Best Gardening Guide » gardener

Gardening Hygiene

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:50:50 +0000

Gardeners love to get their hands in the soil. That’s ok because one can wash the hands when done. Wearing garden gloves keeps the dirt from getting under the fingernails, and is easier on the skin, so most people wear them when planting or pulling weeds. With the arrival of warm weather, gardeners have been out there in droves, seeing their perennials and bulb flowers faithfully coming in and blooming. Sometimes the gardener is just looking and admiring and then there is that overlooked weed that has to be pulled or a yellowed leaf that needs to come off. At times like this, there are no gloves, and the hands still look clean. Don’t be fooled by that. Bacteria thrive in soil. They help improve the soil but can also be harmful to the gardener. Also spores may be present and you definitely want to get rid of these.

Just like any other situation where the hands have become contaminated, handwashing is necessary in order to avoid illness. The Center for Disease Control has said that proper handwashing is the best way to get rid of microbes. The most thorough way to accomplish this is to have an automatic, sensor-operated soap dispenser available. This eliminates touching the soap dispenser with dirty hands. So after gardening always clean your hands and stay healthy.

Used Tillers

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:12:18 +0000

Are you ready to become a Gardener?

Do you have the equipment to make it an easier job?

Are Used Tillers a wise investment?

As you try to discover your answers to those questions I would like to offer you a few things I have learned through the years about tillers. My experience comes both from gardening and running an equipment rental store for over 30 years.

First off, even though you are anxious to become a gardener you are probably interested in finding a good deal and they are available in used tillers. However it is kind of a “Buyer Beware” market and some folks will take one look and decide to stay in that crowd that believes everything bought should be brand new. Now I will be the first to say that your research should include discovering as much as possible about new garden tillers, brands available, prices and dependability.

Your local equipment rental store is the best place to pay a visit to quickly acquire an education about used tillers. Most will have different styles and brands available both for sale and for rent. It is not at all uncommon for a rental store to rent one style or brand and offer a different style and brand for sale. It is called marketing, in most cases the rental unit is of heavy duty, top quality and built to last while the less expensive unit offered for sale is light weight and built to sell. However both units have a place in the market and can be a good buy.

In the real world an avid gardener will not work his tiller everyday, maybe not even once a week so the “New Unit” will nearly always live out its guarantee but most of the time it is sitting idle. The rental unit is built to last even when used every day and by different gardeners within that day.

Your next recommended step in researching used tillers is to rent one and put it through its paces. Yes it is a used but well maintained unit. Is that not what you are looking for at a bargain price? The rental unit will be heavy as in pounds but do not be turned off because of the weight, you will not be loading and unloading it very often and the added weight will do a better job. Depending on the size of your garden it may be wise to rent on more than one occasion and try a different style each time.

Yes, Used Tillers can be a good investment but do your homework.

More Used Tillers Information available on our website.

Soils and Conditions of the Site

The Gardener — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:15 +0000

As a rule, the amateur fruit-grower has little choice of soil or even site. He has to accept the soil and site on which his house is built. If, however, he wishes to plan his garden to the best advantage, he must know the conditions that suit the different kinds of fruit. The conditions most favorable for soft fruit are described under each fruit.

Apples, pears, plums and other top fruits can all be grown successfully on many different types of soil, but the ideal one is probably a slightly acid, fairly deep, well-drained, medium loam. Dessert apples, especially ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’, require the best positions, soils and drainage. Pears are rather less tolerant of very dry conditions than are apples. Plums and cooking apples can be grown satisfactorily in a wider range of soils and conditions. Heavy soils will give good results, provided drainage is good and the ground is well prepared with the subsoil thoroughly broken up. Gravel and chalk soils are not good, but if they are well trenched and plenty of dung or composted material is incorporated with the subsoil, results may be reasonable. Light, dry soils present a problem, but here again generous applications of organic manures or compost before planting will help considerably.

Frost can have a serious effect on fruit. Cold air, being heavier than warmer air, tends to collect in pockets in low-lying ground, particularly in valleys where there is no outlet for it. Such frost pockets should be avoided if possible. It is very difficult to obtain regular crops in such situations without elaborate precautions. Some cultivars of fruits are less prone to frost damage and these are indicated in the lists of recommended cultivars. In the case of cordons and small trees some protection against late spring frosts can be given with sacking, frost proof mats or hessian supported on a framework, but this must be made very secure so that the blossoms or young fruitlets are not damaged.