Layering is a safe, sure, simple way to increase many types of plants, and particularly the climbers and danglers with which this book is concerned. The first requirement is that the plant have long, lax or drooping stems - which vining plants do. The rest is easy, because the stem is not severed from the parent until the new plant is well rooted and can survive on its own. Humidifying devices, bottom heat, and close protection are seldom called for.

Garden plants layer readily, sometimes even spontaneously. And layering is equally easy for indoor or greenhouse vines. A wandering stem or runner is simply pinned down on the soil in a nearby pot, and severed when it is securely rooted.

Ground layering in the garden takes place at the base of the parent plant. Loosen and lighten a small section of soil, and mix in some peat or other humus to help hold moisture. Select a firm, semiwoody stem, and open the thick skin in one of several ways to speed up rooting. The stem can be nicked underneath with a sharp knife, or split and held open by a small piece of toothpick or match, or simply twisted just enough to break the outside skin and separate a few of the inside tissues. Some plants insist on rooting at or near a node, others don’t care where. And some softer stems don’t even need to be nicked.

With home hydroponics you have a great hobby and you can plant anything you like from fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

So you’re thinking of setting up your own home hydroponics system? Check out the following benefits:

1. There is no need to water your plants! One of the main problems with soil gardening is that plants tend to get over or under watered and they become poorly! This problem is eliminated with home hydroponics!

2. Hydroponic plants grow up to 50% faster! This is because the roots do not need to expand to look for nutrients, they are already there in abundance! Home hydroponic plants grow extremely quickly.

3. Because no soil is needed, little or no space is used! There is no need for a garden!

4. Soil borne disease are not spread to hydroponic plants. This is a large problem for many gardeners and you will have much healthier plants as a result which will show!

5. There will be no need to purchase any pesticides because no soil loving pest will get near to your home hydroponics system.

6. Running costs are 20% lower once your home hydroponics system is set up.

If you have a greenhouse in which you can give cymbidiums cool nights and bright light, you should surely try a plant or two, for they are very handsome orchids. The plants have rounded pseudobulbs about the size of a fist, which bear eight to twelve long, slender leaves. The roots are fleshy and stay within the compost. They are variously called semi-terrestrial and semi-epiphytic. The flower spike arises from the base of the pseudobulb, within the axil of one of the lower leaves, and grows two to three feet tall (sometimes more). It appears in the fall, and the flowers open from December through April, depending on the habit of the particular plant.

The flowers are waxy, three to five inches in diameter, in colors ranging from white through shades of yellow, green, brown, pink, and various subtle combinations of these. They keep for several weeks on the plant, and almost as long when cut. Unlike cattleyas, the flowers will open after the spike has been cut. If a spike is cut when the lower blooms arc open and put in water, it can be enjoyed for a long time while the other buds open in turn.

When we breathe inside our homes we don’t give a second thought as to how it affects our health - but the truth is that indoor air pollution is often more of a problem for us than the air outside of our homes!

Symptoms of Living in Polluted Air

We are often unaware of what this pollution does to our bodies, to such an extent that many of us don’t even think of it. However, pollution can have a number of negative effects on our health, leading to symptoms such as…

Fever, Headaches, Nausea, Fatigue, Cancer, Irritability, Depression, Dizziness, Anxiety, Respiratory problems, And more!

The Sources of Pollution in Our Homes

Whilst our homes are becoming more insulated and helping to save us money on heating, this has a negative side effect in that it’s much harder for all of the toxins to escape. And these toxins can come from a wide range of sources, including natural ones.

One of the most worrying places that these toxins originate from is chemical products. You may not realise it, but just about all the products we use contain chemicals, such as our cosmetics, our detergents, cleaning products and perfumes.

The support you give a vine to climb on may serve, first, a cultural function. But there’s no reason why it can’t be attractive too, no reason why we can’t deviate from the familiar trellis, particularly when the deviation looks more natural and displays the plant to better advantage.

Gnarled, twisted, sinuous driftwood creates a design of its own; and its vine is an accessory in the composition, kept pruned and trained so the wood is enhanced, not covered completely. In built-in planters and room dividers, trellis effects and screens usually have design value; their vines are controlled and kept subordinate in interest.

A support should be selected according to a vine’s method of climbing. Twining tendrils and stems need something slim to curl themselves around. You can make a trellis of any size or shape with plant stakes, dowel pins, coarse screen wire, or hardware cloth fastened to a wooden or wire frame. Or stick bamboo stakes into the pot at intervals around the edge, tie the tops together tepee-style, and attach an embroidery hoop midway between top and pot to create a bowed or balloon shape the vine will cover in time. Or shape heavy wire into a cage or ball.

Roses are some of the most pretty and favorite flower that decorates our gardens and our lives. Unfortunately roses have a reputation for being a hard plant to care for. While some rose plant possessors see this to be true, others take steps to find out the particular care that is necessary for their roses.

Roses do need regular care to maintain the plant looking its greatest but, after learning the right steps to take in caring for roses, assisting a plant to look its healthiest is easy. The most basic necessity that most individuals understand that plants need is water. All plants need water and roses are no different. Roses will blossom and look their best if it is well watered. Roses need to be supplied with about one inch of water per week.

It is the roots of the plant that really need to be considered during this step. Roses have roots that go deep into the ground. Because roses have deep roots they are capable of drawing water from the sub-ground even when the surface is dry. This serves them to bear dry spells. Watering the roots of the roses encourages them to grow deep into the soil. Sometimes when a plant owner only offers their roses frequent, lighter watering, the roots of the plant will grow to be shallow within the ground. This results in the plant not being able to handle the drying of the upper layer of land due to droughts.

October brings a change in the air and things to do outdoors in the landscape or garden. Here are a few quick reminders that will payoff when the Spring shows up.

Continue to Plant Evergreens

Transplant evergreens in deep, rich soil, mixing peat moss, well-rotted manure or compost to retain moisture and encourage strong root growth. Select upright yews for accent in the foundation planting and box-leaf holly or Japanese pieris for foliage contrast. Viburnums, azaleas and rhododendrons are excellent subjects under oaks and high branching trees.

Fall Planting of Roses

Plant roses in well prepared soil that is rich in organic matter. If they cannot be planted immediately upon arrival, heel in a foot deep trench by placing them at a 45 angle and working soil around roots before covering them completely. If plants come too late and cannot be planted, they may be kept in a trench all winter. Cut back rose canes to 12-15 inches and for winter protection, mound earth 7-8 inches around the stems just before the ground freezes.

Consider the Lawn

Building a home hydroponics system has countless advantages on customary soil based methods. Capture a gaze at the next advantages you get while using home hydroponics.

1. You don’t need to water your plants! A major mistake that trainee gardeners perform is either over or under water their plants which can be injurious to them! This problem is eliminated, as well as being a time saver!

2. Plant life grown via home hydroponics grow upto 50% more rapidly. This is because you are in full control of their situation which you will have manipulated to be optimum.

3. You don’t require a garden to produce hydroponic plants, so if you live in a packed town centre apartment building then this is no barrier for you!

4. As there is no soil, no soil borne diseases are passed on to your plants. The result is much better plant life that you can sell for takings.

5. There is no requirement to use pesticides as there will be no earth loving pests anywhere next to your plants. This will cut down on expenditure and you’ll have much healthier looking plants.

The sooner you get something planted in your garden, the sooner it will start growing there. This applies in October as well as other times of the year. It is especially true of the perennials you expect to supply color in your garden next summer and fall. Plants set out now can take advantage of the rainy season and become fairly well established before cool weather slows them down and will be ready to dash into growth as soon as spring opens.

Delphiniums may be set out in the spring, but will be more certain to give three flowering seasons next year if they are planted in the garden this fall. Prepare the soil as carefully as you would for sweet peas or roses. Dig deeply, add peatmoss and bonemeal and during the growing season feed with a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-5-5 liquid plant food. Select a southern exposure with a good circulation of air. Small plants need protection from snails and slugs.

Hollyhocks started from seed during the past spring or summer should be set out this fall. They make striking background plants, and if given an open location and grown rapidly in rich deep soil are less susceptible to rust.

My gardening activities are interesting, I suppose, not only because I have grown some prize-winning chrysanthemums but also because I pack them by the hundreds in a small plot of ground and do it in my spare time. I am a motorcycle patrolman and many people don’t expect a police officer to be so fascinated with growing hardy chrysanthemums and are surprised when they hear of such goings on.

From the days I worked on my father’s farm in Georgia, I have been keen on growing things but so many years intervened before I could get my fingers in dirt again that when I finally got my own backyard, my zeal was unbounded, perhaps excessive. Very soon my own place became too small to contain all the plants I wanted to grow.

They say where there’s a will, there’s a way. A half block from my house was a corner lot, 50 by 100 feet, vacant full of stones and weeds. I got the owner’s permission to use it and planted some shrubs and all of my mums there and added to them.