If pink happens to be your shade of choice, you’re in luck. You can select from a long list of pink aster varieties. Read on for a few of the most popular pink aster flowers. Pink Aster Varieties Below are some of the more commonly grown types of pink aster: Alma Potschke – This variety lights up the garden with its bright reddish-pink aster flowers and yellow centers. Height 3....

Can You Plant Potatoes in Compost? Timesaving techniques are relished by busy gardeners alike, so asking “Will potatoes grow in compost bins?” is understandable. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. First and foremost, one has to consider the composition of the compost. No two compost piles are the same. Compost made with high nitrogen ingredients, like poultry manure, will naturally have higher nitrogen to potassium and phosphorous ratios. Excess nitrogen is often associated with leggy growth and poor crop yields when growing potatoes in compost....

Leaves on a growing Swedish ivy plant are glossy with scalloped edges. Tubular mauve to white flowers appear in spring throughout summer but these are not nearly as showy as the dramatic foliage. The easy care of Swedish ivy houseplants make them great for even the most novice of gardeners. How to Grow a Swedish Ivy Houseplant Learning how to grow a Swedish ivy houseplant is not at all difficult....

Tips and Tricks for the Garden Here’s a list of useful gardening tips for gardeners you may not know about but could be worth a try: Smother grass and weeds with paper products. If you have places where you need to kill grass, you can do so without using harmful chemicals. Just put that old piled up cardboard or newspaper to use by smothering the grass. Also known as sheet mulching, it works the same for pesky garden weeds too....

What is Western Wheatgrass? Western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) is one of the preferred foods for deer, elk, horses, and cattle in spring and occasional fodder for sheep and antelope. The plant may also be grazed in fall but protein levels are much lower. Western wheatgrass for forage and as a soil stabilizer makes this an important plant to grow and conserve. This wild grass begins growing in spring, goes dormant in summer, and sprouts anew in fall....

When to Harvest Sunflower Seeds Harvesting sunflowers is easy, but deciding when to harvest sunflowers can give some gardeners pause. Heads picked before the proper time may have plenty of seed coats with little meat. Wait too long to harvest sunflowers and the tender seeds will be too dry to roast. Wait until the animals start sunflower harvesting for you and there’ll be nothing left for you! Harvest sunflowers when their petals become dry and begin to fall....

Curry Leaf vs. Curry Plant Although curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) is often known as curry plant and is frequently misidentified by unknowing garden centers or nurseries, it is actually a small tropical tree. The small leaflets are often used to flavor curries and other Indian or Asian dishes. Curry leaf plants, also known as curry tree, reach heights of up to about 30 feet (9 m.). They are difficult to grow, even in greenhouses; thus, they are extremely rare in the United States....

Climate change has us all scratching our heads. Weather wackiness seems to be the norm and affects most parts of the world. Meteorologists sort some of the forecast out for our gardens, but strange weather conditions interrupt at the least expected times. Extreme temperatures for plants range from too cold to too hot, but can also include things like winds, drying conditions, flooding, and other weather related conditions that cause plants to suffer....

General Care for Your Herb Garden Here are some general tips on caring for your herb garden. Watering herbs Your herb garden will need to be watered regularly. How much or how little you need to water will be determined by what types of herbs you plant and whether they have been planted into containers or directly into the ground. Container herbs need to be watered more often, as they tend to dry out faster....

Tips for Designing an Herb Garden The first thing you need to do is find a sunny, well-drained location in your yard. Although there are some herbs that do well in the shade, most herbs prefer plenty of sunlight to keep them happy. Your next step is to decide what type of herb garden would best suit your needs. If having herbs for your recipes is your main desire, you will be planting an edible, or culinary herb garden....

Homeria Cape tulips spread over time, bringing remarkable color and texture to the landscape. Cape tulip care is a breeze since plants have few pest or disease issues and they just keep on coming. Homeria Plant Info Everlasting beauty comes from growing Homeria bulbs. Cape tulip plants are perennials with strappy leaves and flowers in hues of salmon, orange, white, yellow, lilac, and pink. Homeria Cape tulips are easy to grow but can be difficult to manage due to their prolific spread, especially in warm, dry climates like their native South African Cape....

Though early humans were hunter/gatherers, that largely ended with the neolithic period. Today, most food – both animal and plant based – consumed by humans is produced by those who cultivate crops or raise animals for consumption. This process is called agriculture. Origins of Agriculture During their first million years on Earth, humans lived in small, nomadic bands. They obtained food by following wild animal herds to get meat and gathering plants from nature along the way....

Are Beetles Pollinators? When you first hear about beetles and pollination, you are likely to ask questions: Do beetles pollinate? How are beetles pollinators? That’s because beetles share the pollinating role with other insects and animals today like bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Beetles were the first pollinators, starting hundreds of millions of years ago. Pollinating beetles developed relationships with flowering plants a long time ago, before bees evolved as pollinators. While the role of beetles as pollinators is not as great today as in yesteryear, they are still important pollinators where bees are scarce....

There are many ways to keep plants protected from cold, but to actively encourage growth they need consistent warmth. The soil that contacts roots should ideally be around 60 degrees F. (16 C.) for good growth in most plant varieties. Using manure to heat a greenhouse or garden frame is an inexpensive and easy way to apply heat to the roots. Hot bed compost made from manure takes the right amount of carbon mixed into the manure to generate heat....

Common Lettuce Pests There are a number of pests that attack lettuce plants. Some of the most common lettuce pests are: Aphids Armyworms Corn earworms Crickets Darkling beetles Flea beetles Garden symphylans Grasshoppers Leaf miners Nematodes Snails and slugs Thrips Vegetable weevils Whiteflies Depending on your climate and region, you may find any or all of these pests on lettuce plants. As you can see, not only are you lusting after tender greens, but every insect in town has designs on your romaine....

What Does Organic Gardening Mean? The first step to growing an organic garden is understanding what the term organic means. Organic, in the definition of gardening, means to grow without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Organic gardens are grown using natural fertilizers, such as fish emulsion, and natural insect deterrents, such as companion planting. How to Grow an Organic Garden An organic garden is not harder to grow than one that relies on chemicals, but it does take a bit more advance planning....

You’ve probably tried rooting a cutting in water but have you tried to grow an entire plant in just water? Anthurium plants like warm, moist conditions, so it would seem possible to grow them in water. The difference between an Anthurium in water vs. soil is the care. An Anthurium in water only will need supplemental feeding more frequently. Learn how to grow Anthurium in water for an eye catching display of the plant and its roots....

Potted Crocus Information Whichever type of container you choose, adequate drainage is important. They grow well in many types of soil; however, you may want to add extra peat to the soil mix at first. Place crocuses in a container with their tips slightly sticking up from the soil. Water the bulbs thoroughly and then place the pot in a dark place for several months, as these bulbs generally require a 12 to 15 week cold period....

Care of Red Tip Photinia It is important to provide the red tip photinia with a few basics to maintain a healthy plant and avoid photinia disease. Be sure to provide well-drained soil so that it isn’t too wet. Photinia plants also prefer full sun, but they can tolerate partial shade. It is also important to make sure they don’t grow too dense. Pruning photinia a plant is crucial to the health of the plant....

Picking papaya may not seem like a daunting task, but you’ll need to know when the fruit is ripe. Read on for tips on how to know when it is time to start harvesting papaya fruit as well as information on papaya harvesting methods. Picking Papaya A papaya plant grows tall like a tree but isn’t actually a tree. It is called a “tree-like” plant and grows a little taller than the average gardener....