Gardening - Working the Soil For still smaller areas

For still smaller areas, in which horses cannot be used and which are still too large for tilling wholly by means of hoes and rakes, various types of wheel-hoes may be used. These implements are now made in great variety of patterns, to suit any taste and almost any kind of tillage. For the best results, it is essential that the wheel should be large and with a broad tire, that it may override obstacles. Two-wheeled hoes are often used, particularly when it is necessary to have the implement very steady, and the wheels may straddle the rows of low plants. Many of these wheel-hoes are provided with various shapes of blades, so that the implement may be adjusted to many kinds of work. Nearly all the weeding of beds of onions and like plants can be done by means of these wheel-hoes, if the ground is well prepared in the beginning; but it must be remembered that they are of comparatively small use on very hard and cloddy and stony lands.


The saving of moisture

The garden must have a liberal supply of moisture. The first effort toward securing this supply should be the saving of the rainfall water.

Proper preparation and tillage put the land in such condition that it holds the water of rainfall. Land that is very hard and compact may shed the rainfall, particularly if it is sloping and if the surface is bare of vegetation. If the hard-pan is near the surface, the land cannot hold much water, and any ordinary rainfall may fill it so full that it overflows, or puddles stand on the surface. On land in good tilth, the water of rainfall sinks away, and is not visible as free water.


source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil Preparation of the surface

Every pains should be taken to prevent the surface of the land from becoming crusty or baked, for the hard surface establishes a capillary connection with the moist soil beneath, and is a means of passing off the water into the atmosphere. Loose and mellow soil also has more free plant-food, and provides the most congenial conditions for the growth of plants. The tools that one may use in preparing the surface soil are now so many and so well adapted to the work that the gardener should find special satisfaction in handling them.

If the soil is a stiff clay, it is often advisable to plow it or dig it in the fall, allowing it to lie rough and loose all winter, so that the weathering may pulverize and slake it. If the clay is very tenacious, it may be necessary to throw leafmold or litter over the surface before the spading is done, to prevent the soil from running together or cementing before spring. With mellow and loamy lands, however, it is ordinarily best to leave the preparation of the surface until spring.

In the preparation of the surface, the ordinary hand tools, or spades and shovels, may be used. If, however, the soil is mellow, a fork is a better tool than a spade, from the fact that it does not slice the soil, but tends to break it up into smaller and more irregular masses. The ordinary spading-fork, with strong flat tines, is a most serviceable tool; a spading-fork for soft ground may be made from an old manure fork by cutting down the tines

It is important that the soil should not be sticky when it is prepared, as it is likely to become hard and baked and the physical condition be greatly injured. However, land that is too wet for the reception of seeds may still be thrown up loose with a spade or fork and allowed to dry, and after two or three days the surface preparation may be completed with the hoe and the rake. In ordinary soils the hoe is the tool to follow the spading-fork or the spade, but for the final preparation of the surface a steel garden-rake is the ideal implement.


source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil In most cases

In most cases, much time and muscle are wasted in the use of the pick. If the digging is properly done, a spade can be used to cut the soil, even in fairly hard clay land, with no great difficulty. The essential point in the easy use of the spade is to manage so that one edge of the spade always cuts a free or exposed surface. When the operator endeavors to cut the soil, he is obliged to break both edges at every thrust of the tool; but when he cuts the slice diagonally, first throwing his spade to the right and then to the left, as shown at B, he cuts only one side and is able to make progress without the expenditure of useless effort. These remarks will apply to any spading of the land.

In large areas, horses may be used to facilitate the work of ditching. There are ditching plows and machines, which, however, need not be discussed here; but three or four furrows may be thrown out in either direction with a strong plow, and a subsoil plow be run behind to break up the hard-pan, and this may reduce the labor of digging as much as one-half. When the excavating is completed, the bottom of the ditch is evened up by means of a line or level, and the bed for the tiles is prepared by the use of a goose-neck scoop, shown in Fig. 79. It is very important that the outlets of drains be kept free of weeds and litter. If the outlet is built up with mason work, to hold the end of the tile intact, very much will be added to the permanency of the drain.


Trenching and subsoiling

Although underdraining is the most important means of increasing the depth of the soil, it is not always practicable to lay drains through garden lands. In such cases, recourse is had to very deep preparation of the land, either every year or every two or three years.




source : hydroponic

Gardening - Working the Soil "Sandy"

"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil containing enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain; "light" enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable.

"Loam: a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That hardly covers it, but it does describe it. It is soil in which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. An instance came under my notice last fall in one of my fields, where a strip containing an acre had been two years in onions, and a little piece jutting off from the middle of this had been prepared for them just one season. The rest had not received any extra manuring or cultivation. When the field was plowed up in the fall, all three sections were as distinctly noticeable as though separated by a fence. And I know that next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under, will show the lines of demarcation just as plainly.

This, then, will give you an idea of a good garden soil. Perhaps in yours there will be too much sand, or too much clay. That will be a disadvantage, but one which energy and perseverance will soon overcome to a great extent.


Drainage

There is, however, one other thing you must look out for in selecting your garden site, and that is drainage. Dig down eight or twelve inches after you have picked out a favorable spot, and examine the sub-soil. This is the second strata, usually of different texture and color from the rich surface soil, and harder than it. If you find a sandy or gravelly bed, no matter how yellow and poor it looks, you have chosen the right spot. But if it be a stiff, heavy clay, especially a blue clay, you will have either to drain it or be content with a very late garden--that is, unless you are at the top of a knoll or on a slope



source : hydroponic

Characteristics of Different Types of Soil

Author: Alex Fir

The most important factor when beginning to cultivate your garden is to know your soils texture. Take a handful of moist soil and roll it between your palms until it forms a sausage shape. If it feels gritty and breaks apart immediately, the soil is predominately sand. If the soil feels smooth, and holds its shape for a short time before breaking apart, it is mostly silt. However, if it feels sticky and holds together, then it is clay.

Sandy soil is easy to cultivate and warm up quickly in spring. It drains well so the plants do not stand with their roots in water for too long. However, as it drains quickly, plants need to be regularly watered and fed if they are to thrive.

Silty Soil is richer in nutrients than sandy soil. It is also heavier because it can retain moisture and has a tendency to become compacted. It does however tend to drain well and much easier to cultivate than clay. Clay Soil Weighty to lift and difficult to work. Drainage is usually bad; the soil is acid and clinging to the feet in wet weather. When preparing the beds for vegetables in clay soil, the organic fertilizer should be added at a rate of two bucketfuls to the sq. yd.

Loamy Soil contain sand, silt and clay, in such well-balanced proportions that none produces a dominating influence. These are amongst the most fertile soils. Almost any crop can be grown in them. They warm up quickly in spring and rarely dry out in summer. Chalk Soil It fertility depends largely on the depth of soil overlaying the chalk bed formation. If the topsoil is thin the ground will be poor and hungry. It will be bone dry in summer and the plants will need far more watering and feeding than on any other soil. If however, it is fairly deep, good growing conditions are possible.

Peaty Soil occurs in fen or boggy areas. Peat is composed of excessive quantities of humus and is associated with water-logging. The soil is usually very acid and contains few nutrients. It does have one advantage in that it warms up quickly in spring. It is excellent for plant growth if fertilizer is added.




source : hydroponic

Types of Hydroponic systems

Author: www.hydroponics.eu
Hydroponics is a method of growing vegetables and plants, being incorporated by gardeners in their indoor gardening methods. Instead of putting seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow, hydroponic systems make use of a special solution high in nutrients which enhances the growth of plants. The high concentrates of water and fertilizer from this solution give the plant all the nurture it needs, without having to be planted in soil.

Hydroponics is a method of growing vegetables and plants, being incorporated by gardeners in their indoor gardening methods. Instead of putting seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow, hydroponic systems make use of a special solution high in nutrients which enhances the growth of plants. The high concentrates of water and fertilizer from this solution give the plant all the nurture it needs, without having to be planted in soil.

Hydroponic most important benefit is the fact that this system protects plants from negative influence such as insects, temperature changes and disease. Hydroponics might turn out to be the most popular gardening method because more and more people live in cities without ground space to plant flowers or plants. Furthermore, hydroponic gardening offers us a unique way of overcoming the need for soil, since plants can be grown without it.

Hydroponic gardening comprises several types such as wick, deep water culture, aeroponics, ebb and flow system sub-irrigation, drip and nutrient film technique; all these systems offer advantages to those interested in hydroponics depending how they wish to grow plants. Hydroponic gardening can take place in a nutrient solution or in a growing medium. The nutrient solution represents the liquid nutrients that the plant roots feed with while the growing medium is a type of substance which contains sand, clay and rockwool and in which plants are grown.


source : hydroponic

CO2 Control

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) provides up to seventy-five percent of the plant's nutrition.  Therefore, controlling the CO2 in your growing area is very important.  To keep the CO2 level well-balanced, there are analysis kits available, CO2 injectors or CO2 generators, which run off natural gas or liquid propane tanks.

Temperature Control

Controlling the temperature in your hydroponics growing environment is also important.  The correct temperature for growing hydroponically is between 65 and 85 degrees F.

You can keep a check on the temperature using an indoor/outdoor thermometer.  When temperatures become too warm, this can be controlled using fans and ventilation.

Plenty of Oxygen

Plants need plenty of oxygen to grow.  This is why ventilation is important to allow outdoor oxygen to reach your plants.

Humidity Level Control

Humidity levels can become very high in your hydroponic growing area due to consistent watering and the enclosed environment.  There are monitoring devices to help you keep a check on the humidity level.  This is another area where correct ventilation and fanning helps.  Your plants can either become saturated or too dry, and neither is very healthy.

Using a combination of the right tools and ingredients will enable you to be successful with your hydroponic garden experience.  It's a simple process and requires very little maintenance once your system is set up. Hydroponics is a fun, affordable way to grow your plants or vegetables, and also a great space saver!




source : hydroponic