Garden Drainage

By Scott Edward

If you have taken over a new site and form of drainage is definitely needed, will at least provide an excellent opportunity to get rid of any builder's which you have inherited. Broken lumps of concrete should be used the bottom of drainage pits or trenches. The drainage systems is also useful to take the iorterflow and occasional outlet from a small garden pond.

Many waste materials can go on to the compost heap, from kitchen waste such as lettuce leaves and vegetable peelings to grass cuttings, dead leaves and straw- but diseased plant roots, perennial weeds or woody stems should always be burnt. The successful decomposition of this waste material depends on air, water and the action of bacteria. The bacteria depend on nitrogen for food and the rate of decay can be accelerated by sprinkling the heap with a nitrogenous fertilizer such as sulphate of ammonia or by spreading a layer of farmyard manure over it.

The water table generally rises and fa following wet and dry periods. If it star, at about 900 mm (3 ft) below ground le-. it can he an asset, since water will - available to the deeper plant roots. Ho ever extreme fluctuations in the water tai are a great danger: if it rises in winter: roots of plants are killed through saturatic and if it falls in the summer the pla suffer from drought. On low-lying grout if there is perpetual standing water (usua in winter), this might mean that the war table has risen above ground level and drainage system will relieve it.

Compost can be regarded as sufficiently decayed when the individual components can no longer be distinguished. It should be a crumbly, manure-like mass, dark in colour; if the texture is slimy the heap has not been made up correctly. In warm weather, and given the right conditions, the waste will take only about two to three months to decay but in winter you can expect it to take about four to six months. Artificial or inorganic fertilizers are concentrated chemical salts from natural underground deposits. They are available in liquid or powder form and supply essential foods direct to the plants, acting quickly when applied to moist soils; it is important to use the exact quantity stated and to distribute it as evenly as possible, as overdoses can be harmful. Fertilizers are available containing individual chemi- cals or you can buy a general one which combines the three main nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).

This channel should obviously run to some form of outlet such as a soakawayon no account allow your excess water to drain on to neighbours' property. The disadvantage of a rubble drain is that it becomes blocked comparatively quickly as soil leaches through from above.

If you have space, a double compost bin allows one heap to decompose thoroughly while another is being started.

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Good garden drainage system is important in garden planning to have a thriving garden.

Ginger

By John Piano

Ginger, with its tall leafy stems up to 1.2 m (4 ft) high, somewhat resembles a reed. The flower stems are about 25 cm (10 in) tall.

The flowers are large and coloured pale green; each opens for a single day and can be pollinated by one kind of bee found only in Mexico. Thanks to this small bee, Mexico maintained its monopoly on the export of vanilla for 300 years up until the 19th century. It was known to the Aztecs, who used it to flavour cocoa long before the discovery of America by Europeans.

This perennial plant, native to tropical Asia, was known in ancient China and India and is referred to in Sanskrit as `sringavere'. Ginger was shipped from its original home to southern Europe by Arabian merchants before the Christian era. It occurs frequently on the pages of the 3rd-century Roman cookbook 'De re coquinaria' written by Apicius Caelius.

First of all they are scalded briefly with hot water and then submitted to the lengthy process of wilting and drying, during which they turn a dark colour and acquire their characteristic aroma. Good quality vanilla is supple and small crystals of fragrant vanillin are visible on the surface. Vanilla must be stored in an air-tight wrapper or container to preserve its aroma.

It is presumed that the original grape vine growing in the forests of Caucasia was a dioccious plant. The evolution of the present-day varieties traces its beginnings to the late Stone Age, when man learned to till land and began cultivating the grape vine. Long-term breeding and selection has produced a great many varieties differing not only in the colour, size and shape of the fruit, but also in flavour and aroma.

Ginger is propagated by vegetative means, by cutting the rootstock into pieces and planting these out in light and moisture-retaining soil. It is harvested (ploughed up) 6 to 12 months later

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You can grow various range of vegetables and herbs can be grown in garden beds.

White Dogwood

By Mark Carlson

Alpenrose is a densely branched, evergreen shrub growing to a height of 0.4-1 m. The glowing flowers appear in June and July. The capsules ripen and split at the end of September.

This shrub is a native of the Alps, mainly the eastern part, its range extending westward only to Switzerland. It grows from 1200-2500 m in open woodlands and the dwarf pine belt. It is more plentiful on limestone and dolomite slopes. It is a popular shrub for rock gardens, parks and gardens. Also found in the Alps is the closely related species Rhododendron ferrugineum L., which grows farther west, to the French Alps and the Pyrenees, and unlike R. hirsutum has no preference for calcareous soils, growing above the tree line in stands of dwarf pine on siliceous soil. It attains a height of 1 m; the leaves are densely covered with rust-coloured hairs below and the flowers are a darker, pinkish red.

When planted in gardens both these rhododendrons should be provided with a moist soil rich in humus. The large-flowered and taller species, 2-4 m high, developed by the crossing of American and Chinese rhododendrons, are generally cultivated in parks and gardens.

The red dogwood is a shrub growing to a height of 3-5 m. One-year shoots are purplish-red on the side exposed to the sun and green on the shaded side. The buds are flat and appressed. The white flowers appear at the end of May and the fruits ripen in September. It sprouts freely from stumps and roots. It is best propagated by means of seeds; these, however, do not germinate until the spring of the second year.

This species is widespread in southern, central, western and eastern Europe, extending north to the Baltic Sea. It thrives well on rich, calcareous soils and is most abundant in lowlands in the valleys of rivers and streams though it is also found in the foothills up to heights of 600-700 m. It appears to thrive quite well even in drier soils as evidenced by its occurrence in drier situations in oak stands. A shade-tolerant species, it is found not only on the edges of woods and in hedgerows, but also in mixed broadleaved woods.

It is readily propagated by means of seeds and winter cuttings. Because it stands up well to clipping, L. vulgare is a popular plant for hedges growing up to 2 m high, but, once widely used, has now been almost completely replaced for this purpose by the Japanese privet, L. oz;alifolium. In parks it is planted in shrubbery borders and as a shrub layer beneath groups of trees.

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In garden planning, where the garden roof is strong enough to support the weight of topsoil and underlying drainage, the sight of a lawn outside the living room in a modern apartment can be very striking.

Fruits and Seeds

By James Masonry

After fertilization the ovary ripens into the fruit, its outer layer forming the wall or pericarp with one or more seeds inside. The seed is the fertilized ripened ovule and consists of the embryo and nutritive tissue enclosed in a hard cover.

The fruits of deciduous plants are either true fruits, i.e. merely the ripened ovary, or are accessory fruits, developed from the ovary plus other parts of the flower (stem, petals). Included in the latter group are the pome, the hip, raspberry Fruits are furthermore divided, according to whether they have a dry or soft pericarp, into dry fruits (samara, nut, legume, Miele, capsule) and fleshy fruits (berries, drupes). The samara is a dry, usually one-seeded fruit, shed in its entirety, with thin, membranous to leathery pericarp; often it is winged.

Barren flowers lack functional sexual organs altogether. Examples are the snowball tree and some kinds of hydrangea.

Shrubs growing beneath trees have very poor chances of being pollinated by the wind and are usually pollinated by insects. Their flowers therefore often have bright colours and strong fragrance in order to attract insects.

Fleshy fruits do not split when ripe but drop from the parent plant in their entirety or else break up into parts with enclosed seeds. One such fruit is the drupe, which has a pericarp consisting of three layers, namely the thin epicarp or outer layer, fleshy mesocarp or middle layer and hard bony endocarp or inner layer that is the stone, usually encasing a single seed. Examples are the blackthorn, English holly, cornelian cherry, dogwood, etc.

A flower is composed of the following parts: calyx - the external, usually green leafy part; corolla - the inner floral envelope consisting of petals, usually brightly coloured stamens - consisting of anthers and filaments; when ripe, the anthers burst and release the microscopic pollen grains that look like yellow powder; pistil - the ovule-bearing organ deriving from the fusion of one or several carpels; it comprises the ovary containing ovules and a style bearing a sticky or hairy stigma to which the pollen grains adhere and grow downward to the ovary.

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In garden planning, flints are often used as a strong decorative surface on a mortared rubble core in the garden.

L'Arcure Method of Apple Training

By Slyvia Oliver

The spindle bush is a method of growing apples which was first seen in Holland and which has since been adopted on one or two fruit farms in Great Britain. Trees on the M.IX stock are bought for planting in rows 13 feet apart, allowing 6 feet apart in the rows. One-year-old trees, or maidens, are planted in November, which in late February are cut back to within 2 feet of soil level just above a bud. The leader that developed from this bud is then pruned back by half each season until the tree reaches a height of 7 feet. After that, the leaders which develop are cut back in May quite hard.

These trees were first of all produced by Jack Matthews of Suffolk, but they are now available from most nurserymen. The Family tree is a collection of varieties grafted on to one tree, all of which have been carefully chosen to cross-pollinate each other, as well as to ensure that the tree growth is as evenly balanced as possible. Thus someone with a very tiny garden can plant one tree, knowing that it will bear three different kinds of apples.

Oblique Cordons can be vertical also, of course.] They are bought budded or grafted on to the M.IX stock and care being taken when planting to keep the union of the scion 3 inches above ground level.

At Thaxted we have found it necessary to use concrete posts 12 feet apart and to train parallel wires between these posts 2 feet apart from one another, the first wire being 2 feet 6 inches from soil level.

Belle De Boskoop is a heavy cropper, fruit round, yellowish skin through grey-russet, slightly scarlet flush. When peeled smells aromatic. Season Oct.-Mar. Resistant to scab.

Blenheim Orangs is a delicious apple that unfortunately takes years to come into cropping unless worked on M.IX stock. Fruits large, skin dull yellow with slight flush on one side, has lovely nutty flavour. Season Nov.-Dec. Susceptible to scab but resistant to mildew. Bowden's Seedling is probably a seedling from Jonathan and is in fact very much like it, but of better quality. A tall oval apple, pale yellow skin, covered with a scarlet flush, makes the apple almost red. Season Nov.-Dec. Resistant to scab, but very susceptible to mildew.

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Should your fruit tree garden be subject to frost, choose varieties which flower late.

Italian and French Renaissance Garden

By Christina Courtney

Very little development in gardens took place in Europe for several centuries following the end of the Roman Empire. It is thought that knowledge of horticulture virtually died out and only those plants which managed to naturalize themselves survived. However it is known that leeks, cabbages and dried beans and peas formed some sort of subsistence diet throughout this time.

Enclosed gardens gradually reappeared on a small scale at the end of the Dark Ages, within the confines of monasteries and fortified buildings. The monasteries were laid out on a Roman court and cloister plan and inside the court monks cultivated medicinal plants, herbs and some vegetables. The beds were divided by straight paths and there was sometimes a fish pond too. Within castle walls the ladies also began to grow herbs for medicinal and culinary use, with the occasional raised bed for flowers where space allowed.

The Greeks discovered the delights of Persian culture, including their paradise gardens, when they were waging war in Asia during the third century BC. During the first century BC we also hear of influential Greeks having vegetables planted in their gardens, to furnish their tables. Homer wrote of Alcinous' large walled garden which grew vegetables, including beans, with an orchard of apple, pear and fig trees.

The Romans put into practice what the Greeks wrote but the Roman garden was brought into the centre of the house, becoming an even more important part Of domestic life. We know of the ground pattern of early Roman town houses from excavations at Pompeii and villas elsewhere, and of their garden design from the letters of Pliny the younger.

Parterres were both larger in scale and more intricate in detail than earlier knot gardens. Another distinctive characteristic was the hedge- lined avenues which fanned out through the surrounding forest known as patter d'oi (goose feet). Le I\16tre was appointed royal gardener to Louis XIV and the garden at Versailles is probably his best known creation. In concept it was a vast outdoor drawing room, intended for the entertainment of a court of thousands.

Though most of Le Mitre's gardens were unashamedly for show they were still not places for colour or floral display; canalized and playing water, clipped and trained vegetation, statuary and the elaborate parterres provided the visual interest, along with the people walking about in them. This stylized layout, originally designed for large chateaux, was adapted to the quite humble manor house. Like the grand Italian gardens, as they became out of scale with the use of the individual, a smaller secret garden had to be created within them for family use.

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Growing herbs in your kitchen garden can gives you herbs to use in your cooking and cut cost on buying herbs from the supermarket.

The Online Movie Connection

By James Maron

It wasn't that long ago that a trip to the corner video shop was the most convenient way to get a movie. You can now save a trip to the video store and download movies right off the internet. Here are some examples of movies you can acquire through a movie download site.

Demolition Man: This futuristic sci-fi pits two violent men from the past brought from suspended animation into a nonviolent and crime free society. Simon Phoenix, a violent man who has be in deep freeze for years is thawed, and freed on parole. When he goes back to his violent ways, the police of the future are unable to capture him. They thaw John Spartan, the man who caught Simon the first time and ask him to bring Simon in.

Iron Man: Weapons expert Tony Stark is injured and the captured by a rebel for while overseas doing weapons testing. The rebels are demanding he builds them a powerful weapon. To save his life, and escape his captors, he instead builds himself a suit of armor, which makes him powerful, and impervious to attacks. He escapes his captors, and Iron Man is born.

Mamma Mia: Sophie is about to get married. Her single mom has invited her two best lifelong friends to the wedding. Sophie has invited three men from her mothers past, hoping to find her father, and have him walk her down the aisle. Old romances are reborn during the chaotic day before the wedding.

Marley and Me: Johnny and Jenny Grogen have moved to Florida to start their new life together. Jenny is ready for children, but John isn't so sure. Instead, he gets her a puppy, Marley. Marley turns out to quite a bit to handle.

The Bodyguard: Pop star Rachel Marron has been receiving threatening letters. They hire former secret service agent Frank Farmer. He is immediately disliked when he tries to tighten down security. Eventually the killer starts closing in, and Frank has been right all along.

Kung Fu Panda: Po the Panda live in a dream world, dreaming of being a Kung Fu master. Asked to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Po will realize his dream and train with the masters to become a Kung Fu hero. He is then test to the fullest when he must defend everyone from the treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung.

Wanted: A young office worker is torn from his boring life and thrown into a very different world. He is offered to follow in his fathers footsteps, and join a secret league of assassins. He is then trained to kill, and carry out the assignments that are handed down.

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle: Appearing out of nowhere, and seemingly the perfect nanny, Peyton Flanders is really someone very different. Hired to care for the Bartels new child, she is really out for revenge. Will the Bartels figure out their predicament before its too late?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Benjamin Button has a very strange life. He is born an old man, and grows younger as he ages. Brad Pitt stars as Benjamin Button.

We all have used the internet for music purchases for some time now. Downloading movies from movie download sites is now seeing the same type of growth. With a quick online search you will have no trouble finding out about various movie download sites.

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