Retaining Water In Desert Gardens

Growing a garden in the desert can be a difficult task. With a dry, arid climate and rocky soil, water retention is important for the growth and maintenance of plants in a desert garden.

The first rule for saving water in desert gardens is proper watering. The roots of a plant need to receive water on a regular basis in order to thrive and grow. When watering your desert garden, make sure the water reaches the roots by watering less frequently for longer periods of time.

Using a self made or root watering system is an effective way to prevent the majority of your water from evaporating; thus saving water in your desert garden.

Another way is to retain water at the root of the plant is through mulching. Mulching around plants is your desert garden prevents the moisture from drying and evaporating quickly in the desert sun.

Desert gardening can be a beautiful and enjoyable experience with the help of proper watering. When trying to save water in your desert garden, proper watering techniques will go a long way toward helping your garden to thrive even in the desert.

Perennials and Herbs Outdoor Container Gardening

In every container garden a person should have herbaceous perennials because they have some beautiful flowers and distinctive foliage and you can keep them in raised beds, planters and large boxes.

These plants are very permissive because they tolerate both sun or shade and can grow in moist and dry locations. Even if they are very resistant some of them need winter covering.

The best perennials have all-season foliage. Once they finish flowering, astilbe, coral-bells, daylilies, phlox, gas plant, peonies and hardy candytuft their leaves still attractive. When the blooming period is over the leaves of primroses, bleeding hearts and oriental poppies turn yellow.

While daylilies and iris love hot temperatures, the delphiniums, lupines, and astilbes thrive in cool temperatures.



If you’re a gardener you can have too foxgloves, cantetbury bells, biennials, verbascums and sweet williams and discard them after flowering.

For colourful effects, these days you can buy mature perennial and biennial plants in tar paper, baskets, tins, papiermache and other temporary containers from any garden centre and nurserymen.

Acanthus (Bear’s Breech) has two feet long, arching, shining dark green, thistlelike, deep-cut leaves are covered with white, tall, rose-tinged spikes. You must plant them in large pots with full sun and good drainage but if you live in North you must probably need to protect it during the winter.

Asters are very beautiful plants with starry blossoms in colours of rich purple, rose and lavender, pink and white autumn. This plant can grow from nine inches up to four feet. You must provide it with full sun, water it and divide them each spring.

The Bearded Iris has very beautiful blooms coloured like the rainbow and spearlike leaves. It is a resistant plant and you must divide them every third year.

Chrysanthemums are considered to be invaluable for the pot garden that will last from August to December. It is very easy to grow it your own but if that is not possible you can buy it in bud from commercial growers.

You must keep them moist and if you do that you can easily move them when in bloom. After that you can plant them in your garden and protect them during the winter or discard the roots year after year.

Daylilies or Hemerocallis are growing in both hot and cold climates or shade or full sun. You must know that strap foliage is attractive the entire year. If you live in warmer regions you must know that there are evergreen varieties for you to choose from. Yellow and crimson trumpet flowers last for a long period even if each bloom is fresh for only one day. In Greek, hemerocallis is translated “beautiful for a day”.

Delphinium is a regal plant with tall, stately spikes in shades of blue white and purple. You must plant the seeds in February or March for flowering plants the same season or you can sow the seeds in spring for large containers. If you sow them in June or July they will bloom the next summer. This plant requires sunlight. You can always go and buy a few amazing Pacific Hybrids.

Hostas have green or variegated broad leaves and the low growing types are perfect for edge large planters. That’s mainly because this is a resistant and pest free plant. A few Hostas types are: Honey-bells that have tall spikes of purple flowers; August lily with fragrant white bells in summer; and Thomas Hogg, with green leaves edged white.

Phlox is a dependable for bright colours in July, August and September. This plant will grow perfectly in sun or partial shade and it requires plenty of water. Phlox wilts and the lower leaves dry out and turn brown.

This flower is available in various colours: purple, salmon, pink, red, scarlet, rose, lavender and white. When plants are six to nine inches high and the tips are pinched, flower heads will be smaller but more numerous.

Rose Mallow or Hibiscus are well-known for bold, tall effects and have big rose, red, pink and white flowers. The hybrids can measure around nine inches across and need moisture, rich soil and full sun though partial shade.

FDA - Eat Tomatoes From Your Own Garden

FDA Warns Consumers Nationwide Not to Eat Certain Types of Raw Red Tomatoes

The Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these raw, red tomatoes.

FDA recommends that consumers not eat raw red Roma, raw red plum, raw red round tomatoes, or products that contain these types of raw red tomatoes unless the tomatoes are from the sources listed below. If unsure of where tomatoes are grown or harvested, consumers are encouraged to contact the store where the tomato purchase was made. Consumers should continue to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, or tomatoes grown at home.

On June 5, using traceback and other distribution pattern information, FDA published a list of states, territories, and countries where tomatoes are grown and harvested which have not been associated with this outbreak. This updated list includes: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.

The list is available at www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html#retailers.

This list will be updated as more information becomes available.

FDA’s recommendation does not apply to the following tomatoes from any source: cherry, grape, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached.

FDA recommends that retailers, restaurateurs, and food service operators not offer for sale and service raw red Roma, raw red plum, and raw red round tomatoes unless they are from the sources listed above. Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, may continue to be offered from any source.

Since mid April, there have been 145 reported cases of salmonellosis caused by Salmonella Saintpaul nationwide, including at least 23 hospitalizations. States reporting illnesses linked to the outbreak include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Salmonella Saintpaul is an uncommon type of Salmonella.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections particularly in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, the organism can get into the bloodstream and produce more severe illnesses. Consumers who have recently eaten raw tomatoes or foods containing raw tomatoes and are experiencing any of these symptoms should contact their health care provider. All Salmonella infections should be reported to state or local health authorities.

FDA recognizes that the source of the contaminated tomatoes may be limited to a single grower or packer or tomatoes from a specific geographic area. FDA also recognizes that there are many tomato crops across the country and in foreign countries that will be ready for harvest or will become ready in the coming months. In order to ensure that consumers can continue to enjoy tomatoes that are safe to eat, FDA is working diligently with the states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Indian Health Service, and various food industry trade associations to quickly determine the source of the tomatoes associated with the outbreak.

FDA is taking these actions while the agency continues to investigate this outbreak with state and federal partners. Such actions are a key component of FDA’s Food Protection Plan, a scientific and risk-based approach to strengthen and protect the nation’s food supply.

FDA will continue to issue updates as more specific information becomes available.

Information on safe handling of produce can be found at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/prodsafe.html

Tomato consumer page can be found at
www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html

Updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can be found at
www.cdc.gov/

Source : FDA

Home Front Yard Landscaping

Home front yard landscaping is just another landscaping technique just like desert landscaping, Arizona landscaping, rock landscaping, bonsai landscaping etc.

Everyone want their home front yard to look as marvellous as it possibly can, who does not want the kind of front yard that the whole neighborhood is jealous of? And the beauty of home front yard landscaping is that it does not have to be hard and much of it can be done by you. All it will take a it a little elbow grease and some time to spare and you can design your own home front yard landscaping design quickly and easily.

There are even products on the market that will help you to find the best home front yard landscaping idea out there. You can choose to use home front yard landscaping software for one. These programs can be a great help to you as you are trying to figure out what will suit your home and yard the best. With these types of programs you will get to see a few different layouts and options are always good when trying to narrow down your choices.

If home front yard landscaping software programs are not for you, then you can try doing a search online for some wonderful home front yard landscaping ideas. The Internet is full of great sites that you can use to get everything done the right way. It is important to do plenty of research before you start your own home front yard landscaping so that you keep the number of mistakes made down to a minimum. If you do make a boo-boo, don’t worry about it, any thing can be fixed.

Before you start your home front yard landscaping you will need to also look into any gas lines and electrical lines that may be running through your yard. This is very important if you are planning to be doing a lot of digging. You cannot afford to hit any of these things, not only can it cost you a bundle to fix, it can also be very dangerous. Hitting an electrical line with a metal shovel could put an end to all of your work, your life too.

You will also need to find out about zoning restrictions that could affect your home front yard landscaping. In some places you cannot have trees too high and even some fences are not allowed. Find out these kinds of things before you start your home front yard landscaping work and you could save a lot of time and money.