How to Grow Bamboo

Written by Hans Dekker


Bamboo is a mysterious and elusive plant that baffles taxonomists who try to contain it within a botanical class and gardeners who try to contain it within a limited garden space as they learn how to grow bamboo. For many years, bamboo was thought to be a primitive grass but recent DNA testing has shown it to be one ofrepparttar most highly evolved forest grasses. There are over 1200 forms of bamboo that grow in a broad spectrum of color includingrepparttar 113412 familiar green and gold as well as burgundy, blue and even black grasses. Some varieties of bamboo can grow up to a foot a day and ultimately reach 130 feet tall whilerepparttar 113413 smallest bamboo cultivar attains only six inches of growth.

The first step in learning how to grow bamboo is picking a cultivar and beginning to unravel its many mysteries. While most of us picture tall stands of green and golden canes growing in tropical bamboo forests, bamboo cultivars range fromrepparttar 113414 temperate torepparttar 113415 tropical. As well as diversity in cultivar, bamboo has over 1500 documented uses that range from use in construction torepparttar 113416 making of acupuncture needles and from agricultural fodder torepparttar 113417 making of musical instruments. Until they are cut, bamboos stems are properly called culms and not canes. In India bamboo plants are commonly calledrepparttar 113418 "Wood ofrepparttar 113419 poor" and in China the” friend ofrepparttar 113420 people". To add torepparttar 113421 confusion, a cultivar commonly sold as “lucky bamboo” isn’t bamboo at all but a type of lily fromrepparttar 113422 Dracaena family!

How to Grow Asparagus

Written by Hans Dekker


Asparagus is a perennial plant with erect, edible stems and tiny branches that bear even tinier flowers that become red berries that containrepparttar black Asparagus seed. Formerly inrepparttar 113411 Liliaceae family, botanists have realized that Asparagus is in a class by itself and have repositioned its 120 species inrepparttar 113412 Asparagaceae genus. Asparagus is a high-end gourmet food item, but if you know how to grow asparagus, it becomes an inexpensive way to add a delicate flavor to your meals.

Knowing how to grow asparagus dates back 2500 years ago when it was first cultivated in Greece. In fact, asparagus is fromrepparttar 113413 Greek word for stalk or shoot. Long before it was used as a food item, asparagus was lauded for its medicinal properties. There are many reasons to grow asparagus. Once an asparagus bed is established, asparagus isrepparttar 113414 first vegetable that is table ready inrepparttar 113415 springtime and will provide your family with a firm and fresh vegetable treat for up to 20 years, each crown in your bed producing up to ½ pound of spears per year. Although supermarkets stock both canned and frozen asparagus, neither compares torepparttar 113416 unique flavor you get from freshly harvested and picked asparagus.

As asparagus plants grow, they produce a mat of long, tubular roots that spreads horizontally rather than vertically. This one-year-old root system is calledrepparttar 113417 asparagus crown. Although asparagus can be started from seed, it’s most often begun from transplanting crowns purchased from a reputable crown grower. Those who wish to learn how to grow Asparagus must have an abundance of patience, since it takes an asparagus bed three years to be established from crowns. The second year of growth, asparagus ferns emerge with a few spindly spears. Atrepparttar 113418 third year, although your bed will produce thicker and more robust spears, they shouldn’t be harvested for more than one month to allow roots and crowns to become further established.

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