I want to plant some perennials in front of my house, but it’s on the north side of the house so it gets no sun. Any suggestions for perennials that will thrive there?
I just came across this great link while answering another question. Check out the following link and you can get a list of deep shade plants for your zone!
http://www.backyardgardener.com/shade/
Good luck!
I live in a Brownstone in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. I have noticed that a certain patch of grass in our back yard gets an excessive amount of light (about 8-10 hours depending). I have never had a garden but always wanted one and food is getting way expensive and I love to cook. So, I am wondering what types of fruits and veggies will grow the best in Brooklyn, NY. Any thoughts?
as mentioned above looking up your usda zone will help alot. BEcause of NYC proximity to the water the bouroghs and the city its self is probably a zone 7a maybe 7b in densely bulid up areas of the city. Try to look for the "NEW" 2006 usda map because it is based on more info in more cities over a longer peroid of time giving you an accurate zone.
chives make great potted plants and will come up every year around know. They are mostly spring and early summer plants though becuase they droop and dry back in the NYC humidity and heat of the summer, but will come up next year for sure. rosemary make great plants for the ground and will survive a NYC winter without much of a problem. if you plant in an area where it is windy in the winter than it will get damaged, but will come back. They may not survive if in pots all winter outdoors.
the next few will need to be replanted or brought in by frost.
BAsil make great shrubs and dont grow too tall, but if they do pruning can keep it nicely shaped. The basil will need to broung out aroung may in NYC and back in Mid october in NYC or early Nov depending on the first frost for that year. Tomatoes especially cherry tomatoes are great and although cherry tomatoes look bad by agust the blooms neve stop and you can be picking as many as 100 tomatoes a week off a large plant by september. Pumpkins make nice plants for areas that are wide and open and will be ripe by about september in your area.
Flower gardens are simple to install and easy to care for. They do, however, require a basic understanding of the natural conditions of your garden as well as the specific needs of the individual flowers. Different flowers have different requirements. Annuals, for example, live for only one season, require a bit more maintenance than perennials and, since they die after the first hard frost, need be replanted each year. Perennials, on the other hand, flower for a period each year and grow larger each season. They die back to the ground in the winter but reemerge the following spring.
Determine which flowers do well in your climate and research their sun and soil requirements. Some flowers thrive in the sun while other prefer a little shade. Also, though most plants prefer organic, nutrient rich soil, some will do actually do better in well drained sandy soil.
Perennials bloom either early in the spring, during the middle of summer or late in the summer and into autumn. To achieve a constant bloom throughout the season, plant many different species. Iris, bleeding heart and a variety of bulbs are notable early bloomers. Daylily and hosta bloom in the middle of summer while aster and sedum “autumn joy” are perfect for late season color. Annuals bloom continuously from spring right through the fall up until the first frost. A mixture of annuals and perennials in the garden ensures a colorful garden from spring until fall.
Plan a garden which compliments your house and overall landscape. For instance, mixing different heights, colors, and varieties of flowers together in a cottage garden style will give your garden a rustic look which is quite appropriate for a country setting. If you want a more formal feel, consider a rectangular garden with a symmetrical layout.
Planting your annuals and perennials is easy. After you have prepared your garden by tilling the soil and adding some compost and peat moss, arrange your flowers in the new bed according to a design drawn out before hand. Make sure you like the layout and that the plants are adequately spaced. To plant, simply dig a hole about twice the size of the plant’s root system and place the flower in the hole then back fill the hole with the some soil, tamp it down and water. All plants, including perennials and annuals, should be planted at the level of the finish grade of your garden.
In you want a low maintenance flower garden, limit your annuals and plant a variety of perennials. Perennials, though quite adaptable to a number of garden conditions, can benefit from an early spring feeding. Slow release fertilizer is very effective in the flower garden as it provides nutrients over the course of an entire season. Another way to provide nutrients to your flowers is to spread a layer of organic compost on the garden each spring.
Flower gardening is very rewarding. Simply decide what flowers you like, plant them and be sure they receive the proper care. Flower gardening gives people excellent reason to spend some outdoors and test out their green thumb.
anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/flower-gardening-tips-90094.html
Cholesterol diets are the best if your cholesterol level is too high. These diets help you decrease your cholesterol level by almost twenty percent.
What these diets do is to reduce your chances of developing any heart problems, like heart diseases or even heart attacks. The main thing which the diet is based on is to reduce the saturated fat that you normally eat and also reduce the amount of cholesterol in your meals.
So, to get down to what you’ re probably wondering by now: what food should we eat? Well, first let us start with foods that are low where saturated fat is concerned. You should eat dairy products that are fat free, fish or shellfish, grain foods and a lot of fruits and vegetables. Be careful even what margarine you eat. It should be one with a low content of saturated fat.
Another important step on the diet list is eating food which has a high content of soluble fiber. Food like that is oat products, fruits like oranges, vegetables like carrots, beans and peas which have been dried out.
Now that you know what you should eat, let us go to the other side and see what foods are forbidden if suffering from cholesterol problems. Avoid as much as you can liver, eggs and dairy products which are 100 percent fat. You should also limit the amount of salami, sausages that you eat, because they are very high in fat. Fried foods must also be avoided.
There also are indicated methods for cooking your meals. You should boil, bake, grill, microwave or roast the food you eat in order to reduce the levels of saturated fat in your food.
You must also be careful what kind of meat you eat if you want your cholesterol level to stay low. We recommend that you eat fish, poultry, shellfish and the leanest meat.
From the poultry meat that we advice you to eat, chicken and turkey are the lowest in saturated fat. Another trick is to remove the skin. Also try to limit the amount of duck or goose that you eat, because they have a high level of fat, even when you remove the skin.
Fish and shellfish are the most indicated types of food that you should eat. They are lower in fat even than chicken. You should also try to substitute meal with other foods such as dry beans or peas. These vegetables have a lot of fibre and are very good in lowering the cholesterol level in your blood.
For greater resources on cholesterol please review http://www.cholesterol-info-guide.com/low-cholesterol-recipe.htm or http://www.cholesterol-info-guide.com/low-cholesterol-food.htm
Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/what-is-the-best-diet-if-suffering-from-cholesterol-99584.html
The devices and implements used for fighting plant enemies are of two sorts:
(1) those used to afford mechanical protection to the plants;
(2) those used to apply insecticides and fungicides.
Of the first the most useful is the covered frame. It consists usually of a wooden box, some eighteen inches to two feet square and about eight high, covered with glass, protecting cloth, mosquito netting or mosquito wire. The first two coverings have, of course, the additional advantage of retaining heat and protecting from cold, making it possible by their use to plant earlier than is otherwise safe. They are used extensively in getting an extra early and safe start with cucumbers, melons and the other vine vegetables.
Simpler devices for protecting newly-set plants, such as tomatoes or cabbage, from the cut-worm, are stiff, tin, cardboard or tar paper collars, which are made several inches high and large enough to be put around the stem and penetrate an inch or so into the soil.
For applying poison powders, the home gardener should supply himself with a powder gun. If one must be restricted to a single implement, however, it will be best to get one of the hand-power, compressed-air sprayers. These are used for applying wet sprays, and should be supplied with one of the several forms of mist-making nozzles, the non-cloggable automatic type being the best. For more extensive work a barrel pump, mounted on wheels, will be desirable, but one of the above will do a great deal of work in little time. Extension rods for use in spraying trees and vines may be obtained for either. For operations on a very small scale a good hand-syringe may be used, but as a general thing it will be best to invest a few dollars more and get a small tank sprayer, as this throws a continuous stream or spray and holds a much larger amount of the spraying solution. Whatever type is procured, get a brass machine it will out-wear three or four of those made of cheaper metal, which succumbs very quickly to the, corroding action of the strong poisons and chemicals used in them.
Of implements for harvesting, beside the spade, prong-hoe and spading- fork, very few are used in the small garden, as most of them need not only long rows to be economically used, but horse- power also. The onion harvester attachment for the double wheel hoe, may be used with advantage in loosening onions, beets, turnips, etc., from the soil or for cutting spinach. Running the hand- plow close on either side of carrots, parsnips and other deep-growing vegetables will aid materially in getting them out. For fruit picking, with tall trees, the wire-fingered fruit-picker, secured to the end of a long handle, will be of great assistance, but with the modern method of using low-headed trees it will not be needed.
Another class of garden implements are those used in pruning but where this is attended to properly from the start, a good sharp jack-knife and a pair of pruning shears will easily handle all the work of the kind necessary.
Still another sort of garden device is that used for supporting the plants; such as stakes, trellises, wires, etc. Altogether too little attention usually is given these, as with proper care in storing over winter they will not only last for years, but add greatly to the convenience of cultivation and to the neat appearance of the garden.
As a final word to the intending purchaser of garden tools, I would say: first thoroughly investigate the different sorts available, and when buying, do not forget that a good tool or a well-made machine will be giving you satisfactory use long, long after the price is forgotten, while a poor one is a constant source of discomfort. Get good tools, and take good care of them. And let me repeat that a few dollars a year, judiciously spent, for tools afterward well cared for, will soon give you a very complete set, and add to your garden profit and pleasure.
Daniel Millions
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/protect-your-plants-91466.html
For guys its not bulk body builder weight, even though you could because we make more testosterone. For ladies it would be more like Jennifer Garner or Angelina Jolie. You have to slow your metabolism a little so maybe dont do as much cardio activity and increase the intensity of your resistance (weights) workouts.
Proteins will help you build muscle but don’t overdo it, meaning don’t go stock up on peanut butter and tuna cans. Only so much protein can be used by your body a day the rest goes undigested to a degree. Its important to eat proteins after weight workouts.
Also make sure you get your proteins from vegetables as well as meats. Yes vegetables, you would be surprised how many bodybuilders are vegetarians. Legumes (beans), Leafy green vegetables have proteins as well as whole grains (rice). When eaten in combination vegetables and whole grains containing proteins can form whats called a complete protein which is better used by your body to build muscle.
Building muscle in your workouts requires high intensity resistance training, so if you haven’t been lifting weights build up to it gradually. Taking longer rests between your sets will allow more muscle fibers to be built, and drink plenty of water.
As far as supplements go, everything God put on this earth for you to eat works just as well as any supplement. All supplements do is try to give you what you can get from your food and give you results you get from hard work and smart eating. A good multivitamin is just about all you need as far as supplements go. Weight gain supplements have way to many side effects to be worth it.
There are certain foods that are beneficial and certain you should avoid.
# Drink sufficient pure water — your weight divided by 2 = ounces per day. Take fluids between meals, using reverse osmosis purified water, unsweetened juices, and herbal beverages. Try liquid chlorophyll in pure water, it is delicious and refreshing!
# *A minimum of 50% of your food should be alive — fresh, raw, unprocessed. Dead food cannot build strong bodies. Eat foods in season and foods that can spoil. (But eat them before they spoil, of course!)More is preferable!
# *Eliminate foods used in a microwave. Try to eliminate using the microwave for anything you eat or drink.
# *Eliminate processed sugars and white flour and any foods that contains these; i.e., read labels. Substitute whole grain foods for white — stone ground whole wheat, brown rice, etc.
# *Avoid all stimulants. They are very hard on the adrenal glands. (Coffee, cigarettes, chocolate, cola drinks, alcohol, aspirin, black tea — herbal (green, jasmine, chamomille, etc.) tea acceptable.)
# *It is easier on your digestive system if you eat fruit by itself. Fruit digests faster than any other type of food. Starches and proteins do not combine well either.
# *Eat two-thirds of your daily food intake before mid-afternoon if possible. It is best to use protein in the morning and at noon, not in the evening.
# *Eliminate fried foods of all kinds — grill, bake, roast, or steam instead.
# *Avoid products sweetened with high fructose corn syrup — this does a real number on your blood sugar and in excess causes belly fat
# *Avoid using Splenda, Nutrasweet or any other artificial sweetners containing Aspartame and Sucralose for they are harmful to the body. Avoid using products sweetened with these dangerous chemicals.
# *Avoid pork and any product containing pork — lunch meats, hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage, etc. Experts feel that the parasites in pork are heat-resistant.
# *Do not use aluminum cookware.
# *Replace table salt with Vegetable Seasoning Broth, kelp or B-Salt. Table salt — sodium chloride — is an imbalanced chemical which can cause health problems.
# *Replace red meat with fish or fowl whenever possible.
# *Substitute leaf lettuce — Romaine, red or green leaf, or butter for head lettuce which has very little food value and is toxic in the colon.
# Try to add cultured products, natural yogurt & keifer (not sweetened) to your diet to help your digestive system. Also add acidophilus supplements to your regimen to increase friendly bacteria in your intestines and support your immune system.
# Eat Organic food whenever possible
#*70% of your daily food intake should be selected from alkaline-forming list. 30% from the acid-forming list.
To accomplish this, you may have:
5 vegetables*
2 fruits
2 starches — or — 1 starch
1 protein 2 proteins
Acid - Forming Foods
Meat
Fowl
Eggs
Bread
Nuts
Citrus juices
Fish
Cheese
Rice
Grains (cereal)
Sugar
Alkali - Forming Foods
Fruit juices/except citrus
Vegetable juices
Raw Honey
Soybeans
Potatoes
*Liquid Chlorophyll - Chloropyll may be used as a vegetable.
Goat milk
sprouted seeds
Chris Navi
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/the-best-way-to-gain-weight-without-getting-fat-103747.html
Many of us flip through garden magazines, all the while thinking that it takes years, a professional, or tons of money to landscape the gardens featured in the glossy pictures. This isnt necessarily true. You can design a breathtaking garden and be the envy of the neighborhood by following some of the following tips.
Know What You Like and What Works
Drive around your neighborhood and see whats out there that grows well in your zone. You can jot down what you see on index cards, so they are organized and handy. Start gathering page clippings from magazines and collect some pictures of the designs that interest you. This can help you decide what garden style you like. Youll have an easy reference for plants and placement too.
Select Location and Color
Next, look at your notes and clippings and choose the color scheme youd like to have in your garden. Don’t forget to keep in mind if youre designing and planting in shade, sun, or partial shade or partial sun. Are you looking for something bright and vibrant or something more calming and soothing?
Consider starting with a foundation of shrubs and accenting with some perennials, bulbs, ornamental grasses, and annuals for more seasonal color. Perhaps, you want all flowers. Decide on a shape that compliments your house style. Straight styles give a more formal appearance while curves give a more informal feel. If you dont feel confident selecting colors, you can use a color wheel to help pick contrasting and complimenting colors.
Budget and Create a Plan
Decide how much you are able to and want to spend on your new garden. Do you want to start with a foundation and add to it gradually? If so, start with purchasing your most expensive plants and shrubs first. Use these as a focal point for your garden. Start watching for sales and discount plants at garden centers and nurseries. Tell everyone you know that youre starting a garden and would love it if they could give you divisions of their perennials or seeds they have saved from their garden. Let family and friends know that you have a wish list of plants that would be the perfect gift idea. If you have access online, do a search for seed swaps.
Many gardeners love to help a new gardener. Many are willing to send seeds for the cost of postage or will trade for something else that you may have that they are looking for. A great resource for free items is freecycle.org Look for a group in your area, join the group, and post letting the group know that you would be interested in garden plants and seeds. You may get lucky and find that a member of the group has already offered some plants up for grabs. Dont forget to ask your local garden club when they are having their sales too. You can also start some plants from seed yourself. Many seeds are very easy to direct sow and a little can go a long way.
Heres a partial list of easy to grow seeds:
Candytuft
Asters
4 oclocks
Sunflowers
Pansies
Violas
Impatiens
Dianthus
Larkspur
Salvia
Cupid’s Dart
Morning Glories
Moonflowers
Zinnias
Calendula
Marigold
Cosmos
Sweet Alyssum
Bee Balm
Poppies
Nasturtium
Dont forget if you decide to sow into containers, there are many inexpensive containers such as yogurt containers, milk jugs, egg cartons, and plastic ice cream buckets. You can also call your city and see if they have free mulch available. Dont hesitate to strike up conversations with your neighbors while youre out for a walk. You never know, the topic of gardening may come up and they might be more than happy to offer you some seeds or divisions.
Design Away
Now youre ready to design. You can sketch out your idea beforehand. Keep the following in mind as you design.
Scale- Judge the size of the area and choose plants that arent going to be too large, too wide, or too small for the area. Keep in mind the plants size when its met its mature growth.
Balance-Dont place your plants where one area is too compacted with plants and another area is too airy. Try and achieve a good balance of small, medium, and large plants. Balance offers visual stability. It can be created with space between plantings or the visual weight of your design. This can be created with lines so that your garden is pleasing to look at from all angles.
Focal Point- Your focal point will be the area that your eye is drawn to first. This can be your prized flowers, tree, or shrub.
Rhythm- This is visual flow. The eye wanders throughout the entire garden design, but comes back to the focal point. It can be achieved with repetition and contrast.
Harmony-Unity- This is when plants have a way of appearing connected and a part of one another. This can be achieved with color, texture, groupings. Unity is lost when your plants look too separate or your color choice makes one plant look lost amongst the rest.
Color- Color impacts the entire design process. Use a color wheel if you dont feel confident selecting colors that go well together.
If all of this is too confusing and overwhelming, check out some garden catalogs. Many have suggested designs. Its also best to place your containers out and arrange and rearrange where you want to plant them before you start digging.
Accessorize (homemade garden art)
To add some interest and whimsy to your garden, consider some homemade items or trash to treasure works of art. Ideas such as making your own stepping stones, garden markers, terra cotta bird baths or toad houses, painted rocks and pavers, and fun wind chimes are simple projects that can add a lot of interest to your garden area. Look around for unique items you could add to your garden such as milk cans, wooden chairs, ladders, tricycles, wagons, trunks, roofing shingles, mailboxes, or even dressers. The sky is the limit on what you can create. Use your imagination.
There you have it and you didnt have to hire a pro, spend thousands of dollars, or take years to achieve a pretty garden. You wont be a new gardener for long. Soon, it will be you sharing starts, cuttings, seeds, divisions, and tips.
John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/gardenscape-on-a-shoestring-95717.html
Im looking for vegetable Gardening Tips and want to build the perfect vegetable garden. I have found a really good free ebook to get me started at http://www.vegetablegardeninghelp.com but wanted to know if anyone has any design plans for a vegetable garden? Thanks
Perhaps look at sunset magazine; they always have cute ideas for your garden!
Or perhaps go to the home depot and look at the magazines they have on gardening.
They are quite helpful!
Good luck!
the tortoises are in Bulgaria. they have not put on enough weight to hibernate. they will be fed through the winter months kept at 35 f. some vegetable foods are unsuitable. the markets here have a choice of winter veg but I don’t know what is best to give them !!
Fruits and Vegetables (<10%) - Fruit should be given very sparingly because over consumption can lead to high levels of sugar in the gut (intestine) and result in colic.
Cantaloupe
Winter squash
Parsnips
Apple (no seeds)
Grapes
Red and green sweet peppers
Sweet potatoes
Mixed Green Leaf Vegetable Base (90+%)
Coarse mixed grasses and hays
Dandelion, mustard, and collard greens
Cabbage*
Clover
Kale*
Endive
Parsley*
Carrot toppings
Flower heads and other natural fodder plants
*These contain high amounts of oxalates and should only be fed in limited quantities.
the best diet is still a natural weed diet which can be found on htis site http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/plantfoods.html hope it helps best of luck honey
I want to gain the maximuim health benefits from Flax Seeds.
Should I buy the seeds and grind them myself?
Is it ok if I add them to a fruit smoothie?
Thanks!
you can add them to anything you want - oatmeal, smoothie, protein shake, salad etc. the best is to use ground flax seeds - buy or do it yourself - its up to you (but keep them in fridge because they go bad fast)