Tag: gardening

Aquaponics Gardening

February 10, 2012

Aquaponics Gardening

Whenever we mention the idea of gardening or growing any type of plants in our backyards the image that comes to mind is a plot of soil dedicated to growing vegetables and other plants. Not many individuals are aware of aqauponics gardening which is an alternative to conventional soil based growing.

In a conventional garden the needs of your plants are met by the soil, the sun, you tending the soil to rid it of weeds, you tending the plants by watering and applying fertilizer if needed. In a aquaponics gardening system there are three main components:

The water source which is usually a holding tank of some sort.

The fish that are cared for in the water tank.

The growing beds for the plants.

The fish’s waste is deposited in the water which is pumped into the plant growing bed which feeds the plants and at the same time is filtered before it returns to the fish holding tank where the cycle is repeated.

If this sounds fairly simple and easy; it is. The aquaponics gardening system can be very simple or extremely complex if it is used on a commercial scale.

Like the commercial systems an aquaponics gardening system at home can be complex as well, it depends on what your gardening goals are which will determine its design and complexity.

Regardless of the size the benefits are excellent because you have complete control of the growing process and therefore the quantity and quality of your plants. Your system might be as simple as a small unit for growing herbs or as complex as several units designed to feed a large family. What a great way to provide organic fresh vegetables year round.

The best place to start if you are considering aqauponics gardening is to invest in a guide that will provide the necessary information and guidelines to get you started.

A good guide will be your road map to having a successful and safe garden!

Does the idea of creating an aquaponic system appeal to you? Then don’t delay get started today! Click here to learn more about building a aquaponics system. http://www.squidoo.com/aquaponics-guide

Gardening – Benefits

January 10, 2012

Gardening – Benefits

In these days, more and more people take gardening as their hobby. Many people regard gardening as a means to improve their quality of life. With a garden, you can eat all the fresh fruits and vegetables you can grow, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. As matter of fact, gardening offers many benefits.

Many researches show that you can lose weight and get into shape while gardening. Through gardening you can get physical activity, which is important to maintain your figure.

Gardening contributes to physical health, since activities such as digging, planting, weeding, and harvesting are all part of three types of physical activity: endurance, flexibility, and strength. Daily physical activity is a prerequisite for good health. Gardening provides a variety of activities to improve the physical health of the gardener.

Gardening is also good for the mind.

Tending the garden can relieve your stress and anxiety by providing a break from the general rush of life. In the harvest season, the gardeners can also feel a sense of accomplishment in a job well done.

Gardening involves creativity. You should use your head and creativity to get a successful garden. Gardening gives us a chance to be creative. You can let your personality shine through in your garden.

Gardening connects you with nature. Gardening requires you to live in garden. Viewing a garden or nature has healthy psychological benefits.

Gardening connects you with other people. In your neighborhood, you can find most people are gardening enthusiasts. Gardening provides a common topic for you all. It’s also a great activity to do with kids. Give them a section of the garden all their own.

You can enjoy what your garden produce.

Eating garden produce is good for you.

Make Gardening a Family Event

Show them how much you enjoy gardening. Spend time in your garden. It is especially easy to stimulate a child’s interests when they see you having fun.

Make gardening easy. Don’t expect a perfect garden. Allow your family to work at their own pace and within their attention spans and age range, especially children.

Dig it! Kids love to dig. This is a great way to teach the basics while letting them play and just have fun. 

Let them play an active role in planning. Take your children to the local nursery and let them pick seeds or transplants to start their garden. Take your time and let them browse and enjoy all of the beautiful plants.

Grow a theme garden. This is a great way to let your children use their imagination and express their creativity. The sky is the limit. Some great ideas are gardens that coincide with the holidays, alphabet gardens, a garden themed in their favorite colors, a sensory garden where you can experience different smells, tastes, textures and sights, or a “Freedom Garden”.

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Give children their own “kid sized” tools. They don’t have to be expensive. You can go with an old spoon and a bucket that you have around the house or you can venture down to the garden center and purchase garden tools made for children’s hands.

Give them a space to call their own. It doesn’t have to be big. This will teach them ownership and responsibility, and your children will be able to take credit for their own little space.

Get crafty! Press or dry flowers to make a beautiful arrangement, make potpourri, or make a pomander ball. Children love making things and will be amazed at the crafts and gifts that they can make from the garden.

Grow a vegetable garden. Your children will be amazed that they can grow their own food. Be sure to use organic pesticides.

Use gardening to brush up your children’s math and science skills. Let them count the seeds they are planting, or teach them how plants are living things. Not only will you capture their attention, you will be polishing their skills as you go.

Have a contest. Kids love to be rewarded. Be sure to give each child a reward; the biggest tomato, the prettiest flower, or perhaps the best tasting herbs (a little Spray-N-Grow will help!)

Don’t try to do it all! Pick a few of these tips that you know are best for your family and have fun with them. After all, gardening is meant to be fun and easy. And with a little help, something the whole family can enjoy.

Original Article

Source: ArticlesBase.com

Starting your own organic hydroponics gardening setup – hydroponics gardening supplies and points to remember

When Starting your own organic hydroponics gardening setup, you shouldremember that you will need to arrange two beds or layers in your hydroponic garden. The upper bed is, actually, a box to keep the plants in. This box should contain a growing medium for the plants to grow in. You can use perlite, coconut fiber, lava rock, Styrofoam pellets, rockwool or vermiculite for this purpose. The main thing about medium is that it should be able to keep a small amount of moisture for a long time. Experts assure that lava rock is best in this respect.

The lower bed is necessary to keep the water with the dissolved nutrients in it. The water is pumped with the help of an aquarium pump to the upper bed in order to water the plants. This procedure is repeated several times a day at equal intervals, being controlled with a timer.

Gardeners sometimes find it difficult to maintain the pH level of the water, its nutrition rate, and the ration of nutrients at the right level. These are, actually, the key factors, due to which a hydroponic garden or an organic hydroponics prospers. If these three crucial things in gardening are kept in balance with the help of Organic fertilizers, such technique of plants growing is called an Organic Hydroponic Garden.

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Organic fertilizers are better for the plants than the chemical ones, as the latter are capable of burning the roots if used in higher concentrations.

When water solution is pumped to the trail with plants, it is partly absorbed by the medium and by the plants roots till saturation point. Consequently, the pumped water, returning back to the reservoir, contains lesser amount of parts per million (ppm) than before. 

Organic nutrients make hydroponic gardening easier, as they do not contain any chemicals, which can change the pH level or ppm of the solution. As a result, many problems, listed among the most common ones of organic hydroponic gardening, get solved on their own.    

It is a common knowledge that the upper part of a plant’s root uptakes nutrients, while the lower one absorbs water. To increase plant’s saturation with nutrients, it is possible to directly add them to the upper part of the roots, which, in the long run, will result in the more efficient organic hydroponics. To introduce such technique into your organic hydroponic garden, you should develop an organic hydroponics system.

The container can be similar as in the hydroponics gardening, or it can be a coir fiber container. It should be half filled with lava rock at the bottom. Then it is preferably to use a medium divider (e.g. coir fiber). The upper part of the tray should contain a mixture of 1/3 horticulture perlite of coarse grade, 1/3 potting soil, and 1/3 of large horticulture vermiculite.

When all this is set, it is necessary to place this container in the grow bed, with water level being a bit lower than the mixture of soils. Such arrangement will ensure the higher efficacy of the organic hydroponic gardening.

Lava rock with the secondary roots of the plants will be submerged in the water, and it will also serve to make this water flow up and moisten the soil mixture. At the same time, the upper layer of medium will be free to absorb the nutrients added directly to the primary roots.

Such hydroponic system saves a gardener from constant controlling and maintaining of the pH level and ppm of the growing medium. Nevertheless, beware of adding too many liquid nutrients to the soil layer: they may leak into the lava rock layer and disarrange your organic hydroponics gardening.

My name is guy. I am the founder and owner of the urbangardenershop.com.au . I fell in love with hydroponics gardening. As time went by I gathered a vast knowledge base and 2 years ago I decided to find a way to make hydroponics gardening a hobby that anyone can peruse. I added a hydroponic gardening information center to our hydroponics supplies site that offers a large range of hydroponics articles. Thank you for your interest and feel free to ask questions on hydroponics gardening in our site

http://www.urbangardenershop.com.au/page/organichydroponicgardening/default.asp

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Source: ArticlesBase.com