The Reluctant Gardening Calendar – January

Ahh, January, the Reluctant Gardener’s favourite month. It is that time of the year when the closest one gets to the actual green stuff is viewing it through the patio door. It’s the time when one makes promises to go out and clear up the carpet of soggy leaves making a mess of the patio around the pond – if it ever stops raining long enough.

Pampas Grass – When and How to Use the Pampas Grass in Your Garden

The problems associated with growing this most spectacular of plants, often deter the home gardener from planting it. Here’s how you can overcome at least some of them.

Let’s Talk Garden Planning – It’s Garden Planning Time!

It is the time of year when everyone starts to get a little bit of cabin fever, and the garden magazines start rolling in. Time now for the planning of your home garden. Let’s walk through it together, shall we?

Winter Salting – What’s The Best Choice?

This time of year, winds blow and temperatures drop, making the likelihood of icing on your driveways and sidewalks a certainty. While it is important to treat your hard surfaces for safety reasons, there are also reasons to make an informed choice so as not to damage your investment in your lawn and plants. Salt damage can show up in several ways.

Basic Organic Gardening Supplies

If you’re going to get started growing your own food, the first thing you’ll need is organic gardening supplies. Choosing to grow your plants organically is a great idea.

How To Produce Tomatoes All The Year Round

In tropical countries tomatoes do not grow well during the rainy season. They are often affected by insects and diseases that thrive during the rainy months.

Hydroponics Gardening

Hydroponics gardening is great for anyone who wants to do some gardening but may not have the space or a lot of experience. Hydroponics gardens are different from regular gardens in that there isn’t any soil involved, which makes them great for indoors. The word begins with hydro for a reason!

How to Prune Trees

These tips are for back yard home type of trees and not orchard tree pruning. Pruning trees and shrubs now (January-March) will create a good looking landscaping tree and will increase the life span of any tree or plant. And if done correctly will increase the productivity of all fruit trees.

Feijoa – A Fine Dwarf Fruit Tree For A Mediterranean Garden

If you’re looking for a small fruit tree to add to your garden, and you live in an arid, mild winter climate, it could be worth your while considering the virtues of the Pineapple Guava, Feijoa sellowiana. It is a plant which produces an abundance of tasty fruit, and as an attractive ornamental, can contribute handsomely to a garden composition. The fruit of the Feijoa is both delicious and nutritious.

My Fingers Are Going Green!

One of the problems with climate change is that no one, including the crocuses, is quite sure when spring begins. I love spring and I await it’s arrival every year hoping that it will be earlier than it was the previous year. I check to see if the snowdrops are peeking out from the soil, or perhaps a daffodil has broken through (not likely).

How To Help Your Birds This Winter!

Winter survival for backyard birds not only depends on a place to live, but also a place that provides food, water and a safe haven from predators. Here are some hints to help you find comfort knowing that you have helped your feathered friends.

Organic Gardening Information At Your Fingertips

Organic gardening information is not so hard to come by since it has become trendy. Garden centers offer organic compost, soils and seeds on a regular basis, and most will be happy to offer you advice as well.

Drip Irrigation – A More Harvest To Your Onion

In tropical countries like the Philippines, the traditional way of growing bulb onions is without irrigation. But with the advent of low priced onion from nearby China, the traditional way of growing onions is no longer as competitive and profitable as it was. Hence, the farmers has to adopt new methods on how to increase their produce but with less production cost in order to compete with the prevailing market price.

Guide to Growing Chilli Peppers

Contrary to popular belief it is relatively easy to successfully grow chillies, even in the relatively tepid climates of Northern Europe or North America. No special equipment is required and they can be treated in much the same way as a gardener would treat tomato plants.

The City Farmer – Changing the Mentality of Dirt, Rain and Sun

To learn how to save energy within the food system, the public would need to learn more about the natural sciences and about practical techniques of small-scale food production. Ideally, I believe that simply by changing from suit to jeans, digging up a bit of lawn, and planting vegetable seeds, the city person will begin asking questions about his environment and about his urban behavior and thinking patterns. To most city people soil is simply mud or dirt, not a substance in which food is born.