Resources for Better Gardening (06)

Tips from House and Garden Magazine
Tip o' plenty appear on this site that serves as the website for House and Garden magazine. For instance, learn about decorating, gardening, home improvement, cooking, and house and garden shows. The site even features a shopping area where you can purchase anything for your home. Hot-tos, books, and other websites help you get all the information about the topic you are researching. For more information you can even subscribe to this popular and useful magazine.

Home Hydroponics
This guide but out by Virginia Tech and Virginia State University includes information about using hydroponics at home. Growing plants hydroponically is not difficult if a person takes the time to learn the basics. As long as plant growth requirements are met, there are numerous hydroponic systems that can be used. The guide discusses hydroponic garden lighting. For an indoor system, one must provide an adequate light source and good air circulation. Metal halide lamps, sodium vapor lamps, grow-lights, or fluorescent lights used in conjunction with incandescent light bulbs provide adequate light to effectively grow plants. Hydroponic gardeners also use pH kits and modifiers to monitor and respond to their plants, as discussed in the nutrient solutions section. Types of systems, such as the Nutrient Film Technique and Aeroponics, are also discussed and briefly explained.

Gardening Tips & Ideas
The Jackson & Perkins company has put together this page of Gardening tips and ideas for beginning or advanced gardeners. The front page offers garden planning tips to keep in mind. There is also a section titled Grower's Corner, which contains gardening information and ideas form a horticulturist. Season rose advice is offered, and a variety of many other articles and sections are also featured prominently. Through this site you can learn about container gardening, hanging basket plants, and fall bulb gardening. If you feel you have read up enough on gardening tips, check out the gift ideas section.

Dave's Garden
Dave's Garden is a rich resource of gardening information for gardeners from all over the world. This website features articles on planting, harvesting, different species of plants, birds, and butterflies, and a whole lot more. It also offers guides on plants, bugs, birds, winter and frost dates, botany, and landscaping. There are also links to the products that the website offers such as Plant Scout, Go Gardening, and Garden Bookworm, among others. There is also a section called Bloom of the Day, where photos of various plants are displayed along with details such as water and soil requirements, hardiness, propagation methods, and more.

Hydroponics for Kindergarteners
At the Kindergarten of The British Schools, in Uruguay, there is a continuing interest in finding new ways to improve the educational system. This article discusses how a kindergarten class experimented with a traditional garden plot with little results, due to several factors - limited space; mud prevented the children from keeping clean; the large number of children participating in the activities has not allowed the direct handling of tools; watering has been too complex for them to carry out ;and last, the crop has not been worth it, taking into account the big effort made by the group.