How to Grow Ginger

Written by Linda Paquette


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•Start a small plant for transplanting into your garden. Plant your ginger root directly into a pot filled with rich potting mixture. Coverrepparttar pot with a plastic bag and place it on a sunny windowsill. Whenrepparttar 113324 first shoots appear, removerepparttar 113325 plastic bag. If all danger of frost is past, move your young ginger plant directly into your garden. Alternatively putrepparttar 113326 pot in a location where it will get indirect sunlight. Water it regularly, but be sure not to letrepparttar 113327 soil become saturated.

Your ginger plant will grow two to four feet tall. Slender stems and narrow, glossy leaves may reach up to a foot long and resemblerepparttar 113328 foliage of a lily. Occasionally, your ginger may produce a yellow green flower, but flowers are both rare and unnecessary forrepparttar 113329 health ofrepparttar 113330 plant.

Ginger is not frost hardy so in temperate areas bring plants indoors forrepparttar 113331 winter and ignore it! Foliage will yellow and die back, butrepparttar 113332 plant will return to growth inrepparttar 113333 spring.

Harvest ginger afterrepparttar 113334 rhizome has grown three to four months. Sincerepparttar 113335 best time to plant ginger is inrepparttar 113336 spring, this usually means a fall harvest. Harvested ginger root is usually sun-dried for longer preservation. It can either be stored in a dry cupboard or refrigerated.



Linda is the main editor of Gardening Guides and the Lawn mower and care guide


Butterfly Gardening

Written by Jane Lake


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- Some common caterpillar food sources are asters, borage, chickweed, clover, crabgrass, hollyhocks, lupines, mallows, marigold, milkweed or butterfly weed, nasturtium, parsley, pearly everlasting, ragweed, spicebush, thistle, violets and wisteria. Caterpillars also thrive on trees such as ash, birch, black locust, elm and oak.

- Annual nectar plants include ageratum, alyssum, candy tuft, dill, cosmos, pinks, pin cushion flower, verbena and zinnia.

- Common perennial nectar plants include chives, onions, pearly everlasting, chamomile, butterfly weed, milkweeds, daisies, thistles, purple coneflower, sea holly, blanket flower, lavender, marjoram, mints, moss phlox, sage, stonecrops, goldenrod, dandelion and valerian.

Remember that butterflies are cold-blooded insects that bask inrepparttar sun to warm their wings for flight and to orient themselves. They also need shelter fromrepparttar 113323 wind, a source of water, and partly shady areas provided by trees and shrubs.



Jane Lake's work has appeared in Canadian Living, You and Modern Woman magazines. To make your own butterfly feeders, read her article, Butterfly Food or visit her Nature Crafts section for more nature articles, including how to make nectar for hummingbirds, plus more on butterfly gardens.


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