Herb Gardening Indoors

Author: Mary Hanna

Article: Herb Gardening Indoors By Mary Hanna Copyright 2005

Here are some tips for herb gardening indoors that will simulate the conditions in an outside garden. For Herb gardening indoors the growing climates need to be pretty much the same as the conditions outside.

Get your herb plants from a good garden center nursery who will have plenty of garden advice to help you with your inside garden. You will need some garden equipment like a small digging garden tool, garden gloves, organic fertilizer and some small gardening containers. You probably already have most of these garden supplies in your garden shed.

Soil is the most important aspect of growing herbs indoors. Use only top grade potting soil with an organic fertilizer mixed in. If you think it is too fine a soil, use a little perlite. Fertilize while potting the herbs and they should be happy until spring. If you have an herb that is not growing vigorously add a little organic liquid fertilizer to the water.

When you go to transplant the herb, go one inch up in the size of the gardening container. If the plant is in a two inch pot, go to a three inch gardening container. Leave the roots alone and be careful not to bruise the stem. Don't plant oreganos, mints, lemon balm or bee balm with other plants because they will overgrow everything. Pot these herbs in a garden container all their own. Some people swear that you must put garden stones in the bottom of the gardening container, but I dispute that opinion. I feel that the garden stones take valuable space away from the herb roots.

When it comes to light, all herbs must get 4 to 6 hours of sunlight a day on your window sill. If your window doesn’t supply that much light then purchase garden grow lights and hang them three inches above the plants. If you live in a very hot climate shade the herbs during the hottest periods. If you live in a very cold climate keep the herbs away from the cold glass panes.

When it comes to watering, don’t let the herbs dry out but don’t drown them either. An inexpensive water meter from your garden center nursery will help with this important step in growing your herbs. Always use room temperature water so as not to shock the herb's roots.

If you follow all of these steps you will have a healthy herb garden all winter.

This article may be distributed freely on your website, in your ezines and in your eBooks, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged. Copyright © 2005 Mary Hanna. All Rights reserved.

About the author: About the Author: Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives full time in Central Florida which allows her to garden and grow herbs inside and outside year round.

Contact: mary@gardeninglandscapingtips.com or visit her garden site http://www.gardeninglandscapingtips.com

6 Fashion Tips for Gardeners

Author: Linda Gray

Article: Clothes and skin cream are far removed from potting out your begonias, or digging a trench for a line of potatoes. But the clothes you wear are important for your protection in the garden. Here are six simple but effective solutions to various gardening hazards...

1. Starting from the top, you need to protect your head. Body heat escapes through the head and in the cold weather a warm hat should be worn. Knit yourself a 'gardening crazy' hat or buy a simple woollen hat on the high street.

And in the summer, even more attention should be paid to the head. The sun's rays are not only hot but they actually burn you. We all know this but how easy it is to forget when you want to soak up the sun after months of grey or cold weather. Invest in a cool sunhat. Not only will it help protect you from sunstroke, it will also protect against the drying out of your hair and skin.

2. Keep one old comfortable jacket or short coat, preferably with fairly large pockets, especially for the garden. When you're working, you won't need to worry about dirty marks. Leave them there, it's all part of the gardener's designer uniform!

3. Suitable trousers.. again keep a couple of old pairs especially for gardening. Wear heavy duty jeans for heavy duty work. A good waterproof pair are handy in damp climates. In fact, in damp climates, a whole waterproof gardening suit is invaluable. There is always planting to do in the rain, and a waterproof hat, jacket and trousers tucked in a pair of boots will keep you nice and dry!

4. Protect your hands. For light work, potting on or pinching out tomato plants, a disposable plastic pair of gloves or a pair of kitchen rubber gloves will be enough. For heavier work - pruning roses, weeding thistles and nettles, wear heavy duty gardening gloves, or your hands will suffer.

5. Watch those toes! Invest in a pair of steel toe capped boots and wear them! If you're pottering in the greenhouse or doing a little weeding, a simple pair of wellington boots will do, or even sandals if the weather allows. But as soon as you pick up a large tool, your steel toe-caps should be worn. If you're not used to them, these boots can feel heavy and cumbersome at first, but stick with it. If you're doing heavy work, you need heavy boots.

6. And last but certainly not least, you must protect your skin. Moisturise all exposed body parts whenever you are woking in the garden, rain or shine. Working outside will give you a nice healthy glow, but the wind and sun will dry your skin given half a chance.

So there we have it, not a fashion designer's dream, but these 6 garden fashion tips will make life a lot more comfortable, and safer, for the average home gardener. Happy gardening!

About the author: Join the garden power dressers with your own bionic gardening gloves! Stroll through the greenery in your new wellies and pick up some greta gardening tips at Flower and Garden Tips. Check out these gloves first|: <a href=""http://www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/gardeninggloves.html"" >Gardening Gloves</a>

Designing & Decorating a Patio Today

Author: Dakota Caudilla

Article: When it comes to decorating a patio, old rules no longer apply. Patios used to be just a place where you place a couple of chairs, a table, a table lamp and some potted plants. But times have changed and so have the rules on patio living today. Today, the patio can be transformed into just about anything…including a family room, a star-gazing section for families or couples, a reading place, a garden, a green house…anything you want!

With the growing interest in developing and designing patios into more than what they used to be, the variety of furniture for patios have also evolved and grown into a whole industry by itself. The growth of the patio furniture industry is further encouraged by the fact that many more Americans spend time lazing around on their specifically designed patios. In fact, some people consider their patios their secret sanctuary. Linda Gravel says that she designed her patio to be almost completely soundproof and with little windows opening out so that the air from outside can seep in. Gravel uses her patio for Yoga and Tai-Chi practices. In the meantime, Geoffrey Alberton designed his patio to accommodate his love for the outdoors and traveling. “This is where I place all the plants in the house, pictures of my traveling expeditions. In fact, I place ornaments and special souvenir items from all around the world in my special patio”, he says with a sheepish smile.

For people like Alberton and Gravel, the patio of the home has been turned into their own private sanctuary where they can relax and be themselves.

In fact, it makes perfect sense to make full use of the backyard for things that we enjoy and love doing. Some people turn their patios into swimming pools or gyms. Stargazers can also turn their patios into a place where they can lounge around with their eyes glued to the telescope. The trend of having personal patios is a direct result of deepening interests in cocooning. Cocooning is a trend that affects most Americans today and it is starting to spread too, to other parts of the world. This is phenomenon where people are starting to create their own personal patio space for themselves and prefer to lead a more casual lifestyle. Young adults prefer to stay home on their private little patios doing something they love and the aging population is starting to create and design patios to suit their restful lifestyles.

Health conscious individuals either turn their patios into mini gyms or health spas. For example, you can design and decorate your patio in such a way that it inspires deep meditation or a place for dance. Garden-lovers can turn their patios into a field of greens. It’s all about what you like as an individual. For those with families, they can use the patio as a family area where board games are played or a place where all the family members get together to listen to some peaceful music or simply laze around.

In fact, with a little bit of focus and imagination, you can literally turn your patio into ANYTHING you want!

About the author: Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.stylish-flooring.com on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.