The problem with food and plants these days is that they are all too expensive with the economy as it is. A garden is a good alternative, but the start up costs of getting your garden going can be too much at once for you. Following some simple tips, you can lower the costs and have it running in no time.

The first step is to design your garden. If you are completely new to the world of gardening, be prepared to take in a lot of information at once! You can get free books and audio discs regarding the subject at your library if you have a pass. Otherwise you can use the Internet to find free websites or magazines that will give you the help you need during the planning stage.

Going to a nursery is expensive- it’s probably the last place you want to look. That is, unless you have knowledge of how to buy plants and flowers off season. The only real problem here is that when buying like this, the plants or flowers will not bloom until the next growing period. Since they are in less demand, the price associated with them will drop.

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Abide by the fertiliser manufacturer’s instructions and better results will be a little larger, and procure a properly balanced potting compost. It is seldom, if ever, that one sees good-quality plants growing in what is often referred to as garden dirt. Composts should contain peat, sand, fertiliser and all sorts of other ingredients if potted plants are to do well.

When using aerosol sprays of any description (other than those for pest control and cleaning) plants should be carefully avoided; better still to remove them from the room altogether.

Like fertilisers, all insecticides should be used as instructed, as that seemingly harmless little extra may well cause leaf scorch and other damage. Pests should be treated as soon as they are seen, as any delay will make their control just that much more difficult.

Calat heel zebrina requires warm, shady conditions – not a plant to choose for a sunny but unheated room. Though the flowers of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis are superb, like many flowering plants the hibiscus is vulnerable to greenfly attack.

Almost all the house plants of taller habit which produce growing stems from which branches and leaves emerge can be propagated by means of top or stem cuttings. A top cutting is the end part of the growth, and with many types of plants (the aphelandra is a good example) it provides the best cutting, while other plants produce growth at the top that is often too soft to be of any real value. Stem cuttings are prepared from single leaves with a piece of stem attached, or simply from the piece of stem as in the case of dieffenbachias.

Often enough, with hederas for example, three or four leaves with a longer piece of stem will be used. In these instances it is usually advisable to remove the lower leaf or two and not to bury the remaining leaves in the compost. Plants resulting from this type of cutting are often fuller and of better quality. In the case of cuttings with smaller leaves (hederas, tradescantias and Ficus pinate) it is advisable to insert as many as six cuttings in a pot. Plants so produced are of much better appearance than those from only one or two cuttings in each pot. Hedcras, being easy to propagate, should be inserted directly into the compost in which they are expected to grow – transferring them from peat to compost is not necessary with the easier plants, and causes unnecessary disturbance of the new root system. However, when rooting cuttings of the larger leaved hederas such as H. canariensis they should first be encouraged to root in peat.

Oleoresin capsicum (`African capsicum oleoresin’) is prepared from the most pungent, small-fruited chillies grown in Africa and some other countries. This oleoresin has a very high pungency and is used exclusively for official pharmaceutical work, but it is employed mainly to impart pungency to manufactured foods and some beverages. His evaluated solely on its content of capsaicin; its colour value is low.

The chillies, which may have a moisture content of from 8 to 12 per cent, are next dried in the sun or artificially until crisp, to ease grinding and to prevent the chillies sticking to the grinding surfaces of the mill. In the USA, chillies are dried, before grinding, to a moisture content of from 7 to 8 per cent.

Capsicum oleoresin obtained from the whole fruit contains a considerable amount of fixed oil, originating mainly from the seeds. Pearson (1976) reported a range of 15.5-22.0 per cent in whole chillies. If the fixed oil is to remain in the oleoresin, the latter is liable to become rancid in storage.

Aglaonema is widely distributed in South East Asia. 16 to 2eC. (6o to 70F.). The suitable temperature for Aglaonema is less than 16C. (60F.); for a short period this may do little harm, but it is essential to provide adequate warmth if these plants are to do well.

Aglaonemas are mostly of compact habit and deserve to be more popular than they are at present. Specialist nurseries list several varieties, but on the whole they tend to be neglected. A few, such as the species Aglaonema commutatum, have rather dull foliage, so the hick of interest may be quite understandable.

When buying plants in flower it is best to select those that arc more backward in order to get the longest life possible from them. The ideal stage is when the pink bract is a little above the water level in the urn. Plants that have developed to the stage where the blue flowers in the otherwise pink bract are fully open should be avoided.

Though expensive, if purchased at the proper stage of development, A. rhodocyanea will give anything from eight to ten months of pleasure before the bract eventually deteriorates. The high cost merely reflects the time taken by the nurseryman to bring the plant to maturity, at least five years from seed under normal conditions.

Whatever else may he said of the ivies there is no lack of choice, and they can he adapted to many uses other than growing in very hot conditions. As far as possible a maximum temperature in the region of 16 C should he the aim, as higher temperatures will almost inevitably result in leaves drying out and in time falling off.

Red spider is often responsible for leaves gradually turning brown and shrivelling from the outer edge; inspection of the undersides should be made when such leaves are noticed. II. canariensis (II. Claire de Marengo), H. maculara and H. Goldleaf are the larger sorts that one is most likely to meet. These are essentially more upright plants and should be grown on canes or against a wall for support.

Ivies may he used for almost every purpose, as trailing plants, upright plants on stakes, climbing plants against the wall or, very effectively, as hanging basket plants. In this respect they may he used in conjunction with other plants, or as individual specimens filling the basket.

The house plant grower is only likely to come into contact with the anthuriums and, of these. For preference they all require very hot, humid conditions, which will mean a temperature consistently higher.

A spacious propagating case will then be required to house these large and somewhat spiteful cuttings – all the ananas have vicious spines along the edges of their leaves and need careful handling.

Another propagating method is to cut away the top of the mature fruit with the tufted rosette and allow to dry before placing it firmly on top of a propagating bed, or potful of suitable propagating mixture. It will reduce the chances of rotting if the mixture is covered with a fine layer of sand on which the fruit may rest.

For best effect these plants should be grown in the garden room with growth twined around overhead wires or trellis framework. The beauty of the exotic, pendulous flowers will then he fully appreciated. Plants may also he grown in pots, but they seldom flower so well as when planted out in the border of the garden room. Keep moist in summer and on the dry side in winter; feed as soon as new growth begins in spring.

In good growing conditions plants can be very invasive, so will need hard pruning any time after flowering. Mealy bugs can be troublesome pests should they find their way in between the twining stems of the plant, so a careful watch must be kept in order to eradicate them before they have a chance to get established.

After they have finished flowering indoors it is usually best to plant hydrangeas out in the garden where they will quickly establish themselves as colourful shrubs. Before planting it is important that the ground he well watered, as well as the compost in the pot; thereafter the soil surrounding the plant must be kept watered until the plant is established. So many plants fail as a result of the soil drying out after planting.

All over the world there must be millions of liens grown annually for indoor decoration, ranging from the tiny creeping fig, Ficus pumila, to majestic trees of F. benjamina and F. benghalensis. None of them flower when grown in pots, so the attraction is entirely in the foliage. Ficus elastica robusta is the now greatly improved ordinary rubber plant which is produced in vast quantities annually.

Allowing for the fact that they may prove problematical indoors they are still superb plants for the greenhouse, garden room, or for planting in the garden as temporary or permanent residents, depending on whether they are hardy or not. There are obviously ideal times for propagating cuttings but my experience is that when someone gives you a healthy cutting of a particularly good variety it will root at almost any time if the conditions are right: warm, lightly shaded and moist.

In the garden room it would he essential to provide a warm bed of moist peat in which to plunge the plant=pots. Provided the surroundings are shaded the` maximum tem- perature is unimportant. Propagate from stem cuttings with two to three leaves attached.