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Dish gardens

If you plan a retail business-no matter how small-you will want to feature some dish gardens. Perhaps you have a friend who designs interesting and colorful ceramic bowls. If so, why not team up with her? She’ll earn money from the sale of the bowl, and you will earn some from the sale of the plants, as well as from planning and planting the tiny garden.

Landscape schemes for dish gardens are plentiful. Use material of a size to suit the container. Also, be sure to use compatible plants, that is, those which thrive under the same general conditions. Remember-most of these little gardens will go into homes where they will lack the special care you have given them.

Saxifraga, the strawberry begonia, baby tears (Helxine), small-leaved ivy, or plectranthus, are all nice to trail over the edge of a dish. Succulents, wax begonia, pilea, echeveria, kalanchoe, peperomia, and bromeliads are some of the accent materials I have used in dish gardens.

Since the dish is without drainage outlet, place pebbles and charcoal in the bottom, then add the right type of soil for the plants you are using. If you carry a line of figurines in your shop, you may be able to sell more of them by including them in the dish garden.

Seeds of royal poinciana germinate in a few days and within a matter of 2 to 3 weeks make enchanting trees for dish gardens.

The price you charge for your dish garden will, of course, depend on the type of materials and accessories you use. A friend of mine made several hundred dollars from the sale of succulents planted in gilded, individual aluminum-foil pie pans. Each planting had a “clinker” from the furnace to add interest at the base. This was touched lightly with green, red, and bronze paint. Three tiny sedums of varied height made up the living material. This man sold these dish gardens at the wholesale price of 39 cents each; they retailed for more than twice that amount.

Family Friendly Backyard

If you are someone who wants to use your backyard for the family and friends to come over and enjoy barbeques and spend time together, then there are many choices for you. Extending your patio will give you more entertaining space and more room for extra seating at dinnertime. You may even consider adding a roof to your patio. This will allow you to enjoy the outdoors even when the weather is not so nice.

A great way to get the whole family in on the backyard landscaping is to plant trees or flowers together. Have the kids help with the flowers. Let them each choose a special flower or even a tree and let them plant them in a special place. This is a great way to create memories and a family backyard at the same time.

A great backyard-landscaping project can be done in one or two weekends. Make it special and make it reflect your own personality to create your own sanctuary and getaway from the rest of the world.

Themes

There are so many different themes that you can go with for your backyard. If you are dreaming of a tropical getaway, line your backyard with fruit trees, and coordinating flowers. Put a hammock between two trees and swing in the warm summer breeze. Throw some candles around your patio and some tropical throw rugs on the floor. You will be surprised what props can do to add feeling and warmth.

Romantic Themes

If you want to go back to your honeymoon days, just go to the backyard. Put in a privacy fence and maybe a Jacuzzi or hot tub. Add in some soft colors and sweet smelling candles and you have a honeymoon getaway in your own backyard. Add in some exotic flowers to your design to give your backyard some tropical accents.

Coordinate your design

Whenever you are planning your new front or backyard, the one thing that you want to do is make sure that all of the plants, shrubs or trees compliment each other. The last thing you want is for your landscape to look like a collection of mismatched creations. You do not want to decrease the value of your landscape by doing this.

Get a focal point

One important factor in a great landscape is something that catches everyone’s attention. This will be your focal point in your design. You may want something that is extraordinary or something simple, but eye catching. Pick something that gives your garden or landscape a warm and inviting feel.

Front yard landscaping is a fun expression of yourself and your home. If you are looking for a way to say, “welcome to my home” then you may want to start thinking about redesigning your front yard. If you were coming to visit your house, would you want to knock on your front door? If you are not sure about that answer, then you may want to start thinking of ways to spruce up your front yard.

Adding flowers to your front yard

Your home is a stranger’s first impression of you. To make your home look friendlier, add some flowers to your yard. Flowerbeds are great and simple ways to accent your front yard. Flowers can be used to line a sidewalk or the pathway to your front door. Colorful flowers in beds around your front porch are sure to be a pleasure to any newcomer.

Lining the porch with trees and shrubs

Trees and shrubs are a great way to line a porch or front yard property line. Shrubs are a great way to keep things looking neat and well maintained. As long as you give them the proper attention they require. Try not to use trees that loose their leaves on walkways and make them slippery. Consider using fruit or dogwood tress for the front yard. These are beautiful trees that produce sweet calming scents.

Landscaping ideas come from your heart, and from your mind. Anyone can make their front or backyard look like a professional gardener came in and completely renovated their property. It does not take a lot of skill to make all your landscaping dreams come true. All you really have to have is a little imagination and the will to get your hands dirty.

One very important part of landscaping is planning. The best thing to do when you are adding or fixing the landscape in your yard is to put it all down on paper first. Lay it out on paper so that you can see what you are doing and that you have enough space for what you have in mind. Take your time and think about what you are looking for in your yard. Remember to plan around large unmovable items like trees and outside buildings like sheds or garages. You are not going to be able to move these things so you want to make them fit in with your landscaping design.

Shrubs need to have good soil. It needs to be well-drained soil as well. You may need to add compost to your soil before you plant your shrubs. Whenever you are ready to plant your shrubs, check the roots to make sure that the shrub is root bound. Loosen the roots with a knife and then you are ready to place the shrub in the hole. Make sure that you give your shrubs lots of water.

Do not worry if your landscape of shrubs looks kind of empty at first. Over time the shrubs will spread out and fill in the loose gaps. That is the best thing about shrub landscapes. You do not need to plant a lot to get a lot. If you want to, you can fill in some of the small empty spaces with flowers like perennials. You will be free to design a look that you and everyone else will enjoy.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees

One great border

The key to planting a wonderful border is to design layers of colors and textures, and height. Whatever shrub you decide to plant, they will add color and texture to your home for every different season. Shrubs can grow to be enormous but as long as you keep them trimmed and maintained, they will add beauty and style to any home.

You can also use shrubs to line your property with. If you want to add a borderline between your neighbors’ house and yours, this is the perfect way to do so. Shrubs will divide the space without shutting you in like trees do. Shrubs are a great choice for this project and one that both you and your neighbors will enjoy.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees

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. Ra-pid-gro, 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-inchers. 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. 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.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees

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. 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.

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, peatmoss, 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, peatmoss, 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.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees