Vege and Flower Garden

Calendulas, Comfrey, Lilly of the Valley, Chives, Sage, and Thyme are Shade Flowers that will add color to the shade spots of your landscape. Selecting the right place for your herb garden is important. Many believe if the only location for a garden is in the shade or filtered sun they won’t be able to grow herbs.  This is untrue. There are herb shade flowers that will thrive in all shade, partial shade, or filtered sun.  Many herbs have adapted to either full sun or partial shade. Perhaps you have selected a sunny location for your herb garden and then discover that certain herbs prefer a shady location. This isn’t a problem as you can plant smaller herb shade flowers next to taller plants that will filter the sunlight. If your garden includes shrubs, spreading plants, or taller plants they make the perfect spot for planting smaller shade annuals. The bed can also be planted so one end of it will receive less sunlight by being filtered out by surrounding buildings, fences, tr...

The concept of companion planting is to plant different types of plants in a garden with the hope that these plants can repel insects and disease-carrying pests or enhance the fruit production or flowering capacity. Of course, it involves more than just choosing which type of plant should be planted next to another type of plant. Selecting the best plants is more than pointing this and that because of its aesthetics. It requires knowledge of the plant’s properties. Some plants are equipped with natural substances in their flowers, roots, and leaves that repel or attract certain insects, relative to the gardener’s needs. In other instances, these plants can help ameliorate the growth rate and flavor of other plant varieties. Gardeners and horticulturists found out that using companion plants in a landscape is a significant component of integrated pest control. Some of the plant's ideals for are herbs. Herbs bring a balance in the eco-system of the landscape, encouraging nature to fu...

So you want to know how to grow Tomatoes? Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables to grow in your garden. They can be sliced, chopped, diced, cooked, or made into a sauce. Tomatoes are easy to store if you have too many, and are relatively easy to grow.  Just a few plants will give you a bumper crop that you can use for weeks and weeks or give away to friends and neighbors. You first need to decide what type of tomatoes you are going to grow.  There are multiple varieties ranging from slicers to sauce tomatoes, to small cherry and grape tomatoes. How to grow tomatoes is pretty straight forward but the type you grow will obviously depend upon your individual needs and the type of Tomato you enjoy. Slicers work for sandwiches, or eating straight out of the garden! Sauce tomatoes such as romas make good salsa, spaghetti sauce, and are good for soups. The smaller varieties are generally best for salads, or for popping right into your mouth. Good slicers are Brandywine and ...

Are you in a place where you want to move ahead and turn your garden into a spectacular explosion of color? You'll find that one of the most lovely plants that you can grow in your garden is the copperleaf plant. The copperleaf plant requires a soil pH that is very alkaline at around 9.1 or so, but after you have this basic need met, caring for it is as easy as pie! Take some time to get really familiar with this terrific plant and what it can do to give your garden the style and charm that you are looking for. A copperleaf can grow upwards of 10 feet into the round, and these elliptical and oval leaves are quite charming to the eye in shape, and in color. There are very small flowers that are hidden by the foliage, but you won't miss them once you take a look and see how very colorful the leaves themselves are. Some copperleaf varieties have green leaves with a coppery tinge, while others have a bright crimson margin that will delineate each leaf. Some species of this plant ha...

 The Elephant Ear Plant is a delightful tropical plant that many wish to use in their garden because they give an air of sophistication and a rain forest look to even the most northern of gardens. They earn their name by having Humongous Leaves and a height of 3 to 5 feet. For the most part, they are a hardy little plant that is typically quite easy to grow. The best time to procure this plant is in the winter after the leaves have died. At that point, you can dig up the ear bulbs and place them in an area that is cool and dark until spring. This step is recommended, even once you begin growing your plants unless you live in a warmer climate. Plant elephant ears If you enjoy warm weather or even semi-warm weather all year round, you can simply leave the plants in the ground during winter. Simply cover them with plenty of mulch to cover the possibilities of a cool spell ruining the bulb. Once spring arrives, you are ready to plant your ear bulbs. Take care in determining the soil lo...

Fungus gnats are garden pests that sometimes become a dreadful indoor nuisance. This happens when adult gnats materialize in great numbers from potted plants or even flower boxes that are found to contain damp soil that is laden with hummus. They are mosquito-like insects, which are attracted to light. Because of this, they are most often seen at windows. Their larvae, or maggots, feed-in soil that has a high amount of organic matter. They do injure the root systems of bedding plants such as poinsettias, geraniums, cyclamens, carnations, and African violets. Foliage plants are also prone to fungus gnats. The symptoms of the various plants that are suffering from fungus gnats are possible foliage loss, yellowing, poor growth, loss of vigor, and even sudden wilting. These pests become extremely serious when an infestation occurs in mushroom houses. Although they are completely harmless to humans as well as animals, fungus gnats do inhabit dead plant materials and fungi. If you beli...