Gardening

Gardening or horticulture is a special sort of art. It may be a profession, a job or a hobby. There are many outstanding specialist at gardening with college education, with secondary technical education or skilled gardeners who graduated from apprentice cestres of horticulture.

For many people gardening is a link with the world of nature, a hobby which is a source of many pleasures and a great deal of work. Most Englishment love gardens and many times they have been described as a nation of flower growers. Perhaps this passion for gardening is one reason why so many people prefer living in small houses rather than flats. When you work in the garden, you get a lot of physical excercise from spring to autumn. There is something to do at all times. First you must cultivate the soil ? dig up the ground, rake it, add manure or some suitable fertilizer to the soil, then you must sow the seeds and plant the plants. Then comes endless weeding of the vegetable patches, flower.beds, vegetable-beds and paths. You musn’t fotget to mow the grass and to trim the hedge. If it is dry, you must pump the water from the well or carry butches of rain water collected in water tanks.

Than you are rewarded : you can pick the vegetables, fruits and berries and eat them fresh or preserve them. There are many ways of preserving the yelds of your garden : right storing, drying, sterilizing atc.
Finally you must rake dry leaves, dig up and do all autumn work. Even in winter a gardener is busy with garden care ? he must spray and prune (cut) the fruit trees and shurbs.

A plant is a living organism. It is made up of different parts, each of them has a specialized function. If one part of the plant does not function properly the whole plant will suffer. But we may cut flowers off the plant or prune the roots. Such damage is only temporary and so the plant will continue to grow. The basic parts of a plant are the root systém and the shoot system. The root of a plant has two main functions. It absorbs water and minerals from the soil. The other main function is to hold the plant firmly in position in the soil. Plants such as sugar beet and carrots store food in their roots. Leguminous plants have special bacteria living on their roots which take nitrogen out of the soil air.
The shoot system consists of the stem, the leaves, flowers and fruit. An important function of the stem is to enable water and minerals to pass up to the leaves and flowers and organic materials such as sugar to travel down to the roots. In the leaves photosynthesis takes place. For this process sunlight is necessary. The process results in the conversion of water from the soil and carbon dioxide from aur into sugars and other carbohydrates. Durind the process oxygen is formed and released into the air.
So the function of the leaves is to manufacture food for the plant. The function of the flower is to bring about the reproduction of the plant.
The function of the embryo in the seed id to develop into an adult plant. The first stage in the life cycle of a plant is germination. In this process the seed awakens from its dormant state and starts growing. Certain conditions are necessary for germination to occur. Firstly, the seeds must be alive. If seeds are dried at too high temperature, the water content in the seeds may be reduced too much and certain essential proteins destroyed.
Secondly, the amount of moinsture in the soil must be right. If there is too little moisture in the soil, seeds will not germinate. On the other hand, if there is too much water in the soil, the seeds will not germinate either. This is because wet soils remain cold for a longer period of time than drier soils.
The temperature of the soil must be right. This is the third condition. The fourth condition concerns the amount of air in the soil. We may say that germination only happens under the right conditions : when there is life, sufficient water and air and the right temperature.
In the first stage of germination the primary root emerges. Then the stem pushes its way upward until it appears above the surface of the soil. At the same time the root systém grows downward, and begins to spread throught the soil.
Next, the plant enters the stage of rapid growth. In this stage of the life cycle, the plant begins to grow to its full size. When it is mature enough, it flowers, and when this happens, pollination and fertilization are ready to take place.

Gardening includes several branches ? all these branches are taught at our school in the following technical subject : flower growing, vegetable growing, fruit growing, orchard decorating, vine growing; park, orchard and garden architecture, flower binding and arranging…

We also study about agricultural machinery, irrigation, modern gardening implements, about pests and pest control, abou chemical (artificial) fertilizers and their use ? simply all that is connected with gardens, parks, orchards and vineyeards.
As for myself, I like best flower arranging as I can use the most flexible and inspiring materials ? materials that have forms, colours, beauty and harmony. I can use blossoms, leaves, grasses, weeds, branches, woods, suculenta and cacti, fruits and vegetables, pebbles and mosses, almost any object taken from nature (from meadows, ponds, sea, swamps,…)

The term flower is usually associated with beauty, warmth, harmony, joy, pleasure,… To underestand the depth of meaning of this term is to underestand the rich potencial of art of flower arranging.

There are many interesting activities linked with gardening ? vine processing, plumbrandy processing and other hard drings making. Not only making, but also tasting and evaluating.