Growing Plants Search Results

How To: Protect herbs in winter months

Evergreen bows, like Hemlock, can be placed over tender plants to protect them against cold, winter winds. Gently place them over the plant creating a tepee or tent form. It will allow some air circulation underneath so the protected plant doesn't rot but the Evergreen bows protect it against the cold.

News: Bacteria Turned into Factories, Supplying Critical Enzymes to Make Cancer Drugs Cheaper & Save Endangered Yew Trees

Cytochrome P450 (P450s) are proteins found in nearly all living organisms, which play roles that range from producing essential compounds and hormones to metabolizing drugs and toxins. We use some of the compounds synthesized by P450 in plants as medical treatments, but the slow growth and limited supply of these plants have put the drugs' availability in jeopardy and jacked up prices.

How To: Plant corn

The video demonstrates the process of planting corn in a small soil-patch in your garden. The lady presenting you the video uses a 75g packet of Corn Honey & Cream Bicolor seeds from Heritage Gardens. Be aware that the corn cross pollinates very easily and hence you have to separate the different types of corn by planting time or by distance. The video says that 150 feet distance between different corn types is recommended but in smaller gardens, spacing can be achieved by different planting ...

How To: Draw an agave plant

Michael Wiesner, a graphic designer, shows you how to draw an agave plant using paper and a writing utensil. He starts by showing you a pencil outline of the drawing and then shows you how to fill it in with a Sharpie ink pen. Each step is detailed on the best way that you would fill in the plant so that it comes out to it's best. If you follow this video through you can create a great looking agave plant on paper.

How To: Multiply succulent Kalanchoe cuttings

Succulent Kalanchoe plants are very easy to multiply. The first thing that you need is a healthy mother plant. Take a small leaf section from the base of the plant. Clean the dirt up on the leaf. Set the leaf out to dry in a nice warm area where you don't get direct sunlight because you don't want the leaf to dry out. The area around the stem of the leaf will get calloused over. Once it is calloused over you are ready to plant the leaf. You need some well draining soil such as seed starting m...

How To: Plant banana trees

This video shows you how to plant banana trees. There is a kind of banana tree that is winter hardy. It's called an Orinoco Banana Tree. Use a pitchfork to loosen the soil where the banana tree is going to be planted. Just poke the dirt with the pitchfork until the area that the tree will be planted in is loose. It should be about 2 times the size of the pot the tree is in. Take a shovel and shovel the dirt out of the hole. Take the tree out of the pot and put it in the hole. Center the tree ...

The Giving Plant: Same Asian Plant Used for Arthritis Treatment Gives Us Powerful HIV Drug

Natural remedies used through the ages abound, especially in Asian medicine. The willow-leaved justicia plant, found throughout Southeast Asia, has traditionally been used to treat arthritis, but scientists have just discovered it contains an anti-HIVcompound more potent than AZT. AZT was the first drug approved to treat HIV, and is still used in HIV combination therapy today.

How To: Troubleshoot plant problems

There are a lot of things that can cause decline in plants. Some are caused by insects or diseases and some are caused by environmental conditions, known as abiotic factors. Consequently, it can be hard to diagnose which, or what combination, of the above factors are resposnible for the poor health of your plant. In this green video tutorial, you'll learn how to troubleshoot plant problems. To learn what it takes, take a look.

How To: Protect plants from frost

Frost is in the air. If you have tender plants like basil, pepper or impatients when that cold weather comes it will zap those plants. Often, if you can get through those first couple frosts, an Indian summer, that can last weeks and weeks, will follow. If you can protect your plants during this time you can have blooms for much longer. There are several ways to protect your plants. You can use a traditional device like a glass cloche. The nice thing about them is they are decorative and will...

How To: Plant and care for little bamboo

The addition of plants can add warmth and beauty to any room in the home. Unfortunately, not all of us were born with a green thumb. This video shows you how to plant and care for one of the most beautiful and low-maintenance members of the plant family, the little bamboo. Supplies Needed to Plant Bamboo are a vase or plant pot without a hole in the bottom, river rocks, wire ties, room temperature water and 6 to 8 sticks of bamboo that are approximately 4 to 8 inches in length. To maintain yo...

How To: Upcycle an old book into a planter

A planter from a book? Recycling - or, rather, upcycling - these days seems to get weirder and weirder, but hear us out on this one. After all, there's no need to purchase new planters for small house plants at Home Depot when you can make a super cool vintage book planter yourself!

How To: Use micro-misters for drip irrigation systems

Micro misters allow for low volume of water over a wide area. They give good moisture coverage. Systems can be pulled up, changed and made into what you need it to be. Keep potted plants separate from other plants. They should have their own system. There is a system to encourage growth of root systems of various plants. Shrubs get two emitters in case one clogs up, the plant still has moisture. Having the water at the base of the plant limits weed growth. There is a temporary system to get t...

How To: Make christmas trees from a tomato plant cage

John White, Dona Ana County Extension Agent, Teddi Peters, Master Gardener, and Southwest Yard and Garden demonstrate how to make a Christmas tree from a tomato plant cage for the holidays. The cage will already have a tree like form. Attach electrical tape around the prongs. Then, starting at the top, twist green holiday garland around the cage. Soon you will have something that looks like a tree. Add ornaments and Christmas lights to decorate your tree. You can use your new tree inside or t...

How To: Choose cool weather veggies & flowers for your garden

The presenter, John White, explains how to choose and transplant cold weather vegetables and flowers in this video. The first vegetable he identifies is spinach. He suggests ensuring that the plant has been "hardened off" when buying transplants from the nursery. Next John presents leaf lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and Swiss chard as some additional vegetables. He does remind the watcher to consult the plant labels for all the spacing information they may need. Moving on to flowers, J...

How To: Identify problems with poinsettia, ligustrum & pecans

Some of the new poinsettia plants will continue to "bloom" year round, but others need a little encouragement. The blooming is actually leaves of the plant itself. One way of forcing it to change color is to withhold fertilizer and/or light for a time, then put it back into a sunny location and it will begin to bloom. The video also addresses spots on Ligustrum plants. It has to do with cold weather in the winter and lack of nitrogen. There's not much you can do about winter damage, but ferti...

How To: Create tomato cages from concrete wire

Curtis Smith, an extension horticulturist talks about using cages for your tomato plants. He says that some people like to stake tomatoes, some like to cage them and some even just let their tomato plants sprawl. He talks to a local gardener who has built his own tomato cages out of concrete wire. The gardener shows his cages, which he built 10 years ago and they still look sturdy today. Curtis gives a few tips like wrapping the cages with a special fabric that lets air and light through, but...

How To: Lift and repot a black pine bonsai

Charles M., an attorney and bonsai cultivator, demonstrates how to transfer a field grown Japanese Black Pine that is ready for training. A 5-gallong nursery specimen was purchased and planted in the ground with a bonsai compound soil to keep its roots close and compact during trunk thickening. The tree was allowed to grow for three years, with the main foliage under four feet, but with two “sacrifice” branches allowed to shoot out without trimming. One sacrifice branch at the top of the tree...

How To: Build a tomato cage

A piece of concrete reinforcement wire is cut and separated by a bow cutter at about 4 feet. The wires on one side of the separated section is bent in the form of a hook to hold the next side. As it would be hooked together to hold a tomato tree in position. It was suggested that rope cover material or material with small holes that can absorb sunlight be placed around the cage and held together with a clothes pin. Doing so would prevent bug plant, frost bite, curly top viruses , squash plant...

How To: Extract DNA from wheat germ

This science video tutorial includes step-by-step instructions for extracting DNA from wheat germ, the embryonic plant attached to the wheat seed. Individual wheat seeds, or kernels, separate readily from the plant. This kernels have a tough outer coating called bran. If you want to know more, just watch this science experiment.

How To: Make a Milk Jug Green House

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a mini greenhouse milk jug. Begin by cutting the milk jug in half. Make sure to leave one side uncut, leaving the top of the jug on. Then pour some potting soil into the milk jug and plant some seeds into the soil. Make sure to plant the seeds deep into the soil and then pour some water onto the soil. Now tape down the top of the milk jug. This video will benefit those viewers who enjoy planting and gardening, and would like to learn how to ma...

How To: Make a hanging basket for your flowers

This video shows you how to make a hanging basket. The first step is choosing a basket. The maker of this video decides to go with a wire basket with a coconut liner. With the daily watering and the soil and the plant itself, the basket will weigh a lot so make sure that your hook is well established. The best recipe for choosing hanging plants is to select an upright plant, a filler plant and a trailer. When choosing plants make sure they are compatible with each other. The next step is to p...

How To: Walkthrough the flash game Horror Plant (both endings)

Tass is here to show viewers a video walk through for the game Horror Plant, revealing both endings. The focus of this game is to set up victims for a meat eating plant to devour along the journey. Starting fires, setting up gruesome traps and fooling poor souls is the name of the game. The horror plant is also revealed to be something of a hero to other non-human comrades as it saves and even shares meals with them along the way. One ending shows how adding certain ingredients to another vic...

How To: Stack hay bales and hedges in FarmVille (01/07/10)

Spice up your farm in FarmVille! Make your farm appear to be 3D with this sweet trick. This video tutorial shows how to stack hay bales and hedges in FarmVille (01/07/10). If you're getting bored with the rather flat look of Farm Ville, this trick will show you how to make what appears to be hills. Using these, you can make your farm truly unique! Watch the video for details.