Low Growing Plants for Walkways In order for low garden plants to make good walkway plants, they need to have a few traits. First, they must be somewhat drought tolerant, as walkway stones may not allow much water to reach the roots. Second, they must be tolerant of both heat and cold, as the stones can hold onto both the heat of the sun in summer and the cold in the winter....

The Right Seed for Indoor Grass Typical types of grass that grow in lawns don’t work well for a grass houseplant. Each blade of grass outdoors needs a good bit of room to grow. Although the grass looks uniform and close together, the blades really are spread apart for the size of grass blades. With indoor grass, you’ll want the seed to grow in a smaller potted area. There are many types of grass for growing indoors....

What to Grow for a Christmas Dinner Garden A Christmas dinner garden starts around April or May. Many of the vegetables you will use in your recipes during the holidays will need that long to mature. Others that are cool season crops can be started midsummer. Think ahead if you want to grow your own Christmas dinner. There are many traditional recipes we commonly see on our holiday tables. Root vegetables, allium bulbs, and crops from the cole family often feature in our holiday recipes....

Information about Acoma Crepe Myrtle Acoma crepe myrtle trees (Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei ‘Acoma’) are hybrid trees with a semi-dwarf, semi-pendulous habit. They are filled with slightly drooping, snowy, showy flowers all summer long. These trees put on an attractive autumn display at the end of the summer. The foliage turns purple before it falls. Acoma only grows to about 9.5 feet (3 m.) tall and 11 feet (3 m.) wide....

Angelica Herb Angelica plant (Angelica archangelica) is closely related to carrots and a member of the parsley family. The leaves of the plant are simple and uninteresting but may be dried and used in teas or as a seasoning. The umbrella-like flowers are particularly showy but only occur every two years and after bloom the plant often dies. The umbels are white and each spoke of the flower bears a dangling seed after the blooms are spent....

Whether you’re growing food for the community or for your family, growing antiviral plants could become the wave of the future. Do Antiviral Plants Keep You Healthy? Little research has been done to definitively prove antiviral foods boost immunity in humans. Successful studies have used concentrated plant extracts to inhibit viral replication in test tubes. Laboratory experiments on mice have also shown promising results, but more studies are clearly needed....

When maturing in warm weather, carrots often have a bitter taste and lack the sweetness of those grown at cooler temperatures. The ideal temperature for the development of fat, sweet-tasting carrots is approximately 40 F. (4 C.). Ideally, carrots are sown when it’s warm and mature when it’s cool. Growing Carrots in Hot Climates Gardeners in states like Florida may be wondering if it’s even possible to grow carrots in the South....

Horse Chestnut Cutting Propagation There are a few ways to propagate this tree. Growing from the dropped conkers is one way of getting them started. You may ask, “will horse chestnuts grow from cuttings?”. They will, and it is actually one of the easiest ways of horse chestnut cutting propagation. You may take young softwood cuttings in spring or hardwood cuttings in autumn. Take cuttings from the youngest trees available, as immature cuttings reproduce best....

Kangaroo Paw Plants Occurring naturally in southwest Australia, kangaroo paws belong to the genus Anigozanthos, of which there are eleven species – Anigozanthos flavidus being the most commonly grown. Size, stalk height, and color of kangaroo paws are dictated by the different species, and arise as a result of hybridization. Kangaroo paws are moderately growing specimens commonly used for cut flowers, and are exported all over the world from commercial growing sites such as the USA, Israel, and Japan....

While these fruits are heavy, you can grow melons on a trellis as long as you create a strong support system for the vine and each fruit. Vertical Melon Growing Few gardeners have all the growing space they would like. That’s why the vertical vegetable garden has become popular. Using trellises allow you to produce more crops than you otherwise would and often healthier crops too. This includes vertical melon growing....

Are Pepitas Pumpkin Seeds? You may have heard that “pepitas” is another term for pumpkin seeds. Yet, the pepitas at the store don’t look like the seeds that come from homegrown pumpkins. Pepitas have a fine papery skin, much like hulled sunflower seeds. So, are pepitas simply hulled pumpkin seeds? While that seems logical, pepitas are not produced by hulling ordinary pumpkin seeds. Unlike the hard-shelled seeds that most gardeners find inside garden-grown pumpkins, pepitas come from a special type of winter squash called oilseed pumpkins....

Naranjilla Growing Information “The golden fruit of the Andes,” naranjilla plants are herbaceous shrubs with a spreading habit that are commonly found throughout Central and South America. Wild growing naranjilla plants are spiny while cultivated varieties are spineless and both types having thick stems which become woody as the plant matures. The foliage of the naranjilla consist of 2 foot (61 cm.) long, heart-shaped leaves that are soft and woolly. When young the leaves are coated with brilliant purple hairs....

Potato Container Garden The best potatoes to use for container gardening are those that mature early. Choose certified seed potatoes, which are disease-free. The potatoes should mature in 70 to 90 days. You can also choose a variety from the supermarket that you enjoy. Be aware that some potatoes take 120 days until harvest, so you need a long growing season for these types of potatoes. There is a wide range of potato container garden methods and mediums....

Growing Pumpkins with Milk If you do a search regarding feeding pumpkins with milk, you will find quite a bit of information with about a 50/50 split on the veracity of using milk to grow pumpkins. Milk does have vitamins and minerals, with calcium being the most touted. Most kids are given milk to drink with the idea that it will make them grow up strong and healthy. Of course, there is some dissension over whether cow’s milk is really very good for kids, but I digress....

Nutrients in Purple Produce At one time purple was said to be a dignified color reserved only for those with royal blood. Luckily, times have changed, and now anyone can wear purple or eat purple fruits and vegetables. So, what exactly makes up healthy purple foods? The nutrients in purple produce vary depending on the particular fruit or vegetable, however, one thing they all have in common is that they are rich in anthocyanins....

Ornamental Sweet Potato Info The ornamental sweet potato plant (Ipomoea butatas) is somewhat different from its southern grown vegetable sibling. While it does produce edible sweet potato tubers (albeit not very palatable and bitter), the ornamental variety bears more colorful foliage, making it a popular houseplant. This plant produces vine-like stems similar to the philodendron and requires similar care to that of ivy when grown indoors. The vigorous growth and drought tolerance of ornamental sweet potato vines makes them great choices for mixed containers and hanging baskets....

When to Harvest Garden Greens Most leafy greens take very little time to mature and can be eaten at most any stage of their development. They can be harvested whenever there is enough of the crop to make it worthwhile picking. Most greens are cool season veggies that are planted in the spring for an early summer harvest. Some of them, like spinach, can be planted again late in the summer for a fall harvest as well....

Indoor Plants that Need High Light Some examples of plants that need a lot of light are below. These plants would do best in a south or west window and direct light most of the day. Aloe – Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis) has long succulent spikes that grow from the center of the plant. The gel inside the leaves is used to relieve minor skin irritations and burns. This plant grows slowly and is undemanding of temperature and water....

How to Build Raised Beds on Sloped Ground Gardeners have a choice in how they construct a raised bed on a slope. They can slice into the hill, level off an area, and build the raised bed as if the ground started out level. This method is also suitable when installing pre-fab raised beds on sloped ground. For steeply sloped yards, this can create a lot of backbreaking digging and hauling dirt....

Why is My Celery Hollow Inside? If you’ve ever bitten into a piece of celery, I’m sure you noticed its crisp texture and satisfying crunch. Water is the key element here, and boy, celery needs a lot of it! Celery roots are short reaching, only about 6-8 inches (15-20 cm.) away from the plant and 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm.) deep. Since celery plants can’t reach out for water, water must be brought to it....