Orchid Home Garden

Orchids are still very popular plants for the home and garden, although many gardeners get overwhelmed with the huge number of orchid species and knowing their particular growing conditions. Here I will summarize the different types of orchids and suggest which ones would be best suited for your orchid home garden. The orchid family has over 30,000 species and more than double this number of cultivars or hybrids. Thus we need to understand a bit of orchid ecology before we select orchids for our home or garden. There are four broad types of orchid, each coming from a different growing environment. There are the climbing epiphytes, whose roots attach to the bark of trees, and the saprophytes which live on decaying matter. Terrestrial orchid plants grow in the soil and lithophytes can survive on rocks with very little soil.

The home gardener therefore needs to choose plants depending where she wants to display them. Fortunately plant breeders have done the selection for us and now days there are many varieties of easy-to-grow orchids that we can raise. The most common orchids found in garden centers are the Cattleya, Dendrobium, Cymbidium, Ondontoglossum, Paphiopedilum, Oncidium and the Phalaenopsis. As an orchid gardener you'll need to decide what is best for your own particular situation - space available, climatic conditions and the color of the orchid blooms which you like the most. I have listed the most popular garden and home orchids to give you an idea what to choose.

Cattleya:
This orchid is also known as the "Queen of Orchids". They are epiphytic orchids from temperate regions.

Dendrobium:
These epiphytic orchid plants produce a generous spay of flowers and there are many different colors found among Dendrobium varieties.

Cymbidium:
Cymbidium orchids originate from South America and are among the most common home and garden orchids found, mainly due to the blooms lasting for months.

Ondontoglossum:
These are cool growing Tiger orchids, originating from the Andes Mountains. Their colorful flowers usually have delicate patterns and markings.

Paphiopedilum:
Originating from East Asia, flowers often are stripped or spotted. Commonly known as the Slipper Orchid, they have broad leaves and prefer indirect sunlight.

Oncidium:
These South American epiphytes prefer a drier potting mix and have distinctive mottled markings.

Phalaenopsis:
Also known as the Moth orchid and their flowers come in a wide variety of colors.

Enjoying the Vegetable Bounty From Your Home Garden

When I first started gardening I made a very rookie mistake. I didn't have a big plot to plant in and didn't have any experience, so I planted tomato plants. I'd always heard they were easy to grow. I planted eight of them. At the same time. When the tomatoes started ripening I didn't know what I was going to do. I gathered them up as quickly as I could and took them into work and gave them to neighbors. Actually, I'd leave them on the neighbors doorsteps. I made gallons of tomato sauce. I made gallons of homemade salsa. I ate dozens of tomato sandwiches. I had learned a good lesson. The next year I planted only four tomato plants. I also planted them three weeks apart. That way when they came in they were much easier to deal with. I still made tomato sauce, salsa and ate delicious tomato sandwiches, but there wasn't any panic to use them up quickly. I used the extra space in my garden to plant pole green beans.

I still garden today. Only now my garden has tomatoes, green beans, carrots, zucchini and cucumbers. The green beans are our favorite vegetable. We grow both pole and bush varieties and we enjoy them in many different ways.

The best part about having green beans growing in the garden is the ability to pick them and eat them right off the vine. We also like to use a variety of ways to preserve them. We freeze and can them so that we can enjoy them for months to come. It is very easy to freeze beans, you don't need any special equipment. You simply rinse the beans, drain them and cut off the ends and cut them to the desired length. The beans are then boiled for three minutes, then put into ice water to cool. Put them in a zip lock bag, or use a Food Saver and you're done. The beans will last for up to 18 months in the freezer.

We also like to can green beans. Canning them is a bit more complicated and does require some equipment, but the beans will last up to five years. You'll need a pressure cooker, jars and lids. The jars and lids must be sterilized. I do this in my dishwasher using the sterilize cycle. As when freezing,rinse, remove the ends and cut the green beans to the desired length. Add the liquid to the jar along with any flavorings you wish and then put them in the pressure cooker following the manufacturers directions. I remember the first time I canned beans I was a bit apprehensive about it. I just followed the directions and it turned out fine. Now we add different flavorings to the jars as we can them. We like to add things like fresh dill and garlic.

Along with canning and freezing I enjoy trying new green bean recipes. I've learned that I can enjoy fresh and tender young beans raw or just quickly blanched in many different types of salads. I didn't realize how many cold green bean salad recipes there are. A very tasty cold salad is one that includes feta and pecans. Another includes lemon and Celery. These are fresh salads which are also perfect side dishes for a cookout. Some of my recipes work best with older beans that are cooked for long periods of time along with spices, such as Greek Green Beans and the Armenian dish Fassoulia, which is a mixture of meat and beans.

Home Garden Design

After being in a property for a number of years, a lot of people decide that they would like a new garden design but are often stuck as to where to start. There are a number of considerations, the most important one is of your taste. What do you like?

Just because it is a garden, it doesn't need to be overrun with grass, plants, trees and flowers if you don't want it to be. Some may prefer the low maintenance benefits afforded by wood decking, gravel, wood chips, tile or concrete.

Remember, it is your garden so you can do to it what you want.

The best way to get inspiration for your garden design is to go and see what else is out there that takes your fancy. You can look anywhere, your friends houses, public gardens, even a patch of grass in the middle of a city can provide you with a wealth of ideas.

Once you have an idea as to the style of garden you would like, you need to consider the size of your garden and plan accordingly. If you only have a small working area then you do not want to go overboard with planting. Your small garden could very quickly become cluttered and feel claustrophobic. If you have a small garden you should utilise layers to create a sense of depth and airy colour schemes.

If you are lucky enough to have a large space as your canvas then you can really go to town with your designs. Pretty much anything goes and is left entirely up to your tastes.

Don't just jump in and buy plants, flowers or anything else for your garden until you have a plan drawn out on paper, this should be a to scale representation of your garden with everything in place. It is much easier (and cheaper) to make changes on paper than it is to do then once you are putting your garden together.

Home Garden Basics - Simple Tips to Get Your Home Garden Started

There are hundreds of gardening tips that you can find in the internet, and if you are just new with this hobby, it may seem like a lot to you. You would like to focus on the most basic home garden guides that can help you get started. Here are a couple of gardening tips that are easy to follow, if you are just starting with your home garden:

Choosing the Best Garden Site

Preferably, it is best to choose a site for your home garden that will receive a lot of sunlight, and has potentials for good drainage. If you think that the soil is not fertile enough, you can always buy good topsoil from your local gardening supply shop and put fertilizers regularly. You must not choose an area where there would be other shrubs or trees that may compete with sunlight and water.

Get the Right Garden Tools

When buying your home garden tools, choose the right tools for the job, and only buy the ones you need. Gardening tools made of stainless steel are the best buys because they last a long time and can they help you dig into the soil easily. Make sure that the tools are comfortable to grip, as you may be using these home garden tools for a long time.

Choosing Your Plants

You may want to check your neighboring areas to see which plants are suited to your area's climate and terrain. If you need to transplant some of your newly bought plants, be sure not to transplant them too deep or too shallow to give the roots enough room to grow. Some plants, especially vegetable varieties are ideal for rotation during the year. You could find more information on which crops will be best for your home garden from your local library or through research on the internet.

Using Fertilizers

There are many commercial brands available for fertilizers, but using organic fertilizers have been proven the best choice. They are not only safe for most plants, but they are also good for the environment. As you develop your hobby, you would also learn the benefits of composting, from where you can get free organic fertilizers.

Gardening is one of the most relaxing hobbies, and rewarding as well, because you see the results of your efforts through beautiful flowers and tasty fruits and vegetables. It may take a while before you can see some harvests from your home garden, but through time, you would learn to appreciate the bounties of gardening more.

The Home Garden

The garden should be near the house and away from trees. If it's some distance away from the house, it will not be as well looked after, nor will most use be made of vegetables grown. Vegetables near trees cannot get full sunshine; even more important, tree roots will rob them of water and fertilizer they need to do their best.

If you can, move the garden spot every 10 years or so to help keep down diseases. Proper rotation and use of disease-resistant varieties will help, but sooner or later the old garden spot becomes so full of various disease spores and nematodes that you cannot grow a good crop of many vegetables without use of special soil fumigants.

Soil should, of course, be well drained. Few vegetables can stand "wet feet." A sandy loam with a clay subsoil is best. Heavy clay soils may be made quite suitable by adding heavy quantities of stable manure or compost, or by turning under cover crops, preferably legumes such as vetch, clover soybeans.

Since the best quality quantity of vegetables cannot be duced on anything but a fertile soil, do whatever is needed to make it fertile.

Requirements for growth.

1. Proper degree of heat.

2. Moisture.

3. Oxygen in the air is essential for seed germination and good growth.

English peas, for example, will sprout when soil termperature is only a few degrees above freezing, while seed such as tomatoes will not germinate at all.

To start these tender vegetables for early crops, artificial heat, as in hotbeds, is needed. Otherwise, for early crops, buy plants from commercial growers, or from local growers who produce them with artificial heat. Tender vegetables that do not transplant such as melons, cucumbers, cantaloupes, and squash, should not be planted outdoors until soil has warmed up. These may, however, be started earlier in small pots in a hotbead.

To make the most out of your gardening efforts, take time to do some planning. Also keep a record of wheather you had too much or too little of certain vegatables at any time during the season for a continuous supply. Don't trust it all to memory.

Things to consider when planting.

1. How much of each vegetable to grow to supply your family needs.

2. Which vegetables are most need for good health.

3. How much extra to plant for storage

4. Which varities are best to plant.

5. When to plant for continuous growth and supply.

6. Which pesticides are best for control of insects and diseases.

7. Supplies needed such as, sprayers, dusters, tools, fertilizer, or mulching material.

Jotting this down on paper, plus any notes made during the season about special pest problems or how a new variety or practice turned out, will be valuable the next season when planning and planting time roll around.