How To Grow Valerian

Plants die back to the ground in winter and re-emerge in spring. After two years, valerian will grow into a 18" (45 cm) wide clump. Gather them for use as cut flowers to keep valerian from reseeding and becoming invasive.

Gardeners love books, as the number of titles devoted to the subject attest. Many are pass-along plants and often were given as housewarming gifts, dug from the giver's own garden.

The larger the container, the more robust the cockscombs will be. They will eventually drop in to the soil and lay dormant until the next spring. Each head will produce several hundred seed and while you can separate the seeds by color, if they have been...

Light is necessary for germination, so don't cover the seeds. It will take a couple of weeks for the color to appear in the baby leaves, so be patient.Some gardeners keep their coleus plants in a sunny window during the winter.

There's no dead-heading or pruning so busy gardeners can keep a lovely show by watering. The containers on my porch are large and I usually plant between 10 and 15 #1 size tubers in each pot.

Many new gardeners are starting to plan their first adventure into our crazy, wonderful world. It is also easy to propagate via cuttings or dividing side shoots, making it a perfect pass-along plant.

Powdery mildew is a fungus that thrives in damp, humid conditions, so keeping the leaves dry with good air circulation is the best prevention. The main reason for this, is they give a huge bang for the buck invested.

They are generally very inexpensive and often a friend or neighbor will simply hand you a few 'chicks' if asked. These plant profiles will feature time-tested seeds and plants that are easy to grow, but produce a great show.

Many new gardeners are starting to plan their first adventure into our crazy, wonderful world. This is usually done in the morning while the pollen is fresh and bees haven't had a chance to rob it.

If you use this technique you will never have a fallen tulip again.

Provide shelter from breezes and drafts from air conditioner units, too. Plant your rubber plant near the shelter of other trees or a building, but give it plenty of room because its banyan roots are long and strong, often growing on the soil's surface.

Cherry tomatoes and smaller varieties, such as "Supersweet 100s" take around 65 days. Since most varieties of tomatoes will produce fruit until the first frost, the sooner you can move plants into the garden, the more tomatoes you'll harvest.For gardeners...

Add them to corsages, hair arrangements or leis, which will keep for up to one day.Gently pick the plumeria flowers close to the bottom of the stem where they join the tree so as not to crush the five-pointed petals.Construct leis, hair arrangements or...

The barbwire should replicate a swinging door.Glue a toothpick across the opening of the bottle. Homemade mousetraps can cut down on costs, while leaving the gory scenes to a minimum.Rats menace your house, destroying everything in their paths.Glue a...

This mixture makes a sort of glue that holds the sugar in place. Sweeten up your sour grapes to make them more palatable.Vitis lubrusca grapes are native to the United States.Pluck the grapes from one bunch from their stems, which should yield between...

And they have high levels of antioxidants, which make them a nutritional and flavorful addition to dishes.Ginger leaves are edible, but they are tough to chew and digest whole. But the ginger plant's leaves are edible as well.

As the mushrooms appear, cut an "X" in the plastic bag over each hole that contains mushrooms if you covered the bucket with a bag rather than using a lid. Mushrooms will continue to grow until the spawn is exhausted.

Optimum is if the bag is always out of direct sunlight but the plant receives full sun at least 6 hours per day. Pick a plant that is growing in a small enough pot that you can fit the root ball through the opening without damaging the roots.Harden off...

If the rose isn't quite dry, replace the gel and check again the following day.Remove the roses from the silica gel when the blooms are completely dry, and use the soft paintbrush to gently brush excess silica gel from the blooms.

The rain helps mix the urea with the soil.Urea is not very combustible, so it can easily be stored. It is still not suggested to use an auger when moving it because it is small and granular in size.

Over 70 million pounds of these "leftovers" are consumed annually.Do you know how to get 300 pounds of potatoes into a 50-pound bag? Remove the water and the volume decreases significantly.

Whether you have an abundance of fresh green cowpeas from the garden or leftovers from a dinner featuring cooked dry black-eyed peas, preserve them in the freezer for a quick start to a nutritious meal in the future.Freeze black-eyed peas to preserve...

Use the vine instead of the squash when handling the vegetable.Mix 6 parts water with 1 part household bleach, wipe the squash with the solution and allow to air dry. Instead, try ripening the butternut squash in your home.Cut the unripened butternut...

One bottle of yeast doesn't produce much more CO2 than an animal does by exhaling, so if you want to fill your greenhouse, you'll need many such generators.Drill a hole with a slightly smaller diameter than a length of aquarium tubing into the bottle...

Return the sealed bags to the freezer for up to one year. Turn the machine on to remove the excess air and seal the bag. This prevents the peaches from turning brown when exposed to air.Line a baking tray with wax paper to prevent the peach slices from...

Creating the ideal soil conditions will maximize the blueberry harvest and help the plants flourish. Blueberries belong to the heath plant family that includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.

Neophyte mushroom hunters sometimes mistake "false morels" for actual morels. However, confusion is easily eliminated. As morels are one of the most easily recognizable of all wild mushroom species, you can easily tell if it's a morel mushroom by looking...