time of planting which is about 4-5 weeks before transplanting. After this period, when the seedlings are 3” tall, transplant them to the prepared plots at a distance of 24 to 36” between rows or simply space them 24” in one direction.

After the seedlings are already set in the plots, put some mulching materials to maintain the moisture content in the soil for a longer period. Mulching also helps to control the growth of weeds.

You’ve to apply fertilizer by way of foliar spray at least 1-2 times a month with the use of compost tea or seaweed extract. If these fertilizer materials are available, you can mix 75 grams urea in a 16 liters of water and do the drenching methods around the base of the plant every 2 weeks for 1 month period.

Brussels sprout have the same pests and diseases with cabbage. If there are some insect pests that would attack your plant, just follow the instruction on the control measures for cabbage. Cabbage worm is one of the insect pest where the larvae devours the leaves and sometimes boring into the heads of cabbage.

The known predators of cabbage worm are the stink bug, Politest wasps, and the most common and effective parasite is the braconid.

Some other common pests of Brussels sprout such as; cabbage looper, army worms, cabbage maggots, and aphids are not as serious as the cabbage worm. If they happened to be present in your garden, follow the instruction on cabbage pests and disease control.

Harvesting this plant requires your early detection of the sizes of its sprouts. To be sure that the sprouts are ready for harvest, get a sample and slice one and measure the diameter. If it’s already at least 1 inch in diameter, it’s ready for harvest since that’s time they’re tender. Start harvesting from the bottom of the stalk going up.

To make the maturity of the sprouts faster, you’ve to pinch the top parts of the plant.

Happy gardening!

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How to Grow and Manage Sweet Pepper

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
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HOW TO GROW AND MANAGE SWEET PEPPER

It’s fun and a lucrative home gardening business in growing your own fresh sweet pepper, especially to provide a ready available supply of sweet pepper to your table. Besides being nutritious, it could provide you with a real fresh fruits coming directly from your garden.

You can produce them the way you want it. To grow sweet pepper can be done organically without using chemicals because you’re the one controlling their growth processes.

If you’ll inter-cropped sweet pepper with other vegetables and common herbs, the occurrence of pests and diseases attack could be totally minimized or even none at all. Companion cropping or inter-cropping can control pests and diseases attack since they’re protected by the other plants. Insect pests are crop specific, meaning they only attack to certain crop.

When planted with different crops, the possibility of crop failure could be minimized since you’ve different crops grown in one place. If one crop is attack, other crops would be spared.

How to Grow and Manage Your Sweet Pepper

1) Provide a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds. Sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed trays or germinating tray. Slightly cover the seeds with thin soil to cover them.
2) Cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic. Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing.
3) After the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them
4) Prepare a separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and level at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim.
5) Use a dibbl

er to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones 12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.
6) As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays.
7) Now set the individual seedlings to a growing bags or pots.
8) Support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place.
9) Feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first truss (bunch fruit) is formed.
10) Remove all shoots growing in the angles of the leaves-snap them sideways. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves to induce ripening of the fruits.
11) Harvest your fresh sweet pepper when they’re ripe or dark green when use for cooking chop suey (a Chinese dish). You can give or sell your surplus harvest to your neighbors. And they’ll thanks for your generosity.
See, it’s very easy to grow your own chemically free sweet pepper for your family’s needs.
Try planting your own home grown sweet pepper to have your ready supply for your kitchen. You’re sure you’ll enjoy it.
____________
Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

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How to Grow Your Tasty Eggplant

Monday, June 14th, 2010
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HOW TO GROW YOUR TASTY EGGPLANT
(Solanum melongena Linn.)

Eggplant with fruits

Eggplant


Growing your own eggplant is fun and a lucrative home gardening business Besides being nutritious, it could provide you with a real fresh fruits coming directly from your garden.
You can produce them the way you want it. Producing eggplant can be done without using chemicals because you’re the one controlling their growth processes.
If you’ll plant eggplant with other vegetables, the occurrence of pests and diseases attack could be totally minimized or even none at all. Companion cropping or multiple cropping can control pests and diseases attack since they’re protected by the other plants.
How to Grow Your Tasty Eggplant
1) Provide a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds. Sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed trays or germinating tray. Slightly cover the seeds with thin soil to cover them.
2) Cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic. Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing.
3) After the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them
4) Prepare a separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and level at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim.
5) Use a dibber to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones 12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.
6) As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays.
7) Now set the individual seedlings to a growing bags or pots.
8) Support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place.
9) Feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first pork is formed.
10) Remove all auxiliary buds growing up to the pork. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves below the pork.
11) Harvest your fresh eggplant when they’re big enough, a desirable size is reached out, but still tender. You can give or sell your surplus harvest to your neighbors. And they’ll thanks for your generosity.
See, it’s very easy to grow your own chemically free eggplant for your family’s needs.
Why not try planting your own tasty eggplant. You’re sure you’ll enjoy it and you’ll have a continuous supply of fresh fruits in your kitchen.
______________
Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

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How to Grow Your Homemade Tomatoes

Thursday, June 10th, 2010
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HOW TO GROW YOUR HOMEMADE TOMATOES

Growing tomatoes is fun and a lucrative home gardening business. Besides being nutritious, it could provide you with a real fresh fruits coming directly from your garden.

You can produce them the way you want it. Producing tomatoes can be done without using chemicals because you’re the one controlling their growth processes

If you’ll plant tomatoes with other vegetables, the occurrence of pests and diseases attack could be totally minimized or even none at all. Companion cropping or multiple cropping can control pests and diseases attack since they’re protected by the other plants.

Steps in growing tomatoes…

1) Provide a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds. Sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed trays or germinating tray. Slightly cover the seeds with thin soil to cover them.
2) Cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic. Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing.
3) After the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them
4) Separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and level at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim.
5) Use a dibber to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones 12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.
6) As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays.
7) Now set the individual seedlings to a growing bags or pots.
8) Support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place.
9) Feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first truss (bunch fruit) in formed.
10) Remove all shoots growing in the angles of the leaves-snap them sideways. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves to induce ripening of the fruits.
11) Harvest your fresh tomatoes when they’re ripe. You can give or sell your surplus harvest to your neighbors. And they’ll thanks for your generosity.
See, it’s very easy to grow your own chemically free tomatoes for your family’s needs.
Why not try planting your own homemade tomatoes. You’re sure you’ll enjoy it.
______________
Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

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Growing Red Palm Made Easy

Monday, May 31st, 2010
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GROWING RED PALM MADE EASY

The red palm is the most attractive of the Palmaceae family and favorite for landscaping and potted decorative plant because of its bright red color that adds it attractiveness.

A native of Indonesia red palm is actually growing in lowland areas submerged in water bordering tidal rivers. It only shows that they thrives best when the place is abundant with moisture and humidity.

Red palm grows successfully in acidic soil (pH 5 or less), where it produces an intense bright red color. It has also the clustering habit producing numerous suckers from the base of the plant and developed into a big clump.

The leaf bases which wrap around the stem are an exotic crimson. The red color extends to the leafstalk that bears the leaflets.

How to propagate Red Palm

Propagating red palm needs your skill to do it because it is a delicate plant. Home gardeners usually fails since they don’t know the proper way to separate the suckers from the mother plant.

However, the most practical way of propagating red palm is by division where the plant is grown in a size 12 pot using a very loose growing soil medium.

When you see lot of suckers with roots of their own, you have to take them out from the pot and shake off some loose soil that stick to the roots.

Separate the suckers carefully with sufficient roots then plant individually in pots with a porous soil. Place the newly potted plants in a cool shaded area and keep them moist.

After a couple of weeks from the shade when they are already fully well established you can transfer them to a place where they can be exposed to the sun.

Propagating by Seeds

Growing seeds is done by collecting seeds from a ten year old growing plants. When the seeds are ripe, pick them from the tree. Don’t wait for them to fall to the ground, but others prefer to let the seeds sprout before collecting the growing seedlings from the ground.

But if you want to have a more vigorous seedlings, it is advised to sow the seeds in the germinating tray. Seedlings uprooted from the ground may not survive because some roots may be damaged that may affect the growth of seedlings.

I recommend to pick the ripe fruit since fresh seeds are easier to sprout. Palm seeds have short viability period (1 month), so that they should be sown within that period.

However, their viability can be extended by placing the seed in a refrigerated container.

To grow the seeds in germinating or pots, prepare the soil medium with a mixture of coco coir dust and sterilized garden soil.

Don’t bury the seeds too deep, just barely covered. Maintain the moisture content of the soil not to let them dry out. In doing so, the seeds will be delayed in sprouting.

Fresh seeds that are moderately moist throughout will germinate in less than a month. There are instances, however, when the seeds take much longer time to germinate.

Seedlings grow very slowly, that within the first three -year period, they only reach a mere one foot height and the red color will not show up.

Once the plant has developed a good number of roots, that’s the time the growth becomes faster.

To make elongation faster, place them in a shady place, and give them ample amount of fertilizer.

That’s it!

You have been given the right procedure to propagate Red Palm.

Follow the steps correctly, and wow! You’ll get the vigorous growing Red Palm tree.

And yes. You can earn lots of money raising Red Palm.

Red Palm command a high price. A six inch seedlings cost around $1-$2 dollars.

You see, if you have 1000 seedlings, that’s money. And you don’t have to work that hard.
Once they are fully established, your only work is watering them to maintain moisture requirements of the plant.

Resource box:

Crisologo Ramasasa is a freelance writer who writes articles on Home Gardening and Internet marketing tips. Subscribe his Free gardening and Internet marketing tips. Visit his site at: www.crisramasasa.com. Get a Free copy of his latest ebook “Discover How To Get Started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”. There are lots of information you can get with this materials.

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