Soil - Lawn - Cactus - Roses - House Plants - Shrubs & Trees - Bonsai - Japanese gardens - Diseases - Compost - Taxonomy - Ferns - Propagation - Landscaping - Home Improvement
Testing your soil
Soil-testing kits available and by and large they do a very good job of accurately testing your soil. Try:, Residential Architects in Connecticut, Scale and Perspective in a Japanese Garden However, if you are only interested in knowing if your soil Also consider:, Peafowl Breeders, Feeding Rosesis acid or otherwise, without worrying about degrees of acidity or alkalinity, here is a simple test you could make. First, buy a packet of blue Including:, Farming Equipment in Auctions, Houseplant Drainagelitmus papers from your chemist. Next, using a trowel, take samples of soil Go here:, Architects in Oregon, Caring for Newly Sown Lawnfrom different sections of the area you wish to test. Mix well together. Then add sufficient of this soil Consider also:, Architects in Oregon, Goat Breedsto fill a breakfast cup and pour boiling water More interesting articles:, Rose Pests and Diseases, Dorperover it to form a sticky mass. Then, using a knife, make a slit in the soil Try:, Livestock Feeds Minerals Supplements, Farming Equipment in Auctionsan inch or so deep and insert a litmus paper for about three parts of its length. Make sure that both sides of the litmus paper are making contact with the soil See:, Cactus Pests and Disease, Orchids - Cut Flowersand allow it to remain there for 15 minutes. After that time remove the paper. If it has turned red your soil See:, Lawn Plugs - Plugging, Scale and Perspective in a Japanese Gardenis acid. If the paper is only faintly red the soil See:, Health Insurance, Shadesis only slightly acid, but if it turns very red your soil Go here:, Feeding Roses, Pruning Houseplantsis very acid. |
   What's Inside
Bonsai Planting - After the initial pruning and shaping, the tree is ready for planting in its container, which has been selected carefully to frame it. The drainage holes in the bottom of the pot are covered with plastic screen to prevent the soil from falling through. Bu... more Standard Roses - Standard roses (sometimes called tree roses in other parts of the world) are those budded on to long canes to give them stems of the desired length. These include miniatures on 15 to 20 in. stems, hybrid teas and floribundas on 24 to 36 in. stems, and wee... more Winter Protection for Bonsai - In areas where winters are severe, bonsai need protection not from the cold so much as from high winds that cause the plants to die from parching. Where winters are mild, routine care and watering are all that are necessary. In extremely cold areas, the b... more Testing your soil - Soil-testing kits available and by and large they do a very good job of accurately testing your soil. However, if you are only interested in knowing if your soil is acid or otherwise, without worrying about degrees of acidity or alkalinity, here is a simp... more Seedling Transplanting - Transplanting of seedlings should be done as soon as the seedlings produce their first true leaf. The earliest "leaves" to appear are the cotyledons or seed leaves; their shape is normally simple and different from that of the true or normal leaves of the... more Bonsai Containers - The bonsai container is always selected to complement the mood and colour of the bonsai. It must help to present the tree and never detract from it. There are traditional colours that are used with certain species. Muted earth colours such as darker reds,... more Acclimatising House Plants - It is good practice to let plants acclimatise for the first three or four weeks with only moderate watering, no feeding, good light and, if necessary, increased humidity.... more Bonsai Styles - Creation of bonsai follows certain rules of design that dictate the final composition. They have been worked out and refined by the Japanese for generations. The component parts of a finished bonsai are container, surface roots, trunk, branches, twigs and... more Cactus Cultivation - A general rule is that a densely-spined or thick-skinned plant is more able to stand the full sun than a thinly-spined or spineless one which would do better in a more protected position. To enable the plants to breathe more readily in collections that gr... more |