HOW TO GROW THE BUSHMAN'S PIPE - ceropegia ampliata

THE BUSHMAN'S PIPE - ceropegia ampliata

Ceropegia ampliata is best used as a container plant in any good quality, well-drained potting compost. Water sparingly and feed with a liquid soluble fertiliser just once a month. Be aware that to much fertiliser can damage the root system so increase the dilution by 50%.

THE BUSHMAN'S PIPE - ceropegia ampliata

It is not frost hardy and will do best with a minimum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius. It is suitable for full-sun to semi-shade and with that in mind it will be quite happy grown as a house plant. Just remember to place it outside when flowering.

You can put some kind of support in place but Ceropegia ampliata is a weak climber and so will need a helping hand to keep it in place.

Water plants sparingly as Ceropegia ampliata is found in areas where rainfall occurs mostly over the summer. With that in mind you will need to give your plant a resting period by withholding water in winter.

Ceropegia ampliata is prone to infestation by mealybugs, woolly aphids and red spider mite. Woolly aphids usually attack the roots and this causes secondary infection by a black fungal rot that can easily destroy your plant.

How to propagate Ceropegia ampliata

In its natural environment, root development is stimulated when the stems touch the soil. This therefore makes Ceropegia ampliata very easy to grown from cuttings. Just make sure the cutting contains a few nodes, and allow the wound to dry out and callous for a few days before potting on in a good quality cutting compost such as John Innes 'Seed and Cutting'.

If you can get hold of a packet, Ceropegia ampliata is easily grown from seed. Again use a good quality compost such as John Innes 'Seed and Cutting' and keep the seed damp until the germinate. This will normally take 14 - 21 day. Be sure to treat the young seedlings for damping off and fungal infections.

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HOW TO OVERWINTER BIRD OF PARADISE PLANTS

How to overwinter bird of paradise plants

If you are lucky enough to be growing bird of paradise plants outside in your northern European garden then you would be right to have at least some concerns with regards to protecting it from the winter cold. Native to South Africa it should really be grown under protection in areas where temperatures fall below 6 degrees Celsius. In fact bird of paradise plants are best suited planted in a greenhouse border, however it will of course benefit enormously from being outside in the heat and sun of the summer months. Bird of paradise plants are tough enough to tolerate freezing temperatures and there is even anecdotal evidence of them surviving temperatures as low as -7 degrees Celsius, but this is only for a few hours and they are certainly not capable of surviving outside in areas which receive a sustained period of cold weather for several months.

How to overwinter bird of paradise plants

In only the mildest areas of the south of England can you possibly consider keeping bird of paradise plants permanently in the ground, and even then only if it is planted in a very free-draining soil. To ensure good drainage plant your bird of paradise on a soil mound or in a raised bed. It will not be able to cope with frost damage so make sure that it is protected from strong winds and has the shelter of a warm house wall.

Keep it packed in straw during periods of extreme cold and leave it there until the last frosts have passed. You must also keep the roots on the dry side as the bird of paradise will not tolerate with both the cold and the wet. Take precautions against slug damage when the plant is cold protected, and if in doubt always bring your bird of paradise inside.

Pot grown plants can be brought in under the protection of a warm, bright room or heated greenhouse and will require a minimum winter temperature of 10 degrees Celsius to keep it both in optimum condition and to have any chance of it flowering the following year. Birds of paradise can be watered freely over the summer but gradually decrease the amount of water given from September onwards. Over the winter period always allow the compost to dry off before watering again and then only give it enough to keep it moist. Never let the roots become waterlogged.

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VENUS FLYTRAP

There can be no question as to which is the most spectacular of all the carnivorous plants - the Venus flytrap. Related to the ‘Sundews’, it is the only species within this family that has evolved such an elaborate trapping mechanism.

It has narrow, green leaves that are formed into the shape of a rosette that extend from the base of the plant. Each leaf is prolonged into two reddish, kidney shaped lobes that are hinged on either side of a mid-rib.

The outer margin of each lobe is fringed by a line of spikes and just beneath them is a band of nectar glands. If you look closely you can also see a few isolated hairs on each lobe, and these are the triggers that are waiting to set the trap!

An insect that is attracted to the nectar can move around the upper surface of the lobe with absolute impunity, in fact ‘knocking' into one of these trigger hairs will cause the plant to do precisely nothing! However, if the creature touches the same or another hair in the lobe within a 20 second timescale, the trap will shut with such a speed that few, if any, insects will have a chance of escape.

It takes no more than a third of a second for the trap to close on its prey. Exactly what produces this speed of movement is unknown, but it is thought to be instigated by some rudimentary electric impulse.

.Although the line of spikes found on each lobe interlocks neatly, they do not close tightly on the initial movement, it is only when the trapped insect thrashes around inside its makeshift prison that more trigger hairs are activated - stimulating the lobes to close so tightly that the bulge of the insect's body can often be seen on the outer surfaces of the closed lobes.

Once the prey is secured, the edges of the lobes will begin to form a hermetic seal and inside the trap digestive juices rich in hydrochloric acid seep from glands on the face of the lobes – dissolving the body of its captive and releasing its valuable nutrients.

It takes about ten days for the trap to fully digest the vital nutrients from its captives body, after which it is reduced to little more than a dry husk.

The trap then reopens, ready for its next victim.

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GROWING OKRA FROM SEED

How to grow Okra from seed

Although the typical northern European climate will be colder that the okra plants native habitat, you can still produce a viable crop. To make the most of the shorter growing season start by sowing the seed under protection indoors.

Once the threat of frosts have passed, harden them off before planting outside.

In warmer temperate climates sow Okra seeds 4 inches apart into rows that are at least two feet apart. Place each seed in to the ground at about ½ inch deep then gently water gently in.

Try and mimic their natural habitat by planting in a well drained and sheltered position with plenty of sun. They will also require plenty of water over the growing period so mulch and fertilize the soil throughout the summer.

Once the seeds have begun to germinate they can be thinned out to about a foot between plants, but always leave the strongest plants in place.

Harvest okra once the seed pods are ripe, they will usually be about three to four inches in length. Check every other day for new okra pods and harvest them quickly as this will encourage the plant to grow more pods.

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BLOGGER TUTORIAL - How to add another Page Element (Add a Gadget)

If you are intending to use blogger to run an adsense business, you will need to optimise your layout in order to maximise your adsense income. Now Google provide plenty of excellent help and information regading this, and perhaps the most important piece of advice you can follow is to position you adsense adverts as per their adsense heat map.

This heat map is a simple approximation of your blog layout, but most importantly it shows which areas of your layout will return the most revenue. Of course, you should aim to place your adsense adverts in the red or dark orange areas, that what you are maximising the potential of your blog layout. However there are two problems.

1. Blogger will only allow you to place 3 x adsense adverts in your page elements.

2. If you are using an 'old' blogger layout - like I do  - then you are extremely limited on where your 'Add a Gadget' page elements are.

The question is, what can you do about it? Well, want you want to do is manipulate the blogger layout HTML code so that you can add another 'Add a Gadget' page element. That way it is possible to add an adsense advert slap bang on the red number 9 in the heat map.

So, how do you get an 'Add a Gadget' page element sat above your primary content?

To do this, go to LAYOUT, and click EDIT HTML. This will take you to the template editor. Now before you start, make sure you save a copy of your layout in case a mistake is made and the whole layout corrupts! It shouldn't as this is one of the easiest manipulations of the HTML code you could ever do!

Look for showaddelement. Change showaddelement='no' to showaddelement='yes'. If there is a maxwidgets='1' in front of the showaddelement. Change it to maxwidgets='2' or more or even leave it as maxwidgets='' (unlimited number). If you have problem looking for the above, press ctrl+F and search.

Once you have adjusted the template go back to the Design option and press page elements. You should now have a number of extra 'Add a Gadget' page elements at your disposal.

The above adsense ad unit was added using a HTML/Javascript gadget - yes it doesn't quite fit but I wanted the biggest one I could get. Whatever else you want to add - gadget wise - can be dragged to any sections of your blog using your mouse.

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ROME: Villa Adriana - Tivoli

The ancient remains found at Villa Adriana are part of a site covering an area of at least 80 hectares. Constructed at Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) in 117 A.D, Villa Adriana began its existence as an imperial palace far away from the city of Rome. It remains one of the most remarkable examples of imperial and dynastic palace and has been recognised as such by being appointed as a Human Heritage Monument by UNESCO.

Little is left of the magnificent decoration of the Villa - the result of treasure hunting excavations and the consistent theft of its brick and marble. Through out the centuries it had been common practice to remove marble so that it could be burned to make lime.

Because so few marble fragments survive, most of today's visitors to Villa Adriana have no idea that this place was almost entirely paved with luxury marble pavements. Further more, the walls were completely covered from top to bottom with marble panels.

Rumour has it that the Emperor Hadrian disliked his imperial palace on the Palatine Hill so much that during the later years of his reign, he actually governed the Roman Empire from his villa at Tibur.

How did he achieve this? By creating a dedicated postal service that ran from Villa Adriana to Rome 18 miles away to the west.

After Hadrian’s death, the villa remained in use by his various successors, but during the decline of the Roman Empire, Villa Adriana fell into disuse and was partially ruined. But it didn't all go to waste.

In the 16th century Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este - son of Lucrezia Borgia – was granted the position of Governor of Tivoli. In this position of considerable power he had much of the marble and statues found at Hadrian's villa removed and used to decorate his own Villa - Villa D'Este - which was located nearby.

Even if they are almost two thousand years old, the ruins at Villa Adriana remain imposing, and have fascinated architects and artists throughout the ages. Visiting the site in search of inspiration, they copied the shapes of the domes and tried to uncover, and then master, their technical building secrets.

By walking around the grounds of Villa Adriana, you are treading in the footsteps of Master as this place was visited and studied by the likes of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Borromini.

One of the most striking and best preserved features of the Villa are a pool and an artificial grotto which were named Canopus and Serapeum, respectively. Canopus was an Egyptian city which housed a temple was dedicated to the god Serapis – hence the name Serapeum. However, the architecture is Greek influenced as can be seen in the Corinthian columns and copies of famous Greek statues that surround the pool. One story involves the Serapeum and its peculiarly-shaped dome.

A prominent architect of the day, Apollodorus of Damascus, dismisses Hadrian's designs, comparing the dome on Serapeum to a pumpkin! Apparently, Apollodorus was quoted as saying "Go away and draw your pumpkins. You know nothing about these [architectural] matters." Once Hadrian became emperor, Apollodorus was exiled and later put to death.

Another interesting structure in the Villa is the so-called "Maritime Theatre’ which consists of a round portico with a barrel vault supported by pillars. Inside the portico was a ring-shaped pool with a central island.

During the ancient times the island was connected to the portico by two drawbridges. On the island sits a small Roman house complete with an atrium, a library, a triclinium and small baths. The area was probably used by the emperor as a retreat from the busy life at the court.

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HOW FAST IS A SNAIL?

How fast is a snail? A more relevant question is perhaps '...how slow is a snail..?'

The answer is very slow indeed. In fact, someone went to the effort of recording the speed of a snail in 1970 and it turned out to be 0.00758 miles - equal to 40 feet or 12.2 meters - per hour.

However the information doesn't stop there! The fastest moving species of land snail - which is probably the common garden snail (Helix aspersa) - can travel at a rate of 0.03 miles (158.5 feet or 48.3 meters) per hour.

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FRUIT AND A VEGETABLE?

On deciding on whether something is either a fruit or a vegetable you have two choices.

1. What is its true botanical description , while the other is...

2. What it is commonly considered to be?

The botanical definition of a fruit is the often fleshy part of a plant that surrounds the seeds. By this definition apples, pumpkins, eggplants, peppers, squashes, rose hips, peppers, beans, and corn kernels are all fruits. All other edible plant parts are considered vegetables. Lettuce, carrots, onions, rhubarb, potatoes and spinach for example are all vegetables.

The vegetable group can be subdivided further in to:

1. Roots
2. Tubers
3. Bulbs
4. Stems
5. Legumes
6. Aqueous
7. Leaves
8. Flower Heads
9. Fungi

The popular definitions of fruit and vegetable are somewhat different from the technical definitions. Most people will categorize 'vegetables' as foods that are eaten as part of a meal's main course and 'fruits' as foods that are eaten for dessert or as a snack.

So my question to you is this:

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable - (you can't use 'salad' as an answer)

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HOW TO GROW HOLLY FROM SEED

Holly berries ripen in the late autumn, usually in November or December, which is why they make such great Christmas decoration. They sometimes remain on the tree throughout the winter, so could possibly be collected as late as April the following year. Berries are stripped from the trees by hand.

The collected berries should be separated from any twigs and ‘de-bunched’. They can be left in buckets or baskets for a week or two, provided they are stored in a cool, dry place.

You have a choice now. Do you want nature take its course or do you want to pre-treat the seed - stratification - to speed up germination?

Nature's way

Mix the seeds with equal parts horticultural sand or a sand/compost mixture. Use 50% leaf mould or peat-free compost and 50% horticultural sand. For each handful of seeds add two or three handfuls of mixture. Select a pot that has enough room for this seed/sand mixture (and a bit more) and put a layer of stones in the bottom. Cover the stones with sand. Place the seed/sand mixture on top of this and cover this with 2-3 cm sand. Label the pot and stand in a shady spot outdoors.

The pot needs to remain outside for eighteen months. This is where patience is required! Water the pots if they show signs of drying out and protect from birds and mice if they discover your seeds. We will be sowing the seeds the second spring following collection. Holly seed has a very hard outer seed coat that needs a full summer (warm temperatures) to break down, allowing oxygen and water to reach the embryo tree inside.

Stratification

You will need to stratify holly seeds in order to break the dormancy period. To achieve this, place a 1-inch layer of damp moss peat over the bottom of a zip top plastic bag. Place the holly seeds onto the moss peat and cover them with secondary 1-inch layer of damp moss peat.

Seal the zip top bag and store it at about 3 - 4 degrees Celsius for four to five months. The salad drawer in the bottom of your refrigerator will work well for this.

Remove the seeds from their chilled area in the spring or early summer as they will now be ready for sowing.

How to sow Holly Seeds

Plant the holly seeds out in a nursery bed in the garden. An area that has deep, loamy soil and full to part shade is ideal. Avoid areas that are prone to periods of standing water during the year.

Plant holly seeds ¾ to 1 inch deep and cover with soil. Keep the area damp with frequent, light water applications.

Place a tomato cage or other wire structure over the seedlings when they emerge to protect the young holly plants from being trampled.

Spread a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost over the seedbed to add nutrients to the soil and encourage strong seedling development. Keep the compost back 2 inches from the young holly plants to avoid smothering them.

Transplant the holly seedlings into their permanent position when they are 12 inches tall. Dig down 12 to 18 inches when transplanting to avoid damaging the taproot. Dig out the root ball 24 inches in diameter.

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