By the time you notice the tiny dark gray or black gnats buzzing around, one generation of these common plant pests has already infested the soil of your herb garden. To find a natural cure for soil gnats in herb gardens you should understand the life cycle of the fungus (soil) gnat or Sciaridae.

The eighth inch long gnat you see is the mature adult and it is in the process of laying approximately 300 eggs on the moist soil surface of your garden for a new generation. These gnats prefer to lay their eggs on damp soil which is rich in organic matter. During the winter, when overwatering is more common, the soil gnats may become a problem.

The entire life cycle of this garden pest is about four weeks in duration from egg to mature adult. The mature fungus gnat will not harm the herbs in your garden, but the larvae will. From four to six days after the eggs are laid, they hatch. The fungus gnat larvae are white and about a quarter inch in length with a black head. Fungus gnat larvae burrow into the moist soil and feed upon the root system of the herb plants. Adult soil gnats live for only about ten days.

One natural cure for soil gnats in herb gardens is to first rid the soil of the infestation of eggs and larvae. Horticulturists agree that you should allow the soil to completely dry out between waterings. Dry soil will cause the larvae to dry up. The soil should be dry for up to three inches in depth. Water only until the water comes out through the drainage hole in the bottom of the planter. Remember that seedlings require smaller amounts of water than mature herb plants and may require watering only once a week during the winter months.

For severe infestations, the herb garden plants may need to be repotted in new soil. The old soil should be discarded. Another natural cure for soil gnats in herb gardens is to fool the gnats into believing the soil is not moist. Do this by applying about a quarter inch of sand to the soil surface and then covering the sand with cedar chips. The sand will dry quickly and cedar is a natural insect repellent.

Trap the mature gnats by hanging a sheet of yellow paper which has been coated with petroleum jelly close by the affected herb plant. The yellow paper attracts insects and the petroleum jelly makes them stick to the paper. This coated paper operates much like the flypaper strips you can purchase in hardware stores.

Another method is to place vegetable oil and cider vinegar in a plastic container or jar with the lid perforated with holes. The gnats will find a way to get to the cider vinegar and be trapped by the vegetable oil which floats on the surface. Even if the gnat finds a way to get out of the jar, it will not be able to reproduce.

You can prevent soil gnat infestations in your herb garden by these methods.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about natural cure for soil gnats [http://bestherbgardens.info/natural-cure-for-soil-gnats-in-herb-gardens-easy-gardening-tips/] in herb garden, please visit Best Herb Gardens [http://bestherbgardens.info/] for current articles and discussions.

Price : $21.65

Product Description

Garden lovers and discriminating travelers will relish this armchair tour of the most beautiful and interesting gardens around the world. Succinct descriptions with stunning color photos showcase the creations of the worlds outstanding landscape gardeners, architects, and garden designers. From Spains famous gardens of the Moorish Alhambra at Granada to San Diegos Healing Garden, created for patients at the San Diego Childrens Hospital, this lavishly illustrated guide will delight both lovers of natural beauty and hands-on gardeners. Among the many gardens pictured and described in this beautiful volume are

• In the United States and Canada: Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Boscobel in New Yorks Hudson Valley, Williamsburg Gardens in Virginia, Magnolia Plantation and its Gardens near Charleston, South Carolina, Frank Lloyd Wrights Taliesin in Wisconsin, the Toronto Botanical Garden, Pacific Undersea Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, and many more. . .
• In England: The Japanese Garden in Londons Holland Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, Shakespeares Garden in Stratford, Londons Victoria and Albert Museum Gardens, and many more. . .
• In France: The Gardens of Versailles outside Paris, the Garden of Claude Monet at Giverney, Chateau de Vauville in Cherbourg, and many more. . .
• The rest of the world: Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy, Potsdam Gardens near Berlin, Germany, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan, and hundreds more.In addition to photos and a textual description, each entry cites special features such as fountains and architecture, the gardens size in acres, and the names of the gardens designers. The garden descriptions are organized geographically by country. More than 800 breathtaking color photos and illustrations.

  Customer Reviews

  Review date : 2008-11-18
  This a great resource book. However DO NOT attempt to use this book as a travel guide…if you want to see the gardens in this book I urge you to do lots of advance planning before you leave home. I bought this book before a trip to Spain 1 1/2 years ago. I went to the tourist information centers in the cities I visited in order to find out where these gardens were. In many cases, these were private gardens not open to the public or the visiting hours were so limited that it was virtually impossible to visit them. One garden in Granada I was steered to correctly. However, when I got there, I discovered it was closed the entire month of August! (I did peer in through the gates). I wish the tourist information had told me that before I ventured out there.

  On a recent trip to Rio de Janeiro, I had a similar experience with one of the gardens listed. I did find someone who was familiar with it, but it wasn’t open to the casual visitor.

  In conclusion, many of the gardens in this book are not open to the casual visitor, so use it with caution. If you do have your heart set on seeing some of these gardens, plan in advance before leaving home.

  Review date : 2008-05-22
  This was a great Mother’s Day gift any gardener would love. Beautiful pictures of gardens around the world.

  Review date : 2008-04-18
  For garden-lovers a 1,000 page book crammed chockfull with gardens the world over is an enticing prospect - though the suggestion you must all see them before you die is a bit fanciful, and symptomatic of the depersonalized, random consumerism of today’s “must-see”, “must-have” and “must-do” lists. Unfortunately, the book itself is not quite what it could have been. Quantity decidedly triumphed over quality. Photographs are mostly small, often quite crude and grainy, and as often unnaturally, even luridly colored. Many hardly give an impression of a garden at all, but instead focus on detail or architecture. Descriptive entries are brief and superficial. Entries are arranged geographically, from north to south and from west to east, with remarkably confusing results. The accent is very strongly on Europe, the whole of China being despatched in less pages than the Netherlands. If you are looking for a gazetteer to guide you to interesting gardens while planning a travel itinerary, this book might just give you a useful handle. If you are looking for pleasing garden images or indepth information, look elsewhere.

  Review date : 2008-03-24
  This very thick book has beautiful pictures that inspires one to plant a garden & travel the world.

  Review date : 2007-11-25
  To cover 1001 Gardens in 960 pages is an almost impossible mission, yet Rae Spencer-Jones and his 70 contributors accomplished it.

  Every garden listed in “1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die” follows a standard listing format of designers, owners, garden style, size, climate, location and a brief description of the garden. Some of the gardens listed have half-page size color photographs. This book is very useful for you to gain a rough idea of the gardens nearby when you visit a city, it’ll let you know about the existence of a garden and help you decide whether to visit it or not. To this end, I think “1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die” is successful.

  All the gardens are arranged by geographical locations, including North America, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. I find the “Climate Classification System,” “Useful Address,” “Garden Directory” at the end of the book very helpful.

  “1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die” has 960 pages and color interior photographs and is a useful quick reference for garden tour!

  Gang Chen, Author of “LEED AP Exam Guide” & “Planting Design Illustrated.” LEED AP, AIA

  

Price : $27.75

Product Description

Chosen and described by celebrated garden designer Penelope Hobhouse

Features stunning photographs by distinguished garden photographers including Jerry Harpur, Andrew Lawson, Clive Nichols

Published in association with an exhibition at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Great Gardens of the World is a survey of some of the greatest gardens of the world, presented through magnificent photographic images and the descriptions of legendary garden designer and writer Penelope Hobhouse. Here is shown the oases of the Middle East, the gardens of Chinese scholars, Japanese sages and Renaissance humanists, French baroque gardens, the English landscape garden of Capability Brown and his followers. Here too are the gardens of the great modern designers, among them Roberto Burle Marx, Fernando Caruncho, Dan Kiley, John Brookes and James van Sweden.

Penelope Hobhouse is internationally renowned as a gardener, writer and garden designer. The author of many classic works including Colour in your Garden, Garden Style, Penelope Hobhouse On Gardening , and Penelope Hobhouse’s Garden Designs (all published by Frances Lincoln), and Plants in Garden History, The Story of Gardening and Gardens of Persia

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-02-23
A wonderful book, with beautiful and inspiring pictures. Always a pleasure to go back again and again at its pages.

Review date : 2007-11-24
Gardens are meant to be paradise on earth. The idea of paradise as a garden has a long history, even before the Garden of Eden was presented in the Bible. What the paradise looks like, there is hardly specific description. The description of the Garden of Eden was not very specific either, yet it gave the garden designer some ideas.

In every culture, garden designers seek paradise through their own creative ways. Penelope Hobhouse, one of the most talented garden writers of our time, started her tour of paradise on earth in Asia: the serene naturalistic gardens and symbolism in China, and the Zen gardens and tea gardens in Japan. She then took us to continental Europe: the hilly regions of Italy where lavish gardens are balanced with the use of axes and symmetry, and gardens in Germany, Netherlands and Russia, as well as the climax of formal gardens, the French gardens.

Penelope Hobhouse’s next stop is England. She discussed in detail the naturalistic Landscape Gardens, the Cottage-style Gardens, and the Eclectic Gardens. She also explored Mediterranean gardens and gardens in America: European influences and naturalistic gardens.

Last but not least, Penelope Hobhouse discuss today’s gardens: water in gardens, gardens and nature, selecting right plants for right sites, reclaiming and revitalizing, and roof gardens, etc.

To Penelope, an ideal garden is "at the balance point between human control and untamed nature."

"Great Gardens of the World: In Search of Paradise" has 240 pages and many beautiful interior color photos. It is a fine garden book that every garden lovers should have.

Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated." LEED AP, AIA

Review date : 2006-12-06

The ideal garden we are given to understand is a paradise - "a haven of comfort, abundance, and beauty." Many of us try to achieve that paradigm in our own way, as have countless others before us. Now gathered in one gorgeous volume are the results of those endeavors gleaned from diverse cultures and climes.

We begin our armchair tour with "Gardens Through the Centuries," a journey covering four thousand years beginning with the earliest gardens alive in the deserts of the Middle East. The first Mughal Emperor Babur (1483 - 1530) had a number of gardens including the Garden of Fidelity which was divided into four parts with a central pool.

Of course, the gardens designed in China and Japan expressed a respect for nature, evidenced in vast areas where the placement of each stone had meaning. Places for contemplation, stroll and moss gardens were found in Japan.

For this reader what can compare with the gardens of Italy? Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli boasts open porticoes, enclosed atriums, fountains, basins, statuary. It is a wonder. La Mortola on the Italian Riviera is a place for dreaming with a steep slope to the sea rich in agaves, aloes, white roses, salvias and citrus trees. A virtual Eden on earth.

Ms. Hobhouse continues our tour with a look at modern garden design as represented by such designers as Roberto Burle Marx, Fernando Caruncho, and Beth Chatto.

"In Search of Paradise" holds 240 pages and 200 illustrations all in glorious color contributed by the world’s foremost garden photographers.

The is a volume to be savored and returned to again and again.

- Gail Cooke