You know, anyone can take a few plants and throw them in the ground and pretty much let it grow. However, many people want a garden with a purpose and be eye pleasing as well as easy to care for.  Many times one needs to ask some important questions prior to planning a garden.  What is your garden’s purpose for you and those around you?  It can address the many facets of one’s life. Entertaining, playing, outdoor dining or just a place to go to unwind and detach oneself from the outside world as well as many more.

Without question a garden can make your life healthier, more comfortable, colorful and aid with the convenience of not having to go to the supermarket.  Maybe one of the most important aspects of a garden is that is expands your living experience more to the outdoors where you can explore harvesting your own food and cut or pick your own fresh flowers or just being in a pleasant environment with friends and family.

Let’s take a look at the different ways a garden can enhance your life.

Garden Relaxation:  Anytime you go to a place that seems pleasant and relaxing the experience is always good for your mind and health. This can be as simple as a chair or bench in the corner of your garden under a shade tree or a swing under that large oak with decades of stories untold.  Everyone at one time or another has been in such a place.  The relaxation aspects of your garden have benefits to both body and soul.

Outdoor Entertaining: Whether you are entertaining out of town guest or the folks down the street, a garden is the perfect atmosphere for fun as well as a relaxing atmosphere.

Nature’s Kids and Doggy Fun Time: Ok, there is nothing like putting a child or a puppy dog down in a garden and watching them go. It is like a light switch just turns on and says GO! However, children and pets have different garden interests. The “GO!” light might not be wanted in your prize rose garden.  Hence, if these are frequent visitors that would need to be taken into consideration when planning.

Your Private Flower Boutique: Is there anything more satisfying that fresh cut flowers? mmmm?  The aroma and feel they can bring to a home.  Their presence is so satisfying.  If you aim to have fresh cut flowers make sure to leave enough room for cutting and gathering them.  There some planing that would need to go into such.

Food for Life: Maybe one of the most important aspects of your garden is the possibility to grow your own food.  Knowing what goes into your foods. After all you grew it, fertilized it (hopefully organically) and know everything that went to making its way to your table.  Through your own research you can even learn how to medicate yourself with the food you grow.  You can grow gourmet fruits, vegetables and divine herbs that make your life more healthy.

Backyard Wildlife Friends: This is a personal favorite.  Wildlife needs a place to share with us.  Remember that swing or bench we talked about earlier? Now add the presence of songbirds or a hummingbird buzzing by.  We love bunnies! Ok, ok, ok so they are not the best thing for your fresh spinach but they can sure bring life to our outdoor living.  Butterflies! We can’t forget the color and gracefulness thing bring.  All of these can bring a sense of being to your garden even the little bunnies that eat the spinach.  With a little planning you can bring all of these creatures in to your back yard.

Your Garden, Your Private Place: A garden can be your escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  Only a few minutes of downtime in your garden can bring you peace and clear the mind.  This dreamy place can become your reality if you begin to create the area that fits your lifestyle and wants.

There are utterly a mind boggling amount of possibilities for your garden. Take some time to write down everything that you would like your garden to do and how it can serve you and your family’s needs.  Don’t rush yourself.  Walk outside and look at your yard.  Let you mind go and feel your way through it.  Some of the most majestic gardens in the world took many many years to come into their prime.  You and your garden will become one with each other as each can be an expression of the other.

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Several months ago, a woman who lost her mother to cancer came upon a Geoponics booth at a “green” trade show in Florida. She was impressed with the idea of an organic fertilizer and the knowledge provided by the Geoponics team member she met.

Vicky thought it would be perfect for this organic garden at a hospital in North Naples, the Garden of Hope and Healing, which is managed for and by cancer patients and their families.
Since neither the hospital staff nor the patients are professional farmers or even well-practiced gardeners, they had some challenges maintaining a fully organic garden of produce.
They started using FertaFlow(TheOrganicPlantFood.com) and are reporting the best results ever in growing several vegetables that will feed their immune-compromised patients.

Here is their story:

What is the garden?
The Garden of Hope and Healing was started three years ago by our cancer support group “Survivors and Friends,” who were not satisfied with not having a hand in their own treatment. They wanted to take some control back in a situation where every doctor and nurse and agency was telling them what they could do and what their chances of survival were.

Why is it important to be fully organic?
These are people very determined to live and live well. They know that organic and alkalizing foods help to fight cancer.
Due to patients having compromised immune systems, they must be at six months out of treatment to work in the garden. However, they can come out and participate by recommending weeds get pulled in a certain area and in other ways. Organic matter can get them sick. The produce is harvested, bagged and available for the support group on Tuesdays, so that if anyone chooses to take some they can. We are conscientious about avoiding infections in our immune compromised members, so they actually never touch the produce.

How did the Garden of Hope and Healing go from an idea to a reality?
Where we meet for our group sessions has a window that looks out on to a courtyard at the North Naples Community Hospital. It was very weedy and overgrown but it had potential. We asked administration if we could start an organic garden and were given permission to do so.
Our volunteer auxiliary people even gave us a grant to get it started. It was cleared, gravel and insecticide riddled dirt were removed, garden beds developed and we’ve never looked back. Volunteers from various parts of southern Florida have helped us to continue the transformation. Businesses have donated plants, seeds, tools – or we’ve been given very good discounts – and the progress continues. We’re looking forward to a Boy Scout Eagle project to start some time this year to help with enlarging the beds and creating safe seating groups and a shelter so everyone can come out and enjoy the Garden.
Some patients come back and work here once they are six months out of treatment because they are so highly motivated. They made it through this and they want to help other people.

How common are these gardens?
These kinds of places just don’t exist. There are many people, experts and practitioners in the areas of infectious diseases, who don’t like these. They don’t like the risks. That’s why we are very careful about everything we use and everyone who comes here.

What are some other challenges?
The problem is that organic food is also very expensive. Anyone going though cancer treatment will tell you, your financial world is also turned upside down, along with all the emotional turmoil and personal implications. So, while this garden helps with that, getting it going has some challenges.
We are not farmers by profession and we learn as we go.
I get so nervous when a tree or plant that was dedicated to a lost family member or in honor of someone starts to go wrong.
What plant or tree works best where is coming together finally. Taking care of damaging bugs and critters is always a challenge.
Making sure every product we use is truly organic has made taking care of the garden a bit difficult.

How did you come across Geoponics and why did you try it?
The challenge of ensuring that all our products are truly organic is why we were all so excited about Geoponics.
One of our group members, Vicky, was at a “green” trade show and met the some of the people from Geoponics. She was very excited and came back to tell us – we’ve been very happy about that chance meeting!
Geoponics gave us two huge jugs of the concentrate FertaFlow and we’ve used it to good results.

What results did you observe with FertaFlow?
We’ve never had the tomato plants glow so fast that we couldn’t keep them supported fast enough! They’re a foot taller than they were at this time last year.
We have a couple test patches of cabbages – the plot with Fertaflow is much further along.
The onions treated with FertaFlow on the right side of the bed are taller and heartier than those on the left side of the garden bed that did not get the FertaFlow. It’s going to make a big difference come harvest time.
For me, the next big plus has been the smell – it really doesn’t stink. This is a hospital courtyard after all! And the fact that we have an organic garden in it is a national rarity! We want to be sure to comply with all the regulations the hospital must conform to, so we are very careful about who can work in the garden, the dirt issue and the smell. Our patients come here to get well and I can’t have them getting sick due to a strong fishy smell. This product is minty smelling and mild at that. I’m a bit messy, but if I get some on me I don’t stink when I have to walk by a patient.
Also, I thought I was losing one of the dedicated trees, but it is coming back with lots of new growth after being fertilized.
We are impressed with this product and its results.

Thanks!
~Bob Weiss and Therese Richmond, NCH North Campus, Compassionate Drug Program, Outpatient Infusion Services

Carbotein (CARBOTEIN.COM) was first introduced to me when trials were begun at the greenhouse where I work. The salesperson asked me to bring some home to try on my bonsai, which I did. Of course they don’t like anything heavy, and when feeding them you aren’t looking for growth, so we settled on a very low rate. What I observed over time was a denser canopy developing with a deeper green foliage, but with very little size increase, which is just what one looks for. So it has turned out to be the best fertility product I’ve used over the years.

I’ve also been treating my Meyer lemon tree with good results. Like with other plants I’ve seen the Carbotein used on, it just seems healthier and more robust as a result. In fact, its hardiness was recently (summer 2011) put to the test when I was unexpectedly away for two weeks during a wicked heat wave of +100° days, over which it received no water. When I returned home, I was not surprised to see the soil in the planter was dry as a bone, and the leaves had all begun to curl. I’ve been cultivating that tree for ten years now and was very upset that it seemed to be beyond saving. There was nothing to be done but to start back watering and hope. Amazingly enough, by the end of the week it was back to looking fine; it lost maybe 20 leaves, at most, when I had been expecting to lose the whole thing. I attribute its quick recovery and survival to Carbotein (Carbotein.com). We’ve all been really impressed by what we’ve seen it do, and we really appreciate that it is all-natural as well.

Fred Davis
City of Raleigh Greenhouses
Assistant Greenhouse Worker

Click here for PDF file of Geoponics Corporation’s new multimedia director

Media Release
Geoponics Corporation
3425 Radio Rd. # 202
Naples, FL 34104
(877)667-6330
Geoponicscorp.com
Facebook.com/Geoponics
Geoponics.TV
 
For Immediate Release
November 7, 2011
Contact: Kelly Farrell
Phone: (239)250-0990
Email: kfarrell@geoponicscorp.com
PRmediadirector

Environmentally-friendly golf course, lawn care products firm adds multimedia director
NAPLES, FL, November 7, 2011:

Keep updated: 
geoponicscorp.com, facebook.com/Geoponics , Geoponics.TV

*****************************End********************************

Agriox is a soil oxygen product which is time released, boasting valuable nutrients that promote overall soil health and remarkable productivity in an environmentally friendly way. Working with the solubility of oxygen, Agriox’s release of oxygen is based on ph of a soil (water) and soil temperature.

Agriox’s soil oxygen process is essential to plant roots for water and nutrient absorption during photosynthesis. During this stage plants are metabolizing macro and micronutrients, as well as enzymes, hormones, organic acids, and other beneficial components that fuel growth. Plant friendly microbes require a constant supply of oxygen in order to survive. Without a good supply of oxygen, anaerobic microbes explode in population, thus leading to a host of problems including nutrient deficiencies and root disease secondary to the release of hydrogen sulfide (toxic to roots, foul odor).

Agriox is indispensable when growing high-performance turf because of its unique slow release oxygen technology. This continuous supply of oxygen is essential in plant production. More importantly, Agriox will break down more rapidly with increased temperatures and decreased pH (found in black layer and heavy organic soils), making it an ideal product for turf producers, arming them with “response aeration” when needed the most.

Coupled with its unique slow release oxygen process, Agriox increases buffering capacity, thus reducing the effects of nutrient toxicity. In heavily laden organic soils, Agriox can provide a source of oxygen and improve hydraulic conductivity, permitting more efficient movement of nutrients, water and oxygen through the soil. The Agriox treated soils show increased total microbial populations and species diversity. Increasing species diversity suggests the ability to degrade a wider range of chemical contaminants that are found in the soil profile. This in itself helps our environment…What to expect from Agriox in soils:

Agriox in SOIL A new approach

• Increased total soil microbial population
• Increased enzyme diversity
• Restoration of aerobic and biological activities at high moisture and temperature conditions
• Healthier roots secondary to enhanced symbiotic fungi growth
• Well maintained and protected healthy plant roots
• Improved hydraulic conductivity, facilitating more efficient movement of oxygen and nutrients
• Turf has the ability to absorb more water and nutrients while increasing their efficiency
• Keeps the soil ecology healthy and breathing!

SOIL OXYGEN with AGRIOX

Visit Agriox.com

Under normal environmental conditions, turf respiration enables roots to absorb soil oxygen, water and nutrients for transport to above ground planttissue. Plant roots absorb oxygen both from soil macropores and from oxygen dissolved in soil moisture. Accordingly, this oxygen has two means of introduction to the soil: mechanical aerification and water. Of the two sources, water will have less carbon dioxide and more oxygen dissolved in it, thus making it better suited to promote plant growth. Most superintendents haven’t focused on enhancing the oxygen content of soil moisture because the technology was lacking prior to the development of Agriox (Visit Agriox.com) . It is this fundamental advancement that allows our oxidizing agent to release molecular oxygen directly into the root zone, eliminating the atmospheric loss that dramatically reduced previous products’ efficacy.

Since oxygen diffusion through water is approximately 10,000 times more limited than through air, your greens’ ground water must contain as much dissolved oxygen (DO) as possible in the root zone as the water will seal those areas off, forming a membrane of moisture. Frequent irrigation, poor drainage, and microbial respiration in the root zone often result in a lowering of available soil oxygen as macropore and micropore spaces both are filled with water containing minimal amounts of DO. As temperatures and humidity increase, the respiration rate of the plant does as well, leading to increased oxygen use. Once the existing DO is depleted, the plant’s health declines.

It is critically important to consider how low soil oxygen levels affect the plant’s ability to uptake the nutrients you are providing it. Due to the biologically mediated process of denitrification (essentially the nitrogen cycle in reverse), turfgrass will use nitrates or other oxidized forms of nitrogen as the terminal electron acceptors for respiration instead of oxygen. This can even happen in a root zone that isn’t commonly considered anaerobic. As soil temperatures rise, nitrogen losses will increase as the turf’s elevated respiration triggers more denitrification and a decreased efficiency in fertilizer use.

Agriox works in conjunction with the need of the soil (the lower the pH and/or the higher the temperature, the more soluble it becomes) and helps to mitigate such limiting factors. This is an important part of the product’s value to take into account when considering adding it to your program. (You needn’t change any aspect of your routine otherwise.) The better utilization of nutrients is where you will begin to see a reduction of your overhead expenses, but the savings will continue to grow as your soil ecology becomes a less and less stressful growing environment.

Agriox is a slow release soil oxygen product designed to enhance the “living” nature of soil ecologies. The application of Agriox will enhance microbial populations, nutrient and water uptake and plant health for better sustainability.

With August heat bearing down on us, one wonders what we would do without air conditioning. Gardening in the heat surely takes its toll on the human torso. If we couldn’t sweat (excuse me, perspire) to cool down, we wouldn’t last very long outdoors this time of year.Plants have a way of cooling themselves as well. They don’t perspire, they transpire. The evaporation of water from their leaves serves as natures “air conditioning” and usually keeps plants from overheating. Plants are truly amazing since this transpiration process also allows green plants to obtain atmospheric CO2 from which plant food is made for growth, flowering, etc.

This past week I was reminded that not everyone prizes AC like I do. As part of the annual Master Gardener conference we visited the home and garden of Eudora Welty, Mississippi’s great writer of short stories. Miss Welty lived most of her life in Jackson, Mississippi across the street from Belhaven College.

During the tour, one of Eudora’s nieces explained how Miss Welty loved the outdoors and that her home wasn’t air conditioned, by her choice. She would type away in her upstairs bedroom, windows open, apparently unhindered by sweltering Mississippi summers. She loved the sights and sounds of her garden. Our group of gardeners, well acquainted with our tropical climate, sighed in near disbelief.

I know there are hotter places to live, but it’s still amazing to hear of someone like Miss Welty foregoing such modern conveniences. Her stamina must have been remarkable. It’s also equally amazing to observe the many annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs that flourish in the pressure cooker of a Mississippi summer. We can grow an incredible number of plants that make us look like champion gardeners without a lot of extra effort.

This summer, I’ve been especially impressed by flowerbeds that looked really good in places where they weren’t getting much attention. Some outstanding performers include some old time favorites like Periwinkle, Zinnias, Marigolds, Daylily, Lantana, Salvia and Cosmos. Other super plants included the marvelous Angelonias, Cuphea (Firecracker), ginger, Melampodium, Black-eyed Susans, Pentas and new plants like Amazon Dianthus.

These are just some of the flowering annuals and perennials that have made my list. We could make an equally long list of colorful foliage plants for sunny sights like Sweet potato vine, multicolored Coleus and sturdy strap-leaved Caladium. Flowering trees and shrubs that made my hot list include crape myrtle, Vitex, Althaea and butterfly bush.

In her book, Losing Battles (1970) Miss Welty mentions a garden where “from the waterless earth some flowers bloomed in despite of it.” She wrote of Althaea, Cannas, Celosia, Lemon Lily (Daylily), Monbretia, Morning-glories, Salvia and Verbena as if she too was surprised to see such colorful display in quite harsh conditions. Have you made your list? Happy gardening.

Kerry Johnson PhD
Extension Horticulturalist
Retired

Credit MS Gardens Newsletter Archives

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about Cap & Trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.