Basic Garden Concepts, Charts and Information

Almost all plants and plant groups have the same elemental needs of water, light and air, but the quantity and intensity of each of these elements varies greatly. For example, most Cacti live in hot,continuous sun with very little water, but Mosses and Lichens won't survive without the cool, moist, dimly lit environment that the forest provides it.

This directory of links is provided to you to help you better understand a variety of more advanced cultural requirements that many plants have. If your plans include perennial plants in your new garden, you will need to know the growing zone where you live and the hardiness rating of the plant you are contemplating. (A plant designated as 'hardy to zone 8' would never survive a winter in zone 5! We chose to use the USDA Hardiness maps at The Garden Helper because they are more universally used when rating plants. The Zone Map area also contains a Frost Date Map and metric conversion tables

Most plants can survive in a variety of soils with a pH ranging from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. pH (potential Hydrogen ions) is basically a measure of the amount of lime (calcium) contained in your soil...
There are many plants which absolutely need one extreme or the other, or they will never thrive. Soil pH can be adjusted by the addition of lime to increase alkalinity or sulfur to raise the acidity. Soil pH will show you how to test and amend your soil.

Occasionally, a gardener's banter can suddenly begin to sound like a combination of strange foreign languages. This babbling will normally stop after a while but if you get too confused over strange phrases, you can usually find the translation on the Garden Glossary page!

Check out the other links to learn about the different tools that are designed to make your gardening easier, buying healthy plants, making compost, state flowers and much more!

Have a great gardening day!

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