Garden compost

By Scott Edward

Before spend money on expensive pipe drainage bear mind that too efficient a system will povcrish your soil as the plant nutrient will be leached out very easily. Try one several natural corrective methods first.

Dig a hole about 1 m (3 ft) square and at least I m (3 ft) deep; it should be sufficiently deep to penetrate the impervious subsoil into something more porous below. Fill the hole first with brick or other large, hard rubble to a depth of about 600 mm (2 ft), then with about 100 mm (4 in) of gravel or ash. Finally fill with excavated topsoil up to ground level.

The gravel layer is essential to prevent the coarse rubble becoming blocked with silt and soil leaching through from the soil replaced on top. During very wet weather surplus water will collect in this hole and slowly percolate from it into the lower strata. A soakaway should always be sited well away from the house, as it may weaken the surrounding soil.

A rubble drain is a short-term drainage run, which may be all that is required on a new site to relieve temporary lying water. Dig a trench 300 mm to 450 mm deep, depending on the depth of cultivated soil (since water collects on the comparatively solid pan of undisturbed ground that lies immediately beneath). Fill the hole at least half full with coarse rubble then with a layer of ash or gravel and finally topsoil.

While the application of artificial fertilizers helps to stimulate plant growth it does nothing to improve the physical qualities of the soil. In fact over-application of these materials can cause soil deterioration by destroying bacteria. Soil texture can be improved by the addition of sterilized peat (moist, decomposing plant matter) but this has no mineral or food content at all. The fertility of a soil is an extremely complex balance between its physiology, its humus content and its mineral content (shown by its pH value). Once a gardener understands how each factor in the balance works, he has control over his plot, over what will grow and where. A well drained soil is essential not for successful plant growth but also paths and walls are to he built. It is therefore important to consider the draink your whole plot, not simply with regal the growing areas.

Few plants like a lot of water ar their roots and in a soil which is consta wet the plant roots will remain near surface or will start to rot. Wet soils also cold, which retards plant gro When drainage is inadequate, not on air blocked from the plant roots but general lack of air in the soil means bacteria cannot live and the bacteria ai vital part of healthy soil.

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Good garden drainage system is important in garden planning to have a thriving garden.

Ginger

By John Piano

Ginger, with its tall leafy stems up to 1.2 m (4 ft) high, somewhat resembles a reed. The flower stems are about 25 cm (10 in) tall.

The flowers are large and coloured pale green; each opens for a single day and can be pollinated by one kind of bee found only in Mexico. Thanks to this small bee, Mexico maintained its monopoly on the export of vanilla for 300 years up until the 19th century. It was known to the Aztecs, who used it to flavour cocoa long before the discovery of America by Europeans.

This perennial plant, native to tropical Asia, was known in ancient China and India and is referred to in Sanskrit as `sringavere'. Ginger was shipped from its original home to southern Europe by Arabian merchants before the Christian era. It occurs frequently on the pages of the 3rd-century Roman cookbook 'De re coquinaria' written by Apicius Caelius.

First of all they are scalded briefly with hot water and then submitted to the lengthy process of wilting and drying, during which they turn a dark colour and acquire their characteristic aroma. Good quality vanilla is supple and small crystals of fragrant vanillin are visible on the surface. Vanilla must be stored in an air-tight wrapper or container to preserve its aroma.

In England ginger has been a traditional spice since the 9th century, but Europeans were not acquainted with the plant itself until the late 13th century when it was described at almost the same time by both Marco Polo and Pagolotti. In the 16th century Francisco de Mendoza of Spain began cultivating ginger in Jamaica. Chief producers nowadays are Jamaica, southeast India, tropical west Africa and China.

Ginger is propagated by vegetative means, by cutting the rootstock into pieces and planting these out in light and moisture-retaining soil. It is harvested (ploughed up) 6 to 12 months later

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You can grow various range of vegetables and herbs can be grown in garden beds.