Aroebe Gardens Blog

Welcome back!  If you read part one and encountered some confusion, a better place to start that subject is answering the question of where seeds come from. For plants with fruits like apples or oranges, it is easy to answer that question. The apple seeds can be found in the apple fruit, and the orange seeds can be found in the orange fruit.  It is not as straightforward with leafy greens or root crops that have no fruits. The key to the answer for these types of plants is the flowers. Plants need flowers to make seeds. In fruit-producing plants like apples and oranges mentioned earlier they need the flowers to produce fruits that produce seeds. Let us take lettuce as an example. It is a leafy green that has no fruits. You can eat all the leaves; many are cut right from the base of the plant. Let your lettuce plant continue growing till it begins to produce flowers. You will eventually be able to save the seeds produced from the harvest. Is this clearer? I would love to hear w...

Seed saving is simply collecting seeds for the purpose of replanting them. Seeds are collected from already grown plants that have  gone to seed .  Gone to seed  is agricultural lingo for letting your plant produce flowers, begin to lose their petals, and produce seeds.  Letting your plant go to seed should only be encouraged after you have harvested all the edible parts you desire. Once a plant starts flowering, its energy becomes more focused on growing those flowers, and if that process remains undisturbed, it will begin to produce seeds.  Saving seeds was a way of allowing the regrowing of plants with desirable qualities. For home gardeners, it will enable you to build a seed collection of plants with various desirable qualities previously grown in your garden.  If you have a small garden with only a few of each type of plant, an excellent place to start would be to assign one of your plants as your seed-saving plant. You can leave that one to seed and ...

 As the seasons change, the amount of sunlight available in different locations changes. It is helpful to consider this change and how it may be beneficial for your plants or detrimental for your plants. Its effects are based on the plant's needs, growth phase, and planting location.  In a previous blog post, I spoke about the skill of observation, which you will need to properly understand the effects seasonal changes may or may not have on your plants.  You want to ask yourself, are there changes I need to make because of seasonal effects on my garden? If there are, you can start considering what to do We will discuss this subject in a later blog post, but this should help us get started. Happy Gardening!

  Gardening like many other things require that you do a little bit every day to reach the goal. Here is a simple encouragement for you to keep at it and not give up. Happy Gardening!

 According to Oxford dictionary, observing means to notice or perceive something and register it as being significant. One of the greatest skills a successful gardener has is observing his/her garden and taking note of little and significant changes. In a garden, there are tons of things to observe.  What do you need to observe in the garden? Everything! For some helpful pointers, you want to focus on the soil and plant parts like leaves, stems, fruits, etc. As you observe them, you want to take note of their color, size, presence of damage, intrusions, wanted visitors, and presence of moisture. As a side note, for any parents out there, while working with kids, I have seen that this is a fun way of getting them involved in the garden.  With time, you will not need to go through this list to remember these things; they will become instinctive. Once you notice these things, you can make an informed decision of what to do next. If you see something that you do not recognize...

I fail to remember when I first encountered the word "Weed". I am sure it was somewhere in my science class in primary school when we were first introduced to plants.  I remember that through my years in primary and secondary school, weeds were the problem farmers did their best to eliminate. They were not something desired or wanted.  Fast forward to November 2022. I had started a great job as a garden educator. This job gave me the opportunity to meet with children of different backgrounds and teach them about gardening.  On this day of classes, I had a second-grade class come to the garden for their lessons. The topic of the day was, you guessed it, weeds!  This is a moment I will never forget. Pardon me as I tell this portion with as many details as I can remember. About 10 kids sat around the garden bed on their knee pads. Some were excited to be outdoors, but some were distracted by a bug or a butterfly. I began to ask them who had heard of the word weed or wee...

Water is one of the most essential things a plant needs to grow. Just like humans who drink water based on their needs and seasons, plants have different needs in different seasons. As you grow your garden, one thing you learn from reading and experience is how much water your plants need. Some herbs may need less water than some other plants. Overwatering them can lead to problems. It is, therefore, essential, especially if you water with a hose or watering can, to take note of how much water you are giving your plants. This is also important in container gardens as the soil may dry out faster than growing directly in the ground or even in a much larger garden bed. If you have an automatic watering system, turning it off may be helpful if you have a few days of continuous rain to avoid overwatering. As you think of the water needs of your plants, think in terms of plant size, conditions, seasons, and growing style. Happy Gardening!