5 Awesome Gardening Tips for Inspiration

Gardening for some is a hobby, for others it's a passion. Either ways, gardening demands patience, carefulness and a positive attitude. But knowing some tips and tricks always comes in handy. If you are a beginner looking for some guidelines or if you're an expert who is trying to figure out where have you been going wrong, this article is for you. We have gathered some expert gardening tips that will help you take your gardening experience to a whole new level.

Prepare the Soil well

Plants grow in soil, the soil is what nourishes and nurtures them and provides support to the roots to grow. Therefore, it is very important that you carefully prepare the soil before planting anything in it. Take into account the demands of your plant and the soil type that it tends to do well in. if your soil is not up to the standard, treat it. Divide the soil among different kind of plants that you are planning to grow according to their requirements. The best kind of compost to feed your soil is leaves. Leaves make for the best fertilizer and are totally natural. Also, they are abundant in any garden, so use them to your advantage.

How to grow cucumbers

Savour the taste of summer with your own home grown cucumbers. Cucumbers are an essential ingredient for adding to sandwiches, delicious salads, and those long, cool summer drinks on the patio.

You don’t need a greenhouse to grow them as there are indoor types and outdoor varieties available. But it’s worth checking that you have the right type for your garden before you start sowing. You can grow cucumbers in the ground, in growbags and even in containers. View all of our cucumber seed varieties.

Different types of cucumber
Growing cucumber plants is really quite easy once you understand that there are two main types available, and these need different treatment to produce a good crop. So to keep things simple, here are the main differences between greenhouse and outdoor cucumbers.

Greenhouse cucumbers
If you’re lucky enough to own a greenhouse then it’s well worth growing cucumbers indoors. Greenhouse cucumber plants produce long, smooth fruits similar to those that you find in the supermarkets. Greenhouse varieties don’t need pollinating - in fact, you should remove any male flowers to prevent pollination happening as this produces fruits with a bitter flavour. You can even buy ‘all female’ F1 hybrid varieties such as Cucumber ‘Flamingo’ which only produce female flowers, so you won’t need to worry about male flowers at all!

Outdoor cucumbers
Outdoor varieties are called ridge cucumbers. These varieties tend to be shorter with a rougher skin but have the advantage of being able to crop outdoors, so they are perfect for gardens without a greenhouse. Ridge cucumbers produce male and female flowers, and these need to be pollinated. This is not usually a problem though, as the insects outdoors will do the job for you.

Some ridge cucumbers are suitable for growing in the greenhouse if you prefer, but most gardeners would rather use their precious greenhouse space for greenhouse-type cucumbers. It’s important to never grow ridge cucumbers in the same greenhouse as an ‘all-female’ Greenhouse type as this will lead to cross-pollination, which can produce bitter fruits.

If you’re feeling adventurous you can even try growing white and yellow cucumbers or even ball shaped varieties. Some are ridge cucumbers while others need to be grown in the greenhouse. Always check before you sow them.

Growing Cucumbers from seed
Whether you are growing indoor or outdoor types you will need to sow Cucumber seeds in a propagator from early March to April. However, outdoor varieties can also be direct sown outdoors from May to June if necessary.

Sow cucumber seed on their sides at a depth of 1cm (½") in 7.5cm (3") pots of free-draining, seed sowing compost. Place the pots in a propagator or seal them inside a plastic bag at a temperature of 20C (68F) until they germinate. This usually only takes 7-10 days.

Once they have germinated you can move them to a bright windowsill and grow them on until they are large enough to be transplanted. Try to maintain a minimum temperature of 15c (60F) and keep the compost moist but not wet. Cucumber seedlings can be prone to scorching so take care to shade them from direct sunlight. When cucumber plants are well grown, you can carefully transplant them, but try to avoid disturbing the roots as Cucumbers resent this.

How to grow cucumbers in a greenhouse
Greenhouse types can be planted in a warm, humid greenhouse that is kept at a temperature of at least 15c (60F). Plant greenhouse cucumbers at a spacing of 2 plants per grow bag or 45cm (18") apart.

How to grow cucumbers outdoors
Ridge cucumbers should be gradually acclimatised to outdoor conditions over 7-10 days before transplanting into warm, well drained, humus rich soil. Choose a sunny position with shelter from strong winds. When growing cucumbers outdoors they can be planted in single rows at a distance of 90cm (36") apart.

Routine care
When growing cucumbers it is essential to keep them well watered to help your plants establish and to increase crop yields. Feed your cucumber plants with a high potash feed every two weeks once the fruits begin to develop.

Greenhouse Cucumbers
Keep the greenhouse warm and humid by regularly spraying or damping down of pathways. You will probably need to apply some greenhouse shading to protect the plants from scorching.
Trailing types will produce higher yields if made to climb. Train the main shoots onto 1.8m (6ft) canes or strings until they reach the top of their support and then pinch out the growing point at the top of the plant. Once the fruit begins to develop, pinch out the end of each side shoot, leaving two leaves after each fruit. This helps to encourage more sideshoots which will produce bigger crops of cucumbers
Always remove the male flowers from greenhouse cucumbers. Female cucumber flowers can be identified by a swollen bulge between the bottom of the flower and the flower stem that looks like a tiny cucumber. Male flowers just have a plain stalk so you can easily tell them apart.

Outdoor cucumbers
Cucumbers growing outdoors will not need training onto canes - just let them sprawl across the ground.
Ridge cucumbers can be pinched out at the main stem after 7 leaves have formed to encourage fruiting side shoots to develop.
Outdoor ridge types require pollination by an insect which needs both male and female flowers to be present - do not remove the male flowers from these varieties.

Harvesting cucumbers
You can normally begin to harvest cucumbers around 12 weeks from sowing. Harvesting cucumbers is best done early in the morning when temperatures remain cool. Cut the fruits from the plant using secateurs or a sharp knife. It’s best to harvest cucumbers while they are young and tender, before they show signs of producing seeds, as older fruits can become bitter. Regular harvesting will encourage long continuous production - outdoor types can continue to fruit until September, while greenhouse types can fruit into October if temperatures are warm enough.

Source: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/

7 tips for 'Garden Warfare 2', whether you're undead or a vegetable

1. Try Super Brainz or Kernel Corn first
For brand-new players who aren’t sure where to start among the new characters, Super Brainz is probably the most versatile zombie.The dual ranged and melee main attacks are both forgiving in terms of accuracy, and the vortex special ability is a powerful way to get outof a tight corner.

On the plant side, Kernel Corn is the most classic of the newcharacters, an all-around solid pick. Like Super Brainz, it has apowerful attack for escaping mobs of baddies. Add extra firepowerfrom the missiles or the butter airstrike, and you have strong toolsto help press the advantage in combat.
As you find your footing, though, each of the other characters have somepowerful options. Citron is hard to kill and Rose can manage thebattlefield with crowd control. The Imp’s small size makes it atricky moving target while Captain Dreadbeard can strike from afar.

2. Don’t forget alternate abilities
The original Garden Warfare took its time rolling out special attacks. You had to unlock all three for each class and got a video focused on the new skill. In this sequel, there is a splashy video that shows all three special skills, but not how to control or execute them. It's best to find a chill game mode to experiment with your attacks and how they can complement each other.

Also, the game doesn’t explain that some abilities have additional controls or power-ups. For instance, two of the new zombie classes have different main attacks depending on whether they’re zoomed in or not. That means Super Brainz and Captain Dreadbeard can throw down at close and long range — just decide whether or not to look down your scope. Citron also has additional controls for its ball mode, allowing for mobility and damage. Even though the action can get chaotic mid-game, sneak a peak at the controls in the lower right corner of your HUD to make sure you know all the skills at your command at any given time.

3. Infinite ammo still has a cooldown
Some of your hero options have main attacks with infinite ammo. If that weapon is any type of gun, though, "infinite" does still have some restrictions. Both Citron’s orange beam and the heroic beam for Super Brainz will overheat if you sit on the trigger for too long. So even though you don’t need to reload, you’ll still need to take pauses.Super Brainz has unlimited punches for his melee heroic fists, but those attacks have pacing built in. It’s a triple-hit that ends on a big uppercut. The zombie takes a quick breather before he can continue pummelling, even if you’re still pressing the trigger.Plan accordingly.

4. Stickers (and coins) are your friends
Given the casual origins of the mobile Plants vs.Zombies game, one might assume that a mechanic of coinsand stickers are just cosmetic. Think again. The stickers, boughtwith in-game coins, include a range of content that can have a bigimpact on your gameplay options.

First, they contain the small minions that help you out inGraveyard Ops or Garden Ops missions, as well as the central flagcontrol game. Those can offer a big boost, especially when you’replaying solo. Second, they have alternate costume pieces for each ofthe heroes. Again, these aren’t just for show. These alternateidentities can include different weapons and skill upgrades. Forinstance, you can turn Rose’s attacks into frosty, slowing ones, orCaptain Dreadbeard can become a more damaging fire attacker. Besideslooking cool, these customizations can give you a little extra edgein the multiplayer matches.

Just about any activity in the game can reward you with coins. So keep playing and keep up with buying packs.

5. Check the Quest Board regularly
Garden Warfare 2 puts more responsibility onplayers to manage their progress through the levels than itspredecessor. The good news is that with this model, you can level upquickly by choosing the quests that match the characters and gamemodes you enjoy the most. Those quests offer experience mutipliersand stars, an in-game currency for unlocking special reward chests.

The flip side of that player agency is that you’re in charge ofkeeping your quest log full. You can have as many as seven activequests at any time. More completed quests means faster leveling andmore access to chests.

6. Explore and play the main map
Rather than spending time in lots of menus, GardenWarfare 2 has created an open-ended main map where playerscan direct their own session. With hubs for the solo quests,character selection, splitscreen, multiplayer and more, there’splenty to explore and play in the main areas for the zombies andplants.

But don’t forget to wander outside the strongholds. The flagcontrol game at the center is a great way to test your skills andearn coins. Plus you may find chests or quests hidden around the map.These can offer big rewards fof coins or stickers, which, as we’veexplained, further your characters’ awesomeness.

7. Read the in-game tips
Finally, the in-game tips appear at the bottom of the screenduring loading. Some of them just emphasize the universe’s oddballsense of taco- and brain-fueled humor, but others have good insightsto help your game strategy. For instance, did you know that the Imp’smech is more susceptible to Citron’s shock attack? Stay alert inthe down time and you may just learn something valuable.  

Source: http://mashable.com/2016/02/29/plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-2-tips-guide/#nUqZNOfJHgqB

How Much Water Do Vegetables Need?

A good general guideline is an inch of water per week, either by rain or watering; in arid climates, it is double that. In hot weather, vegetables need even more water, up to about ½ inch per week extra for every 10 degrees that the average temperature is above 60 degrees.

By definition, the average temperature is the daytime high plus nighttime low, divided by 2. So, if the high is 95 and the low is 73, the average is 92 + 73, divided by 2. The answer is 82.5. In this case, the garden needs at least another inch of water. This explains why most vegetable gardeners in hot climates just laugh at the “1 inch of water per week” recommendation. That simply doesn’t work in really hot weather for squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and other crops that need lots of water and have big leaves that wilt easily.

You can measure an inch of water by putting a rain gauge or even a plastic container or other container under your sprinkler, soaker, drip, or other watering system. You’ve applied an inch of water when the vessel collects water an inch deep.

Source:bonnieplants.com/library/how-much-water-do-vegetables-need/