What is the Right Garden Style for You - Raised Bed Gardens (compost tumbler)
No commentsBy SlowWorm
This form of gardening has additional benefits to those of traditional gardening. Handicapped and elderly gardeners for instance, can gain access to their plants much easier. Most raised beds are no more than 4 feet wide, this makes the plants easily reachable. But the beds can be designed any height, width and shape to suit the individual who is going to use them.
The soil that the plants are grown in can be improved more easily. If you live in an area that has very sandy or heavy clay soils it can be a constant struggle to get your plants to flourish. With raised beds you can import a quality soil from elsewhere, or fill them with a proprietary compost brand.
Raised beds are also very productive for food crops. By using a raised bed you could double or even triple the harvested crop, than you would get from the same space in a conventional garden. As everything is within easy reach, you can divide up the beds into grids and plant a specific plant type in each grid section. This allows you to make maximum use of every inch of the bed.
Weeds are less of a problem in raised beds than they are in normal gardens. Any weeds that do germinate are more easily spotted and removed. As everything is within easy reach, your soil wont become compacted due to you walking on it to remove weeds and perform other tasks.
Watering is also a lot easier, and as you have a smaller area to cover. You won’t waste water on paths between your crops or flowers that have nothing growing in them. You could also quite easily set-up a drip irrigation system that will deliver a slow stream of water throughout the day.
Pest control can also be a lot easier with raised beds. The base can be covered with a poultry wire to prevent burrowing animals ruining your plants. Low fences can also be placed around the top of the beds to prevent animals from hoping up on to them.
It doesn’t matter what sort of plant you want to grow, as raised beds are suitable for all types of plants. As raised beds aren’t reliant on the soil in your area you can create beds for any type of plant by using filling them with different soil variations. You could create one bed for alpines, line another with a pond liner or waterproofing compound and grow bog plants, and have another for vegetables.
Raised beds can look extremely attractive as well as being productive, and can be used to create focal points in the garden if executed well.
Written by Paul Stone owner of
UK Gardening Community
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What you need to know about Hydroponics.
By Clint Jhonson
Hydroponics is a method used by people who grow plants with the help of mineral nutrient solution and not soil. Most terrestrial plants can be grown with their own roots in the mineral nutrient solution as long as they are in an inert medium like perlite, gravel or mineral wool. This method is getting very popular nowadays because people seem to have discovered its usefulness.
Somewhere in the 19 th century researchers reached the conclusion that most plants have the capacity of absorbing essential mineral nutrients such as inorganic ions in water. Under natural circumstances, the soil acts as a reserve of mineral nutrient but still it isnt essential for the growth of the plant. If we introduce artificially mineral nutrients into the water supply of plants, we no longer need soil for the plant to thrive.
Hydroponics can grow almost any terrestrial plant but it has been proven that some plants will do better than others. Hydroponic Gardening is very easy to do and this activity is done even by children. Nowadays, people who are interested in this gardening method need to know that there are two types of hydroponics: solution culture and medium culture. Solution culture uses just the nutrient solution for the roots of the plants.
Hydroponics solution culture has three main types: static solution culture, continuous flow and aeroponics. Most hydroponic reservoirs are made of plastic but some manufacturers have also used other materials such as concrete, metal, glass, so on. However, the containers must exclude light in order to prevent the growth of algae in the nutrient solution.
Hydroponic Gardening is mainly the science of growing plants without needing soil and recently this method has become a major player due to its ability of being used in regions where the climate cant normally support the growing of plants. Hydroponics however is used mainly by greenhouses or people who are looking for a way to raise plants to maturity quickly.
Hydroponic Gardening allows gardeners to grow quality crops many times a year and in a relatively small area. Hydroponics keeps on gaining ground and is defined by most people as a way of cultivating plants in water. As a consequence, people from all over the world started to use hydroponic techniques because they lack water supplies or they cultivate plants in areas where the land is not fertile.
Nowadays, even home gardeners use this method in order to grow vegetables all year long or in order to grow plants in small places such as apartments or balconies. Hydroponic Gardening offers gardeners several advantages. Due to the sterile medium that they use, gardeners no longer need to remove any weeds, while pests and diseases are reduced or even eliminated completely. Moreover, hydroponic plants that were cultivated properly are healthier and more vigorous than the ones grown in normal conditions.
Another advantage is the fact that plants mature much faster, gardeners being able to have more vegetables in a year. Also, these gardens require less space being ideal for home gardeners and greenhouses. The ability to automate the system with a timer represents another advantage of hydroponics. This automation helps to reduce the time it takes to maintain the growth of the plants. Due to automation, the gardener has more flexibility since he can be away for long period of time without worrying about watering the plants.
Hydroponics is also advantageous for commercial agriculture, due to the fact that the cultivation of plants without soil eliminates the need for vast farmland. Furthermore, hydroponic techniques enable the precise water application directly to the roots of the plants. Having this modern technology at your disposal makes things easier and business more profitable.
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Do you want to enjoy the numerous benefits of our quality Hydroponic gardening? You have come to the right place since it is our pleasure to offer you all the necessary information in order to grow plants by means of Hydroponics.
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Introduction to Hydroponics
By Jovan_Gomez
Hydroponics by definition, means water-working. In practical use, it means growing plants in a water and
nutrient solution, without soil. Hydroponics allows a gardener to grow plants in a more efficient and productive
manner with less labor and time required.
The science of hydroponics proves that soil isnt required for plant growth but the elements, minerals and nutrients that soil contains are. Soil is simply the holder of the nutrients, a place where the plant roots traditionally live and a base of support for the plant structure.
In hydroponics you provide the exact nutrients your plants need, so they can develop and grow. The nutrients
are fed directly at the root base, never stressing the plant due to lack of nutrients or water.
Virtually any plant will grow hydroponically, but some will do better than others.
Hydroponic growing is ideal for fruit bearing crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, leafy crops, like lettuce and herbs and flowing plants. Most hobby hydroponic gardeners plant crops similar to what they would grow in a soil garden. Most commercial hydroponic growers combine hydroponic technology with a controlled environment to achieve the highest quality produce. Within a green- house structure you can control the ambient temperature, humidity and light levels allowing you to grow on a year- round basis.
There are many advantages of hydroponic growing. These include:
Most hobby hydroponic gardens are less work than soil gardens because you do not have soil to till or
weeds to pull.
By eliminating the soil in a garden, you eliminate all soil borne disease
A hydroponic garden uses a fraction of the water that a soil garden does because no water is wasted or consumed
by weeds.
In hydroponics, plant spacing can be intensive, allowing you to grow more plants in a given space than soil
grown produce.
A small hydroponic garden can be set up almost anywhere.
By providing the exact nutrients your plants need, they will grow more rapidly and produce bigger yields.
In studies it has been proven that hydroponic produce is higher in nutritional value than field grown crops.
Hydroponic produce generally tastes better than field-grown produce.
If you are growing indoors or in a greenhouse, you can grow your hydroponic plants on a year-round basis.
Jovan Gomez is the webmaster of hydroponics dictionary . It was designed and contributed to by many authors that bring a wealth of information and experience about the hydroponics industry.
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
