I am reading horiculture books voriciously, specifically those on edible container gardens. While I am expending into perenial flowers in the L-shape nowadays (for a bit of color), my preference is still vegetables and fruits.
I started borrowing horiculture books in Chinese last Monday, having exhausted the usual English ones. I liked the DK series. But I get a bit of the green eye when I read about the gardens in temperate countries, because I live in the supposedly zone 10-11 (USDA), and I don't have a lovely garden that gets lots of sun. Instead I get a long corridor which gets the morning sun at an angle and a bit of balcony, which gets the afternoon sun at an even worse angle.
Most of these Chinese books are translated from Japanese. So far the one I am reading <<自给自足 种植法>> which teaches how to cook with ingredients from your edible container garden. It describes how to water your seeds and seedlings (which I have come to recognise as very important, after killing massive numbers of tomato seedlings).
Before sowing:
Before sowing your seeds and seedlings, you must water the soil. The seeds will form little hairs (?), which require moisture to grow. After sowing, you should water gently to prevent seeds from being washed off. Thereafter water once only after germination. This is the same for seedlings, as they grow better with moisture.
Watering the entire container of soil:
Herb and vegetable roots not only absorb moisture, but oxygen at the same time. So if you water a little every day, wetting only the soil surface, but the rest of the soil is hardened, the root system cannot absorb oxygen (did not know that). So when the soil appears dry, you should water enough so that the water wil drain from the bottom of the container. The soil under the surface should be wetter so when you water the plant, the older air and water can be passed out and the root system can absorb new oxygen.
You should not water the leaves, but all the soil around the roots.
Most of these Chinese books are translated from Japanese. So far the one I am reading <<自给自足 种植法>> which teaches how to cook with ingredients from your edible container garden. It describes how to water your seeds and seedlings (which I have come to recognise as very important, after killing massive numbers of tomato seedlings).
Before sowing:
Before sowing your seeds and seedlings, you must water the soil. The seeds will form little hairs (?), which require moisture to grow. After sowing, you should water gently to prevent seeds from being washed off. Thereafter water once only after germination. This is the same for seedlings, as they grow better with moisture.
Watering the entire container of soil:
Herb and vegetable roots not only absorb moisture, but oxygen at the same time. So if you water a little every day, wetting only the soil surface, but the rest of the soil is hardened, the root system cannot absorb oxygen (did not know that). So when the soil appears dry, you should water enough so that the water wil drain from the bottom of the container. The soil under the surface should be wetter so when you water the plant, the older air and water can be passed out and the root system can absorb new oxygen.
You should not water the leaves, but all the soil around the roots.
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