Gardening

By Zahra Ali, The Express Tribune

The number of apartments is growing with increasing population. More buildings usually means less green spaces and a greyer city.

Living in an apartment must not keep you away from having a healthy green space.

Nonetheless, living in an apartment must not keep you away from having a healthy green space. Even small spaces such as a balcony can become a rewarding and refreshing garden of your own. All you need is some planning.

We've all gone wild for those dramatic "living walls" of succulents. Here, grower Robin Stockwell shows you how you can make your own.

Plant a living picture

Instead of framing a picture, why not a whole garden? Here, cuttings of assorted succulents knit together to create colorful, textural living tapestries.

As the weather gets warmer, swarms of college students are taking to the quads and outdoors spaces of their college campuses to enjoy some sun, study for classes or play games with friends. Yet some college outdoors spaces have more to offer than just fresh air. Many colleges have extensive arboretums and gardens that can provide not only a restful respite from the hectic schedule of a college student, but also some pretty beautiful scenery. Here are some of the best and most aesthetically captivating campus gardens in the United States, though it is by no means a comprehensive list of every great collegiate green space. Nonetheless, if you don’t attend one of these carefully landscaped beauties, perhaps it’s time to pop over for a visit.

By Dorene Internicola, Reuters

Whether you're planting squash or roses when it comes to the fitness benefits of all that pulling, digging, mulching and mowing, you'll reap what you sow.

Spring is here and people everywhere are getting back to their gardens. Experts say whether you're planting lilacs, squash or roses when it comes to the fitness benefits of all that pulling, digging, mulching and mowing, you'll reap what you sow.

Cucumber roots grew laterally in space following 70 hours in microgravity on STS 95.

Plants are fundamental to life on Earth, converting light and carbon dioxide into food and oxygen. Plant growth may be an important part of human survival in exploring space, as well. Gardening in space has been part of the International Space Station from the beginning -- whether peas grown in the Lada greenhouse or experiments in the Biomass Production System. The space station offers unique opportunities to study plant growth and gravity, something that cannot be done on Earth.

You have a great home with a patio, but your outdoor space is just that—space. Turning some of that space into a patio area can be the perfect compliment to make your great home even better.

Whether you have a sprawling back yard or a small urban location, you can create a memorable and inviting area with ambiance. That area of earth outside your home can be transformed into a great entertaining spot by employing these five elements.

By SAIF MALIK, 00:20 19 February 2011

Xochimilco means “Garden of Flowers.” In the pre-hispanic Mexico, there was a lake called "Lago Texcoco” in the valley where Mexico City stands today.  Centuries ago, Xochimilcas (One of the migrant tribes) dug a series of canals on the edge of this lake and invented a new agricultural practice called “Chinampa.” Chinampas were rectangle artificial islands (measured roughly 30 x 2.5m) built by

•  heaping the shallow lake mud ,
• staking the large reed mats  by fencing them with wattle,
•  layering the fenced-off  area with mud, lake sediment and decaying vegetation, eventually bringing it above the level of the lake,
•  then planting willow trees at the corners to anchor and secure them deeply.  

These plots of land appeared like floating islands - hence, their name “floating gardens."

Candlelit glow

Float tea candles in a water-filled birdbath to create a mini firepit. On windy days, set tea lights in clear glass votive holders in a dry birdbath so they won’t wobble.

Whether it's the cold weather or a lack of outdoor space that prevents you from growing a vegetable garden, if you have a window, you can grow a garden by using a Windowfarm. Windowfarms, which are gardens that hang on the inside of windows, can grow dozens of plants per window. Recently, the Windowfarms project has unveiled two new garden kits for home use, in addition to the educational kits they already sell.

Windowfarms are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials.

If your beliefs are as green as your fingers, then the Queen might have just the job for you. 

The Royal household has advertised for an eco-gardener responsible for keeping the grounds of Buckingham Palace tidy and environmentally friendly.

The £15,000-a-year post entails maintaining the 42-acre garden "to the highest standards" and recycling 99 per cent of the waste – even from the Royal Mews stables.

 The post entails maintaining the 42-acre garden at Buckingham Palace

Landscaping is something that can add curb appeal to your home or more importantly, it can help you get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of your whole property.  It’s amazing what a difference having the yard of your dreams can be (front and back).  With that said, it can be really hard to achieve without some good, solid advice and a great list of ideas that you can use as a starting point for designing your landscape.  In order to make this a bit easier I chose my favorite landscaping blogs from the list of hundreds that are out there on the Internet.  I hope at least some of these can give you the inspiration you need to turn your property into the place you always dreamed it could be.

Growing your own tea is even more enjoyable than drinking it.

I am really starting to enjoy herbal teas. I guess it makes sense: half the fun of herbal tea (if you're a gardener) is growing the herbs yourself.

If you have a little space in your garden, or a spot for a few containers, you can grow an herbal tea garden. Here are some of the most popular herbs for tea.

A gardening expert explains how you can turn this annual nuisance into fertilizer for your yard.

It's the middle of December and here in Southern California, a few of our ornamental trees are changing colors and others are dropping their leaves. Interestingly, last week I saw a woman awkwardly raking leaves with one hand and talking on her cell phone with the other. Quite the Los Angeles moment. Well, what can you do with all those leaves?

By Martin Cox

If you were to ask gardeners what the most valuable tribe of plants is, I'd wager the majority would say trees. I'm with them; no other plants can be used in so many ways and it's hard to imagine a garden without them.

Trees can provide privacy, act as a focal point, hide something unsightly or be a living sculpture, while each has its own unique selling point - gorgeous blossom, jewel-like fruit or spectacular autumn foliage.

If you've got space for a tree, now is the perfect time for planting as they will establish themselves quickly in still moist soil that is not yet affected by deep frost.

Head to your local garden centre or nursery and you'll find masses of container-grown and bare-root plants - from those that will grow into towering specimens suitable for a large rural space to compact varieties that are perfect in postage-stamp-size gardens.

Gardens were very much a part of life in ancient Egypt and gardening was an honored profession.

Estate garden plan from ancient Egypt - PD-EXP