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Indoor Gardening

The African violet (Saintpaulia) first headed the pot-plant popularity polls about twelve years ago and has held the top spot ever since, with each year bringing an increasing number of friends.

Varieties of this gesneriad are numbered in the thousands, and it is one of the few florists’ plants which blooms throughout the year.

Natural light will vary with the season, increasing in spring, decreasing in fall. As light increases you may have to increase the shading on your greenhouse, and vice versa. I have shading on the outside of the greenhouse and two thicknesses of tobacco cloth inside.

The thickness of this cloth is not varied with the seasons, but I add or decrease shade on the outside of the house. Low light intensity reduces the number of flowers and makes for weak growth.

Even though you do not devote your entire greenhouse to African violets, you will find it profitable to reserve at least one corner for a few dozen plants. These need not be pinched to single-crown specimens. Let them grow several crowns and become covered with bloom. Such plants make wonderful gifts.

Soil Mixtures

I doubt if there has ever been a pot plant for which so many soil formulas have been devised. Members of the African Violet Society never tire of coming up with new ones. For greenhouse culture, I like this formula: equal parts of loam, peatmoss, leaf mold, and sand, with a sprinkling of charcoal.

I realize, however, that not everyone has access to the leaf-mold and rotted manure commonly mentioned in soil recipes. So, with a little extra care in fertilizing, you can grow your Saintpaulias to perfection in this easy-to-make “synthetic” potting mixture: equal parts of shredded sphagnum, peat moss, and sand. Plants grown in this must receive applications of liquid fertilizer every week.

A monthly application of M teaspoonful of dried, processed, sheep manure worked into the mixture for plants in 4-inch pots will enhance their development. Use less manure for smaller pots, more for larger ones. Some growers like to mix loam, peat moss, and sand and, to a bushel of this mixture, add one 4-inch potful of superphosphate and one 6-inch potful of dried sheep manure.

Soil or synthetic mixtures should be sterilized. If you are planting in the type without loam it is unnecessary to place drainage material in the pot; with a soil mixture containing loam, drainage is a necessity. About 1/2 inch of pot chips to a 4-inch pot is ample.

Watering and Fertilizing

Always water the plants with tepid water. Leaves will be spotted when water colder than the surrounding air hits them. These whitish spots give the plants a diseased look. If you are certain that the plants growing in solid mixtures have a good root system, it is advisable to start fertilizing them about a month after potting up. If you like organic fertilizers, try one of the fish emulsions. Rapidgro, Hyponex, Plant Marvel, Blossom Booster, and others also give good results.

Potting

The size of the pot you use for your plants will depend on how you want to sell them. If you plan to sell small plants,

probably not yet in bloom, pot directly from the flat into 2-inches. Let them grow in the pots for 10 days to 2 weeks; they will be established nicely. Plants being grown for bloom will need to be shifted from the 2-inch pots to 3- and 4-inchers.

Shading

If your greenhouse is devoted exclusively to Saintpaulias, you will have to shade it: Saintpaulias do not thrive in bright sunshine. But if, like me, you grow both shade- and sun-loving plants, the placement of your African violets will require thought.

In my greenhouse, they grow mostly in flats under the top deck. Since I do not sell specimen plants but do sell leaves and seeds, I keep most of my “stock plants” growing and blooming in the flats, thus saving space, watering time, pots, and the labor of potting. In these flats of porous soil, watering is needed only once a week during the winter and twice a week in summer.

Winter temperature in my greenhouse is 72 to 75 degrees during the day, with the usual 10-degree drop at night. (Some authorities recommend a minimum of 60 at night and 70 degrees or more during the day.)

If you can’t get enough shading on your house to keep violet foliage pleasingly green, you can tack up a few layers of cheesecloth or tobacco cloth to exclude the bright sun rays. Simply string a wire across the inside of the house and another at the top of the sidewalls; then drape the material over the wires.

Light

The late Dr. Kenneth Post, authority on florist crop production, recommended “a maximum of 1500 foot-candles of light, a minimum of 1,000″ for greenhouse-grown Saintpaulias. If you are not familiar with foot-candles as a measure of light, have a friend with a photometer measure the light for you. Aim for 1200 to 1300 foot-candles during the brightest part of the day, and you’ll find your plants budding and blooming without cease.

For growth under fluorescent lights in the greenhouse, keep a distance of about 11 inches between light tubes and the larger plants’ pot rim; 4 to 6 inches for seedlings and small plants.

Thus, whatever the time of year or the occasion, if you grow African violets you will always have flowering plants to offer your customers. To you, the greenhouse owner, this constant bloom means extra money in the cash register.

I have been growing tomatoes in patio containers and pots this year with some success. I also have my beloved plot with tomatoes growing in the ground. I know the ones in the ground will work fine – they have done for thirty years. But growing my tomatoes in containers is anew departure for me.

The comparison between the pot grown tomato and those in the ground.

I grew 2 varieties this year moneymaker and an Italian cherry tomato variety. I cannot remember the name but they came free with a magazine. I sowed the seeds in March 2008 and grew them on in my conservatory in 6 inch pots. As Always I grew too many tomato plants and gave 20 away. I planted them out as 2 – 3 foot high plants in early June and a month later picked the first tomatoes. As I speak in late august I still have many fruits to pick so it has been a good year. The plants grown in containers have had similar results but I have noticed 2 differences.

Firstly the moneymaker tomatoes were slightly smaller than the ones grown on my plot.

Secondly there were not quite as many cherry tomatoes in the containers.

Other than that the results were very similar. The taste is uniformly excellent and the texture and color very appetizing. For the container grown tomatoes I did treat them differently and with a bit more care.

1. Make sure you put tomato plants in a really big pot.

I like the root systems to have plenty of room and not become pot bound. You also need a big container to have enough depth for the support canes. I use standard clay terracotta pots but any wide and deep container will work fine.

2. Water your tomatoes even if it rains.

We have had a dreadful summer in the UK this year and it has rained constantly. I still found that the pot grown tomato plants were wilting a bit if I didn’t check them for watering. The plants in the veg plot did not need this. The reason for this is that the leaves of the tomato plants deflect much of the water away from the pot. Very little water gets to the root of the plants. This is why I check them daily.

3. Be ruthless with pinching out side shoots on the tomato plants.

I only pinch out once or twice a season when growing tomatoes in the ground because they seem to do fine. I have learned this through trial and error. The moneymaker plants in pots were pinched out once a week to ensure that the fruits I did get were big enough and juicy enough. I never bother pinching out cherry tomatoes. They take care of themselves and always give plenty of harvest.

4. Remove excess foliage once you have the tomato fruits.

I have always done this to tomatoes and do not know where I picked this tip up. Once you have all the tomatoes set on the plant remove any leaves that are hiding the fruit from the sun. I prefer the tomatoes to ripen on the plant and this helps speed up the ripening process. Removing the leaves also gives you slightly bigger tomatoes.

If you have missed this tomato season then I encourage you to plan ahead for your tomato growing in 2009. Grow some in pots and containers as well as in the ground. They are a lot of fun and be grown on any sunny spot you have.

You can grow plants in containers very easily and without a large garden. Tomatoes are particularly suitable for growing in containers. For more gardening tips you can visit http://www.your-gardening-tips.com
Organic Vegetable Gardening

A roof garden is any garden situated on the roof a building. A flat or gently sloped roof transformed into a landscape environment.

These are grown plants atop structure that started during ancient times, about 2,500-3,000 years ago in Rome and Mesopotamia. It became popular in the 19th century. Here are some benefits of Roof Garden:

• Very attractive & decorative
• It can provide food & other useful plants
• It helps in controlling environment temperature (reduce heat loss during winter & heat gain in summer)
• It is considered as architectural enhancement and for recreational opportunities
• It promotes biodiversity; valuable inner city habitat and feeding stations especially for insects and birds.
• It controls flood
• It creates usable space for people

Hydroponics, the use nutrients solution in growing plants instead of soil and other alternative means can expand roof gardening. Wanting a roof garden for less space, square foot and living walls gardening are advisable. These use less space than traditional gardening. The square roof method is when the garden space are divided into beds that are accessible, each is divided in one square foot where different seeds are planted in each space to avoid crowding and thinning of plants.

It is beneficial since there is much less to be done, it conserves water, and it’s pesticide-free and very accessible. The living walls gardening or vertical gardening as sometimes called is either freestanding or part of the building that is partially covered. This is considered as experimental and new concept in roof gardening. A variety of this are active walls that kept behind glass and with the aid of a fan, the air circulates. It best suits in the heart of the cities since available vertical surfaces are being used. We can simply say its urban gardening.

We have to consider the roof itself when building one. The roof should be flat and accessible. Wet soil can weigh more than eighty pounds per square foot; your roof must be able to support this weight. Peat moss can also be use to ensure there will be sufficient soil. Make sure that roofs are also waterproof. In order to keep up, climate should also be taken into consideration. Urban areas are mostly shaded while if it’s in direst sunlight, plants will be withered. Think of what kind of garden you want to have before choosing the plants. Lastly, Plastic pots are definitely lighter than clay pots. By using light materials, it will reduce the strain on your roof. Fences and screen or net lawn can be use to protect the plants.

One of the most famous roof gardens is Queen Semiramis’ Gardens nailed in Babylon, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. It’s famously known as the hanging garden of Babylon. It was towered hundreds of feet into the air. It surpasses in splendor any city in the known world. It was built around 600 B.C. and was destroyed by several earthquakes after second century B.C.

Another beautiful roof garden is the Kensington Roof Garden in London. It is the largest roof garden in Europe – are accessible from Derry Street, through a doorway marked “99 Kensington High Street”. The garden has a restaurant, nightclub, and are nailed in 30 meters above street level with a panoramic view over west London. It is not very known because this is not a tourist attraction but open to public as restaurant and nightclub.

Above these, roof gardening encourage environmentally responsible practices like eliminating pesticides, eliminating molecular biology and composting different material which is the best form of any of fertilization.

For more information on Roof Gardens please visit  www.ROOF-GARDENS.COM

Articles on Roof Gardening

These are some of the elements that must be considered in order to really get the maximum potential out of your greenhouse or sunroom: the type of greenhouse you want whether it be a cold house, portable greenhouse, hobby greenhouse a greenhouse kit or a large or a mini greenhouse, the greenhouse construction and it’s foundation type, which greenhouse equipment you will need, which type of greenhouse covering or glazing is best suited to you, and the type of watering, humidity control, heating and air circulation systems that are best suited to your sunroom or greenhouse gardening needs.

First Decide Whether you Want to have Cold House or a Heated Greenhouse. A cold house is the simplest of greenhouses, it is not equipped with any artificial means of heat and thus the growing season is shortened when the outside temperature drops below freezing. It is not possible to grow frost sensitive plants between late fall and the middle of spring unless you provide heat (which would not make it a cold house!). A cold house does extend the growing season from that of the outdoors by trapping the heat from the sun during the day. And it provides a cozy respite for you to work away from the elements of wind and rain, it also protects plants from these same elements too. When you install a heater into your cold house it becomes a true greenhouse and it transforms the hobby of gardening into a year-round hobby. The minimum temperature required to grow greenhouse plants through the winter is 45° F (7.2°C), so be sure to allow for this extra cost for heating to be included in your monthly budget. Also, be sure that when you begin planning for your greenhouse construction that you build it as near as possible to your house as this will reduce costs for digging and installation of electrical wires (and plumbing if you need that too). It is also better for quick access during the winter months if you have your greenhouse closer to your house.

Watering Needs for Greenhouse Plants

As it does not rain inside greenhouses watering is a very important thing for greenhouse owners to remember! But, watering inside a green house is not just as simple as just watering your greenhouse plants everyday. Within soil there are small open air pores that roots depend on for supplying them with nutritious gases. When you water your plants these small air spaces get filled up with water and it, in effect, causes suffocation for roots. When roots suffocate, plants wilt and the most common reaction by gardeners for wilting plants is more watering! Just remember that the watering needs inside a greenhouse are different from the watering needs of your outside garden. Because the green house environment is enclosed a fair amount of moisture does get trapped and thus, less watering is usually required. The best rule for watering plants in your greenhouse or sunroom is: always check the soil before you water, if the soil is dry then you should go ahead and water. And, remember that plants, just like people, do not like being watered with cold water. For plants the ideal water temperature is between 65°F and 80°F (18.3°C and 26.7°C). Anything above 80°F (26.7°C) is too hot!

There are many different alternatives available for watering your greenhouse plants. Among your choices are irrigation systems, drip system, misters, water sensors and a gardener’s best friend the good old watering can. Irrigation systems are wonderful for those periods of time that you plan on being away; there is nothing worse than coming home to dead plants in your green house because your best friend forgot to water them while you were away! A good selection of all of these watering systems is available at online gardening and greenhouse supply stores.

Selecting the Right Seeds and Plants for Your Greenhouse

When it comes to selecting seeds and plants for your greenhouse the biggest deciding factor is your personal choice! You will need to set up your greenhouse interior to accommodate the types of plants that you choose though. For example if you choose to grow plants that require a trellis you will have to install some trellises. Some examples of plants that grow well with a trellis are peas, runner beans, tomatos, cucumbers, watermelon, winter squash, nasturtiums, passionflower, bougainvillea and sweet peas. Some crops are harvested only once and then they are done; for example onions, carrots and radishes. Other crops that need harvesting many times; for example leaf lettuce, strawberries, broccoli and brussel sprouts should be placed in easy to reach places, like at the edges of beds.

Buy a good book on greenhouse gardening so as to learn about the different temperature, water, humidity and pH level requirements of different plants and then make your final selections of seeds and plants. A greenhouse gardener’s book will also help you with the best layouts for your plants and seedlings.

Cid Bus has been an executive in the Hospitality Industry for 15 years. Also a graduate of the NY Restaurant school,and co owner of a catering company. A competitive long distance trail runner x-country skiier, and “green thumber” they can be tracked down at their bed and breakfast Fish Creek House in Southwest Montana

Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles

Tomato container gardens are an alternative to a traditional tomato garden. Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables, well in this case fruits, of people around the world. They can be used in so many ways, in a salad or to make a sauce for pasta and a myriad of other ways in your culinary pursuits. Sadly in some places tomatoes are being priced at three dollars per pound or more. Fortunately, everyone can grow their own tomatoes, even people that live in apartments. The answer is to grow a tomato container garden. You can grow them on a patio or balcony or in a bright sunny room in your home.

The number one essential is sun. Tomatoes require a lot of light and will not thrive without out it. The materials you will need to gather for your tomato container garden are simple. You will need containers that are about five gallons in size. Only plant one tomato plant per pot. You will need soil, tomato seedlings and stakes or a wire cage to hold the plant upright. String, or products called twist-tie or sturdy-tie will be needed to tie the plant to the stakes or cages. You will need a plastic tray for drainage; good drainage is essential to the health of your tomato container garden. Last need on the list is fertilizer.

There are some species of tomatoes that will do better in your tomato container garden. The bush varieties of tomatoes work well in containers and are popular with container gardeners. Cherry tomatoes and Christmas Grape tomatoes work well also because of their size and many gardeners grow them when space is limited. Other varieties that will flourish in a tomato container garden are Celebrity, Early Girl, and Sweet 100’s. It really depends on which variety you want to grow and for what purposes. If you will be growing them mainly for salads the cherry varieties are the way to go.

As mentioned before, sunlight is a requirement in order to grow your tomato container garden. Scout out the area you are planning to use for your tomatoes. The spot for your tomato container garden must get at least four to six hours of sunlight. The more light the better since the sun promotes healthy, steady growth. The two most important elements for success in tomato container gardening is sunlight and water.

By growing your own tomato container garden you will know that there were no pesticides used on your plants. With all the controversy going on about pesticides knowing that yours is pesticide free is an advantage for you and your family. Here is a good natural pest deterrent:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

Other pluses to this type of garden is you no longer will be paying high prices for tomatoes, your containers won’t take up much space and one plant usually yields enough tomatoes to feed your family. The cost of a tomato container garden is minimal and the feeling of accomplishment is great. So why are you waiting to plant your tomatoes? It’s time to choose the variety of tomato you want to grow, pick up some containers and start your tomato container gardens today.

Happy Container Gardening!

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Gardening Landscaping Tips Gardening Outside and Indoor Herb Garden

Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles