Gardening Articles

The type of cultivation tools that you will need depends on the nature of your garden. If your garden is a well established one, with lawns and perennial borders, then the most important tools that you need in your garden are surface cultivation tools such as hoes. On the other hand, if you grow mainly vegetables or you are starting to cultivate a new garden, then the tools you need first are the digging tools.

Shading the greenhouse will help to control the temperature levels if the ventilation system is insufficient. It also helps to protect vulnerable plants from too much direct sunlight. This will reduce the risk of leaf scorch and will prevent flower colors from fading in strong sunlight. Shadings applied primarily to control the temperature levels should be placed on the outside of the greenhouse as internal shadings are unlikely to reduce the temperatures significantly.

The amount of shade that is required in a greenhouse is not always the same, it depends on the season and the plants that are grown in the greenhouse. In the months of strongest sunlight, shading that reduces the light by 40-50 per cent is suitable for a typical mixed greenhouse. Ferns prefer around 75 per cent filtering of light, while cacti and succulents require very little or no shading at all.

Differences in topography often mean that local microclimates show variations from the more generalized pattern within a specific climatic region. A site in a natural dip or hollow may be relatively warm if it is protected by the wind. But if the hollow is shaded from sunshine it will be cool and may form a frost pocket in winter. Rainfall may be less in gardens in the lee of high ground than in others in the same locality but on the windward side.

A garden and its plants further modify local climate and introduce features that give rise to a microclimate specific to the garden. This may differ markedly from that of the surrounding area. To alter the existing microclimate of a garden, a gardener can readily adapt certain features to provide specific conditions.

Bottling or canning, using glass jars is a method of storing that is not only highly used but it is also an attractive way of storing. What can look better than rows of glass jars in the kitchen, full of brightly colored and good-looking preserved fruits and vegetables?

The method consists in heating to a high-enough temperature for a certain time the food in the bottles or jars, to kill the bacteria, yeasts and fungi and to stop enzyme activity. As by this method the jars are sealed at this high temperature there should be no reintroduction of spoiling micro-organisms.