People Garden

 Why you should aerate your houseplant soil Let me start with a different question: Have you ever tried holding your breath and drinking a glass of water? Doesn't sound like a good idea, does it? But that's what we do to our houseplants every time we allow their potting soil to get as hard as cement. The solution is simple: soil aeration. Here's a little guide on why you should aerate your houseplants and how to do it. What is houseplant soil aeration and why should I care? Even if your middle school science classes were as boring as mine, you'll still remember this message: Through the process of photosynthesis, plants use their leaves to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Humans need oxygen to survive, so humans need to have more plants around them. (Or at least that's what I tell myself when I go for another browse at my local thrift store.) It turns out that's only half the story. Plants also need oxygen to survive, something we often don...

Flowers of chrysanthemums One of the things I look forward to most about fall is seeing beautiful blooming chrysanthemums everywhere I go. On a walk around the neighborhood or even a quick trip to the grocery store, I always see tons of yellow, orange and crimson mums brightening up the scenery. As soon as I set up a few pots of my own mom's, I feel like it's officially fallen. Even if you too have grown and loved this plant for years, it has a long, rich history that you may not be aware of. Keep these fun facts in mind when choosing and planting your fall mums this year! 1. Mums were raised initially in China Chrysanthemums are long-lived; They were originally cultivated in China and were first recorded in writing in the 15th century BC (3,000 years ago). It was believed to have medicinal properties as a herb; For example, boiled roots were used as a remedy for headaches. It is one of the four noble plants in Chinese culture, along with plum blossoms, orchids, and...

8 Tomato plant diseases: Identity, prevent, and treat You can do everything right. You can start your tomato seeds properly, transplant your seedlings at the right time, leave enough space, feed, water, and prune your plants throughout the season - but diseases still occur. Tomatoes seem to have more conditions than any other garden vegetable. It's reassuring to know that even if your plants are susceptible to disease, it usually doesn't kill the plant completely. So, if you act quickly, you are unlikely to lose your plants entirely. It's also important to realize that when your tomato plants have problems, they don't have any disease. In the first part of this article, we will discuss some common tomato diseases. But after that, we'll cover some other tomato plant problems that aren't caused by disease. Some are simply eco-friendly, while others are down to pest infestations. Common tomato plant diseases involve a fungus, a bacteria, or a virus. Fun...

 How to Identify and Control Zucchini Plant Pests Nothing says summer like a great harvest of homemade zucchini. As much as you enjoy fresh-picked fruit, there are many garden pests that like to nibble on your zucchini plants. From the tiny aphid to the colorful cucumber beetle, there are plenty of creepy bugs that can't wait to get their teeth into your vegetables. Are you afraid? don't be Although the list of pests that can attack zucchini may seem long, with a few quick steps, most of them are easily dealt with. 1. Aphids Aphids are one of the most common garden pests out there, and zucchini plants are not immune to these sap-sucking insects. These tiny 1/8-inch-long bugs can be black, red, green, yellow, brown, or pink, depending on the species. They have pear-shaped bodies with long antennae and are usually wingless. A single aphid is no big deal, but in groups, they can stunt or damage plants. These insects breed profusely, with eggs hatching in winter and spr...

 Landscape and Garden Edging Ideas to Sharpen Your Yard Use these stone and brick garden edging ideas to give character, definition, and texture to your landscaping beds. Brick garden edging Brick is a common natural edging choice: it's classic, widely available, and relatively inexpensive. Push the bricks tightly together to minimize gaps where the floor can slip. Lay your bricks on a bed of sand to prevent heat and unevenness at the edge of your garden. Note: If you place the brick just above the soil, you can run the wheel of your lawn mower over the bricks and use it as a mowing strip. This eliminates the need for trimming. Diagonal brick garden edging For a 19th-century domino effect at the edge of your garden, place old, mismatched bricks diagonally. Dig a trench and add several inches of sand to the drain so the bricks don't rise. Place the bricks in the trench, one half exposed, leaning tightly against the next, then fill with soil. If you are edging several...

5 Common Mistakes Organic Gardeners Make All gardeners make mistakes. It could be planting all your seeds at once – who has time to plant them while remembering where the seeds are hiding in the soil? Or the fault may be beyond your control, such as not preparing your garden for days of rain, incessant hail, or severe drought. Even a swarm of leaf-eating insects can do a lot of damage overnight while you sleep. Nature always keeps you on your toes. Yet, we must eat to live, and we want to eat well. Therefore, if we want to thrive, we must learn to work with nature rather than against it. Where am I going with all this? Chemicals. ie chemicals in food production. It is difficult to understand, but the use of synthetic pesticides began in the United States in the 1930s. It pollutes the soil for almost 90 years. We often like to think that our grandparents, great-grandparents, and the like were high-end eaters. In a way, they did. The raw materials were of much better quality ...