Flee Fleas!

Fleas can be a source of annoyance or even insufferable frustration depending on the magnitude of infestation in your home and your yard. Having pets and children raise the stakes even more as you strive to rid yourselves of these little bloodsuckers. Parasites, in every sense of the word, fleas can bring untold damage. Sadly, there is no quick way to get rid of fleas despite all the best flea fogger, warm washes, insecticides and repellants that you might use.

Ironing at the Kinks

I remember getting a bad greenish gash on my left arm a while back. No, it wasn’t from some weird infection. Here’s what happened: I was having an otherwise lovely day in my yard when I, unfortunately, tripped on my garden hose and fell arms first into my uncut grass. Amusingly, the length of my garden hose wasn’t even cluttering the yard but was in a neat and cleanly rolled pile. Still, I was there on the ground with a bad gash and chlorophyll coloring my skin.

Let’s have a little lesson than educational guide today. We’ll talk about horticulture vs botany and see how they are different from each other and if there’s any similarities.

Both botany and horticulture are basic terms that refer to plants. College and graduate students who study agriculture are certainly familiar with this matter. But this isn’t limited to them only. Every gardener, whether they own a small home garden or a business nursery, should also know about this.

Some people have asked me the same question I’ve wondered myself - does aspirin help plants grow? During my first months of gardening, I have heard about aspirin in plants but was a little skeptical. I did some research, read articles from trusted sources, tested and voila, I got the answers. You probably want the same so read on to find out.

Based on its significantly odd appearance, one may find artichoke interesting. What does artichoke taste like, how to prepare this vegetable, is it easy to grow are just a few questions usually asked around.

Overview

Artichoke, with a scientific name cynara cardunculus var. scolymus, is a perennial plant that produces an oddly shaped purple-blue flower, in which the bottom part is edible. The vegetable must be harvested before the flowering stage.

Artichoke is fascinating compared to other vegetables. It has six parts, which are the inner and outer petals, the center choke, the center, the stem and the thorns. The parts that should be consumed are the base of the petals, the heart and the center of the stem. This food consists of beneficial properties, including antioxidants, fiber, folic acid or folate and compounds good for the blood pressure, cholesterol, brain and liver.

Before we get into what does artichoke taste like, you should know that there are two types of this. There is the variety called “globe” that is almost round in shape and “violetta” that is long and tapered.