Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)

Currently very interesting types of tropical fruits are being imported to Europe. I have succeeded in buying the fruit of the cherimoya and tasting it. It is not found in fruit shops but thanks to my own good taste, it will find its place there as well!

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 13:15 | print | Exotic plants

Chinese tea – Grow your own tea!

Before the end of the winter approaches, every gardener considers what will grow the coming season. Do you find it no more challenging to grow tomatoes, paprika and cucumber? Do you want something else? Something more exotic? What do you think of the idea to grow your own tea this year?!

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 15:02 | print | Exotic plants, How to grow

Tree Tobacco Nicotiana glauca – a balcony plant with perspective!

Tree Tobacco (Nicotiana glauca)

The human desire to something new, unusual and unconventional is limitless. Thus, gardeners also dream of cultivating something new in their gardens – something that nobody else has. The plant market therefore gives gardeners something new every year – to still the hunger of gardeners looking for something original to satisfy their needs. The commercial launching of new varieties will make the tree tobacco plant common to all gardeners very soon!

Monday 1st November 2010 14:46 | print | Exotic plants

10 years of KPR - Annual Report 2010

15th Anniversary of KPR

The KPR – Gardeners Club or in Slovak language, Klub pestovateľov rastlín, was initially established in 2000 in Slovakia in Europe, however a small number of plant enthusiastic have been trading seeds and plants in Slovakia since as early as 1998. From the beginning practically nobody knew about us, but in 2001 our first website was created. From that time, many plant lovers joined us and working together it was much easier for us to get rare plants from all around the world and even start to grow some species of pants, which were unknown in Slovakia.

Friday 29th October 2010 19:16 | print | KPR - Gardeners Club Slovakia

Kyrgyz people: cross-border connections

Kyrgyz people are living in the Central Asia for ages. The world of the Kyrgyz people has been split into 2 main areas of interests – former Soviet Union and China. All Kyrgyz people historically used Arabic alphabet for writing. However, in former Soviet Union was introduced Latin alphabet in 1927 and it was replaced by Cyrillic alphabet from 1938, while people in China use Arabic alphabet till today.

Due to these historical reasons, Kyrgyz people are now divided into 2 groups. The bigger one (around 4 000 000 people) use Cyrillic alphabet and the smaller one from China (around 150 000 people) is using Arabic alphabet. People from these groups usually can not read the other script.

Today, internet is a medium which can easily get in touch people from different countries, but unfortunately, due to script barrier Kyrgyz people are still not joined.

Saturday 21st August 2010 15:25 | print | Language projects

The cultivation of the Four Leaf Clover - (Marsilea quadrifolia)

The Four Leaf Clover (Marsilea quadrifolia) is a water fern of which the leaves look like clovers. Do you think that the terms water fern and clover has nothing to do with each other? On the contrary – both of these terms describes the characteristics of these unusual very decorative and practical unknown plants in the gardening world.

Saturday 12th June 2010 21:09 | print | Water and aquatic plants

How to descend of the bean weevil?

I presume that the bean weevil needs not to be introduced to you. This is small little beetle of 3–4 mm big, that can be found on the seeds in the kitchen for example.

These detrimental small beetles develop in the seed of all kinds of pods. In fact, every pod type has some of these creatures – the broad bean – broad bean weevil (beetle), pea – pea beetle, lentils – lentils beetle, and garden broad bean – garden broad bean beetle etc.…

On the damaged seeds you can find bruises at the places where little holes were drilled by the larvaes. When the adult beetles hatch, drill holes become visible in the seeds. Beetles often cause most of the damage during the storing period (because the living conditions are ideal) irrespective of the fact that the plant was already contaminated when it was still in the garden.

The fight against the beetle is fortunately completely simple and efficient (100% chance of success!).

Friday 11th June 2010 20:07 | print | Pests

Kiwano – Cucumis metuliferus

The Kiwano’s 10–15 cm long fruits look like oranges. It belongs to the cucumber family. The fruit has little horns on the peel and makes one think of a medieval weapon. The flesh of the fruit is green and usually contains many 5–10 mm long white seeds. When not ripe yet, the colour of the fruit is green.

Tuesday 8th June 2010 19:26 | print | Exotic plants

Welwitschia mirabilis – the cultivation of a living fossil

Welwitschia (Welwitschia mirabilis) is a primeval plant growing in a small area along the coastal region of the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia and Southern Angola. Welwitschia is actually a tree, although it does not seem like it at first glance. The whole plant consists of one short trunk out of which 2 leaves grow – these look like two huge curled ribbons with frayed, barren ends. Welwitschia sometimes looks like a heap of rubbish!

Saturday 22nd May 2010 22:40 | print | Exotic plants

How to make you own leaf mould soil

Leaf mould is a wonderful soil for your plants. It contains very little nutrients, but it is rich in minerals and minor nutrients. Plants can be planted in leaf mould directly or other substrates (for example peat, sand…) can be added to create soils specific to certain uses. Leaf mould is great for growing your own vegetable seedlings. Due to a balanced minor nutrient content it is also useful in treating sick or damaged plants. And the best thing is that with a little patience you can make your own leaf mould soil.

Sunday 6th December 2009 20:13 | print | Growing substrate