Hey Readers! I’ve been comin across some crazy stuff the past few days from a few different blogs around the web which I just had to share with you. Check em out below…
Gazette’s longtime gardening columnist Stuart Robertson has died
… two gardening books: Stuart Robertson’s Tips on Organic Gardening in 2007 and, the following year, Stuart Robertson’s Tips on Container Gardening. … Read More…
Southaven gardener combines array of plants’ colors, textures on …
Murray started container gardening about 10 years ago when her brother helped her create a garden of hanging plants. She liked the effect, … Read More…
Use color to refresh season’s gardens
When making a container garden, combine colorful fall perennials with cold tolerant annuals to add interest and texture, Grossman says, adding that he likes … Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.
Pimp My Cubicle – Yahoo! India News
Susan Adams, Forbes.com
When Lee Burbage feels stressed, he turns to the mini Zen garden he's constructed in his 10-by-10-foot cubicle.
“When I need to be cool, calm and collected,” he says, “I can just talk to my little bonsai tree.” The plant sits on a small red tablecloth he picked up at a Crate and Barrel store near his Alexandria, Va., office. It's surrounded by three unlit, light blue tea candles that match the blue rocks around the bonsai.
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Burbage, 38, is head of human resources at the online investment advice company The Motley Fool. He's also one of 42 million Americans who spend most of their waking hours in cubicles. Instead of succumbing to depression induced by those chest-high gray, beige or blue partitions ubiquitous in Cubicleville, Burbage has transformed his space into a comfy, individualized refuge.
“You spend more time in your cubicle than you do at home,” notes Kelley Moore, the author of Cube Chic: Take Your Office Space from Drab to Fab! “If you design your space in a creative way that inspires you, it will inspire you to be more productive.”
Along with Moore and Burbage, we canvassed a New York employment lawyer named Edward Hernstadt and several other thoughtful folks to come up with advice for those who want to decorate their partitioned workspaces to please themselves without displeasing their colleagues.
First rule of thumb: Look around the rest of the office you work at and note what your colleagues have done. At The Motley Fool, pretty much anything goes, Burbage says. Every one of the 225 employees at The Fool, as they call it, sits in a cube, including the chief executive. Not even flashing holiday lights and balloons are frowned upon.
But many offices, particularly those of law and accounting firms, are far more conservative. Either a written or unwritten policy dictates that workers keep their style toned down.
Jonathan Spaet, executive vice president for U.S. sales at career Web site Vault, suggests you stick to what he calls the “three P's and a C”–photos, plants, post cards and calendars, that is–which are all safe bets in a cube. Make sure the photos depict appropriate scenes. Don't post a beach vacation shot, for instance, that shows you in a bikini. “The rule is, if you can't wear it to work, don't capture it on your wall,” he says.
Edward Hernstadt, a partner at the New York law firm Hernstadt Atlas, offers a further caveat. “You have virtually no First Amendment rights in a cubicle,” he says. “A sense of humor is not protected.” Putting up any kind of image that mocks your boss or any colleague is considered reasonable grounds for firing, he advises. Worse, you can open yourself up to a sexual harassment or defamation suit. “If you use Photoshop to create a picture of a colleague getting intimate with a donkey,” he says, “that could be construed as defamatory per se.”
Granting that cautionary note, you can still show some creativity. Kelley Moore suggests you start by expressing a little flair on the organizational front by using brightly colored file folders and linen-covered containers from Target or The Container Store.
When it comes to lighting, don't feel you have to settle for those brutal overhead fluorescents. Bring in a lamp with a soft shade. Ikea offers an array of low-cost choices.
Most important, says Moore, are those beige dividers. “If my space is gray and drab,” she says, “all I'll think about is 'How do I get out of here and when am I going on vacation?'” The solution? Bring your vacation into your cubicle. Find an ocean scene or fall leaves printed on posterboard, and stick it up on your cubicle wall. Or try your favorite wallpaper, attached with Velcro. Just leave that bikini shot at home.
Susan Adams, Forbes.com
Sometimes, there just isn’t enough yard space to give your green thumb the workout it craves. Maybe you live in an apartment… or maybe your garden is full and you still want to plant more. If you have open patio space then fill it with lush foliage using container gardening.
If you have front or back patio space open container gardening can be the solution to a problem you did not know you had, Bare Patio Syndrome! Below, I’ve outlined tips gained from years of experience with container gardening.
- It makes sense to invest in quality high fired ceramic pots for your container garden as these do not absorb water and crack in winter. Alternative – the new fiberglass and plastic pots can work well if you chose high quality. These can be very light and tough and last for years.
- Smaller pots restrict root growth and provide little moisture reserve, be sure to match container size to your plants then go up a size or two, remember that plant will grow larger soon. Plan for size increase and be ahead of the problem many amateur container gardeners face.
- Drainage is very important. Drainage holes should be 1/2 inch or better in size. Using screen and a gravel layer at the bottom of your pot to prevent losing soil and improving drainage is always a good idea. I use coarse plastic screen designed for ponds. Bonsai pot screen also works well. Chose window screen last as holes are small and it clogs easily.
- Containers with lighter colors are preferable if you live in warmer clients and your containers will be in direct sun. Lighter colors reduce the amount of heat absorption. Roots can reach over 100 degrees in direct sun with the result being poor growth, accelerated dry out and dead plants.
- Place your containers up on bricks, wood strips or tiles. There are also wheeled stands available. This gives bugs no place to hide and helps improve drainage.
- Plants that grow taller, larger and spread out require a wide base for balance and stability in wind. Plan ahead keeping this in mind when choosing a container.
- The soil mix you use is important. Use high quality potting soil and stay away from regular garden soil. Chunky-style mix keeps the soil loose and well drained but can reduce water holding capacity requiring water more often.
- A note of caution gained from my experience – do not place un-composted wood chips in your container soil, they leach nitrogen as they degrade and stunt plan growth through reduction of nitrogen available to your plants. I learned this through years of poor growth for my own container garden.
- Research suitable container plants at your local nursery or online, those that can handle the heat, cold and possible dryness of growing in a container.
- A fine root structure is much better suited for long term container growth. Examples, the Japanese Maple, a plant with very fine roots, Oak tree – a plant with coarse roots and usually a long tap root. One does much better in containers then the other. If you are devoted and determined, you can grow most any plant in a container. Just visit a bonsai exhibition and you will believe this for sure. Bonsai can be alluring and will seduce you if you visit a bonsai show or exhibition. You are warned.
- Make sure to check your plants daily for enough moisture. Container plants need to be watered and monitored every day.
- Experts tip – get one of those water meter probes and use it for your containers and house plants. I turned my wife into an instant expert who no longer over watered her house plants with one of these. Best 10 bucks I ever spent.
- Use a water soluble fertilizer (I use miracle grow at half strength) every 3 weeks to keep the soil nutrient-rich for your plants. Alternative – slow release pellets good for 6 months of fertilizing with one application. I love this stuff, I use a low nitrogen type called dynamite from ether lowes or home depot. Dumb name but good stuff.
The Best possible tip I can give you for better container gardening
Incorporate your container garden into your automatic sprinkler system. Do this by adding one or two new circuits if needed to feed water to each of your containers using drip irrigation tubing. Some times you can just tap into an existing circuit quickly and easily but it should water ever day or every other day. However you chose to do it, just get this done.
Small diameter drip tubing can even be run up right through the bottom drain hole in your larger containers. I run my drip tubing this way on larger plants and then use 2, 4 or even 6 small drippers arranged in a circle in each container. Use a minimum of 2 drippers even on small containers. This way you have backup drippers in case one gets plugged.
I arrange the drippers on top of the soil then cover the drippers with a layer of colored gravel so all look very nice and no drippers can be seen. This keeps your beautiful containers pleasing to look at and also keeps the darn cat from thinking your large container plant is a cat box.
Experts tip from me after years of experience using drip irrigation, do not use a regular drip filter, buy a whole house filter designed for your home water system and run your water through this then on to your drip system. Yes, get a large expensive model but not one with a clear shell (algae grows in clear models), spend 50 bucks on it and smile as you walk out. You just did a very smart thing. Yes I know what you are thinking but your drippers will not clog due to water impurities saving hundreds of dollars in plant replacement cost over the years you will be container gardening.
Part 2 of this tip – replace all your drippers every 2 to 3 years. Drippers – a few bucks, large container plants – hundreds of bucks. You decide! Trust me, just do this – replace drippers as advised.
I could tell you tails of woe about losing plants and seeing my beloved 6 foot tall Japanese maples wither and almost die because I thought drippers should last forever and never need replacement. See, even if you did follow my advice about the home water filter used on your drip system there is another foe looming. Hard water can result in minerals building up and clogging your drippers. It happens, so replace those drippers as I advised. Life on your patio will be good for you and your plants.
Container Gardening – Just do it
Walking out to your patio and enjoying the lush foliage that was once only bare patio space is very rewarding. The only way to become a great container gardener is to get started right away. Use the space you have, the time you have and the knowledge you gain with every new container and plant. You and your friends will be amazed at what a little effort and a slightly green thumb will do to cure “Bare Patio Syndrome”.
If you found this article useful why not visit the authors site http://www.maple-trees.com. Where you can find free hints and tips on Growing Red Maple Trees
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