Congenial Conditions To The Healthy Growth of Plants Part II
After a lot recommendations regarding the possibility of making conditions right for the growing of plants in your home, the unskilled reader will naturally wish to know what these conditions are.
LIGHT
Plants without adequate light never ever make a typical, healthy development; the stems are long, weak and slender, the foliage has a semi-transparent, washed-out appearance, and the entire plant falls a simple victim to illness or insect opponents. Even plants grown in the complete light of a window, as everybody with any experience in handling them understands from observation, will draw towards the glass and end up being one-sided with the leaves all dealing with one method.
As a guideline the blooming plants, such as heliotropes and geraniums, need more light and sunlight than those grown for foliage, such as palms, ferns and the ornamental leaved begonias. It is nearly difficult, throughout the cold weather, to offer any of them excessive sunshine and where there is any threat of this, as often occurs in early fall or late spring, a drape of the thinnest product will provide sufficient security, the need being not to leave out the light, however just to break the direct action of the sun’s rays through glass.
An excellent range of plants might be grown in the normal window garden, for which the sunniest and broadest window readily available must be picked.
There are 2 approaches of dealing with the plants: they might be kept as specific specimens in pots and “meals” or “pans” (which are absolutely nothing basically than shallow flower pots), or they might be grown together in a plant box, produced the function and generally basically ornamental in itself, that will balance with and trigger the appeal of the plants.
The latter technique, that of growing in boxes, uses 2 unique benefits, specifically where there is most likely to be experienced expensive a temperature level and ensuing dryness in the air. The plants are more quickly taken care of than they remain in pots, which quickly dry and require regular altering; and impacts in organizing and unified decor might be had which are not easily protected with plants in pots. On the other hand, it is not possible to offer such cautious attention to private plants which may need it as when they are grown in pots; nor can there be a lot re-arrangement and modification when these are needed– and what excellent housemaid is not a natural born scene shifter, every when in so typically rolling the piano around to the opposite of the space, and moving the bookcase or altering the huge Boston fern over to the other window, so it can be seen from the dining-room?
If the plants are to be kept in pots– and on the whole this will typically be the more satisfying approach– numerous racks of light, smooth wood of a hassle-free width (6 to twelve inches) need to be securely positioned, by methods of the typical iron brackets, in each window to be utilized. It will assist, both in keeping the pots in location and in avoiding muddy water from leaking down to the flooring or table listed below, if a thin, narrow strip of wood is nailed to each edge of these racks, extending an inch or 2 above them.
This is better than making use of pot dishes, particularly for little pots. Where a bay-window is utilized, if cut off from the space by glass doors, or perhaps by drapes, it will assist significantly in keeping a damp environment about the plants and avoiding dust from picking the leaves when sweeping or cleaning is being done.
It ought to be 6 to 10 inches broad and 6 to 8 inches deep. If a plain box is utilized, it will be needed to bore inch holes every 6 inches or so through the bottom to offer for bring off of any excess of water– although, with the technique of filling the box explained in a later chapter, those holes would barely ever be called into service. Plants in the home in the winter season, nevertheless, are as most likely to suffer from too much water as from too little, and for that reason, to avoid the disagreeable possibility of having unclean drain water running down onto numerous feet of flooring, it will be nearly as simple, and far much better, to have actually the box built with a bottom made of 2 pieces, sloping a little to the center where one hole is made in which a cork can be kept.
or pitcher by getting the cork. The information of building of such a box are displayed in figure 1. It will be best to have package so positioned upon its supporting brackets that it can be altered sometimes end for end, hence keeping the plants growing uniformly, and not allowing the blossoms continuously to turn their backs to the within the space.
With the above easy arrangements one might make the most of all the light to be had in a normal window. Sometimes a much better location might be discovered prepared to hand, such as the bay-window showed dealing with page 8 or such as that explained in the preceding chapter, or those pointed out in the very first chapter of Part II (page 146). The effort required will constantly be paid back lot of times by higher ease and higher success in the management of plants, and by the larger scope allowed.
Plants without enough light never ever make a regular, healthy development; the stems are long, weak and slender, the foliage has a semi-transparent, washed-out appearance, and the entire plant falls a simple victim to illness or insect opponents. The plants are more quickly cared for than they are in pots, which quickly dry out and require regular altering; and results in organizing and unified decor might be had which are not easily protected with plants in pots. On the other hand, it is not possible to offer such mindful attention to specific plants which may need it as when they are grown in pots; nor can there be so much re-arrangement and modification when these are needed– and what great maid is not a natural born scene shifter, every when in so frequently rolling the piano around to the other side of the space, and moving the bookcase or altering the huge Boston fern over to the other window, so it can be seen from the dining-room?
If the plants are to be kept in pots– and on the whole this will usually be the more satisfying technique– a number of racks of light, smooth wood of a practical width (6 to twelve inches) ought to be strongly put, by methods of the typical iron brackets, in each window to be utilized. Plants in the home in the winter season, nevertheless, are as most likely to suffer from too much water as from too little, and for that reason, to avoid the disagreeable possibility of having filthy drain water running down onto numerous feet of flooring, it will be nearly as simple, and far much better, to have actually the box built with a bottom made of 2 pieces, sloping a little to the center where one hole is made in which a cork can be kept.