Gardening Blog

Have you adored orchids for your whole life, always giving them as gifts instead of regular flowers, or perhaps even had your own potted orchids? Since you’re so passionate, and have the know-how, you should start your own home business as an orchid cultivator by starting your own orchid greenhouse!

Let’s not get carried away, though. Before you can sell all those gorgeous orchids, you need to build a greenhouse for them to grow. Not only that, but you’ll have to make sure you can afford the financial investment involved in your growing operation. It is not just a matter of putting them in the soil, then harvesting them, you have to take special care of the plants like they were your own children. You need the right type of soil, specific growth ingredients that orchids need to thrive, and so on. So, before you jump run out and start buying tons of stuff, ask yourself this: “Am I ready to grow my own orchids? Do I have the money needed, the will power required and the special knowledge required?” If you answered “yes,” then read on. If not, you might want to wait for a while before building your own orchid greenhouse, or just keep dreaming.

Assuming you have what it takes, then it’s time to build! Here are five critical steps towards making this dream a reality:

1. Buy the appropriate materials needed to build. Look for corrugated fiberglass panelling, with some plastic sheeting and home insulation. These should be the basics, and they’re relatively inexpensive.

2. Draw up some plans for the structure and location of the greenhouse, the foundation (area under the orchid greenhouse), and what type of floor you want to have. This is crucial, as the success or failure of the project will depend upon the choices you make in the beginning.

3. Make a blueprint of the orchid greenhouse, and also keep a notebook for detailed information, such as how you want the greenhouse partitioned and layed out, what are the growing zones and what height will the construction have.

4. It’s now time for specifics! How will you make the lower wall? Will you paint it, or will you keep cover it with wallpaper, or something else? Do you want to build in seating so you’ll be confortable while inside? Also, don’t forget to include a storage area for your supplies.

5. Last, but equally important, you should take care of the exterior environment. After all, you want your orchid greenhouse to get as much sun as possible, so make sure you put it in a sunny area and not somewhere where trees shade the greenhouse for most of the day.

Well, that’s it, the five steps that will get you close to building your dream orchid greenhouse. But remember, building it is only half the battle. The other half is caring for your orchids, since they are delicate, sensible flowers, and any miscalculation or improper setup of the greenhouse will affect their overall quality.

Any plant growing business is no easy job, and if you aren’t positive that you can handle it, my advice would be to pay for real professionals, as paying them will guarantee you a good job. Good luck with your orchid greenhouse, and remember to have fun!

Find out more about starting your own orchid greenhouse by visiting http://orchidgreenhouse.blogspot.com

Good luck, and happy growing!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wesley_Lynx
http://EzineArticles.com/?Building-an-Orchid-Greenhouse—Five-Things-You-Absolutely-Must-Know&id=1385472

Over the last few years home gardening has become an increasingly popular past-time and hobby.  In fact, studies show that home gardening is at an all time high in America right now.  In the United States 8 out of 10 households take part in some type of home gardening activity.  Obviously from the number of people that are doing it, home gardening is one of the most popular recreational activities in nation.

Most people that try their hand at home gardening plant flowers; at least they start out planting flowers anyway.  Roses will probably be the first thought into any gardeners mind, but roses will take extra time and work, and should probably be left to those who have gardened before.  When planting flowers many choices are available, such as bulbs, perennials, and annuals. 

Edible plants are another big thing in home gardening.  Perhaps the best thing about edibles is the reward of eating them.  The list of edible plants that gardeners can grow at home is endless. Some of the most common edible plants in the vegetable arena are, potatoes, peas, corn, carrots, squash, and cucumber.  Many gardeners opt for fruits, such as, watermelons, tomatoes, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and apricots.  Small fruits, such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries usually require less work and less space, making them much more feasible for home gardening.  Herbs, most often used as spices in cooking, are growing in popularity every day; some of the most grown include basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, and cilantro.  One of the most important things to watch for when planting edibles is insects and disease, after all, you don’t want to miss out on the feast you will get to enjoy from healthy plants.

Many people don’t realize it, but landscaping is a form of home gardening.  Landscaping covers many different areas and forms of gardening.  You can even classify mowing your lawn as landscaping!  Keeping in the line of grasses, landscaping nearly always involves decorative grasses, and the great thing about them is they don’t take much work for upkeep.  Types of grass include monkey grass, pampas, buffalo grass, flame grass, and ornamental millet.  Landscaping is not just limited to plant life, but also includes anything done to a yard for decoration, such as adding rocks or stones, putting a small pond, statutes, or a waterfall.

There isn’t much difference between home gardening and gardening anywhere else.  Plants still need to be planted in a good location.  The plants still need water and they still need the same nutrients.  Home gardening shouldn’t cause anyone to get nervous.  If you do decide to try homing gardening and finding out that you don’t have a green thumb, don’t get discouraged.  Get some information, read up on gardening, and try it again the next planting season.

Go to http://gardeningwebguide.com and get your free ebooks “A Guide to Organic Gardening” and “Rose Types and Care of Roses”

If you’re looking for ways to keep your garden watered without wasting too much time and money, you’ve probably gone through a lot of options in your mind. Maybe you’ve considered a sprinkler, a hose, or a good old-fashioned watering can. All of these methods might be convenient, but most of the time you will end up wasting water on plants that don’t need any more. If you live in a drought stricken area like I do, you know that every bit of water counts. I ended up getting a drip irrigation system. I haven’t regretted this decision at all.

When you install a drip irrigation system, you can choose one of two varieties: above ground and below ground. The above ground version drips small amounts of water continuously onto the ground, and allows it to soak in. It is all regulated from a pressure controller, which ensures that the water just comes out at a drip instead of a spray or a stream. These pressure regulators are very inexpensive. The whole drip system can be set up with a pressure regulator and a garden hose with holes poked in it (although it is ideal for you to get a pipe designed for this type of use, I’ve found that the hose method works acceptably).

The underground system is a bit more of a pain to install and maintain.  But if you’re really into the aesthetic aspect of your garden and don’t want any visible watering system, then you might consider it worth it.  It’s essentially the same as the above ground version, only a small trench is dug for the hose or pipe prior to any planting. This allows the water direct access to the roots for the most watering efficiency. Plus, you can impress your neighbors by having a beautiful garden without ever going outside to water it! They’ll be baffled.

To choose between the two systems, you need to take several things into account. Do you have the same plant layout year round? If it is always changing, you probably won’t want to bury your hose. It can be a pain to dig it up and re-align it with all your new plants every year or so. Even if your plant layout never changes, you need to consider how much you really mind seeing a hose in your garden. If it really bothers you to the
extent that you’re willing to work for a few hours to get rid of it, then by all means bury it. But otherwise I would suggest staying above ground if for nothing else than the convenience of repairing and rearranging.

One of the main advantages of the drip irrigation system is its efficiency. Instead of spraying large amounts of water willy-nilly like a hose does, it makes the most of your precious water by putting it exactly where it is needed. It can also provide your garden with constant watering, instead of just having to go thirsty whenever you’re not around to water it.

So if you’re looking for an easy, cheap, convenient, and efficient alternative watering method, you should go out to the gardening store today and purchase the necessary items to install a drip irrigation system. I think you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to maintain a garden after you have it.

Temperature changes several times a day. And during the night, it could really drop to a low level that may not be healthy for plants. Thus, to keep the temperature at a suitable level for a successful plant growth, greenhouse heaters are needed. In choosing the right greenhouse heater, you must take into consideration not only the capability of having a good temperature during cold, winter nights, but also the costs to be incurred in installing and running it.

Kinds of Greenhouse Heaters
- Electric heaters. This kind of heater is most suitable for smaller greenhouse structures. Electric heaters can efficiently maintain specified temperature levels. These do not produce any fumes and there is no further need for ventilation when these heaters are being used.

- Gas heaters. Since these heaters are fuelled either by natural gas or bottled ones, they can be less efficient that the electric heaters. Their waste products due to combustion are discharged into the greenhouse and ventilation is required when they are in use. Also, these heaters should be placed in a safe location and need constant monitoring and replacement.

- Paraffin heaters. This kind of heaters is the most basic among the three. Paraffin heaters need constant refilling and wick-trimming. They also need fuel to run, thus, fumes are again discharged into the greenhouse and would need ventilation. However, paraffin heaters can reduce the risk of frost damage and act as emergency standby.

Heater Mounting
- Hanging. These heaters are mounted directly to the ceiling or hung from it. It is advantageous to use because of less floor space consumed. They should just be hung high enough as to not be an obstruction.

- Wall. This type of heaters is mounted directly to the wall and vent towards the outside of the greenhouse. No floor space is required but the area in front of them should be clear.

- Floor. This type is not mounted as they have their own stand and can be placed anywhere on the floor of the greenhouse. That is the disadvantage of this type because it occupies a lot of space.

Heater Combustion
- Open. This kind of heater uses air inside the greenhouse for combustion. As long as the air does not have contaminants in it, this will work just fine. Flammable liquids should not be placed near an open combustion heater, though, because its burner is not sealed.

- Separated. A gas heater uses this kind of combustion mechanism wherein it uses the air outside the greenhouse for combustion. Its burner is also sealed to trap all the air in from outside of the greenhouse. The exhaust pipe is run to the outside of the structure.

- Sealed. This kind is a lot similar to the separated combustion type. The burner is completely sealed inside and there is no access to air inside the building. Sealed combustion heaters use direct vent both for exhaust and intake.

Heater Vents
- Unvented. Being unvented heaters, combustion-produced gases are directly released to the heated area. Unvented heaters are only for temporary use because of the sensitivity of some plants.

- Gravity. The exhausted air from this type of heater should rise through the pipe and released outside, thus, the vents should be vertical. The air expelled must be replaced by outside air.

- Power. These power vented heaters have a blower that pushes air through the pipe and outside the structure. The vents may be arranged vertically or horizontally, and the vent pipes are smaller making it more efficient.

- Direct. This kind of venting is special to sealed combustion types. It has only one vent pipe with both the inlet and exhaust; one pipe is inside the other. The amount of air that leaves the pipe is the same amount that it pulls as intake. There is no additional air outside needed to replace the expelled air.

Another thing to consider in a greenhouse heater is its output range or the measure of the heat output. You can ask your nearby greenhouse store to check out your needed output range based on the area of your greenhouse and other factors. There are also web sites that can do the computation for you.

There are definitely several kinds of greenhouse heaters to choose from. For you to decide on which one to purchase, it is best to first do an assessment of your current greenhouse structure and its needs. You can also ask advice from experts in building and maintaining greenhouses for better results.

To learn more about greenhouse growing, visit: Greenhouse Growing

The American Rose Society did not at first accept the term ‘floribunda’. Is a rose that is crossbred a true rose? I suppose that would be a matter of opinion. Roses are highly crossbred. A floribunda could be dubbed the modern rose. You might think of it as an enhanced rose, bred to bring out the best in a flowering plant.

So, what is a floribunda? Although many varieties have been developed, a floribunda is a hybrid that was originally a cross between a polyantha and a tea rose. There was a man who developed many varieties in 1920; his nickname became Papa Floribunda.

This flower is grown mainly for garden color. The floribunda grows lower, which can be a positive attribute. Known as a cluster rose, the floribunda tolerates neglect better than any other rose type except shrub roses. A floribunda is a good landscape choice because it can provide an almost nonstop source of color.

Positive aspects of the floribunda include: abundant flowers, long-lasting blooms, versatile for landscaping, can be used as a hedge or just to accent the landscape, some have a more intense fragrance than most other roses, and they have a delicate appearance.

Negative aspects include: not eligible for Queen of Show, need plenty of feeding, fare far better on a regular feeding schedule (be sure to consider this if you are the type of person who forgets to feed your plants or just doesn’t have the time to devote to a regular feeding schedule), takes 3 years to reach maturity, has shorter stems, and has a small size.

Floribundas will be healthier with good air circulation; so when pruning, it helps to leave the center of the bush open. If you have trouble remembering when to prune, prune near a holiday or a special day during the pruning season. If you leave the older canes when pruning, you are rewarded with larger amounts of color later. Also, take care to remove a cane that rubs another. Pruning will aid in air circulation, which helps to cut down on insects and disease as well.

Other things to remember to maintain healthy floribundas that are grown in pots are: plenty of root space, good drainage, a pot that is heavy enough to sustain against wind should the pot be kept in an area more susceptible to windy conditions, a pot that is wide enough to provide stability. [ A word of caution: saucers under pots can invite root rot.] Even in floribundas, chemicals are needed to control problems. Concentrates must be applied with care so as not to cause leaf burn.

Some interesting names of existing floribundas are: Playboy, Playgirl, Pure Poetry, Eye Paint, French Lace, Show Biz, Cherish, and Trumpeter.

If you wrap your roses in paper or foil, then plunge them deep into water, it will keep their stems from sagging should you desire to display them.

The word floribunda alone could be a helpful source of entertainment for a gardening parent. Give your child a pencil and piece of paper while you garden and ask he/she to see how many words they can make from the letters in the word floribunda!

Visit http://gardeningwebguide.com and get your FREE e-book “Rose Types and Care of Roses”