Month: July 2019

Copper Weather Vanes

by Komang Arya

Most simple weathervanes have directional markers beneath the pointer aligned with the geographic directions. The weather vanes can be made up of anything you can imagine to go with your home or garden. People can choose to show off their personal style by choosing a fun design such as a painted puppy or go for a dramatic look with a flying eagle. Ornate designs and fanciful shapes do not always show the real direction of a very gentle wind. This is because the figures do not achieve an unequal surface that is balanced in weight. But, for most of the heavier wind speeds you should be fine.

Weather vanes can be made with a combination of copper and brass, which will age and fade to light silver if left unprotected. Polished copper weathervanes may be sprayed with lacquer or varnish … Read the rest

Ways to Fix Bad Garden Soil

by Komang Arya

The first method to clear out all the unwanted debris in the soil. For example, you want to clear out anything that includes synthetic materials, weeds, and rocks. Basically, you should try and get rid of anything that provides no help to your plants. You may have to dig a few inches underground in order to identify these debris but it is a step that has to be taken. Rocks have to be removed because they impede the growth of a plant’s root system. You want a plant’s root system to be as extensive as possible so that it can absorb as much nutrients as possible. When you clear out the debris, make sure you don’t touch any of the organic materials. For example, don’t touch things such as dead leaves because they will break down and turn into.

The … Read the rest

Plants in Pots vs Plants in Beds

by Komang Arya

This year we potted up a bunch of Potentilla but I stuck about 10 of them in a landscape planting to use as stock plants. The plants in the pots are far out growing the ones that I planted in the bed. Why? Potting soil must be pretty close to what it should be and the plants in the bed are small and mulched with 3″ of bark mulch. Not enough roots into the soil? Have we kept the plants in the pots watered more consistently than the ones in the bed? Probably.

I don’t know for sure, but as soon as I draw a conclusion about something I see something that makes me contradict my earlier claim.

So here’s my conclusion as of today.

In most cases if the soil in your yard is good plants in beds will … Read the rest

Grow Lettuce Using Hydroponic System

by Komang Arya

Light

The amount of light required in growing lettuce hydroponically may differ from plant to plant. In the case of most indoor hydroponic systems, your plants need more artificial light in order for photosynthesis to transpire. If you do not have enough artificial light yet, get grow lamps like LED lamps which generate the right intensity of artificial light without the additional heat. You could try an 80-watt fluorescent light, and keep it five to seven centimeters away from your plants, to encourage optimum growth, and allow around 18 hours of light each day.

Nutrients

There are a lot of hydroponic nutrients that can help your lettuce plants not only grow big and healthy, but also enhance their quality so that their leaves will become green and crisp. Also, you have to take into consideration the pH level of the … Read the rest

Patio Landscaping

by Komang Arya

Begin landscaping your patio with a new brick, stone or concrete foundation. Any of these materials will make a great base for your patio landscaping design. Patio landscaping design includes the use of a wide variety of materials. Soft materials refer to plants while hard materials refer to rocks, stones, bricks, tiles, concrete, timber and the like.

In choosing materials for your patio landscaping design, you should make sure that your choices match the theme you have in mind. In addition, your materials should both be attractive and functional, which will make your patio not only look good but durable and comfortable.

Details are important in your patio landscaping design. Adding finishing touches such as flowers and colorful stones can make your patio more appealing and inviting. You can line them at the edges or put them in pots so … Read the rest

Hydroponic Gardening

by Komang Arya

Monitor pH Levels

There are many factors that could cause the nutrient solution to fall beyond the ideal range of 5.6. Often, if a hydroponic nutrients solutions is not monitored for too long, it could begin to drift outside of the said range, because it will get too dense in raw nutrients. Sometimes, it could become too alkaline or too acidic when you add new nutrients or transfer the plants to a new medium.

PH levels change rapidly. So it is important to check them every day. The longer the hydroponic nutrients solution spends outside the ideal range, the higher the chance that your plants will suffer. To make necessary adjustments to the pH levels of the solution, use a pharmaceutical-grade pH adjustment product.

Keep Temperature Levels Stable

The temperature of the hydroponic nutrients solution must be relatively cool, somewhere … Read the rest

Secret Behind Aquaponics

by Komang Arya

The first invention after conventional gardening was Hydroponics. This made gardening much easier by growing vegetables in small pots in water. The only drawback is it involves the use of chemicals and fertilizers which means that it is not quite organic. Now we have hydroponics and aquaculture teamed up together called aquaponics. When you build an aquaponic system the use of chemicals and fertilizers are not required.

Aquaponic farming as it is now called is a way of growing plants and fish in a natural and interdependent way with each other. You have the fish in a normal fish tank then after a certain period of time you plant the seeds and grow the veggies. All you basically have to do is take care of the fish and the plants will grow and develop naturally.

The principle is simple, the … Read the rest

Create a Tropical Retreat

by Komang Arya

Purchasing a greenhouse manufactured with thermally enhanced aluminum framework and high performance glazing will ensure your structure is energy efficient and durable. Aluminum framing will not rot or warp in the high moisture levels created by the pool, like a greenhouse with wood framing might. The aluminum framing and high performance glazing with low emissivity (LowE) coatings will also reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter, which will help to keep heating and cooling costs down. Incorporating vents into the greenhouse will provide fresh air exchanges for plants while helping to maintain comfortable temperature and humidity levels.

A greenhouse can be a freestanding structure or share a wall with another building. An attached greenhouse can be accessed directly from your home; thus you’ll never have to brave the cold or inclement weather to get to … Read the rest

Benefits Of Planting A Garden

by Komang Arya

He along with many other researchers hoped this simple alga, with its concentrated nutrition, could easily solve the problem of world hunger. One scientist projected that a thousand-acre chlorella plot could produce an unbelievable 10,000 tons of protein in a year.[1] Dr. DeSeblo often ate a strict chlorella diet for 5 or 6 weeks at a time in order to test the feasibility of depending solely on this tiny green superfood for nourishment.

Despite its promise, chlorella didn’t work out as the answer to world hunger. As chlorella cultivators well know, it’s not as simple as originally thought to grow and process high quality, contaminant-free chlorella. Growing low cost, clean, optimally nutritious chlorella on a small scale is still a challenge.

Nonetheless, Dr. DeSeblo’s vision lives on – albeit in new forms. One California-based chlorella company is working with the … Read the rest

Shrubs Improve

by Komang Arya

Shrubs come in a wide variety – over a hundred different genuses, with a variety of species within each genus: There are shrubs with brilliant flowers, or evergreen shrubs for all seasons.

What exactly are shrubs? According to the dictionary definition: “A woody plant of relatively low height, having several stems arising from the base and lacking a single trunk; a bush.” A rose bush is a shrub, for example, but so is a flowering dogwood. Have you heard that a dogwood is a tree? Well, some dogwoods are shrubs, and some are trees! Just as some lilacs are shrubs and some are trees. It all depends on how tall the individual species within the genus grows.

So there’s quite a bit to learn about shrubbery before you decide on which ones you’ll use in your landscaping endeavors. It’s always … Read the rest