Important Message!

Indoor Gardening Can be Fun!

You are interested in doing some gardening. However, the climate that you live in prevents you from gardening as much as you would like to. Thus, you would like to find a way that you can enjoy a gardening hobby, but at the same time have the benefit of being able to garden all year. Thus, what you would like to do is some indoor gardening.

About Indoor Gardening

Indoor gardening is something that is especially popular amongst those who live in colder climates. This is because the plants that they would like to grow can only be grown in certain temperatures, and those temperatures cannot be cold.

Thus, indoor gardening can be very beneficial. For example, if you are the kind of person that likes to grow your own vegetables, normally you could only do so during certain times of the year if you lived in a colder climate. However, with indoor gardening, you have much more flexibility.

The most common kind of indoor gardening is gardening that involves greenhouses. Greenhouses are specialized places that many professional gardeners as well as amateur gardeners use.

Greenhouses are made either out of glass, or out of plastic material, and can be found in a variety of different sizes. They are the preferred method of indoor gardening because the temperature in the greenhouse can be adjusted.

However, indoor gardening can be as simple as having several large pots placed in a warm area. The area that you choose will have to do with the kind of plants that you have. Growing plants in pots is an especially good idea for certain kinds of plants such as cherry tomatoes, that do not grow too large for a large pot.

If you are interested in indoor gardening, there are a few rules that you should follow. First of all, be sure that you have a room in your house that is warm enough for the plants that you would like to have, and be sure that the room gets at least partial sunlight.

Also, be sure that wherever you decide to place the plants, they will not be bothered by young children or animals. If either one tries to eat the plants, that could be dangerous. For more information on indoor gardening, visit your local gardening center. You can also search the internet for more information. You are sure to find the right information on indoor gardening with the proper research.

Permalink • Print • Comment

June 29, 2009

Theme Container Gardens for the Deck and Patio

Creating your own container garden can be so much fun, especially if you think of using themes. Consider showing off your style with a small kitchen garden, or create an outdoor pot designed to attract hummingbirds or to welcome butterflies. Our beings are drawn to beautiful scents, what about a container giving off wonderful fragrances.

Culinary containers or kitchen gardens are especially handy as a source of herbs, leafy lettuce or parsley, or even edible flowers. You may wish to combine many edibles to create your own miniature garden at the door. Combining edibles with your flowering or ornamental plants can be so attractive - imagine Beefsteak Tomatoes surrounded by basil or oregano. For foliage color, use green and purple leaved basils, leaf lettuce and Swiss chard. Parsley is especially great, goes anywhere, and adds attractive texture and rich green color to any container combination. Nasturtiums are grown for their showy, spurred flowers and trailing ones are sensational in your planters - they are edible and give a finished look to the container.

Herbs that work wonderfully well in culinary containers are chives, lemon balm, rosemary, different sages and oregano. Lemongrass is wonderful in soups and adds a nice vertical accent to any planter or outdoor pot.

And then of course there are those peppers, both colorful and hot. Cherry tomatoes should not be forgotten, they look pretty in your arrangements and the spectacular patio tomatoes are there for the picking. Don’t forget arugula and of course golden thyme for another theme.

The best place to use your fragrant plants is in garden pots on your deck or patio. This is where we can enjoy their lovely scents when relaxing in the evening. Mix scented plants with foliage or flowers and see what you can come up with. Some plants, such as heliotrope, can be enjoyed once they begin to bloom and for the rest of the summer. Lilies that have been forced in your pots can be moved to the garden after they bloom. Others such as tuberoses may have to be moved indoors before frost and then brought out again next year. Dahlias and of course geraniums make a great show and a delightful addition to your container gardens.

Hummingbirds will arrive right on your deck or patio if you give them the proper encouragement. Along with your hummingbird feeder, some of the best container plants to attract them are annual sages. They come in so many colors from bright red to shades of mauve and purpose to creamy white and pink. Try out one or more of them in your garden pots. You may also use Nicotiana plant, petunias and dwarf dahlias too.

To keep all of our container plants going all summer, deadhead regularly and of course water and feed on a timely basis. When plants become scrawny or leggy, just cut them back hard in mid-summer and then they will produce more new flowers and foliage within a few weeks. Your containers will be beautiful right into the cool Fall weather.

In summary, create theme container combinations. They can be ones either for the kitchen, to give off wonderful fragrances and of course to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.


Marion Stewart is an avid gardener. She loves sitting on her deck surrounded by so many varied flower-packed and herb planted containers. In her continued research she has found some spectacular fine quality resin planters and garden containers and now offers them in numerous colors, sizes and styles. Find your best planter at the GardenPlanterStore.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment

June 25, 2009

Strengthen The Body And Boost Your Health With Chickweed

Chickweeds are an annual herb that can be found growing in temperate zones, artic zones, and throughout. The most likely origin of this plant, although not known for sure, is Eurasia. Chickweeds have established themselves all over the world, as they may have been carried by clothes and shoes of explorers. Chickweed plants are as numerous in species as they are in region. Most species are succulent with white flowers. All of the species have practically the same edible and medicinal values.

This plant exhibits an interesting trait, as it folds its leaves over its buds and the new shoots every night. This event is known as the sleeping of the plant. Cultivating this plant is not exactly necessary, as it is abundant and easy to find. The plant can be gathered fresh and edible between May and July, as soon as the flowers appear. Not only can the plant be used fresh, it can also be dried for later herb use.

Chickweed can be found growing abundantly in areas of Europe and North America. The Ojibwe and Iroquois Native American tribes used chickweed as eyewash. They also used it in poultice form to heal wounds. It has recently been studied for its abilities in helping to prevent cancer.

Chickweed is extremely valuable in treating blood toxicity, fevers, and inflammation. Its mucilage elements are known to help with stomach ulcers and also inflamed bowels. Chickweed is great for helping to dissolve plaque in blood vessels as well as other fatty substances that can be found in the body. Chickweed acts as an antibiotic in the blood, as it may be recommended as an anticancer treatment. Some people have used chickweed to treat tumors.

Chickweed can be used as a poultice for boils, burns, skin diseases, sore eyes, and swollen testes. Chickweed is also recommended to aid in weight loss and to break down cellulite. This herb is mild and has been sued as a food as well as a medicine.

Chickweeds are very nutritious and high in vitamins and minerals. They can be added to salads or cooked as a pot herb. The plant tastes somewhat like spinach. The whole plant can be taken internally as a postpartum depurative, emmenagogue, glactogogue, and cirucaltory tonic. A decoction can also be used externally to treat rheumatic pains, wounds, and ulcers. Chickweed can be applied as a medicinal poultice to relieve any kind of roseola. It is effective wherever there are fragile superficial veins or itching skin conditions.

The entire chickweed herb is used to provide alterative, anorectic, antineoplastic, blood purifier, demulcent, diuretic, emollient, expectorant, febrifuge, mucilant, nutritive, pectoral, and stomachic properties. The primary nutrients found in this herb are calcium, copper, iron, manganese, phosphorus, sodium, vitamins C, D, and B-complex, and zinc. Primarily, this herb is extremely beneficial in dealing with excessive appetite, bleeding, blood impurities, convulsions, obesity, skin rashes, and ulcers. Additionally, chickweed can be extremely helpful in treating arteriosclerosis, asthma, bronchitis, bruises, bursitis, colitis, constipation, cramps, eye infections, gas, hemorrhoids, lung congestion, excessive mucus, pleurisy, blood poising, swollen testicles, inflamed tissue, water retention, and wounds. For more information the many beneficial affects of chickweed, please feel free to contact a representative from your local health food store with questions.

Chickweed is available in capsule and tablet forms at your local or internet health food store. Look for name brands like Solaray, Natures Answer, and Natures Herbs to ensure quality and purity of the products you purchase.

*Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Chickweed is not intended to diagnose, treat and cure or prevent disease. Always consult with your professional health care provider before changing any medication or adding Vitamins to medications.


More information on Chickweed is available at VitaNet ®, LLC Health Food Store. vitanetonline.com/ />

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

More: continued here

Permalink • Print • Comment
Made with WordPress and an easy to use WordPress theme • Electric Kubrick skin by Denis de Bernardy