Part 4 Of Gardening Techniques
Guest Article by Stephen Drummonsy Grafting And Budding: A graft is a union between two plants, the roots and lower stem of one plant (which is known as the ‘stock’ or ‘root stock’) uniting with the shoot of another plant (the scion), so that they grow together as one. The main role of grafting in horticulture is the propagation of trees and shrubs where one or more of the following difficulties prevent easier means of producing planting material. Varieties which root slowly or not at all from cuttings or by layering. Varieties which do not seed. Varieties which do...
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Guest Article by Stephen Drummonsy Fallowing: In the old days farmers used to fallow fields occasionally, leaving them bare for a whole season to allow bacteria to build up fertility and to allow the weather to improve the soil structure. This practice has greatly declined in agriculture and has almost no place in gardening, although the vegetable plot is mainly bare in winter and so it can be considered a short term fallow. Despite the absence of true fallowing, a special form of fallow is widely used in the vegetable garden. Some forms of soil-born troubles such as, club root and white rot...
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Guest Article by Stephen Drummonsy Dibbing: Dibbing in is a simple and quicker planting technique than using a trowel. The standard dibber is a stout wooden or metal spike bought from a garden shop or made at home from an old spade handle. These dibbers are for large seedlings. For pot culture and for small seedlings outdoors use o pencil or dowel. The tip of the dibber should be rounded rather than sharply pointed. Dibbing in (or dibbling) involves inserting the dibber sufficiently deeply into the soil so that the roots will fit comfortably. Place the plant into the hole and then firm the...
Read MoreGardening Techniques From A – Z
Guest Article by Stephen Drummonsy The title of this gardening article would suggest that I am going to write about gardening technique starting from A and going right through to Z, in actual fact I could not find any techniques beginning with the letter A or in fact any beginning with half of the alphabet. But the title looks better like that. So play along please, I am sure that there will be enough within to keep you occupied in the garden. Blanching: A vegetable-growing technique used for hundreds of years. Light is excluded from some or all of the growing parts of certain types, as a...
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