RELATED ARTICLESOregano: Joy of the Mountain
Known as "joy of the mountain," Origanum vulgare is commonly called culinary oregano or Turkish oregano. Oregano is a close relative of marjoram and is also known as pot marjoram. Similar in taste to marjoram, oregano's taste is more pungent and has overtones of mint. Greek oregano, subspecies hirtum of O. vulgare, is recommended as the best type of oregano for cooking. Oregano is a half-hardy perennial that can be grown outdoors as an annual or indoors as a perennial. Blooming in early summer, Greek oregano has pink, white, or purple flowers, dark green opposite leaves that are highly aromatic, and slim, squarish, woody, branched stems. Greek oregano has a branching taproot and grows in a clump. Used the world over in Italian, Mexican, and Spanish dishes, Greek oregano is one of the three essential ingredients in Italian cooking along with basil and marjoram.
Fleur De Lotus: Purity in a Sullied World
Rising from a muddy pond, a lotus flower blossoms. Such epitome of purity in a turbid environment has sparked off much inspiration in ancient oriental literature and Buddhist teachings, shaping a repertoire of odes to the graceful demeanour and refreshing fragrance of the lotus.
The Tools of Rose Gardening
Like any job you tackle, it's always easier if you have the right tools. Before heading out to your rose garden, make sure you arm yourself with these basic rose gardening tools.
Create a Hummingbird Garden Habitat
It's not difficult to create a garden that will attract hummingbirds, but if you'd like to build a habitat in which they will happily nest and live throughout the northern summer, you need to provide them with more than a sugar-water feeder and a plant or two. An active hummingbird garden doesn't need to be large, but it will have all of the following key ingredients to attract and keep the attention of "nature's fairies".
Why Should You Create A Butterfly Garden?
Have you noticed you do not see as many
butterflies as you once did? It is sad
that we do not see as many butterflies
as we might like. You can change that
by planting a butterfly garden.
Gardenscape On A Shoestring
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 isn't necessarily true. You can design a breathtaking garden and be the envy of the neighborhood by following some of the following tips.
Online Garden Seed Exchanges
If you've been gardening for any length of time you have probably realized a couple of things.
Summer Pond Tips
Low Oxygen levels Kill Fish
How to Grow Cucumbers
The versatile cucumber (cucumis sativus) is tasty pickled, in a salad, as a salad, in a sandwich, or just eaten raw. How to grow cucumbers depends largely in part on how you plan to eat them. Cucumbers come in over 120 varieties that range from small picklers to large slicers and from dark green to the yellow of the lemon cucumber. They come "burped" or burpless, seeded or without seeds.
A Few Simple Facts About Purple Martins
Purple Martins are the largest member of the swallow family.
However, in flight their wings are more triangular than other swallows.
Easy to Grow Roses
There are many different types of roses. If you are new to rose gardening, then it is wise to choose varieties of easy to grow roses to begin your rose garden. Some roses require constant attention and caring for while others require none. Roses come in varieties of high maintenance to no maintenance. Most roses, though, do require a certain amount of time to get started and to care for adequately. Minimal care roses that produce maximum results are ideal for beginners or those still somewhat new to rose gardening. Not only will it teach you the basics without working you to death, it will also encourage your gardening experience, perhaps leading you to take on other rose types that are a little more challenging to care for.
Gardening for Kids
Children are continually bombarded with advertising for fast food and unhealthy treats. One of the most important lessons you can teach them is how to tend and grow their own food from the garden.
Straw Bale Culture Technique
In general, plants grown in straw bales appear to require less water than when grown in soil. Another benefit to using straw bale culture is the garden bed will turn into compost offering some additional nutrients to your vegetables and herbs. The constantly composing environment warms up to provide gentle heat to the roots of plants and for your greenhouse. After some preparation and processing the compost will also begin to generate Co2 which will help to boost your plant's growth rate.
Are My Grapes Ready to Harvest?
This is the time of the year that I keep hearing the question "When do I harvest my grapes?" Or sometimes the question is phrased "Are my grapes ripe yet?" And then there's the "Are they ready yet?"
A Rose is a Rose?
There are many varied definitions of what each color of rose symbolizes. Florists and floral experts alike will agree that flowers hold the meaning we give them and the feeling with which they are given.
How to Grow Bananas
If your grocer says, "Yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today," it isn't surprising since the banana is the world's second favorite fruit, surpassed in popularity only by the apple. Once only grown in tropical climates, the good news is that several varieties can be grown in northern areas as well as in the south.
Growing Palms
Everybody recognises palm trees, they are the universal symbol for the tropics but many are hardy enough for our temperate climate gardens. Until recently New Zealand gardeners have had only a very limited range of palms to choose from. In the last five years the range has grown enormously as nurseries have been encouraged by gardeners eager to experiment.
Can Your Sundial Really Tell The Time?
"I am a sundial, and I make a botch
Of what is done far better by a watch"
Composting the Easy Way
Having an ample supply of good rich compost is the gardeners dream.
It has many uses, and all of those uses will result in nicer plants. However, composting can be time consuming and hard work. I place a reasonable value on my time, so spending hours and hours turning compost piles doesn't qualify as a worthwhile exercise, at least in my book. Nonetheless, I do compost, but I do so on my terms.
Brilliant Beetroot!
Are you looking for a truly versatile vegetable to grow and serve? Try beetroot! It has the most amazing colour
and texture. Varieties range in colour from gold to deep red/purple and are delicious raw, boiled,
baked, pickled and juiced. Even the leaves are edible! The root is packed with Vitamin C and the
leaves are a great source of Vitamin A and potassium.
