Lighting

Indoor house plants prefer an environment where they can get sunlight in a doorway, archway or other location. Direct sunshine for a portion of the day will happily tolerated by plants as long as it is not direct sunlight for long periods of time. Morning or filtered sunshine is ideal and bright light coming through colored or frosted glass panes makes a pretty background for a group of potted palms and can be highly beneficial to their growth. Such glass as this however, can transmit heat and this makes the plant need more frequent watering and attention to humidity needs to be added if needed. Solar films can be applied to windows to reduce heat and glare can be very important to house plants.

Humidity Needs

An indoor environment generally has low humidity and will fluctuate with considerable changes in the outdoor environment, heating and cooling. Plants do not tend to do well with low humidity though there is a wide range of responses within any given group of plants. Some species will not be tolerable of low and varying humidity and will lose their luster and seem dull and can become the victim of a pest attack such as by spider mites or mealy bugs.

Lets get started! First you must get your new pot ready. Repotting orchids is pretty easy if you do the right thing. If you decide to use an old pot or recycled pot for your orchids – you need to prepare the pot itself. You can get a used/old pot ready by soaking it with a little bleach and water concoction. Once you have soaked it – make sure you rinse it off, and let it dry completely over a few days. If the pot is new – just soak it in water for 10-15 minutes.

After the pot is ready, you need to get the inside ready with a good-sized layer of plastic foam. The plastic foam peanuts work great when repotting orchids. Place the peanuts at the bottom of the pot. It helps the new repotted orchid’s roots get adequate drainage. This is important for your orchid to thrive. You can also wet the potting mix. It is best to do that with boiling water. Let the soil set and cool back down. Then add the soil to the pots.

BY modern methods, the flowers for our winter bouquets may be dried throughout their growing periods. Not only will they provide out of season enjoyment, but they can vie at any season with fresh blooms and they will hold their own on the show table, too.

The processes by which the flowers are dried is not difficult, but patience and careful handling are required. The first step is to assemble the necessary materials and prepare a work area which is dry, yet well ventilated.

All of the flowers we will discuss will be dried in an old fashion mixture of 2/3 powdered borax and 1/3 dry, sifted sand. A practical quantity for the average drying box would be four pounds of borax, thoroughly mixed with 3 and 1/3 cups of sand. This mixture does not deteriorate and an occasional sifting will keep it usable year after year.

For some flowers, wires (available in 18-inch lengths from the florist) are used to substitute for the natural stems or to extend stems which are too short. When wrapped with green or brown corsage tape they are seldom obvious and their pliability is an advantage in making the arrangement. Twenty-three gauge wires are medium strength and will support most flowers.

As part of the renovation nation we bought a my parents home built in the 1950′s and it had a landscaping problem. The parents wanted something different. To keep the grass and weeds from creeping in from the lawn they decided to put the flowers in stone and concrete beds.

This would give a bed above lawn level and required less upkeep. The first step they took was to build a wooden form the desired length, height and width. The beds were raised about five inches above lawn level. A second form was built three inches smaller to fit inside the first form, and in which the concrete is poured. After the forms were built they used the outside form as a guide to dig a trench about six or seven inches deep by three wide. This trench acted as a form for the foundation and was below the frost line. The forms were then secured above the trench and ready to pour the concrete.

Ready-mixed concrete was used but mixed most of the beds using one part cement to two parts sand and a little lime which gives the beds a white appearance when set.

Some kinds of seeds must be sown soon after ripening or they will not grow. Others retain their life (viability) from one year to another depending on the conditions under which they are stored. A test for germination can easily be made before planting time by cutting a circle of flannel or paper towel to fit the bottom of a plate.

By marking the material in four divisions, four different kinds of seeds may be tested at one time. The cloth is moistened and ten or 25 seeds placed on each division.

Cover with another plate or with a pane of glass to hold in the moisture. Label each kind of seed planted including the date planted. Inspect the seeds from time to time. Count the number that sprout. If none germinate and the seeds are choice ones, test a second time.

Hardcoated seeds are slow to germinate. Kicking the seeds slightly may enable them to grow. Some seeds may require a period of cool or freezing temperatures. If none grow after giving them ample time for germination, the seeds are probably no good and it would be useless to plant the remainder of the lot.

Once a garden plan has been prepared, the next consideration in good vegetable gardening is to select the best possible varieties of vegetables to be grown and to order the seeds. Since no one seed company has a monopoly on all the best varieties, it is a good idea to pick up several catalogs.

Last year we bought seeds from five suppliers and this year we will be ordering from six or seven to get all the varieties we want. Avoid varieties which are described as being good for shipping, for “keeping” (except a few like onions and winter squash) or for storage. Those are qualities important to commercial growers but definitely not to home gardeners. You want the varieties to be succulent and flavorful and resistant to plant diseases.

Planning your garden in advance helps produce maximum crops in minimum space. The less space you use, the less work you have to do. Also, you can improve the soil in a small plot much more rapidly than in a large area and at less expense. This sets up, within limitations, a chain reaction. The better the soil, the smaller the area required to produce a given quantity of peas or beans or corn, and, the smaller the area, the faster its soil may be improved.

The best time to plan your vegetable garden is right now in midwinter. Unless you are a draftsman, you will probably find it easiest to draw the plan on cross-section paper, which you can get at any office supply store. Use sheets which provide plenty of space for both the simple plan of our vegetable garden, and for additional notes to be made on the margins during the season to help plan a better layout for next year. You will also need a pencil and a ruler.