Garden potting mix and transplant steps for healthy houseplants
Practical guidance for repotting houseplants with emphasis on soil mixes. Recommends three parts sphagnum peat, one part vermiculite, one part perlite, cautioning against garden soil. Details pot size, drainage, pot preparation, and careful soil settling. Contact Jennifer Smith, Douglas County Extension Agent-Horticulture, for further advice.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jennifer Smith
Douglas County
K-State Research & Extension
Smithjen
Passion for trains fuels Budde's lifelong rail dream
Budde recalls a Lionel at age 12 and says trains spark skills in reading, science, history, and art. He builds a Union Station replica, researches tracks, paints landscapes, and weatheries cars. Family trips by rail, including Chicago for a daughter's 16th birthday, highlight a lifelong, growing passion that reshapes his home.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Topeka
Lawrence
Kansas City
Budde
Jane
Chicago
Silverton
Colo
Canada
Winslow
Ariz
Camera tips for documenting and planning a garden
A practical guide to using a camera in gardening. It covers record keeping with timestamps, landscape ideas from public gardens, privacy and copyright cautions, plant and insect identification via labeled images, seasonal photo prompts to locate bare spots, and learning from successful and failed plants. Photographers Chandolia and Adams emphasize consistent four season use, wildlife alongside plant subjects, and studying published garden photography for inspiration.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Garens
Walter Chandolia
Annandale
N.J
Chandolia
Jan
Dean Fosdick
Fordhook Farm
W. Atlee Burpee
Doylestown
Macro lenses boost tiny garden wonders and insect portraits
Gardeners learn macro lenses reveal a miniature world at their feet from dewdrops on petals to butterfly and bee foragers. In backyard shoots a macro mode lets you focus 0.5 to 1 inch away, while a D SLR enables interchangeable lenses for a pollinator view though insects may require distance. A tripod is essential for sharp results and steadiness.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ian Adams
Timber Press
Adams
Flower power for fitness in older gardeners
Kansas State University researchers studied 14 adults ages 63 to 86 and measured gardening activity against standard physical activity intensity metrics. The study suggests gardening can provide meaningful fitness benefits for older adults, as participants completed walking, bending, digging and pruning tasks within moderate effort ranges.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kansas State University
Garden work linked to moderate activity and aging health
A study in Hort Technology reports that digging raking and mulching engage upper and lower body muscles with moderate intensity while hand weeding is lighter, and gardeners spent 33 hours weekly in May and 15 hours weekly in June and July. The dynamic nature of gardening may help older adults stay active.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hort Technology
Also Mentioned on This Page
Jennifer Oldridge
Kansas University
Jim Budde
Union Station
the Garden Writers Associa
Tion Hall of Fame
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