Posts Tagged ‘gardening’

Topsy Turvy Upside Down Vegetable Planter: Don’t Hang Your Upside Down Planters Until You Read This

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Make sure you read this if you are using the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter this year. Failure to hang your tomato planter correctly will result in you not having an easy time growing your tomato’s.

Because the tomato planter will weigh around seventy pounds when it’s watered and you have a thriving plant hanging it properly is important and a bit tricky. You have to make sure that you have the proper support to hold your hanger up.

Hanging it properly is even more important if you have children or animals around as neither can resist playing with things they aren’t supposed to. Properly supporting it won’t be a problem once your aware that you need to. You can do one of two things to give it great support.

If you are only planning on using one planter then your best bet is to just go to your local hardware store and buy a more durable hook to hang your planter on. Make sure it can hold up to eighty pounds to give yourself a little leeway. This is a very inexpensive fix and will help your planter stay in the air where it is supposed to be.

If you are using more them one planter there is a different way to go about hanging your Topsy Turvy.

To hang multiple tomato planters you should consider building your own wooden frame. It will only take a few hours to make and you might even have all of the wood you need already.

Depending on how many planters you have just make a nice and simple square or rectangular frame to stick in your yard. It does not have to be exact, it just has to be sturdy. Keep in mind that when your tomato plants take off they will cover most of the wood because they grow upwards and it is going to look stunning.

Go ahead and get creative with the decoration of the frame if you’d rather it not just be wood. Put some paint on it, be creative. You can either make it stand out as a focus of your yard or blend it in with it’s surroundings.

Go ahead and spend a little time making the frame something your proud of. The planters last a long time so that few extra minutes will provide you with years of pleasure.

Do you want to learn more info on how to get the most from your Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter? To receive free tips on how to get the most from your tomato planter click Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter. Get the best deal on the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter.

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Grow A Better Garden Without Soil Using Hydroponic Gardening

Friday, April 9th, 2010

You can grow beautiful and tasty vegetables with hydroponic gardening. It will give you twice as much yield as with a soil garden. It also takes less space than a regular garden. You can also grow herbs, flowers and plants.

A hydroponic garden uses water, nutrients and a medium to grow plants without soil. Since the plants don’t need to compete with each other or seek food in the soil they have more energy to use for growing. These plants grow 30-50 percent faster. The nutrients go directly to the roots with watering. They are much less likely to have bug infestation, fungus and disease than a soil garden. The garden can be grown indoors or outdoors.

The environment benefits from the use of the hydroponic system as well. The topsoil remains untouched and less water is used than in a traditional soil garden. A different medium is used in the pots. Plants can actually be grown with no medium, it is called an Aeroponic system.

The mediums used to grow the plants are sand, gravel, vermiculite or just plain water. These are the less expensive ones but they work well. The only downside to these is that they tend to hold on to too much moisture. Hydroton is a popular medium made with shale. It is clay that drains fast and is light and airy. This allows plants to a get lot of the oxygen they need to grow.

Rockwool is a popular medium but is not good for using repeatedly as it breaks down easily. It does hold 14 times more water than soil will. It also holds 20 percent air. It starts with volcanic rock and limestone that is melted down and spun quickly. It is then pressed into blocks, cubes or sheets for use.

The garden needs nutrients mixed with the water to grow. These come in liquid and powder form. They can also be chemical or organic. The organic nutrient can often clog a system that uses pumps. The liquid nutrient is easiest and fastest to use as it dissolves quickly in water. The powder takes more time to dissolve so must be mixed thoroughly. There is nutrient for growing and one for blooming plants.

Maintaining proper pH levels is important. There are simple inexpensive tests available. If pH is too high or low your plants will not be able to absorb the nutrients it needs to thrive. The ideal range is 5.8 to 6.8 pH. If it needs to be lowered phosphoric acid is usually added. Potash is added to raise it.

There are several hydroponic gardening systems for growing. These can be purchased or built. Most of them use submersible pumps to move the water and nutrients. There is the ebb and flow system, the continuous drip system, or wick system. The first two can reuse the same water and nutrients repeatedly. The wick system is a passive system and cannot reuse its nutrients and water. No matter what system you choose it will take considerably less time, work and space than a soil garden.

Hydroponic gardening supplies are easily found in gardening shops and boutiques on the Internet. Choosing the right lighting equipment can be quick and easy by taking advantage of an expert LED grow light review and comparison.

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The Pros and Cons of the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

One of the biggest things in home vegetable gardening right now is the Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter. It says that you can have an abundant crop of tomatoes without all of the hassles that come with tomato gardening. No bugs, no collapsing stems, and the ability to easily harvest your vegetables but does it really work?

Find out for yourself with the pros and cons of the Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter.

Pros– You will no longer have to worry about your plants stalk breaking because of your tomatoes being to heavy.

Cons– The cons are that just because it hangs upside down does not mean that the branches will not get tangled up.

Pros- – It will give you much more free space in your yard because your tomato plants will be up in the air.

Cons — The Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter gets very heavy with all of the dirt and water so you need to make sure you have somewhere to hang it that has very good support.

Another thing to look at is because the dirt is not in the ground you will need to water it much more frequently, about two times a day.

Pros– It is very easy to harvest the tomatoes. You will not have to dig through the vines on your hands and knees and you can walk all the way around the tomato plant to gather your tomatoes.

Cons– When the sun hits the planter it can make the dirt very hot and can kill your plants. To avoid this you will need to place aluminum foil around the planter to deflect some of the light.

Pros– Watering the tomato plants in the Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter is very easy. Make sure that you are running water through the planter until the water runs clear at least once a week so that you can get the stale water out of the sponges and you don’t get mold on the roots.

Do you have the desire to spend less time taking care of your tomatoes and spend more time enjoying them? Then get the best deal on a Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter. Click The Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter.

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LED Grow Light Review – How To Find The Best Models Of 2010

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

The indoor gardening world was rocked a few years ago with the introduction of LED grow lights. In the midst of controversy, many questions arose as to whether or not they could give true results and live up to the hype. By putting in a bit of research, you can plainly see that, not only do LED grow lights deliver, but they are here to stay.

The key to understand with LED grow lights is that you are trading in the brute force concept of high-intensity grow lights such as metal halide and high pressure sodium for the finesse and quiet power of the technology in an LED grow light.

When typically using HID grow lights – with all the associated (expensive) accessories such as heat ducting, extraction fans, ballasts, and so on – the entire white light spectrum is emitted. With wavelengths from red to blue and in between, plants get the benefit of light while getting attacked by excessive heat. Not many people think about how efficient this method is. At only about 15% efficiency, HID grow lights throw away most of its energy in the form of non-absorbable light and plant-killing heat. That is just money down the drain.

The highest quality LED grow lights enjoy a 95% efficiency rating which means that almost all of the light is beneficial to your plants and can directly help them grow. Nearly none of the light is wasted and the heat they produce is negligible. Only with years of research and development can determine which specific wavelengths are targeted to produce energy usable in photosynthesis. Blue and red light are the most important for growing plants while, to a lesser extent, orange is also needed. This makes sense because plants are green. On a scientific level, this means that plants reflect green and yellow light to such an extent that those wavelengths are nearly useless for growing plants. You have to ask yourself, why buy a grow light that wastes energy on producing those wavelengths?

To pick the best LED grow light for your indoor growing venture, many things need to be considered. Of course there is a wide range of quality in the lights produced which depends on the manufacturer – just like any other product you buy. From the most basic (and cheapest) lights all the way up to the Porche of LED grow lights, designs and applications range in shape, color of light, price, and individual LED power output. I have found that you get what you pay for with these lights.

I am not telling you that you must buy the most expensive model you can find because cost is not the sole factor that determines quality. It is the composition of the LED grow light and the quality of the components used in its construction that is the real factor.

With a quick search of the Internet, you will find the market is inundated with with cheap, underpowered grow lights. A common example is the 225 LED grow light panel typically found on Ebay. Sure they are inexpensive (around $55), however each bulb in the array only has about 0.06 Watts of power – which is about enough to grow a thin, spindly, plant about 4 inches tall. With this lack of power, you get very spotty results at best – no canopy penetration, tiny plants, and some plants that just will not grow, flower or fruit. At a minimum, you should be looking for an LED grow light with an output of at least 1 Watt per bulb – roughly 16 times more power that these cheap rip off LED grow lights – which will still save you plenty of money on your electric bill.

When using high quality LED grow lights you get powerful, highly targeted light to your plants. You will enjoy the success of thick, stocky plants with huge blooms and the biggest yields possible when growing inside.

Get a more in-depth LED Grow Light Review. Stop by Cora Ladd’s site where you can find out all about LED Grow Lights and how they can benefit your indoor garden.

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Burpee Seeds A Dependable Source For Garden Supplies

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Burpee Seeds has been a family company in business since 1876. The company sells seeds to commercial growers, retail stores and home gardeners from its Warminster, Pennsylvania headquarters. It was founded by W. Atlee Burpee when he was only eighteen years old and stayed in family hands until it was purchased by General Foods. In 1988 it was bought back by the Burpee family and continues to be run by David Burpee, the son of the founder.

Atlee loved science but he did not want to become a physician as his father expected. Instead he liked to fiddle around with seeds trying to make new and improved vegetables and flowers. In 1888 he conducted tests with European vegetable seeds and tried to make them grow in the climate and soil of the United States. He developed Surehead cabbage and a bigger and tastier carrot he called Long Orange. Green beans grown at this time in history always had a sting that went down the pod that had to be removed before eating and he came up with one that no longer had that string. He enjoyed traveling around and finding people like him who were making better food products and when he found one he liked he bought it and sold it through his company.

Atlee died in 1915 and by that time his seed company was very popular sending out almost a million copies of the seed catalog per year. At this time many of his customers were farmers but home gardening was in style with the advent of the victory garden during the World Wars. Burpee seeds could be purchased mail order or from many local stores all over the country.

David, also known as D. B., Burpee experimented with hybridization and he cultivated many new varieties of vegetables and flowers for the seed company. His first successful experiment was in 1934 when he came up with the Double Hybrid Nasturtium. Next came the red and gold hybrid marigold that almost everyone has in their gardens today. Sweet corn was always white but people could not believe yellow corn tasted so good when he found Golden Bantam Corn. Yellow corn was always fed to livestock but this seed changed everything.

Around 1940 Burpee flower breeders began to learn how to manipulate chromosome structure of plants using a substance from the autumn crocus. New colors of flowers began to emerge especially in snapdragons. This process was also used on black eyed Susan plants to create a popular modern flower called the Gloriousa Daisy.

George J. Ball owned the Ball seed company and in 1991 he merged with Burpee. This made Burpee Seed Company the biggest and most lucrative testing laboratory in the United States. The current catalog offers over 1100 assorted seeds for just about anything that grows in the ground.

The popular Burpee catalog is on their website and is a free download and if you do not have internet or just want the feel of paper, it can still be ordered by mail. There are several sections to the catalog including vegetables and flowers and the well loved gardening supply section. Costs for all items run anywhere from 1 dollar to 50 dollars.

Burpee offers a guarantee on all their products. They must be satisfactory or a complete refund will be given as long as it is 1 year from the day of purchase. If an online charge pops up on a credit card that you did not charge they will take care of it as much as they can within the law. Burpee Seeds is synonymous with dependability and they are one of the oldest seed companies in business today and have developed and created many of the vegetables and flowers we have in our gardens today.

And then more importantly, what shall I do in response to these happenings’ You can search for wedding favor vendors online because they usually offer some discount on every purchase. Once the seedling leaves appear, place them in direct sunlight for three hours every day till the leaves are grown. burpee garden

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