Short Article About Gardening 5th Grade

Introduction

A garden is a wonderful place to learn about life and growth. A dry seed in the hand looks insignificant. Yet inside is a plant-to-be. Pressed into some warm, rich earth and given a little water and sunshine, the seed begins to develop.

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A root breaks out of the seed coat and pushes deep in search of plant food and water. A tender green leaf thrusts its way upward through the soil and reaches toward the sun. If all goes well, there soon will be flowers or edible produce to reward the gardener.

The beginning gardener soon learns that plants differ in many ways from one another. Some plants grow best in cool weather, while others like a warmer environment. Some thrive in sandy soils, others in clay. Cacti grow in the desert where rains fall only once or twice a year. Marsh marigolds must live in swamps. The prairie rose blooms in open, sunny fields. Its relative, the wild strawberry, prefers the shade of woods, however.

Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials

Of course, not all plants live the same length of time. Some are annuals. They start from seed in the spring and flower and make new seed in the same year they are planted. Most of the vegetables grown in gardens are annuals.

Biennial plants require two years to reach full development. During the first year the young plants usually develop a rosette of leaves and store up food in the roots for the following year's growth. The second year they produce flowers and seeds and then die. Examples of biennials are cabbages, beets, foxglove, and mullein.

Perennials are plants that live for more than two years. Many wild flowers are perennials. Trees and shrubs are perennials that can live for many years. Bulbs are perennials that have swollen, underground, rootlike parts. They are among the easiest of all plants to grow because the stems, roots, leaves, and even the seeds are partially formed inside. Among the most popular bulbs are tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, narcissuses (or jonquils or daffodils), scillas, snowdrops, and grape hyacinths.

Types of Gardens

Gardens can assume almost any identity the owner wishes within the limits of climate, materials, and space. Modern gardens are becoming ever smaller because many people live in urban areas where space for gardening is limited, and many gardeners have less time to spend on upkeep. Formal gardens, those that are laid out in strictly geometric patterns with boundaries that are clearly defined by hedges, stone or gravel walkways, statuary, fences, walls, and fountains, were popular in Europe during the Renaissance and in the United States in the early 1800s. Although they can still be found as part of large estates or botanical gardens, most domestic gardens are now much smaller and less formal. The many styles of gardens can be divided into the following basic categories:

Flower Gardens

Trees and shrubs often accompany a well-designed flower garden. The layout of these features is usually planned first and then annuals, perennials, and biennials are arranged around the trees and shrubs. Both blending and contrast of colors as well as forms are stressed in the design of a flower garden.

Because annuals must finish their growth in one short season, they need plenty of sun. A few will survive in light shade. In heavy shade perennials must be used, or it may not be possible to grow anything but ground covers under such conditions. Among the annuals that will thrive in light shade are the following:

Ageratum
Balsam
Browallia
Cleome
Cornflower
Dahlia
Impatiens
Larkspur
Lobelia
Lupine
Mignonette
Nemophilia
Nicotiana
Pansy
Salvia
Snapdragon
Sweet alyssum
Torenia
Vinca
Viola
Wishbone flower

Many annuals require plenty of moisture, but the following will produce flowers in hot, dry soil:

Arctotis
California poppy
Coreopsis
Cornflower
Cosmos
Four-o'clock
Gaillardia
Ice plant
Petunia
Pimpernel
Portulaca
Salvia
Statice
Verbena
Zinnia

Some annuals shed their seed in the autumn. The seed drops to the earth and lives through the winter. In spring it starts to grow very early, when the soil is too wet to dig. These self-sown seedlings flower much sooner than those planted in the spring.

Among the annuals that will survive light freezes and may be sown in the fall are the following:

Alyssum
Calendula
California poppy
Candytuft
China-aster
Cornflower
Larkspur
Lupine
Mignonette
Pansy
Petunia
Poppy
Scabiosa
Sweet pea
Viola

Perennials are among the most beautiful of all flowers. The part that is above ground dies back each year. The underground parts live through the winter and in the following growing season give rise to new shoots. Food stored in the plant allows the development of spectacular blooms. There may be one huge spike or flower cluster. Other perennials use their strength to produce masses of individual blooms. The one disadvantage of perennials is their short blooming period. Some of the more popular perennials include the following:

Bleeding heart
Chrysanthemum
Columbine
Day lily
Dwarf iris
English daisy
Foxglove
Goldentuft
Helleborus
Hibiscus
Peony
Rock cress
Sweet William
Virginia bluebell
Wood phlox

The seed-dealers' catalogs are an excellent source of information on which flowers to plant in a flower garden. Many catalogs give the color and height of blossoms. Directions for planting and culture may also be found in catalogs. (See also garden flowers.)

Vegetable Gardens

The vegetable garden requires an open and sunny location. Good cultivation and preparation of the ground are important for successful vegetable growing, and it is also desirable to practice a rotation of crops as in farming. The usual period of rotation for vegetables is three years; this also helps to prevent the carryover from season to season of certain pests and diseases. Additionally, vegetables should be planted in straight rows to make them easier to cultivate and weed.

For a small vegetable garden, plants that produce heavily yet need little space are ideal. Such plants include bush beans, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, Swiss chard, summer bush squash, onions, and parsley. Vegetables that occupy the ground for a long season or need a great deal of room include potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, sweet corn, peas, and cabbage. These vegetables need so much room that they are usually only grown when a large plot is available in which they can be planted.

Seed packages inform gardeners how far apart plants should stand in the row and the right distance between rows. Three or four seeds are sowed for every plant needed for a full row. The unwanted plants are pulled out as soon as the strongest have been selected. Most vegetable seeds break through the soil in a week to ten days.

Two of the favorite crops for the beginning gardener are radishes and tomatoes. Radishes are planted very early in the spring, when the snowdrops, crocuses, and forsythia are in bloom. In a month to six weeks after planting they are ready to eat. Tomatoes are grown from seed, though most gardeners seem to feel that tomatoes should be started indoors and set outside as young plants after the weather has become warm. The seeds of tomatoes are hardy and often sprout in the open garden in early spring from last year's leftover plants. Such plants are smaller at first than those started indoors, but they often produce ripe tomatoes earlier than do transplanted seedlings.

Herb Gardens

lavender — Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz

Most of the medieval gardens and the first botanical gardens were largely herb gardens containing plants used for medicinal purposes or such herbs as thyme, parsley, rosemary, fennel, marjoram, and dill used for flavoring foods. The term herb garden is now usually used to describe a garden of herbs that are grown for cooking, and the medicinal aspect is rarely considered. Herb gardens need a sunny position because the majority of the plants grown are native to warm, dry regions.

marjoram — Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz

The coloring of the foliage of herbs is a strong reason why gardeners plant herb gardens. Herbs are noted for their many different shades of gray and blue-green leaves. Mixing herb plants together to achieve a harmonized effect is a challenge to many gardeners. Although herbs are not known for their showy blooms, a few, such as lavender, germander, and thyme, do make colorful displays. Many gardeners add ornamentation or showy perennials to herb gardens to give them a focal point. Sundials, birdbaths, beehives, or small figurines are traditional examples.

Rock Gardens

Rock gardens are designed to look as if they are a natural part of a rocky hillside or slope. If rocks do not occur naturally and must be added, they are generally laid on their larger edges, as they would be found in nature. A few large boulders usually look better than a number of small rocks. In a well-designed rock garden, rocks are arranged so that there are various exposures for sun-tolerant plants, such as rockroses, and for shade-tolerant plants, such as primulas, which often do better in a cool, north-facing plot. Many smaller perennial plants are available for filling spaces in vertical cracks among rock faces. The main rocks from which rock gardens are constructed are sandstone and limestone.

Roof Gardens

These gardens are appropriate for people who live in urban areas where very little or no space is available on the ground for planting. Since many urban apartment and commercial buildings have flat roofs, development of attractive roof gardens is possible. These gardens follow the same principles as others except that the depth of soil is less, to keep the weight on the rooftop at a minimum, and so the size of the plants is limited. The plants are generally set in tubs or other containers, but elaborate roof gardens have been made with small pools and plots.

Organic Gardens

This term may apply to all of the gardens mentioned above as long as the gardener uses only biological fertilizers and pesticides. Many health experts and other people feel that chemical fertilizers and pesticides can cause health problems and that they are not necessary for successful gardening. Organic gardening is practiced all over the world wherever miscellaneous organic materials, including animal manure, clean sewage sludge, compost, grass, straw, and other residues are used to fertilize gardens. Biological pest control is achieved through preventive methods, including crop rotation and the planting of pest-deterrent species of plants, and by pest- management techniques, such as the release of sterile male insects and predators of pests.

Water Gardens

Depending on climate, location, and culture, water gardens vary greatly in concept and design. In Europe and North America, for example, water gardens may be formal rectangular or circular pools containing one or two water lilies and a fountain, or sometimes no flowers are present and only fountains adorn the pool. Informal water gardens in Europe and North America are of irregular shape and are planted with a profusion of water lilies and other plants suited to a watery habitat. In addition, these gardens are frequently surrounded by boggy or damp soil where moisture-tolerant plants, such as candelabra primulas and irises, are cultivated.

In Japan water gardens have their own particular and beautiful patterns, which in many cases have been preserved for many centuries. These gardens often include such elements as an ornamental lantern of stone in the center or a flat trellis pattern of wisteria extending over the water. No matter the style, water gardens must contain suitable oxygenating plants that will keep the water clear and support any introduced fish or turtles. Water lilies are by far the most popular plants for water gardens because the plants do well in still water that is 2 to 5 feet (0.6 to 1.5 meters) deep.

In temperate countries, water gardens also can be grown under glass and the pools can be kept heated. In these gardens more tropical plants such as the great Amazon, or royal, water lily or the lotus plant can be grown together, with papyrus reeds at the edge of the pool. Water gardens represent some of the oldest forms of gardening. Egyptian records and pictures dating as far back as 2000 bc describe and depict cultivated water lilies.

Public Gardens

Many of the techniques used in home gardening are also employed in the creation of world-famous public gardens. Public gardens are maintained by many cities and towns. A renowned Japanese garden is in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. An outstanding example of formal gardening is Sterling Forest Gardens in Tuxedo Park, New York.

Principles of Gardening

The range of plants available to the modern gardener is rich, and new varieties are constantly being offered by nurseries. Most of the shrubs and flowers used in the Western Hemisphere are descendants of plants imported from other countries. Plant breeding continues to improve the adaptability of such plants, but the more closely the new habitat resembles the original, the better the plant will flourish. Manuals can offer solutions to most gardening problems.

Starting with Soil and Humus

Soil is the basic factor in plant cultivation. It consists largely of mineral particles derived from the breakdown of rocks and other substances and also contains organic matter. Plant roots penetrate spaces between the particles where air, water and microorganisms circulate. Ideal garden soil is a clay and sand mixture, rich in organic materials and of the proper degree of acidity or alkalinity for the plants to be grown. The organic materials in the soil are known as humus. The finest humus can be produced on what is called a compost pile. Gardeners use the words humus and compost interchangeably. By heaping rotted plants and other plant wastes onto such a pile, humus can be cheaply produced.

Feeding, Watering, and Protecting

The three chief elements that plants need for growth (other than light and water) are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Animal manures or composts of decayed plant matter can supply most requirements to the soil.

Thorough watering is essential, furnishing the plants with needed moisture and making minerals available in solution. Drainage is also vital. All plants need water but the amount needed varies, and if plants are forced to absorb more than they need, a form of drowning occurs.

Roots require air as well as water and depend on drainage of subsurface water for their oxygen. Earthenware piping or sumps, holes dug to a depth of about 4 feet (1.2 meters) in strategic areas, are used to achieve drainage.

Many plants can withstand temperatures below freezing but less hardy plants may have to be protected from cold weather by wrapping them or covering them with a mulch of leaves, soil, or ashes. Glass frames provide greater protection, and heated greenhouses permit plants to grow throughout the winter.

Pruning and Propagating

fruit tree: pruning — Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz

Trees and shrubs sometimes require pruning—cutting off branches or shoots—to restrict the plant to a desired size and shape. Shrubs may flower more abundantly after pruning, and pruned fruit trees often yield larger and better fruit.

New plants can be propagated, or reproduced, either from seeds or from a part of the parent plant. Seeds of vegetables and annual plants are usually sown in the spring. Trees and bushes can be produced by a variety of propagation methods from parent shoots or buds.

Joseph Larkin

Additional Reading

Boisset, Caroline. Vertical Gardening: Climbing Plants, Hanging Plants, Trellises, Wall Planting, Terraces, Window Boxes (Grove-Weidenfeld, 1988).Colburn, Nigel. Leisurely Gardening: The Art of the Low-Maintenance Garden (Trafalgar Square, 1990).Favretti, Rudy and Joy Favretti. For Every House a Garden: A Guide for Reproducing Period Gardens (Univ. of New England Press, 1990).Fell, Derek. A Kid's First Book of Gardening (Running Press, 1990).Fryer, Lee and Leigh Bradford. A Child's Organic Garden (Acropolis, 1989).Huff, Barbara. Greening the City Streets: The Story of Community Gardens (Houghton, 1990).James, Ted. The Potpourri Gardener (Macmillan, 1990).Natural Gardening Association. Grow Lab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom (NGA, 1988).Reader's Digest Editors. Reader's Digest Guide to Creative Gardening (Reader's Digest, 1987).Rodale Press. Rodale's Garden Problem Solver: Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (Rodale Press, 1988).Taylor, Basil. The Complete Manual on the Art of Japanese Garden Landscape and Architecture (Gloucester, 1987).